The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1945-03-15
CHAPTER XII

After following the Salween to the
South until could see Lashio, !
turned West for the field and came
in right on the treetops, strafing the
anti-aircraft guns in two passes. On
the second run across the field felt
and heard bullets hitting my ship,
but didn't see their origin until near
ly too late. Down close to the West
end of the field, almost under, the
trees, were Japanese ground sol
diers. They were grouped into two
squares like the old Macedonian pha-
lanx, and were firing rifles at me. |
turned my guns on them and could
see the fifty-calibre fire taking good
toll from the Jap ranks. But even
after I had made three runs on
them, noted that they continued to
hold their positions, an excellent
demonstration of perfect battle dis
cipline. Later on one of the AVG
aces, Tex Hill, told me that he had
seen the same thing down in Thai
land, and that after he'd strafed one
of the squares of about a hundred
men and there were only two or
three on their feet, those few still
were shooting at him when he left
the field.
Leaving Lashio, I went to Katha
looking for Jap train on the rail-
way, but succeeded only in gather
ing little more ground fire. From
there I went back North to Bhamo,
and seeing no barges, continued on
to Myitkyina, keeping very close to
the surface of the Irrawaddy. and
strafed the gun positions of the ene-
my on the field with the last of my
ammunition. When I landed I had
made almost eight hundred miles,
which is just about the limit for
fighter ship, especially since / had
strafed at full throttle for several
minutes. There were a few holes
in my ship, but mostly in the fabric
of the rudder and the fiippers. The
Japs couldn't learn to lead me
enough; guess they'd never hunted
game birds.
In less than an hour I took off
again and made a shorter trip to
Mogaung and Katha, searching
without success for q train. after
getting more fuel I went back and
strafed Myitkyina, turned South, and
caught barge of enemy equipment
at Bhamo. Though didn't sink this
river boat, / put at least eight hum
dred rounds of ammunition in it,
and left ii settling in the water and
drifting slowly with the current. The
crew either were killed or jumped
into the river.
And now, to close the big day, ]
got in the air again and set my
course for the bridge on the Sal
ween about twenty miles West of
Paoshan. I had received radio
report that the AVG under Tom
Jones, Bishop, and Tex Hill were
dive-bombing the Japs who were
constructing pontoon bridge there.
Reaching the rendezvous point, ]
couldn't see thing except some
burning trucks that the AVG had
strafed on the Jap side of the Sal
ween; evidently I had got to the bat
tie too late.
had turned South towards Lashio
and was flying through moderate
rain when, down below on the Bur-
ma Road, ! saw a troop column
marching South, probably towards
Chefang. At this point the Burma
Road is about eight thousand feet
above sea level, rising nearby to its
ceiling, just over nine thousand feet.
The troops below me were Japa-
nese soldiers, evidently retreating
from the mauling they had taken
back there on the river, when the
AVG had bombed them with five-
hundred-pound bombs. 7 turned to
the side. to watch them-they were