 |
| B-29 Superfortress |
Flying over China, Bud
stared over the wing of B-29, nicknamed “Bomber Betty”. Darkness draped over the mountains below,
hiding the aluminum of crashed planes, called "Tin Can Alley".
The pilot, Capt. Ezell
eased down low over the China Sea, conserving on fuel, riding below radar. The white caps of the water below flew along
with the plane.
Japan was twenty minutes away.
Ezell began the
ascent to high above the waters, high enough to drop the payload.
Bud stretched legs
and arms, a hard job for a tall man, a bay gunner in the bomber. He gave the other bay gunner a shout. “Hey, Sweetman! Get up, time to go to work.”
 |
| Dark handsome Bud in center, 468th division, 1944 |
Sweetman replied with
some expected profanity, and both checked their guns on the ready.
Ten...five minutes to
Japan.
That was when the Japanese fighters buzzed
out from the clouds, fast mosquitoes darting around, above, and below...ack-ack-ack tracers...tail gunner swirling to hit the darting planes.
Bud and Sweetman
aimed, fired, aimed again...again...again. I got one…yep, I got me one…
The bombs were
released, target hit, damage confirmed, flames billowing.
Time to go home. Time to fly low
over the water, to use every drop of fuel needed to make it back to China.
Landing is a relief, after 24 hours in the air.
Landing is a relief, after 24 hours in the air.
I got one…yep, I got me one….
My father Bud was one of the B-29 crew that flew in supplies to the starving Chinese people. The Japanese had prevented supplies by barricading the coast lines. My father was mainly involved in bombing runs over Japan. I believe he and the crew flew 24? missions, some back to back.
Bombs one day...food the next. Maybe it helped balance things out for them. They and so many others worked so very hard for all of us....may we never forget.
ReplyDeleteWhat the American soldiers did and why always amazed me, I have ordered a book "The Hump" about that time and the military.
DeleteI don't know why, I was more attracted to books on the war in the Pacific as a child, perhaps because I thought no death could be worse than death by drowning, or as a Japanese POW. Good for your dad, and for all the men who fought that war.
ReplyDeleteSpecial men and women, weren't they?
DeleteSo young, these young men, so brave. Today, I have learned about how they fed the British army during WW1, now I learn about food for the Chinese people during WW2. It is all so interesting, brave, and sad at the same time. In my mind at least.
ReplyDeleteAmerica is a big strong nation, at least it was then. It was able to give to other countries.
DeleteCan't even imagine what a relief it would be to make it out. So many things could go wrong.
ReplyDelete...and they did.
DeleteI'm with Pat, can't even begin to imagine being in your father's position.
ReplyDeleteI believe those events bothered him as he aged, memories emerged.
DeleteScary, scary times - from which we don't seem to have learned a great deal. Which means that more people have to do the same job that your father did. Brave, yes but how I wish that courage was unnecessary, and that the memories had haunted their last person.
ReplyDeleteso much horror done by such evil people...The Holocaust being just one. The Pacific another...Dad said one that each man secretly believed that the other guy would die, the other plane...
DeleteThe memories that all soldiers share are difficult. It is only recently that we are addressing them.
ReplyDeleteMy father's generation suffered with PTSD as well. The ways they dealt with the horrors---they never spoke of it with anyone but fellow veterans.
DeleteEach flight much have been filled with so much tension...I can't imagine.
ReplyDeleteThe tension but has been heavy.
DeleteHe was def. a handsome man. And not short on bravery...can you even imagine?
ReplyDelete