March 5, 1945 (4 pages)

* ~ bE LS C . . . Col. Robert. HEAD URGES NO TAX INCREASE SAN MRANCISCO, 5——The . levy unnecessary taxes is. unpatriotic and contrary; to the best interests of returning . March of state . . . War veterans, fornia Chamber of Commerce, declared today in announcing that the} state chamber endorses Gov. Warren’s recommendation. for continu-' ance of the state tax neduction program enacted in 1943. “Tt is the duty of the state during the post war adjustment period to keep its tax demands at a minimum so that induStry will have as little difficulty as possible. in to a peace time basis,” Clared. “Continuance of the tax reducti®n. program a if employers are to be able to do their utmost in producing jobs when members of the armed mobilized.”’ converting Ehrman. deis necessity forces. are. deUnless the present. legislature: re-’ enacts the 1943 program, Ehrman pointed out, California citizens will pay an additional $100,000,000 in state taxes during the two critica) post war adjustment ,yeargs which lie ahead, although the governor's proposed hudget for that period ‘s fin balance’ and there will be:a surplus of $306,588,146 in ‘the state treasury by June 1947. The present combined federal, state, and local tax burden in this 6tate absorbs thirty five cents out of each dollar of the public’s income, mostly for war purposes,: according to Ehrman. It is unthinkable that the state add $100,000,000 in unneeded taxes in the face of a nationwide effort to keep our economy on an even keel during the critical post war adjustment which will follow the cessation of hostilities, Ehrman added. “The increase is being proposed when war time prosperity would make increased taxes easier to bear, but the full impact of this addjtional $100,000,000 burden would be feit after the war,’ Ehrman said.‘Millions of dollars of increased revenue pouring into the state treasury would constitute an even greater temptation to extravagant spending than does the existing surplus. DEATH KITTS—In Grass Valley, Nevada County, February 28, 1945, Clifford Girard Kitts, husband of Mrs. Nellie Kitts, son of Mrs. Mary. Alice Kitts, and father of Pfc. -.Marvin Kitts, U. S Army and Carl Kitts, Grass Valley, a native of Willow Valley, Nevada County, uged 63 years. Funeral services were held March 4. CO-PILOT Scott WN. RELEASE o BORN STRUCKMAN—In Grass Valier, to Mr. and Mrs, Ernest Struckman of the Wolf District, -a’ daughter. QUAIL PREFERRED Sidney M. Ehrman, chairman of the! statewide tax committee of the Cali-! OFFERS PRIZES . To commence during California . Conservation Week,. March 7-14. i ‘Quail Preferred’? announces the in‘tiation of a slogan contest to stiimulate interest in the fu'ure welfare lot our dwindling coveys of Califor-: . nia valley quail. ho has. little 'chaparrel plumed knight of the was adopted as our state bird in 1929 as the result of a popular vote but since then there hae . been,.a steadily growing decline in the: numbers of this native upland game bird. Positive reasons for this alarming reduction has not been definitely d°. termined although several faectois . have proved to be contributing causes. Quail inaugurated one year ago by a state wide group of business and professional men for the sole purpose of instigating quai! restoration projects. The California Fish and Game Commission has recognized this intense interest and is expending renewed effort to solve and corrett the disappearing valley quail condition. — Quail Preferred believes that participation in the announced contest, and the resultant American fondness for ‘catchy’ slogans. will increase the interest in the quail replenishment program. Rules are simple. Not over ten words. Submit as many entries as desired, Quail Preferred officets and Preferred was ies are not eligible. Contest closing date is midnight, April 30, 1945. -Barliest receiving date designates the winner of identical slogans. Prizes: Winner, and honorary life membership in Quail Preferred. Second, $50 war bond and ten year honorary membership. Third, $25 war bond and five year honorary membership: A one year paid up membership to all receiving honorable mention. Submit entries to Qpail Preferred, 314 Front Street, San Francisio, 11, California. $100 war bond Iceland possesses neither an army nor-a navy, and its permanent neutrality was established in 1918. Sixty per cent of the population of Guatemala is of pure Indian descent. Interment was in the Masonic Cemetery. BRET HARTE INN PHONE — (HOTEL NO.) RUPTURED? THE IMPROVED PATENTED DOBBS TRUSS » IS DIFFERENT New Neoprene Composition—Non-Irritating—Washable. NO STRAPS, BELT OR BULBS CANNOT SLIP. ‘Holds muscles together with a soft concave pad. Keeps rupture tightly closed at all times while working, walking or swimming. Lightweight. Reason should teach jyou not-to place a bulb or ball in opening of rupture, thereby spreading muscles apart. : ‘FREE DEMONSTRATION—NO OBLIGATION FOR MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN Tuesday, March 6th—10 A. M. to 8 P.M. lifting, , Grass Valley, Calif. ASK FOR DOBBS Hotel Clunie UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT IT’S FAMOUS COFFEE SHOP AND COCKTAIL : BAR . . ARE RENOWNED IN CALIFORNIA RATES FROM $1.50 UP Excellent Service—Best Food ' © 8TH AND K STREET, TOY AND JACOBS. JACK BRUNU, Manager te bh ,nese Messerschmitts. directors and their immediate famil-: tel. NEVADA UTY CHAPTER AAsV As IT looked around now the bombers were gone, but c:imbing up frem the South . ships that I thoysht were I-4’s; later we decice:i they were JapaSaw . . t four twin-engine . . . . . I had plenty . of altitude on the leader, and start. ed shooting at him from long rafige, t concentrating on his right engine, He turned to dive,.and I followed him straight ‘for the water. J. remember grinning, for he had niade . the usual mistake of diving instead . of climbing, Butvas I drew ur z . ,day and most of the night over ene. ‘my lines, started his ship. and went aloft, got the other ship on his wing . ‘in formation;-and told the pilot to keep the position. And then this experienced bomber pilot led the . younger pilot in to a safe landing. . It was teamwork of the sort that fad} begun to appear among the . bomber crews, and more important’! stily-as. the co-ordinated attack had ! shown, betwetn the. fighters and bombers. ‘This was what Colonel Cooper Had been working-for during . the past several months. . Cooper had done another fine job, . on . the twin-engine ship, I began to be. lieve that I had hit: him frorr ‘the long range. His ship was losing altitude rapidly in a power glide, but he was making no effort to turs. Ij came up to within fifty yards and fired into him until he burned. f saw the ship hit the water and cerfinue to burn. We'had heen going wards the fos bank in the direxti of the Philirpines, and I. wor if the Jap hed been running fer Manila. : ‘winI shot at two of the other engine ships from long range but couldn’t climb upto them. Jhen I passed over Hongkong island, frying at a thousand feet; I was tce low but didn’t want to waste any time climbing. And I saw something that gripped my heart—a fenced-in enclosure which I knew was Fort Stanley, the Britich and American prison camp. There was! a large group standing in the camp and waving at my ship. My saddest feeling of the war ‘came’ over me then. Here were soldiers who had been prisoners of the Japanesesfor nearly a year. Month after month they had waited for the sizht of Allied airplanes attacking Hong!:ofg—and at last it had come. Evenin their suffering they were waving a cheer to the few United States planes that had finally come, améI swore to. myself I'd comt back again and again. Then I saw above me the ‘crisspaths of an area crossing vapor where. fighter ships .have sped through an air attack. They almost covered the sky in a cloud. Here and there were darker lines that could have’ been smoke paths where ships had burned and gone down to . destruction. I was rudely jerked back to attention by a slow voice that yet was sharp: “‘If that’s a P-40 in front of ‘me, waggle your wings.” I rocked my wings before I looked. to. Then.I . returned to Kunming from the at--. tack. In “India: the field. in’ <A ssam . had. been raided heavily. by the Jan. anese at the same hour as our attack on Kowloon, and simultaneous. . ly the Japanese had tried to strike at Kunming with a large force. Colo. nel Cooper had been left behind in . . the hospital with a sinus infection: . . He was chafing at the b’t, and we . . sympathized with him+for after . having planned the -greatcst raid of . the war in China, he had been forced out of accompanying the mission. . But it has always been our con.Saw the other ship, a P-40 nearly a_ mile away. I think from the voice it was -Tex Hill. I went over towards him and together we dove towards home. The presence of the other P-40 made me feel very. arrogant and egotistical, for I had shot down four enemy ships and had damaged others. So I looped above Victoria harbor and dove for the Peninsular Hotei. My tracers ripped into the shining plate-glass of the penthouses on its’ top, and I saw the broken windows cascade like snow . to the streets, many floors below. I laughed, for I knew that behind those windows were Japanese high officers, enjoying that modern’ hoWhen I got closer I could see uniformea figures going down the fire-escapes, and I shot at them. In the smoke of Kowloon I could smell oil and rubber. I turned for one more run on the packed fire-escapes filled with Jap soldiers, but my next. burst ended very. suddenly. I was out of ammunition. Then, right into the smoke and through it right down to the treetop levels, I headed Northwest to get out of Japanese territory sooner, and went as fast as I could for Kweilin. I was the last ship in, and the General was anxiously waiting for me, scanning the sky for ships to come in. He knew I had shot down an enemy, for I had come in with my low-altitude roll of victory. But when I jumped from my cramped seat and said, “‘General, I got four definitely,’’ he shook’ my hand and looked very happy. nineteen then,’’ he said, “for the fighters and the bombers.”’ . We had lost a fighter and’ a bomber. The bomber had become a straggler when one engine was hit by antiaircraft; then it was shot to pieces by one of the twin-engined J ap fighters. The pilot had managed even then to get it down, but he had remained in the ship to destroy the bomb-sight, and had been shot through the foot by a Jap cannon. Two of the bomber crew had bailed out and were captured. The other two carried the injured pilot until he had begged them to leave him alone and escape. They had bandaged his foot tightly, but had refused to go without him. As they moved on through the enemy lines that night, they stopped to rest, and the wounded pilot crawled away from them to insure their getting away to the guerrilla lines. They escaped, and later we received a letter signed by the other two crewmen which said that the pilot had been captured and was then in a Japanese hospital. The letter was a Japanese propaganda leaflet that the Japs had dropped near Kweilin, but being properly Signed, it gave us hope for the remainder of the crew, and for the heroic pilot, Lieutenant Allers, That night Morgan led a night raid to bomb Canton, and had a successful attack. Later the same night, Ed Bayse led six bombers to destroy the power station on Hongkong Island. In his return to Kweilin, five of his ships landed but the other continued to circle—informing the radioman that he had no dir speed and thus was having difficulty bringing the fast bomber in to land. Bayse, who had worked all the er “That makes te ee Ses ) one that we le ied of only affer we tention out there that happens for the best.’’ And it proved out again. When the enemy planes approached Kunming, Cooper left the hospital and took charge of the defense of the home base. He sent Schiel’s Squadron towards the South at exactly the right time: They not only intercepted the enemy and foiled the attack but shot down eight . of the enemy. That made the score for the Group twenty-seven enemy planes on October 25th, and three . highly successful bombing raids. We were ordered home. the. next day, although we now had the enemy at our mercy without, fighter protection against. future raids toGen. Chennault observes the return of the C.A.T.F. from a raid. Lieut. Grossclose at left. wards Hongkong. But heavy attacks had come to India, and we were needed to protect the terminus of the ferry route to China. We managed, however, to leave a small force of P-40’s under Holloway and Alison, with mission to divebomb shipping in Victoria harbor within the next few days. They took eight planes down and dove through the overcast towards some big enemy freighters that were on the way South towards the’ Solomons. Their bombs damaged two 8,000-ton freighters and sank a 12,000-ton vessel. Captain: O’Connell made this last direet-hit by almost taking his bomb down the smokestack of the enemy vessel, and in doing so he was ‘shot down. . He took the bomb very low, and in recovering from the dive he was attacked by a single enemy, who got one of the best: pilots in the Squadron. Clinger and Alison saw the enemy ship, but from their distance they could do nothing in time to save O’Connell. While Alison was getting the lone enemy ship, Clinger dove in anger along the docks of Kowloon, strafing threé anti-aircraft positions in the face of very heavy ground-fire. : The. most vivid memories of our air war in China come from the little things. Like the. memory of General Chennault, sitting there at the mouth of the cave in Kweilin through the long hours while we were away on the attack missions. Sitting there smoking his pipe and, like a football coach, planning the next week’s work. Joe, the General’s little black dashshund, would be burrowing into the rocks, looking for the inevitable rats. When with the passing minutes the P-40’s or the bombers were due to return, the General would bégin to watch the eastern sky. There he would sit without a word until the last ship was accounted for. Sometimes I thought: The General lives through every second of the combat with us. With his keen knowledge of tactics and of the Jap too, he sees exactly what we are doing. Another memory that always brings a smile is Lieutenant Couch’s face when he was explaining what happened the first time he got a Jap Zero in his sights.» The enemy ship was a lone “‘sitter,’’ probably some inexperienced Japanese pilot who wasn’t looking around and didn’t know the P-40 was behind him. Couch said he kept moving up closer and closer until he knew the Jap was going to be dead the instant he pressed his trigger. Then he pressed —and nothing happened. He squeezed the trigger until he thought he’d press the top off the stick; he found that he shut his eyes, flinched, and bit his lip, but still the guns . didn’t fire. . “everything . a The American pilot from the Cera . ( i ae linas swere-and-tirotiied back, drop. ping to the rear while the Jan kept flying innocently. ‘on. After Couch had recharged his suns he besan to stalk the Zero agafn,: going clos and closer until he could see the enemy pilot at the controls. He set his sights’right on the cockpit and pressed the trigger once more. And again nothing happened. Couch-eame-hame disgusted, and I. think he worked on his guns all might. One memory ‘brings back a joke on myself. I had been-on a long flight towagd Hankow, and from the time of tafe-off. all théway to the ehemy base, all during combat, and then’ back home, I had been forced to punip my landing-gear up manu, ally every ten miles. At eightcen thousand feet, in the’ rarefied air and with an oxygen mask on, this becomes. monotonous work, but in combat it’s even a dangerous kind of work. I had pumped and pumped, and just as I’d get the wheels back up the hydraulic valve would rethe wheels were slowly dropping again. Now, after nearly seven hundred miles of it, over some three hours and a half, I pumped them up once more and they seemgd to hold: I asked my wing man‘to fly up close and. investigate. Bruce Holloway told me later that they had all been listening for reports of the fight,: via the Command Radio back in Kunming—when over the ether they heard a very Southbois, fly up close to me and see if that goddam wheel is down again.’’ We tried to hold the chatter over the radios to a minimum, but there were times when the men released cut it out altogether. the. clear cr slang. Son came as a natural response to achave been planned and written the masters. ling we had broken the main Jap foree with several attacks and there were only stragglers around the sky. We had been searching them out for fifteen minutes when I saw and heard a remark that was nothing short of classic. From 21,000 feet I observed a lone Zero. But there was a P-40 trailing him, and so I held my altituce and watched. The P-40 closed the gap more and more, following the acrobatics of the Jap, and then drew up for the kill. As the tracers from the six guns went Captain Goss say, ‘‘There, Hirohito, you :.stard—God rest your soul.’’ + Over the radio -you could also hear the staccato roll_of the six Fifties. The Zero slowly rolled over to deStruction. i Sometimes the hate Japs had the . last word. In regions where the air. warning net was working poorly or not at all, our first knowledge of the approach of the enemy would be the sight of Japanese bombers overhead. As “he bombs blasted the runways and the Jap radial engines tude back towards their bases, we would hear over the radio on our exact frequency, in perfect English: “So sorry, please, so sorry.” We would just shake our fists and wait for better days. When I first brought ‘‘Old Exterminator’’ to China, I had painted the number 10 onthe fuselage. Later on we used the last three numerals of the Air Corps numbers for eall letters, or were assigned some name like ‘‘ash,’’ ‘‘oak,”’ or ‘‘pine.’’. But the first time I came back from Chungking, late one afternoon, I approached Kunming down the usual corridor, expecting that to identify me automatically, and from ‘far out I called by radio: ‘‘One-Zero, coming in from the North.’? Of course I was uSing the numerals of the number ‘‘ten’’ to identify me to the radio-man.—Instead, as I came over the field I saw anti-aircaft men of the Chinese Army running for their guns, and I saw six P-40’s taking off to shoot the invader down. Meaning me. You’ve probably guessed it by now—the radioman gathered that some one had just warned him that one enemy Zero was about to strafe the field. Needless to say; I took myself to safer places for a few minutes until I could properly identify. my ship. Then I landed:and changed the fuselage number to lucky ‘‘seyen’”’—but definitely not seventy. There just wasn’t much relaxation. in China with Scotch at one hundred dollars gold a bottle—when you could find it. In fact, we didn’t get to drink anything except boiled water and that really terrible rice wine. This we had to learn to down with the Chinese and in their manner, which was with the inevitable salute, “‘Gambey,”’ or ‘‘bottoms up.” Then they’d come and proudly show you the bottoms of their glasses, and you’d have to follow suit with a weak little gambey. Then there was {he incessant ringing of the telephones in the warningnet plotting-room that got on all our nerves. After months I found out that without exception every pilot tried not to let others know of his nervousness. » But it became unmistakable, for the tension that built . up around “the card-tables in the alert shacks was not the most effectively disguised (in the world. a (70, BE \ CONTINUED) \ pa ao ee . ern drawl disgustedly calling, ‘‘Du. . Up between Hengyang and Ling-. were taking their ships at high alti-lease the pressure and I’d feel that ° Yesteste testesteste their emotions into the microphone, ; and we thought it better not to try to . We had codes . for every purpose, but we found that . when you really needed something, . it was just as‘good to ask for it in . in veiled American ' Limes the retorts that i Y, i tions were better than any that. could’ into the Zero I heard the voice of . tg tictigns nites Page Three a ee Wp ee eferze ole oti nts re 4 % im! 77D . cae 7 Pe ot, AA? oo te ee setlote teotetotiteate tet a ste ate ste ate teats olesteate fe ol He the fe the ee teats eegierte aye. st 5 +184. 5 at Pats tertest oe , ED re <= et fe ihe te ste ate sh +festestes! a re ek Dees % f, fe + 7 + a a * * healer! + % Ss ¢ Ds Ks Og +, o fortes eS ne we he 4 Ss . co on o Eniovime a: wa we Ss woe wm, i Our patrons find that despite -rationing and wartime conditions the quality of our meats measures up to the same high stadnards have always maintained. Our meats come from the best cattle, lambs and ‘swine that money can buy. Our service to our patrons is built on a foundation of high quality and reasonable prices. Ask your neighbors about us. They will tell you. KEYSTONE MARKET * DAVE RICHARDS, Prop. we He he she oh Coie ie sic + ~ 7 ee +. CR SB ic i Si es * XG a? eit 2 a> eS +; He sh s % + tHe) \? ras es c AA? RAP Se Rees si Ch 213 Commercial Street Phone 67 Nevada City 5 +p . : “KEEP ’EM FLYING” . @BUY © DEFENSE ®STAMPS seniors — @——. : ~ Chamber of Commerce OFFICE IN CITY HALL PHONE 575 +g meee ty FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE DRIVE IN FOOD PALACE Groceries, Fruit and Vegetables Beer and Wine COR. YORK AND COMMERCIAL STREETS NEVADA CITY, PHONE 898 UPHOLSTERY . OF ALL KINDS ye W. Darke 100-3 © Phones 09-M New Deal Under Management of Pauline and Johnnie 108 W. Main Street, Grass Valley BEER WINES, LIQUORS Delicious Mixed Drinks te Please AR? Hiniininioiniethinicivieiel Helbininininieies eS Relelejeleleivinivieioh ra i > . } CLARENCE R. ‘GRAY . WATCHMAKER f 4 VS o

* ~ bE LS C . . . Col. Robert.. HEAD URGES NO TAX INCREASE SAN MRANCISCO, 5——The . levy unnecessary taxes is. unpatriotic and contrary; to the best interests of returning . March of state . . . War veterans, fornia Chamber of Commerce, declared today in announcing that the} state chamber endorses Gov. Warren’s recommendation. for continu-' ance of the state tax neduction program enacted in 1943. “Tt is the duty of the state during the post war adjustment period to keep its tax demands at a minimum so that induStry will have as little difficulty as possible. in to a peace time basis,” Clared. “Continuance of the tax reducti®n. program a if employers are to be able to do their utmost in producing jobs when members of the armed mobilized.”’ converting Ehrman. deis necessity forces. are. deUnless the present. legislature: re-’ enacts the 1943 program, Ehrman pointed out, California citizens will pay an additional $100,000,000 in state taxes during the two critica) post war adjustment ,yeargs which lie ahead, although the governor's proposed hudget for that period ‘s fin balance’ and there will be:a surplus of $306,588,146 in ‘the state treasury by June 1947. The present combined federal, state, and local tax burden in this 6tate absorbs thirty five cents out of each dollar of the public’s income, mostly for war purposes,: according to Ehrman. It is unthinkable that the state add $100,000,000 in unneeded taxes in the face of a nationwide effort to keep our economy on an even keel during the critical post war adjustment which will follow the cessation of hostilities, Ehrman added. “The increase is being proposed when war time prosperity would make increased taxes easier to bear, but the full impact of this addjtional $100,000,000 burden would be feit after the war,’ Ehrman said.‘Millions of dollars of increased revenue pouring into the state treasury would constitute an even greater temptation to extravagant spending than does the existing surplus. DEATH KITTS—In Grass Valley, Nevada County, February 28, 1945, Clifford Girard Kitts, husband of Mrs. Nellie Kitts, son of Mrs. Mary. Alice Kitts, and father of Pfc. -.Marvin Kitts, U. S Army and Carl Kitts, Grass Valley, a native of Willow Valley, Nevada County, uged 63 years. Funeral services were held March 4. CO-PILOT Scott WN. RELEASE o BORN STRUCKMAN—In Grass Valier, to Mr. and Mrs, Ernest Struckman of the Wolf District, -a’ daughter. QUAIL PREFERRED Sidney M. Ehrman, chairman of the! statewide tax committee of the Cali-! OFFERS PRIZES . To commence during California . Conservation Week,. March 7-14. i ‘Quail Preferred’? announces the in‘tiation of a slogan contest to stiimulate interest in the fu'ure welfare lot our dwindling coveys of Califor-: . nia valley quail. ho has. little 'chaparrel plumed knight of the was adopted as our state bird in 1929 as the result of a popular vote but since then there hae . been,.a steadily growing decline in the: numbers of this native upland game bird. Positive reasons for this alarming reduction has not been definitely d°. termined although several faectois . have proved to be contributing causes. Quail inaugurated one year ago by a state wide group of business and professional men for the sole purpose of instigating quai! restoration projects. The California Fish and Game Commission has recognized this intense interest and is expending renewed effort to solve and corrett the disappearing valley quail condition. — Quail Preferred believes that participation in the announced contest, and the resultant American fondness for ‘catchy’ slogans. will increase the interest in the quail replenishment program. Rules are simple. Not over ten words. Submit as many entries as desired, Quail Preferred officets and Preferred was ies are not eligible. Contest closing date is midnight, April 30, 1945. -Barliest receiving date designates the winner of identical slogans. Prizes: Winner, and honorary life membership in Quail Preferred. Second, $50 war bond and ten year honorary membership. Third, $25 war bond and five year honorary membership: A one year paid up membership to all receiving honorable mention. Submit entries to Qpail Preferred, 314 Front Street, San Francisio, 11, California. $100 war bond Iceland possesses neither an army nor-a navy, and its permanent neutrality was established in 1918. Sixty per cent of the population of Guatemala is of pure Indian descent. Interment was in the Masonic Cemetery. BRET HARTE INN PHONE — (HOTEL NO.) RUPTURED? THE IMPROVED PATENTED DOBBS TRUSS » IS DIFFERENT New Neoprene Composition—Non-Irritating—Washable. NO STRAPS, BELT OR BULBS CANNOT SLIP. ‘Holds muscles together with a soft concave pad. Keeps rupture tightly closed at all times while working, walking or swimming. Lightweight. Reason should teach jyou not-to place a bulb or ball in opening of rupture, thereby spreading muscles apart. : ‘FREE DEMONSTRATION—NO OBLIGATION FOR MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN Tuesday, March 6th—10 A. M. to 8 P.M. lifting, , Grass Valley, Calif. ASK FOR DOBBS Hotel Clunie UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT IT’S FAMOUS COFFEE SHOP AND COCKTAIL : BAR . . ARE RENOWNED IN CALIFORNIA RATES FROM $1.50 UP Excellent Service—Best Food ' © 8TH AND K STREET, TOY AND JACOBS. JACK BRUNU, Manager te bh ,nese Messerschmitts. directors and their immediate famil-: tel. NEVADA UTY CHAPTER AAsV As IT looked around now the bombers were gone, but c:imbing up frem the South . ships that I thoysht were I-4’s; later we decice:i they were JapaSaw . . t four twin-engine . . . . . I had plenty . of altitude on the leader, and start. ed shooting at him from long rafige, t concentrating on his right engine, He turned to dive,.and I followed him straight ‘for the water. J. remember grinning, for he had niade . the usual mistake of diving instead . of climbing, Butvas I drew ur z . ,day and most of the night over ene. ‘my lines, started his ship. and went aloft, got the other ship on his wing . ‘in formation;-and told the pilot to keep the position. And then this experienced bomber pilot led the . younger pilot in to a safe landing. . It was teamwork of the sort that fad} begun to appear among the . bomber crews, and more important’! stily-as. the co-ordinated attack had ! shown, betwetn the. fighters and bombers. ‘This was what Colonel Cooper Had been working-for during . the past several months. . Cooper had done another fine job, . on . the twin-engine ship, I began to be. lieve that I had hit: him frorr ‘the long range. His ship was losing altitude rapidly in a power glide, but he was making no effort to turs. Ij came up to within fifty yards and fired into him until he burned. f saw the ship hit the water and cerfinue to burn. We'had heen going wards the fos bank in the direxti of the Philirpines, and I. wor if the Jap hed been running fer Manila. : ‘winI shot at two of the other engine ships from long range but couldn’t climb upto them. Jhen I passed over Hongkong island, frying at a thousand feet; I was tce low but didn’t want to waste any time climbing. And I saw something that gripped my heart—a fenced-in enclosure which I knew was Fort Stanley, the Britich and American prison camp. There was! a large group standing in the camp and waving at my ship. My saddest feeling of the war ‘came’ over me then. Here were soldiers who had been prisoners of the Japanesesfor nearly a year. Month after month they had waited for the sizht of Allied airplanes attacking Hong!:ofg—and at last it had come. Evenin their suffering they were waving a cheer to the few United States planes that had finally come, améI swore to. myself I'd comt back again and again. Then I saw above me the ‘crisspaths of an area crossing vapor where. fighter ships .have sped through an air attack. They almost covered the sky in a cloud. Here and there were darker lines that could have’ been smoke paths where ships had burned and gone down to . destruction. I was rudely jerked back to attention by a slow voice that yet was sharp: “‘If that’s a P-40 in front of ‘me, waggle your wings.” I rocked my wings before I looked. to. Then.I . returned to Kunming from the at--. tack. In “India: the field. in’ <A ssam . had. been raided heavily. by the Jan. anese at the same hour as our attack on Kowloon, and simultaneous. . ly the Japanese had tried to strike at Kunming with a large force. Colo. nel Cooper had been left behind in . . the hospital with a sinus infection: . . He was chafing at the b’t, and we . . sympathized with him+for after . having planned the -greatcst raid of . the war in China, he had been forced out of accompanying the mission. . But it has always been our con.Saw the other ship, a P-40 nearly a_ mile away. I think from the voice it was -Tex Hill. I went over towards him and together we dove towards home. The presence of the other P-40 made me feel very. arrogant and egotistical, for I had shot down four enemy ships and had damaged others. So I looped above Victoria harbor and dove for the Peninsular Hotei. My tracers ripped into the shining plate-glass of the penthouses on its’ top, and I saw the broken windows cascade like snow . to the streets, many floors below. I laughed, for I knew that behind those windows were Japanese high officers, enjoying that modern’ hoWhen I got closer I could see uniformea figures going down the fire-escapes, and I shot at them. In the smoke of Kowloon I could smell oil and rubber. I turned for one more run on the packed fire-escapes filled with Jap soldiers, but my next. burst ended very. suddenly. I was out of ammunition. Then, right into the smoke and through it right down to the treetop levels, I headed Northwest to get out of Japanese territory sooner, and went as fast as I could for Kweilin. I was the last ship in, and the General was anxiously waiting for me, scanning the sky for ships to come in. He knew I had shot down an enemy, for I had come in with my low-altitude roll of victory. But when I jumped from my cramped seat and said, “‘General, I got four definitely,’’ he shook’ my hand and looked very happy. nineteen then,’’ he said, “for the fighters and the bombers.”’ . We had lost a fighter and’ a bomber. The bomber had become a straggler when one engine was hit by antiaircraft; then it was shot to pieces by one of the twin-engined J ap fighters. The pilot had managed even then to get it down, but he had remained in the ship to destroy the bomb-sight, and had been shot through the foot by a Jap cannon. Two of the bomber crew had bailed out and were captured. The other two carried the injured pilot until he had begged them to leave him alone and escape. They had bandaged his foot tightly, but had refused to go without him. As they moved on through the enemy lines that night, they stopped to rest, and the wounded pilot crawled away from them to insure their getting away to the guerrilla lines. They escaped, and later we received a letter signed by the other two crewmen which said that the pilot had been captured and was then in a Japanese hospital. The letter was a Japanese propaganda leaflet that the Japs had dropped near Kweilin, but being properly Signed, it gave us hope for the remainder of the crew, and for the heroic pilot, Lieutenant Allers, That night Morgan led a night raid to bomb Canton, and had a successful attack. Later the same night, Ed Bayse led six bombers to destroy the power station on Hongkong Island. In his return to Kweilin, five of his ships landed but the other continued to circle—informing the radioman that he had no dir speed and thus was having difficulty bringing the fast bomber in to land. Bayse, who had worked all the er “That makes te ee Ses ) one that we le ied of only affer we tention out there that happens for the best.’’ And it proved out again. When the enemy planes approached Kunming, Cooper left the hospital and took charge of the defense of the home base. He sent Schiel’s Squadron towards the South at exactly the right time: They not only intercepted the enemy and foiled the attack but shot down eight . of the enemy. That made the score for the Group twenty-seven enemy planes on October 25th, and three . highly successful bombing raids. We were ordered home. the. next day, although we now had the enemy at our mercy without, fighter protection against. future raids toGen. Chennault observes the return of the C.A.T.F. from a raid. Lieut. Grossclose at left. wards Hongkong. But heavy attacks had come to India, and we

were needed to protect the terminus of the ferry route to China. We managed, however, to leave a small force of P-40’s under Holloway and Alison, with mission to divebomb shipping in Victoria harbor within the next few days. They took eight planes down and dove through the overcast towards some big enemy freighters that were on the way South towards the’ Solomons. Their bombs damaged two 8,000-ton freighters and sank a 12,000-ton vessel. Captain: O’Connell made this last direet-hit by almost taking his bomb down the smokestack of the enemy vessel, and in doing so he was ‘shot down. . He took the bomb very low, and in recovering from the dive he was attacked by a single enemy, who got one of the best: pilots in the Squadron. Clinger and Alison saw the enemy ship, but from their distance they could do nothing in time to save O’Connell. While Alison was getting the lone enemy ship, Clinger dove in anger along the docks of Kowloon, strafing threé anti-aircraft positions in the face of very heavy ground-fire. : The. most vivid memories of our air war in China come from the little things. Like the. memory of General Chennault, sitting there at the mouth of the cave in Kweilin through the long hours while we were away on the attack missions. Sitting there smoking his pipe and, like a football coach, planning the next week’s work. Joe, the General’s little black dashshund, would be burrowing into the rocks, looking for the inevitable rats. When with the passing minutes the P-40’s or the bombers were due to return, the General would bégin to watch the eastern sky. There he would sit without a word until the last ship was accounted for. Sometimes I thought: The General lives through every second of the combat with us. With his keen knowledge of tactics and of the Jap too, he sees exactly what we are doing. Another memory that always brings a smile is Lieutenant Couch’s face when he was explaining what happened the first time he got a Jap Zero in his sights.» The enemy ship was a lone “‘sitter,’’ probably some inexperienced Japanese pilot who wasn’t looking around and didn’t know the P-40 was behind him. Couch said he kept moving up closer and closer until he knew the Jap was going to be dead the instant he pressed his trigger. Then he pressed —and nothing happened. He squeezed the trigger until he thought he’d press the top off the stick; he found that he shut his eyes, flinched, and bit his lip, but still the guns . didn’t fire. . “everything . a The American pilot from the Cera . ( i ae linas swere-and-tirotiied back, drop. ping to the rear while the Jan kept flying innocently. ‘on. After Couch had recharged his suns he besan to stalk the Zero agafn,: going clos and closer until he could see the enemy pilot at the controls. He set his sights’right on the cockpit and pressed the trigger once more. And again nothing happened. Couch-eame-hame disgusted, and I. think he worked on his guns all might. One memory ‘brings back a joke on myself.. I had been-on a long flight towagd Hankow, and from the time of tafe-off. all théway to the ehemy base, all during combat, and then’ back home, I had been forced to punip my landing-gear up manu, ally every ten miles. At eightcen thousand feet, in the’ rarefied air and with an oxygen mask on, this becomes. monotonous work, but in combat it’s even a dangerous kind of work. I had pumped and pumped, and just as I’d get the wheels back up the hydraulic valve would rethe wheels were slowly dropping again. Now, after nearly seven hundred miles of it, over some three hours and a half, I pumped them up once more and they seemgd to hold: I asked my wing man‘to fly up close and. investigate. Bruce Holloway told me later that they had all been listening for reports of the fight,: via the Command Radio back in Kunming—when over the ether they heard a very Southbois, fly up close to me and see if that goddam wheel is down again.’’ We tried to hold the chatter over the radios to a minimum, but there were times when the men released cut it out altogether. the. clear cr slang. Son came as a natural response to achave been planned and written the masters. ling we had broken the main Jap foree with several attacks and there were only stragglers around the sky. We had been searching them out for fifteen minutes when I saw and heard a remark that was nothing short of classic. From 21,000 feet I observed a lone Zero. But there was a P-40 trailing him, and so I held my altituce and watched. The P-40 closed the gap more and more, following the acrobatics of the Jap, and then drew up for the kill. As the tracers from the six guns went Captain Goss say, ‘‘There, Hirohito, you :.stard—God rest your soul.’’ + Over the radio -you could also hear the staccato roll_of the six Fifties. The Zero slowly rolled over to deStruction. i Sometimes the hate Japs had the . last word. In regions where the air. warning net was working poorly or not at all, our first knowledge of the approach of the enemy would be the sight of Japanese bombers overhead. As “he bombs blasted the runways and the Jap radial engines tude back towards their bases, we would hear over the radio on our exact frequency, in perfect English: “So sorry, please, so sorry.” We would just shake our fists and wait for better days. When I first brought ‘‘Old Exterminator’’ to China, I had painted the number 10 onthe fuselage. Later on we used the last three numerals of the Air Corps numbers for eall letters, or were assigned some name like ‘‘ash,’’ ‘‘oak,”’ or ‘‘pine.’’. But the first time I came back from Chungking, late one afternoon, I approached Kunming down the usual corridor, expecting that to identify me automatically, and from ‘far out I called by radio: ‘‘One-Zero, coming in from the North.’? Of course I was uSing the numerals of the number ‘‘ten’’ to identify me to the radio-man.—Instead, as I came over the field I saw anti-aircaft men of the Chinese Army running for their guns, and I saw six P-40’s taking off to shoot the invader down. Meaning me. You’ve probably guessed it by now—the radioman gathered that some one had just warned him that one enemy Zero was about to strafe the field. Needless to say; I took myself to safer places for a few minutes until I could properly identify. my ship. Then I landed:and changed the fuselage number to lucky ‘‘seyen’”’—but definitely not seventy. There just wasn’t much relaxation. in China with Scotch at one hundred dollars gold a bottle—when you could find it. In fact, we didn’t get to drink anything except boiled water and that really terrible rice wine. This we had to learn to down with the Chinese and in their manner, which was with the inevitable salute, “‘Gambey,”’ or ‘‘bottoms up.” Then they’d come and proudly show you the bottoms of their glasses, and you’d have to follow suit with a weak little gambey. Then there was {he incessant ringing of the telephones in the warningnet plotting-room that got on all our nerves. After months I found out that without exception every pilot tried not to let others know of his nervousness. » But it became unmistakable, for the tension that built . up around “the card-tables in the alert shacks was not the most effectively disguised (in the world. a (70, BE \ CONTINUED) \ pa ao ee . ern drawl disgustedly calling, ‘‘Du. . Up between Hengyang and Ling-. were taking their ships at high alti-lease the pressure and I’d feel that ° Yesteste testesteste their emotions into the microphone, ; and we thought it better not to try to . We had codes . for every purpose, but we found that . when you really needed something, . it was just as‘good to ask for it in . in veiled American ' Limes the retorts that i Y, i tions were better than any that. could’ into the Zero I heard the voice of . tg tictigns nites Page Three a ee Wp ee eferze ole oti nts re 4 % im! 77D . cae 7 Pe ot, AA? oo te ee setlote teotetotiteate tet a ste ate ste ate teats olesteate fe ol He the fe the ee teats eegierte aye. st 5 +184. 5 at Pats tertest oe , ED re <= et fe ihe te ste ate sh +festestes! a re ek Dees % f, fe + 7 + a a * * healer! + % Ss ¢ Ds Ks Og +, o fortes eS ne we he 4 Ss . co on o Eniovime a: wa we Ss woe wm, i Our patrons find that despite -rationing and wartime conditions the quality of our meats measures up to the same high stadnards have always maintained. Our meats come from the best cattle, lambs and ‘swine that money can buy. Our service to our patrons is built on a foundation of high quality and reasonable prices. 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