The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1945-05-04

As looked around now the Domp-
ers were gone, but climbing up from
the South I saw four twin-engine
ships that thought were Lass;
later we decided they were Japa-
nese Messerschmitts. had plenty
of altitude on the leader, and start
ed shooting at him from long range,
concentrating on his right engine.
He turned to dive, and l followed
him straight for the water. re-
member grinning, for he had made
the usual mistake of diving instead
of climbing. But as / drew up on
the twin-engine ship, began to be-
lieve that / had hit him from the
long range. His ship was losing al
titude rapidly in power glide, but
he was making no effort to turn. !
came up to within fifty yards and
fred into him until he burned. saw
the ship hit the water and continue
to burn. We had been going to-
wards the fog bank in the direction
of the Philippines, and I wondered
If the Jap had been running for Ma
Mia.
I shot at two of the other twin
engine ships from long range but
couldn't climb up to them. Then /
passed over Hongkong island, flying
at thousand feet; was too low
but didn't want to waste any time
climbing. And saw something that
pripped nv heart-a fenced-in en-
closure which knew was Fort STAN
ley. the British 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 prison
iers of the Japanese for nearly year.
Month after month they had waited
for the sight of Allied airplanes at
,tacking Hongkong-and at last it
had come. Even in their suffering
they were waving a cheer to the
few United States planes that had
finally come, and I swore to myself
I'd come back again and again.
Then saw above me the criss-
crossing vapor paths of an area
where fighter ships have sped
through an air attack. They almost
covered the sky in cloud. Here
and there were darker lines that
could have been smoke paths where
ships had burned and gone down to
destruction.
! ] was rudely jerked back to at
ltention by a slow voice that yet was
sharp: EFF that's q P-40 in front Of
me, waggle your wings" I rocked
my wings before I looked. Then ]
saw the other ship, a P-40 nearly q
mile away. I think from the voice
it was Tex Hill. I went over to-
wards 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 9TH
ers. So looped above Victoria har-
Dor and dove for the Peninsular
Hotel. My tracers ripped into the
shining plate-glass of the pent-
houses ON its top, and / saw the
broken windows cascade like snow
to the streets, many floors below. !
laughed, for ] knew that behind
those windows were Japanese high
officers, enjoying that modern no
tel. When I got closer I could see
uniformed figures going down the
lfire-escapes, and I shot at them. In
the smoke Of Kowloon 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. was
out Of ammunition. Then, right into
the smoke and through it right down
to the tree-top levels, headed
Northwest to get out of Japanese
territory sooner, and went as fast as
II could for Kweilin.
] was the last ship in, and the
General was anxiously waiting for
me, scanning the sky for ships to
come in. He knew had shot down
an enemy, for / had come in with
my low-altitude roll of victory. But
when jumped from my cramped
seat and said, General, I got four
definitely he shook my hand and
looked very happy. ''That makes
nineteen them" he said, 'sfor the
fighters and the bombers."
We had lost a fighter and bomb
er. The bomber had become stray
sgler when one engine was hit by anti
aircraft; then it was shot to pieces
by one of the twin-engined Jap fight
ers. The pilot had managed even
then to get it down, but he had re-
manned in the ship to destroy the
lbomb-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 ban
daged his foot tightly, but had re-
fused to 60 without him.
As they moyed on through the en-