Southern Oregon Miner, Thursday, October 26, 1944
GOD IS MY
CO-PILOT
- a .
C o l. R obert* L .S c o ff
‘South of Border’ Tea Towels r*g»At.towrtii I
BUY THF NATION'S
If required In illltng orders for a few of
the most popular pattern numbers.
' .'Ir A V O R IT I NOP CORN
GUAIANTI 10 TO
Sewing Circle Needlecraft Ilep».
Box M l?
San Francisco S, Calif.
Enclose IS cents (plus one cent to
cover cost of m ailing) for Pattern
WNU RE.l_e.ASE
The dory (hu> far: Robert Srott. a
W r it Point graduate, w la i his W t x i i at
Kelly Field. Texas. From M itchel Field,
N . T ., he Is sen! to Panam a «here his
real pursuit training Is begun In a P llS.
He begins to train oRier pilots, but as the
war edges closer he « a n ti to gel into
combat service. He writes many letters
to Generals pleading tor a chance Io Ugh!
and at last It comes la the form of a
phone call from Washington asking if he
can By a four-engine bomber. He says
he ran—a while lie. When he leaves his
wife and child he realises that they
meant America for him. He picks np his
Fort In Florida, asks one of his form er
students how to By H, and they are off
for Brasil.
4%^
ished a volunteer force of American Cobb wanted so much to land for a
airmen, flying American equipment look at the big-lipped Ubangl wom­
No-----------------------
in China against the Jap.
en. Then Lake Chad and Fort L a­
The purpose was fourfold: to test my went by. Just before dawn we
Addraee
American equipment, to train a nu crossed North of the mountain of
—Huy W ar Savings Bunds
cleus of American pilots in actual El-Fasher. At six o'clock the White
Nile
appeared—we
had
crossed
the
combat, to furnish air support for
the Chinese land forces, and to fight western part of the Sudan. Our
landing was made at Khartoum,
Never neglect head colds
a delaying action against the Japa
They can cause much suf-
nese until the Chinese armies could where the Blue Nile and the White
fcrlng. A little Va-tro-nol
be equipped with modern sinews of Nile meet.
up each nostril works fast
On
April
8,
we
left
Khartoum
for
war for offensive action against the
right where trouble Is to re­
an easy run to Aden, on a course
lieve sneesy, stuffy distress
stranglehold of Japan.
of head colda. Soothes Ir­
Finally, in the late summer of which was almost due East over
ritation, reduces swelling,
1941, the Army, Navy, and Marine the mountains of Eritrea. We went
makes breathing easier.
Corps permitted a few reserve offi­ on over Gura and Massaua to the
Try It I Also helps prevent
many colds from develop­
cer pilots to resign their commis­ Red Sea. On our left we could see
ing It used In time. Follow
Yemen, and farther South and to
sions
and
accept
jobs
as
instructors
—
— directions
CHAPTER V II
with Central Aircraft Manufactur­ our right, Somaliland. Reaching the
ing Company, or Cameo, as it was South end of the Red Sea and the
Maybe the meal was feally good— called. These seventy-odd pilots and Gulf of Aden, the well-known land­
I ’ve forgotten. But later we were some three hundred ground-crew­ marks, the Rocks of Aden, appeared
to have some meals which were def­ men proceeded in small numbers on about noon. Next day we'd make
initely on the rugged side. Some ships of various nations—Dutch, the run on to India.
time just try a breakfast at three British, Indian, American, and some
The British garrison commander
a. m. composed of warmed-over, unregistered—West from San Fran­ took care of us that night But
mouldy, then re-warmed toast, with cisco to Java, then Singapore, and around the dinner table there sud- INDULGE in a riot of color in
1 these "South of the Border” tea
slightly sour canned tomatoes. After thence to Rangoon, Burma.
dehly dropped a blanket of despair.
this year and more, I can close my
These “instructors” for Cameo The London radio announced that towels. Make gay caballeros and
eyes and see Col. C. V. Haynes sit­ were carried on the passenger lists Bataan had fallen. After the first señoritas in cross-stitch.
• • •
ting there looking at that d elicacy- as acrobats, doctors, lawyers, and comment we settled down to worry, ¡
Brighten your kitchen with cross-stitch
thinking, no doubt, about Carolina probably even Indian chiefs. I imag­ Part of our mission was to bomb towels. P a tte rn 7159 contains a transfer
country ham, with brown gravy ine that after they made Their great Jap concentrations around Bataan j ’!tltun o< ,even
averaging e*,« by
making a little puddle in the grits. record—with never more than fifty- and Corregidor. Would this develop-
_ £ *,*'
„ .
.. .
. . . .
..
,
Due to an unusually large demand and
Well fed but on the tired side,
ment cause that part of the attack Curr« nt w a r conditions, slightly more tim e
to be called off? Again the fear of 1__________________________
we left the base at 13:35, for our
next destination farther down the
being frustrated in our effort to take
coast For more than two hundred
the offensive clutched my heart. It
miles we were over friendly terri­
seemed that once again help had
been started too late.
tory as we hugged the beaches, but
later, along the Ivory Coast, we had
We had caught the last of the
to fly out to sea to avoid the prying
B-17’s at Aden, and next morning
eyes that were Vichy French. I
we got up an extra hour early for
must have sworn deeply that after­
the take-off. Our Fortress was
When painting the ceiling of a
noon, for in my diary I note now
straining to get to the initial point
that I wrote this line: “Damn, we
just behind the B-24. Success was room, cut a rubber ball in half,
then cut a hole in the one half and
in sight.
have to dodge those b
all the
time.”
At 5:50 we were climbing over slip over the paint brush handle.
the beach of southern Arabia, and * 11S w *d catch paint drippings,
We passed a fighter base at 17:00
as the light improved we all agreed
— •—
G.M.T., and one hour later we land­
that Arabia was a rugged-looking
Cotton corduroys look best if
ed at another West Coast base. The
; A
land.
After the terrible stories after laundering they are not
sun was setting back to the West in
about the mutilation of forced-down ironed, but m erely brushed along
the Atlantic—towards home. Easter
flyers at the hands of the tribes­ the direction of the ribs while still
Sunday was fast coming to a close.
men, we all were glad that we had slightly damp.
I remembered then, from "hearsay
the little cards written in Arabic,
evidence,” that I had been born ex­
promising high payment to the A r­
In laundering, rem em ber the
actly thirty-four years before. From
t
abs if we were delivered unharmed temperature of the water is im­
personal experience I would be able
• Here’s why gently warming, soothing Ben-Gay acts
General Chennault's AVG was to the nearest British outpost.
to recall this Easter as a memora­
portant. The hotter the water, the
fast
to relieve muscular soreness and pain...Ben-Gay ac­
composed of three squadrons, func­
ble one.
We followed the Arabian coast whiter the clothes.
tually
contains upto2*/a times more methyl salicylate and
Next day, while the crew worked tioning under the supreme command over the blue waters of the Arabian
menthol—those famous pain-relieving agents known to
of
China’s
Generalissimo
Chiang
on the tired airplane, some of us
sea to the Gulf of Oman, and then
Wrap a m etallic frock in black
every doctor—than five other widely offered rub-ins. So
drove into the bush country. With a Kai-shek, shown above. About sev­ crossed to Karachi.
paper or m aterial to prevent it
—insist on genuine Ben-Gay for soothing, quick relief!
enty
pilots
and
three
hundred
guide we made about a ten-hour trip
Colonel Haynes, with the B-24, had from tarnishing.
into the interior, to Togoland. En­ ground crew personnel made up this gone to Delhi. Our orders were to
— •—
B en G ay — TH£ O R IG IN A L A N A IG E S IQ U E BAUME
tering a typical dirty village we organization, which for nearly four wait at Karachi And now for two
The next tim e you m ake a laun­
heard jazz music and picked our months had been In combat against weeks we anxiously waited, while dry bag, put a draw string on both
r ,
‘PAIN I " H E U M A U S . M
IM .IH I S ALSO
way towards the source. I imagine the Japanese Air Force from Ran­ the rumors flew.
N F U R A L G IA
M IL D B I N CAV
ends. This will facilitate emptying
goon
up
to
Lashio,
Burma.
Due
TO
|
A
N
D
f
O
l
D
S
J
FOR C H IL D R E N
all of us were expecting to find a
I think I shall always associate it.
radio or a victrola; instead we five airplanes they shot down two India with my first impression on
found that we were really in the hundred and eighty-six Japanese getting out of my ship. No one
land that had "birthed” jazz. planes, losing only eight in combat seemed to know anything. Behind
Grouped about an earthen crock of —the complaining Japanese would us lay twelve thousand miles, which
palm wine was the population of the have been disposed to add the re­ we had made in eight days—for
village, and the more they dipped mainder of the nursery rhyme, what? No one stood there with or­
the gourd cups into the stagnant- "Rich man, poor man, beggar-man, ders to expedite our departure. In­
looking liquor, the hotter the music thief.”
stead they appeared to think we
became and the more the sweating
had
ferried this ship for them to use
Many times I had heard Radio
black bodies swayed to the beat of Tokyo complain of the “cruelty” of in training. Training, mind you—
the drums. Their bare feet were these American guerrilla pilots. Un­ here, halfway round the world and
moving to the rhythm in the dust, der General Chennault's clever lead­ in a country that faced attack any
and their naturally musical voices, ership and tactical genius they had moment! When we explained as
added to the syncopated rumble that virtually driven the Imperial Japa­ much as we could about our secret
came from black hands thumping nese A ir Force from the skies of orders, smiles came to the officers'
many kinds of drums, made us won­ Burma, and held the Burma Road faces. Bets were laid that we would
der whether some orchestra like for months after it should have fal­ never leave Karachi with those
Cab Calloway’s hadn’t come to Af­ len. Against odds of more than ships. But we were volunteers, and
rica with us on a USO project.
twenty to one, they had "saved our combat spirit was still there
On April 7 we left the Gold Coast face” for America and the white remember that all my crew took the
for Kano, in Nigeria. Off at 08:00 race, in this battle against a much- bets, as fast as they were offered
But we lost.
G.M.T., we flew a course of 90 de­ belittled enemy.
Once again we had been frustrat­
grees to miss more of Vichy France.
When one considers that the AVG
Over Lagos, in the clammy heat of fought in what the British called ob­ ed in our effort to go to war on the
the equatorial jungle, we turned solete tactical combat aircraft—the offensive. Now, four months after
into the continent to a course of 58 P-40B’s and P-40C’s—their deeds Pearl Harbor, the stencilled word on
degrees and continued over very and scores become truly legendary. a B-17 in our flight, SNAFU—mean­
thick country until we crossed the Throughout China today. General ing roughly, in Air Corps slang,
Niger. From there on East, the Chennault’s AVG are regarded as “Snarled-up”—seemed to fit the situ­
land that was Africa seemed to dry “Saviors of Free China Skies.” The ation. We learned the worst when
up, Aid my bqghood conception of Chinese sentry on the gate to the Haynes came back from Delhi with
how the Dark Continent should look “Fijichan” or airfield may shake a face a yard long. Sadly he told
faded away. Instead of constant his head when you show him your us the truth. Due to the fall of Ba­
jungle we now saw dry desert, like pass; he may not understand your taan and the loss of other fields in
the lower hump of Brazil near Na­ hard-won Chinese; but when you eastern China—our seeret bases—
tal, or places in our own West.
smile and call, "A-V-G,” his face coupled with other factors beyond
We landed at the old walled city lights up in turn, and he calls, his control, our "dream mission"
of Kano that afternoon. Our next "Ding-hao—you are ‘number one.’ ” had come to the end of the line.
take-off, for Khartoum, would best He holds his thumb up in the old
During the fourteen days in Ka­
be made at nightfall, in order that fam iliar signal, and you enter. Then, rachi, when we had been waiting for
we might land in the Sudan early in to show his high regard for Ameri­ Colonel Haynes, it had been a dif­
the morning before the dust storms cans and his vivid memory of Gen­ ficult job of finesse to hang on to
had impaired the visibility. To eral Chennault’s Flying Tigers, he the ships. All twelve of the B-17’s
waste time we walked into town to calls after you, "A-V-G mean Ameri­ were lined up to be turned over to
see the ancient city of Biblical days. can Very Good—ding-hao, ding- Base Units on the field. But the
Soon we found ourselves dodging hao.”
personnel responsible for the con­
(Drawing eourteey Quaker State Oil Refining Corp.)
camels, lepers, and Ali Baba—with
flicting orders had reckoned without
his more than forty thieves.
We caught up with three more of the extreme loyalty of the volunteer
our thirteen bombers at Kano, and crewmen to the flight commander
General Chennault’s AVG was all our crew had begun to feel con­ and the pilot of each ship. The
composed of three squadrons, func­ fident that we could not be called men stood guard twenty-four hours
tioning under the supreme command back from the mission against To­ a day in and around the bombers.
of China’s Generalissimo Chiang kyo. To insure this to a greater de­ This was logical, too, because each
Kai-shek. About seventy pilots and gree, we were trying hard, without ship contained not only the secret
three hundred ground crew person­ appearing to be too anxious, to be bomb-sight but full complements of
rlCTORY begins with the American
give nerve-shattered men in the merchant
nel made up this organization, which the first to reach our initial p o in t- loaded fifty-calibre guns, as well as
farmer, working from long before
marine
a chance to recuperate. To give
So long as we the personal effects of the bomber
for nearly four months had been in Karachi, India.
sunset until long after nightfall. Upon him
unfortunate people abroad and at home
combat against the Japanese Air were the first of the B-17’s, we crews. At first the crews appeared
falls the burden of feeding the fighting
Force from Rangoon up to Lashio, could claim a moral victory. For bewildered; but then their attitude
a chance to have life, liberty, and happi­
Burma. These American boys had after all, Colonel Haynes was boss, seemed to imply stubbornly that
forces . . . the civilian population . . . and
ness.
come from the air services of the and In a ship with longer range they had been ordered to attack
hungry mouths in war-torn countries.
The dollars you can give are needed
American Army, Navy and Marine than the Fortress and we wanted Japanese territory, and no matter
To the challenge of producing more
him ahead.
Corps.
If Bataan and all of eastern China
more than ever this year. Please give
The General was an old pilot,
With full service aboard, and the fell, that’s what they were going
food than ever, American soldiers of the
generously.
and through many years of single- temperature hot and stifling, even to do.
soil have responded with heroic effort
seater flying in the noise of open after nightfall, we threaded our way
One day the General in charge of
Despite shortages of help and equipment,
cockpits had become moderately through the dust for the take-off. I the Air Base sent a crew down to
they have established records. They have
deaf, a circumstance that had remember that the heavy ship used my ship with orders for them to
contributed mightily towards winning the
helped to bring about his retirement. the entire runway and some of the take over and search out a Japanese
Knowing that war with Japan was sagebrush prairie land too, for there Task Force far out in the Arabian
war.
more than probable, after his re­ seemed to be no lift whatever to the Sea. They were met with the ready
Now you are asked to help your fellow-
tirement he had gone to China, and hot, dead air. Finally reaching a Tommy guns of my men and rough­
men in another way . . . to contribute
there he had not only persuaded comfortable cruising altitude at ly told that no one except members
the Generalissimo to build the air- twelve thousand, Doug and I of the crew could get aboard. A
money to give men in the armed forces
warning net within China, but had breathed the old fam iliar sigh of re­ Major in the new crew showed his
needed recreation, to give books and
worked to train China's Air Force as lief at having once again gotten a orders. My crew chief replied: " I ’m
■ports
equipment to prisoners of war, to
well. Growing out of this, when loaded bomber in the air, and the sorry, Sir, but I have mine, too;
the brave Chinese A ir Force was sigh echoed around the ship.
we are on our way to bomb an ene­
virtually destroyed by the over­
Down in the dust haze not a light my objective. No one gets aboard
whelming odds
the Japanese jug­ showed as we crossed equatorial Af­ this ship except the regular crew.”
gernaut, Chennault had long cher- rica where Sergeant Aaltonen and
(TO-BE CONTINUED)
Watch Oat
Head
VICKS
Cok/Si
VA-TRO-NOL
I f P eter P a in •
HAMMERS YOU f '
...A N D
S ore M uscles
AhA ’
*
i g
SCREAM ...
S. V
P
f if
V
-s
M B/N
Ben-Gay QU/CK
I
Soldier of the Soil
v:
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