The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-07-12
Americans Facing Big
Task In Kiska Drive
Japanese Strongly Entrenched Declares Lieuten-
ant Gary Now Attending Training School
at Yale University.

New Haven, Conn, July 12.-
Japanese-occupied Kiska Islanc
in the Aleutians will be a lot hard
er to conquer than neighboring
Attu, in the opinion of Lieut.. John
E. Gary, Ind. who dropped plenty
of eggs on both places while fly
ing a B-26 medium bomber in
Alaska last year.
In New Haven to attend Weights
and Balance Course at Technical
School of the Army Air Forces
Technical Training Command at
Yale University. Lieut.. Nealon took
time out from his studies to de-
scribe some of the obstacles in the
path of any American forces that
may drive on Kiska in the future.
THE Japs are there in strength"
he declared.
"They have had plenty of time to
get a good defense system set up.
They are back in the hills, with a
clean sweep of the beaches, which
are so narrow they can easily be
swept by rifle and machine gun
fire.
"Kiska will be lot tougher job
than Attu unless we get two or
three days of good weather to per-
NIT adequate air support
With other members of his four
man crew, Lieut.. Nealton made a
number of bombing runs over Kiska,
the poor visibility forcing them to
unload their missiles from as low
as 200 feet. Shore batteries and
anti-aircraft game were blyazing
away at them, and their plane was
hit time after time-but never in
a vital spot.
They would go in over the island
with all their guns blazing and drop
their bombs from so close to the
ground they couldn't miss. Their
targets were the new Jap sub
marine base and the seaplane ham
gar and camp installation, and they
usually got hits.
Their bomb racks empty, they
would then pull around in an abrupt
about face and head back the way
they'd come, hugging the ground
in order to present as poor a target
as possible. Once over the harbor
again and headed out to sea, they
would skim the surface Of the water
to escape the Jap fire. The shore
batteries which were mounted on
a slight-elevation, were unable to
defect their guns to the level of the
plane, so the only thing the crew
had to worry about was machine
gun and rifle fire.
They were so close to the water
that they couldn't close their bomb
boy doors-so they would roar out
of the harbor with the bomb bays
still hanging open, and wait until
they were safely away from that
place before bothering about in
cidentals.
When he wasn't bombing Kiska
and Attu, Lieut. Nealon was remem-
bering Pearl Harbor with vicious
attacks on what little enemy ship
ping dared show it's face In those
parts, AS usual, it was all deck-levcl
bombing because of the famous
Alieutian fog and extremely low
ceilings. With other American flyers
he cursed the Aleutian weather.
"our first enemy" as he described
1t. But the Yank aces kept on
pitching regardless.
A graduate of Kelly Field. with
post graduate work at Boise, Idaho
Lieut.. Eeaion headed .c- the North
Country in January, 1912 He was at
Anchorage on January II and ir
May, 1912. went out to the Aleu-
tians to run a submarine patrol
When the Japs hit in June Amer
lean flyers turned them back and
followed up this victory with all
attacks on Aanding parties.
After IS months In Alaska
Lieutenant Nealton returned to the
s*~tAA Last March for assignment