By R. F. Warner, 822nd BS

The Pacific Ocean is a large body of water and navigators carried the burden of locating the target for each mission.

Since the ninth of February 1945, five weeks ago when I had moved to the Air Base at Lingayen Gulf on the northwest central coast of the Island of Luzon in the Philippines, I had flown missions number thirty two through forty, and today the fourteenth of March, we were preparing to fly number forty one. By now I could practically count the days that I needed to complete my "TOUR of DUTY". I was considered an old hand at the navigational duties.

The top turret gunner has a clear view of the situation and it can be scarry as the dickens.

August 7, 1945, was just another day - another mission. Rumors were flying around that the war was winding down and that the Japanese would surrender soon even though they continued nuisance raids at chow time. We were hoping the mission would be a milk run but you still remember some of the missions that haunt you, like...

This article may generate a few chuckles but the author saw little humor in it.

Commissioned a 2nd Lt. upon graduating from Aviation Cadet (Engineering) Class 41-4 at Chanute Field in January, 1942, my immediate assignment (with 5 others) was to the 38th Bomb Group, Jackson, MS. Upon arriving we were told to separate belongins into "hold baggage" and "what you will need to travel for a few weeks."

My dad, Al Behrens, served in the 822nd Squadron from mid 1943 to mid 1944.  My curiosity became aroused upon reading the following entry from his diary:

January 7.  Special courier mission.  We flew General Akin, his aides and Dr. Compton around to Finschafen and Dobadura.  He is a very nice congenial person and treated us very nicely.  We stayed overnite at Dobodura.

I wanted to know more about these two men whom my father only knew briefly, and began to unravel the interesting story behind this special flight.

"The stories of war are generally about valor, excitement and/or achievements.  However, wartime military service is mostly composed of training, waiting with boredom, and a little action for a few people.  This collection is composed of stories of incidents that reflect my attitudes, beliefs, and feelings that occurred to me during World War II. 

The author was the  navigator on the crew of Capt Bill Tarver, pilot of PACIFIC PROWLER, B-25 C and D #129710. The 38th learned to fight the hard way against the cream of the Japanese Fighter aces. The 38th transitioned from medium altitude bombing to low level skip bombing and strafing and helped the 5th Air Force lead MacArthur back to the Philippines.

     In the fall of 1943, I sent my mother a picture of myself-standing in front of my B-25 at Port Morseby's 17 Mile (Durand) Airdrome

This article decribes the Japanese attempts to use white phosphorous bombs in air to air combat.