From: bergman@AFPAN.PA.AF.MIL (CMSgt Mike Bergman)
Newsgroups: soc.veterans
Subject: afns features 92jul24 (fwd)
Date: 24 Jul 92 19:14:49 GMT
Organization: Hq Air Force News Agency/SCC

Not sure if there is interest in our "features" package in this
newsgroup ... unless we see flames, will try to post them.  mb
   
                            ---

029.  Another Bong soars
030.  Bong:  The World War II fighter ace
031.  Rouen Raid
032.  Commentary:  Trio proves war is also "Ace high"
033.  Putting cancer in proper perspective
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AFNEWSIIB029  Another Bong soars
By Major EARL SHELLNER
     There was a time when Jim Bong didn't dream of being a fighter pilot.
These days he can think of little else.
     The nephew of Maj. Richard I. Bong, America's ace-of-all-aces, 2nd Lt.
James Ira Bong certainly has the genes for flying, but for a while he was
strictly a 9-to-5, coat-and-tie kind of guy.
     "When I was younger my dad would take me to the Oshkosh (Wisconsin) air
show each year," Bong said.  "He'd head for the World War II-era planes and
I'd go look at the jets.  Sure, I visited the museum that was dedicated to my
uncle's memory and heard about his exploits, but I never thought I'd be where
I am today."
     Today Bong is packing his bags.  He's headed to Tyndall AFB, Fla., where
he'll strap on F-15s for a living.  Having completed basic fighter lead-in
training with the 433rd Fighter Squadron at Holloman AFB, N.M., he can't-wait
to soar in his own Eagle.
     "My mom thought I was crazy when I first disclosed my plans.  I guess it
was a bolt out of the blue for her," Bong said with a smile.
     The reason for his mother's apprehension is understandable.  Following
graduation from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, young Bong, armed with
a business accounting degree, began working with the auditing firm of
Deloitte-Touche.  For three years he toiled in accounting, nattily adorned in
business attire.
     "I was making very good money," Bong said.  "But something was missing."
     That something was excitement -- the thrill of doing something decidedly
different, and adventuresome.  So Bong traded in his auditing wardrobe for a
flight suit.
     There's a bit of irony that Bong should come through Holloman where's his
famous uncle's legacy is firmly entrenched with the Iron Knights of the 9th
Fighter squadron, and the host 49th Fighter Wing here.
     Major Bong, flying with the 9th, saw action in the Pacific Theater where
he downed 40 Japanese aircraft.  By the end of the war the 9th had 259 kills,
more than half of which were tallied by their 14 aces.
     Jim Bong, 28, single, and ready to settle into an air superiority
fighter, doesn't feel intimidated by his uncle's legendary status.
     "People don't treat me differently once they find out I'm Bong's nephew.
And I don't believe they expect me to live up to his standards or reputation,"
the lieutenant said.
     Bong does have his uncle's wings, though.  They were presented at
commencement exercises following completion of undergraduate pilot training at
Vance AFB, Okla., where Bong finished at the top of his class.
     Efforts are under way by several fund-raising groups in Wisconsin to
expand the Bong museum at Poplar, adding to memorabilia associated with his
legacy.
     Soon to be added to the collection is a plaque the 9th Fighter Squadron,
presented in memory of the great aviator.  His nephew accepted the memento on
behalf of the Bong family.
     For Lieutenant Bong the focus is clear.  He's ready to take on the
challenge of a driving a high-performance jet.  He likes the idea of pulling
G's instead of pulling audits.  Somewhere, its probably a safe bet his uncle
is smiling.  (AFNS Features.  Shellner is the public affairs officers at
Holloman AFB, N.M.)  (Note to editors:  Accompanying photo will be in August
art & photo supplement.)


AFNEWSIIB030  Richard I. Bong:  World War II fighter ace
By DAVID F. BARR
     Richard I. Bong was a farm boy born in Superior, Wis., and raised in the
small rural Wisconsin community of Poplar.  He not only earned this country's
highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, but also, as a pilot, became the
nation's top ace of all wars.
     In his 24-year life, Bong crammed into it all the excitement, skill and
glory humanly possible.
     Dick, as his friends knew him, was the first of eight children.  In the
first two-thirds of his life it seemed he was destined to plow fields and
plant crops for a living.  However, Mother Earth wasn't where his heart was --
as his hands worked the soil, his mind was in the air.  According to his
sister, as a teen-ager "he was nuts about air planes.  He used to build Balsa
wood model airplanes.  At age 20, he received a private pilot's license."
     But swooping low over the family farm in rental planes wasn't enough.  So
six weeks before Pearl Harbor was attacked, Bong enlisted in the Army Air
Corps.  As an air cadet he began flying training, beginning in Tulare, Calif.,
 and finishing at Luke Field, Ariz.
     Second Lieutenant Bong was disappointed when, upon getting his wings, he
wasn't sent into combat.  Instead he was made an instructor at Luke Field.
Four months later, he was send to Hamilton Field, Calif., and learned to fly
the P-38 Lightning.  This was the plane in which he flew into history books.
     The P-38, with its twin tails, and twin 1,150-horsepower Allison engines,
found its own place in air history by being credited with shooting down more
Japanese aircraft than any other plane in the war.
     Shortly after completing combat training at Hamilton Field, Lieutenant
Bong found himself first in Australia, then New Guinea.
     It was in the sweltering Pacific islands that, in just a matter of days
after his arrival, the 22-year old novice fighter pilot began his dangerous
trip to fame.
     On Dec. 27, 1942, he felt the excitement of his first real combat
missions.  That day, young Richard Bong showed his fellow pilots what he had
come for.  He encountered 27 Mitsubishi type-O fighters, nicknamed "Zeros,"
which were flying escort for 15 bombers.  In a matter of minutes he had downed
one bomber and one fighter.
     Within two weeks those two victories had swelled to five, which made the
flying farm boy an ace.  The term ace is bestowed for no less than five
air-to-air victories.  By April 14, 1943, he was a double ace.  During that
summer he was promoted to captain, and by April 3, 1944, he became an ace five
times over.
     In relating his experiences, Bong liked to tell of a time he found
himself in serious trouble.  He was on one of his more than 200 missions, when
he sighted, then intercepted, a Japanese bomber formation escorted by
fighters. At one point in the complicated gyrations of battle he looked over
at his wingman only to see a big red dot on the side of the plane next to him,
the emblem of Japan.
     He quickly went into a vertical dive and, at 15,000 feet, leveled off
only to see the Zero in his rear-view mirror.  He dove into the deck and flew
just above the waters of Oro Bay, New Guinea.  When he knew he was well ahead
of his pursuer, he made a tight left-hand turn only to find himself flying
directly into nine more Zeros.
     Since the best way to kill a snake is to cut off its head, Bong flew
straight at the formation's leader.  With a short burst of his guns, Bong
caused the leader's aircraft to explode at the head of his formation.  The
other Zero pilots, rattled at seeing their leader disintegrate before their
eyes, began to fly and fire wildly, and with no effect.
     Bong, however, was not "rattled."  With another burst of fire, he caused
another plane to explode in mid-air.  Swinging around to continue the battle,
all Bong saw of the other Zeros were their tails as they fled the scene.  Not
long thereafter he was promoted to major.
     On his second trip home, and with 27 kills to his credit -- one more than
the "Ace of Aces," Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker of World War I fame -- he was
given the one job he never wanted.  He came home to sell war bonds.
     After helping to sell war bonds, he next became an instructor of aerial
superiority at Foster Field, Texas.  In September 1944 he once more returned
to the Pacific to do the thing he did best -- hunt the enemy from the cockpit
of a P-38.
     With Bong's 40th kill, which made him an eight-time ace, his commanding
officer decided that more than 500 combat hours were enough for anyone.  His
commander went a step farther and nominated the seemingly tireless aerial
warrior for the Medal of Honor which, later, was presented by General of the
Army Douglas MacArthur.  On Dec. 29, 1944, Dick Bong again returned home from
the war.  This time to stay.
     At the Burbank, Calif., Lockheed plant, after completing jet pilot
training, Major Bong, now 24 years old, began testing the P-80 Shooting Star.
On Aug. 6, 1945, on take-off, Bong was killed when the aircraft crashed.  The
announcement of his death shocked the nation, but was greatly overshadowed in
the headlines by another event that day -- the atomic bombing of Hiroshima,
Japan.
     In his short life Dick Bong, the reluctant hero, achieved what many
people only dream of.  He earned America's highest award for heroism and
became his nation's leading ace -- ever.  (AFNS Features.  Barr is chief,
command products branch, AFNEWS.)  (Note to editors:  Accompanying photo will
be in August art & photo supplement.)


AFNEWSIIB031  Rouen Raid
By DANIEL HAULMAN
     On Aug. 17, 1942, 18 B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 97th Bombardment Group
conducted the first American heavy bombing raid in Western Europe.  The target
was the marshaling yard at Rouen, France.  Railroad tracks linking Germany
with the occupied channel ports and western France made the target
strategically significant.  Important locomotive and rolling stock facilities
were also located there.
     Led by group commander Col. Frank A. Armstrong Jr., the B-17s took off
from Grafton Underwood, England.  Six of the Fortresses flew a diversionary
sweep along the French coast while the other 12 flew on to Rouen. Gen. Ira
Eaker, Eighth Air Force commander, rode in the lead bomber in the second
flight of six attacking planes.
     Escorting British Spitfires fended off German fighters, and the bombers
successfully avoided anti-aircraft fire at two places.  All 12 unloaded on the
marshaling yards, dropping 36,900 pounds of general purpose bombs from 23,000
feet.
     There were no battle casualties, and every B-17 returned safely from the
3-hour, 21-minute mission.  They scored direct hits on the locomotive
workshop, two large transshipment sheds, 10 of 24 siding tracks, and much
rolling stock.  Even bombs that missed key aiming points damaged the large
railroad yard.
     The Rouen raid convinced many skeptics that precision daylight bombing
was practical and proved the ability of American bombardment planes and their
inexperienced crews.  Similar successful air raids encouraged plans for the
Combined Bomber Offensive, which the United States and the United Kingdom
approved at Casablanca in January 1943.
     The offensive authorized American bombing of German targets by day and
British bombing by night.  By May 1945, the strategic bombing campaign had
devastated enemy cities and war industries, contributing to a complete Allied
victory over the Axis powers.   (AFNS Features.  Haulman is assigned to the
Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell AFB, Ala.)


AFNEWSIIB032  Commentary:  Trio proves war is also "Ace high"
By DAVID F. BARR
     The stories of one Vietnam-era pilot and two weapon systems officers
speak for all of the gallant men who, at least five times, faced death from
the cockpits of fighter aircraft and lived to tell about it -- when the enemy
didn't.  The trio bear the title "Ace," which the U.S. Air Force defines as
"An expert combat pilot; specifically, one credited with not less than five
victories."
     In just seven months of 1972, Captains Richard S. "Steve" Ritchie, of
Reidsville, N.C.; Charles B. DeBellevue, of Lafayette, La.; and Jeffrey S.
Feinstein, of East Troy, Wis.; blasted their way into U.S. Air Force history.
     Flying F-4Ds and Es, the three aerial warriors taught their enemies, most
of whom flew MiG-21s, the cost of challenging American airpower.  The lessons
began on April 16 when Feinstein, a member of the 13th Tactical Fighter
Squadron, Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, while flying as weapon
systems officer for Maj. Edward D. Cherry over Vietnam, fired an AIM-7
missile.  With that shot, the first of five MiGs credited to him eventually
earned him the title -- Ace.
     The next month, on May 10, Ritchie and DeBellevue, both members of the
famed "Triple Nickel" unit, the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Ubon Royal
Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, downed the first of almost a dozen MiGs that
would make Aces of them.  Starting with this kill, Ritchie went on to become
the first Ace of the Vietnam War and it put DeBellevue on his way to the title
of the war's ranking Ace.
     On May 31 the three men downed two enemy aircraft.  Then, from July to
October, they downed enemy aircraft every month:  two in July, five in August
(on Aug. 28 Ritchie became the Vietnam War's first Ace).  They went on to down
two more MiGs in September and on Oct. 13, Feinstein fired the AIM-7 missile
that downed a MiG-21 and earned him the heroic title.
     What makes an Ace?  Training?  Confidence?  Teamwork?  First-line
equipment and maintenance?  All of these and special people like Captains
Richard S. "Steve" Ritchie, Charles B. DeBellevue, and Jeffrey S. Feinstein.
(AFNS Features.  Barr is chief, command products branch, AFNEWS.)


AFNEWSIIB033  Putting cancer in proper perspective
By Maj. CHARLES P. MENDEZ
     What could possibly be good about anything relating to cancer?
     Given the usual "fear" that strikes our insides when the word is heard or
seen in print, is there any prospect at that we might gain victory over the
dreaded cancer?
     Answering these questions should begin with facts -- to put things in
proper perspective.
     Top 10 cancer facts:
     1.  Cancer is not simply "a" disease.  It is a complex of many diseases.
Furthermore, there are roughly 100 different types of cancer associated with a
host of causes, cell types or target organs -- and therapies.  For example,
wide differences exist among breast, skin, and bone cancers.  So when we
wonder about when a "cure" for cancer will be found, it makes more sense to
think about "cures for cancers."  It is not a single all-encompassing "cure"
for cancer that will be discovered.  For example, cures of specific cancers,
such as testicular cancer, which has a 90 percent cure rate, offer hope that
those cancers which currently evade cure, such as liver/biliary cancer, which
only have a 5 percent cure rate, will be found.
     2.  The name of the game with cancer is uncontrolled cellular growth and
spreading.  A localized cancer remains in the tissue or organ in which it
grows.  A metastatic cancer spreads to other sites in the body.  Chances are
you can relate to cancer from a less clinical perspective; perhaps you've
gleaned the true meaning of cancer from the suffering you've seen in the faces
of cancer victims.
     3.  Nothing escapes cancer.  Living species long extinct (dinosaurs),
plants and animals wild and domestic, even fish and insects, can get cancer.
     4.  Cancers usually take a long time to start and grow.  Upwards of a
decade or even a generation (four decades) might elapse before cancers are
manifested.  However, once initiated, unchecked cancer growth will kill a
person.  It is thought that a multi-step initiator/promoter process is
involved wherein an initiator such as a chemical or dosage of radiation would
change a gene, then a promoter, such as diet or infection, would trigger the
uncontrolled cellular growth.  We all probably have had cancer many times in
our lifetimes; thanks to our immune systems, though, we continually win the
battles and circumvent raging wars.
     5.  Cancer is curable.  We've truly come far in our survivability against
cancers.  In the 1930s fewer than 20 percent of Americans with cancer were
alive five years after treatment.  By the 1950s, this figure was about 25
percent, and by the 1970s, about 33 percent of cancer victims lived five years
after treatment.  Today, we're fortunate to have an overall five-year
post-treatment survival rate of 50 percent.   There is wide variability in the
causes, cells/organs affected, and treatment of cancers.  Therefore, just when
a person is "cured" varies accordingly.  A child with leukemia might be
considered cured if he or she survives for three years after treatment.  A
person with breast cancer, on the other hand, might be required to survive
perhaps 10 years or so before they are considered cured.
     6.  The United States could cure 75 percent of all cancers if the early
detection tests and self-examination methods that are presently known were
practiced.
     7.  This country's 50 percent survival rate indicates that while we are
winning the war against cancer through treatment, the fact remains that we are
losing the war through prevention because the total number of cancer cases is
increasing -- due almost entirely to use of tobacco.  Yet prevention is the
single most anti-cancer measure at our disposal!
     8.  For every three people in the United States, one will get cancer.
This translates to three people out of a nine- or 10-person family being
struck with cancer.  It essentially assures us that cancer will touch the life
of someone each of us knows.
     9.  Poor people have more cancer.  Education and the availability of
health services are key factors in cancer incidence and survival.  Among the
nation's poor, there is both higher incidence and worse survival rates for
cancer victims.  As a group, blacks suffer more cancers overall, and
especially more lung, colon-rectum, prostrate, esophagus and uterine cancer
than whites. In blacks, the overall five-year cancer survival rate is only 38
percent compared to 50 percent in whites.
     10.  At this point, you should have some idea of the answers to the
questions posed at the beginning of the article.  Certainly facts 5, 6, and 10
are arguably "what's good" about cancer.  Fact 7 coupled with fact 10 point to
a plausible answer to the second question regarding our hope for victory over
cancer.
     Cancer statistics worth knowing:
     1.  Of the earth's 4 billion people, 4 million die of cancer every year.
The most prevalent cancer in the world and, prior to the 1950s in the United
States, is stomach cancer.
     2.  In this country we get about 1 million new cancer cases each year,
with men and women affected nearly equally.  In addition to this incidence
rate, some 500,000 cases of non-melanoma skin cancer and 50,000 cases of
highly localized "carcinoma in situ" cancer of the cervix and breast occur.
     3.  With a survival rate of less than 10 percent, the No. 1 cancer in the
United States is lung cancer.  Lung cancer occurs in and kills more men than
any other cancer.  It kills nearly as many women as breast cancer does
although breast cancer is more prevalent in women than lung cancer is.  Lung
cancer surpassed colon-rectal cancer as the No. 1 cancer in the country in the
1970s.
     4. With an approximate cure rate of 40 percent, colon-rectal cancer is
the No. 2 cancer in the country.  Colon-rectal cancer affects the large bowel.
 Men and women are affected almost equally.
     5.  With an approximate cure rate of 70 percent, breast cancer is the
number No. 3 cancer in the country.  For every 100 cases in women, one case
occurs in men.
     Conclusion
     We've all heard the familiar cliche "everything causes cancer."  But when
we look at the results of a study by two highly renowned oncologists --
scientists who study cancer -- we have to conclude that their well-supported
conclusions strongly suggest that the old cliche is not true at all.
     There are two chief causes of cancer -- environmental and genetic.
     While there's not much we can do about genetic predisposition to cancer,
we can do much about environmental cause factors through prevention.  Given
that prevention is the key, what specific prevention steps can we take against
cancer as individuals?  First, consider that there are three levels of
prevention:
     1.  Primary.  To prevent the diseases from ever developing.
     2.  Secondary.  To conduct early detection or screening of present but
non-symptomatic disease.
     3.  Tertiary.  To render acute care of diseases which exhibit symptoms in
order to prevent reoccurrence.
     A key precept in our individual cancer prevention strategy is to not wait
until cancer symptoms are present to act.  To do so is to significantly reduce
any chance for a cure.  Therefore, we should adopt primary and secondary
prevention measures to maximize our chances of success against cancer.  Here
are some examples of recommended primary and secondary measures.
     Primary prevention
     1. Check out the dietary strategies suggested by both the National Cancer
Institute and the American Cancer Society.  These are not debates over
guidelines; they are highly recommended implementable prevention measures you
can apply to your own personal dietary lifestyle.
In a nutshell, the strategies suggest two actions:
     a. Adopt a low-fat, high-fiber diet
     b. Avoid obesity--throughout life (an often tough, but extremely
worthwhile precept).
     2. If you smoke, dip snuff, or chew tobacco, quit. The surgeon general
has warned as early as 1979 that cigarette smoking is clearly the largest
single preventable cause of illness and premature death in the United States."
Tobacco use in the United States -- particularly cigarette smoking -- is
currently responsible for 30 percent of all cancer deaths, 30 percent of all
heart disease deaths, and 80 percent of all chronic lung disease deaths.
     3. If you work with hazardous chemicals, always use the proper personal
protective equipment (PPE) to include correct respirator equipment, gloves,
face/eye protection, chemical protective clothing and footwear.  As a
causative agent in bladder and kidney cancers, chemicals have been clearly
implicated and a significant number of cases have been documented.
     Secondary prevention
     1. Consult a physician or other health care professional regularly for
check-ups.
     2. Learn how to perform self-examinations (e.g., breast, testicular, skin
and oral).
     3. Avail yourself of modern detection tools and techniques.  A limited
list includes:
     Mammography (breast x-rays); fiber optic endoscopy (flexible
sigmoidoscopy to check the rectum and colon); biochemical screening methods
(stool occult blood and dip-and-read test for blood or chemicals in the
urine); cytological techniques such as the pap smear to detect cervical
cancer; and sputum cytology to detect lung and bronchial tube cancer.
     Preventing cancer is largely up to you, your lifestyle, and the physical
environment in which you (at times without much choice) live.  (AFNS Features.
Mendez is assigned to bioenvironmental engineering at McClellan AFB, Calif.)


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