Excerpts from 'Vampire Squadron'

Lt. Henry Matson

    "... One of the more outstanding feats of the day was turned in by Lt. Henry E. Matson. His first two passes at the enemy were without result, but on his third he exploded a Zero. Another Zero came at him with guns blazing, but Matson flamed him with a single burst.

    He was now in such close quarters that, as he pulled off, his propeller chewed through the flaming Zero's right wing, and he found himself in the middle of a Zero- P40 bonfire.

    'There was a marked rise in the temperature in my cockpit', he says. Loosening his safety belt, he found himself suddenly floating in the air at 18,000 feet, his mouth full of powered Plexiglas, his head, neck, face, and hands burned. As he floated downward, three Zeros moved in to strafe him. But he persuaded them that he was one of their own 'by various gestures of friendship and victory,' to quote his own words.

    Matson shook hands with himself above his head, he gave them toothy smiles and bows, protruding his teeth as much as possible to look like a Jap, and with salutes such gestures succeeded in putting over his clever idea, and they waved him good luck as he went down unharmed.

    Before hitting the water, he gave himself a morphine injection  and after getting into his rubber boat and covering his face, he slept until he was picked up two hours later and taken to the Russells. His score for that day: Two confirmed, three probables. ..."

The Vampire Squadron has a field day!

    "...The biggest aerial battle of the war in the South Pacific up to that time was about to occur. Just after noon on 16 June, a Coastwatcher  on Vella Lavella spotted 38 Zeros headed southeast. They were followed by 50 Vals and 30 more Zeros, coming in to attack cargo ships escorted by destroyers off Guadalcanal. He radioed the message to Guadalcanal.

    Between 1pm and 2pm, 104 fighters were scrambled over the Russells and Guadalcanal. The included 12 P-38's, 21 P-40's, 8 P-39's, plus Navy and Marine New Zealand fighters.

    The first Japanese planes came in over the Beaufort Bay and were engaged at 1:47pm. A second formation approached from the North and was immediately attacked, but 30 got through to hit the cargo ships.

    The twelve 339th P-38's made first contact with the enemy off Beaufort Bay, and the fight carried  over the island and out to sea toward Savo. When they finished they had shot down eleven Zeros. Lt Shubin got five of them. Lt. Bob Byrne's P-40 flight just reached 23,000 feet when bogies were reported approaching Henderson Field from the South at 15,000 feet. Byrnes and his flight started to dive, making numerous turns and searching the sky for the enemy. At about 15,000 feet they saw bombs explode in the water and then they sighted the enemy planes at a much lower altitude. Byrnes and Lt. Cy Gladen, of Guthrie, Okla.., started to intercept the dive bombers and ran into several Zeros. They picked out a Zero flying North and after a few minutes chase, Byrnes gave it a long burst and followed through in a sharp left turn to get in another long burst, but neither seemed to do any damage. Then Gladen, who was his wingman, got in a short burst which started it smoking, then they followed downward to see it crash into the sea.

    Then Byrnes sighted another Zero which he hit with a very close long burst. It began to smoke and a second later exploded in mid-air. Byrnes made several abrupt maneuvers to clear his tail when suddenly he saw a Zero in front of him in a sharp left turn. He fired a long burst and the Zero began smoking, to crash a few moments later into the sea.

    Cy Gladen began climbing for altitude, when he spotted another Zero off to his right. He got a good deflection shot and undoubtedly hit it but he was going much faster than Gladen and started pulling away. Gladen continued to fire until his ammunition was exhausted. Then he saw the Zero start smoking and losing speed, so he pressed the chase with the idea of chopping off its tail with his propeller. When he closed, however, he saw that the Zero's left wing was burning and puffs of white smoke were coming out of the fuselage. He pulled alongside and saw the pilot was slumped over in his cockpit, apparently shot. The Zero fell rapidly, still burning, into a cloud. Lt. Dale Tarbet spotted an olive drab colored Zero in a vertical bank toward him and he fired a deflection shot from about 350 yards before he had to break away. He pulled up into a steep chandelle to the left and saw the Zero going down in flames. He then plunged at a gray and black checkerboard Zero that was turning into him. Tarbet gave him a short burst and broke away, with no results observed.

    Lt. Mack Bunderson, of Emory, Utah, was climbing in a left turn when he saw a Zero bearing down on him in a head on pass. He fired a long burst into it and saw the Zero smoking as he leveled off. Bunderson continued to fire as they were closing head on, and when he could almost 'see the yellow of his eyes', the Zero exploded and what appeared to be its wing passed just over Bunderson's right wing. He rolled over to see the Zero crash into the sea. A second Zero passed in front and to the right in a shallow dive. Bunderson closed in slowly, giving it a good 30 degree rear deflection shot. There was a flash from the Zeros cockpit, it snapped over on its back and did a split downward, smoking and crashed into the sea as Bunderson prepared for another shot.

    The other flight had been orbiting between Savo Island and Henderson Field at about 23,000 feet but but the plane of Lt. Robert Holman, of Salt Lake City, Utah, was unable to maintain the altitude and dropped down to 20,000 feet with Bade following to cover him. Dive  bombers were then sighted and their bombs could be seen splashing the water. The flight started a dive for the enemy, Capt. John D. Voss, of San Antonio, Texas, and Lt. William Cargill of Kansas City, said they lost sight of them and pulled up to around 19,000 feet to see three planes burst into flames, but saw no other enemy ships and made no contacts.

    During their dive, Bade and Holman saw a Zero and both got in a short burst.  At this time they said they saw about 20 Zeros fighting with approximately the same number of our planes. As Bade was pulling up after the first pass, he got in a short deflection shot at another Zero which started smoking and headed down.

    Lt. John E. Wood of Denver peeled off on the tail of a dive bomber and fired a long burst into the tail. Its tail gunner stopped firing  and Wood saw the tail disintegrate while the bomber crashed to the sea. Lt. Joe Lesicka also peeled off after a dive bomber and closed on it from about 600 yards, giving it several short bursts that sent it into the water, out of control.

    Lt. John Tedder was never seen by the flight after the peel off, and he did not return to base. It was presumed that he was in the P-40-F4F crash reported by Bade and seen also by Capt. William P. Norris of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Flight Officer Guild, a New Zealander. Tedder's was the only P-40 that failed to return and his name was to the roll of those missing in action.

    The second flight of four, with Capt. Norris of the 70th squadron, Lt. Wallace Jennings, of Santa Ana, Calif., Lt. Frank Gaunt of North Platte, Nebr., and Lt. Harold Dreckman of Long Beach, Calif., made contact with dive bombers at about 9,000 feet over Henderson Field. Norris peeled off on the tail of a dive bomber and followed, closing on it with long bursts going into the bombers tail which started smoking. Later Norris got another long burst into a bomber that crashed into the water. His own plane was hit by a 20mm shell and he was severely wounded  in both legs and his left hand. He tried to continue the flight but was too weak from loss of blood and returned to the base, for which he was commended.

    Jennings, who was Norris' wingman, peeled off after the dive bomber that was smoking from Norris' attack, and gave it several long bursts which plunged it into the sea. His right arm was raked by 7.7mm fire, but he brought his plane safely in.

    Gaunt had spotted three flights of Jap dive bombers and Zeros, each flight with about 30 planes. He peeled off after the first group and followed a dive bomber down in it's dive. After several bursts he saw it explode downward in a shallow dive. He overtook it and came up from from below to give it another burst, which set it on fire. The Zero rolled over slowly and went straight down in flames.

    Bade saw what he thinks was a P-40 and an F4F collide in mid-air as they were making opposite side passes on a Zero.

    Holman got in a good belly shot at a Zero that was rolling away. After pumping more than 60 rounds into him, he broke into flames and went down. Holman started into another climb and a Zero came in on a beam attack to his left. He turned sharply but could not bring his guns to bear.

    Every man in the flight said he saw many planes going into the sea in flames and many more smoking badly. What the men on Guadalcanal beach below said they saw is just too much to repeat. Its sufficient to say they were an appreciative audience. Meanwhile the 10 ships of the squadron that had taken the low level cover position were contributing their part to the unit's record of Jap tolls.

    Thirty enemy dive bombers were sighted in a glide down towards shipping from the Southwest. Lt. Cotesworth Head, Jr., of San Francisco, turned into a dive bomber and started firing  from about 1,000 yards, closing, and saw him crash into the water. He chandelled to the right up to about 6,000 feet and peeled off into a mixed 'batch of dive bombers and Zeros'. He picked out a dive bomber and started firing from 600 yards, closing in as white tracers started going by his head and he could feel his plane being hit. He broke away from the dive bomber after seeing flame burst from both wing roots and found he still had the Zero on his tail. He chopped his throttle and skidded, causing the Zero to over run him. Then he pulled up and hung on his prop, putting a burst into the Zero which fell off to the left into the water. Out of ammunition, he returned to the base where his plane was found to have hits from one 20mm, nine 50 calibers and two 30 calibers. He caught another dive bomber after it made its run and, evading fire from the tail gunner, he came up low and behind with a burst that crashed the bomber. Lt Gaunt got shots at four or five other bombers but was unable to observe results.

    Lt. Lucian Shuler of Griffin, GA, and Lt. Doug  Currey of Sacramento, Calif., took off in a two plane flight about two o'clock and climber to 9,000 feet over Henderson Field where they saw two Jap planes release four bombs. Shuler peeled off after a dive bomber and fired, but was out of range. He followed it down and kept firing until flames were pouring from the bottom. It hit the water. Shuler then found a Zero on his tail but, shook it to make two more passes at the dive bombers, which appeared to be ineffective. Currey had dived with Shuler and, picking out a bomber, put several bursts into it to crash it in flames. Jamming of his guns the forced Currey to his base.

    When the fight was over- it was the greatest air battle in the South Pacific to that time- a fight which lasted only about an hour- the results were outstanding. In addition tot he 20 planes shot doen by the 44th, the 339th P-38's downed 11, and the P-39's of the 68th also knocked down 11 Japs. This made it 42 Japs shot down in one day by the 13th Fighter Command- truly a red letter day!

    Adding tot he incredible one day score, the Navy F4F's got 30 Japs, the Marine F4U Corsairs got 3, and the New Zealanders in their P-40s shot down 5 Zeros. Ship gunners claimed an additional 16 enemy planes while shore based antiaircraft batteries downed one. That made for a total for the day 97 Japanese planes shot down for the loss of one P-40, three F4F's, and one F4U. On the water, one merchant ship and one barge were damaged. If the fighter pilots had not received the early warning of the Coast Watchers and missed their tremendous victory, the results could have been a catastrophe for Guadalcanal.

    While too much cannot be said for the heroism of the pilots during those trying days, a great share of the success must go to the ground crews, who frequently worked around the clock putting damaged planes back into shape to fly, overcoming shortages of parts by cannibalizing wrecked planes and practically manufacturing flyable aircraft from the parts they removed..."

CoastWatchers

   One of the best kept secrets of the war was the activities of a small group of rugged and fearless Australian volunteers known as the Solomon Island coast watchers. Developed by the Royal Australian Navy after World War I, the groups mission was to establish a network of "observers" in the islands to watch the coastline in case of war and act as a kind of "fence" around Australia.

    In 1939, when war seemed to be brewing, the Australian Navy selected Lt. Commander Eric Feldt, to take charge of the organization. When the war began in 1941, he had over 100 coast watching stations, hidden on islands that stretched in a 2500 mile crescent from the New Hebrides to Western New Guinea.

    All the stations were equipped with "teleradios", rugged sets that could transmit either by voice or by telegraph key. They worked on storage batteries and had a range of up to 400 miles. They were efficient, but clumsy. In all, it took twelve to sixteen men to carry a set anytime it had to be moved, which turned out to be often on a moments notice in the thick of the jungles.

    All through the war this brave handful of coastwatchers hid themselves in the jungle on islands overrun with Japanese and relayed valuable radio messages concerning enemy troops, Jap ship movements, and aircraft operations. It was a great help for commanders on Guadalcanal to hear a radio voice say "40 bombers heading your way," two hours before they were due. It gave them time to scramble our fighters and be waiting for them when they arrived.

    Another great contribution they made was in rescuing our pilots who were shot down, bailed out and landed in the jungle on various Jap held islands. It is estimated that they saved more than 100 pilots who would otherwise have probably become, at best, Japanese prisoners of war.

    One of our Vampire pilots learned firsthand of the unique and courageous work the coastwatchers and friendly natives were doing when, on 12 August, the ammunition box on his P-40 blew up while he was being chased  by four Zeros, and Lt. Grant Smith of Daly City, California, was forced to bail out over Choisel Island.

    Lt. Smith, when he bailed out, deliberately delayed the opening of his chute so as to afford no more target than possible the strafing Japs. But even after he settled through the trees and picked himself up, Jap planes circled him for five minutes seeking a shot at him.

    He said of his rescue..."Because of low hanging clouds I had no idea of my relative  position on the island, except that I was somewhere in the middle. So I decided to walk North to avoid the Japs, knowing they had scattered positions on the south coast. I walked for four days, reaching the North Coast on the fifth day. During these four days I tried to hold a heading of North as near as possible, using my compass that was in the chute pack. Without the compass it would have been impossible to maintain a constant heading. I altered this course only when the terrain was impossible, which was often. The walking the first two days was over fairly mountainous country, with very tall trees and dense underbrush.

    "I attempted to stay as well as possible on the ridges, as to cross them would make progress very slow and direction hard to maintain. Water was no problem as there were numerous fresh water springs. On the morning of the third day I came upon a good sized river heading almost due North. I regretted not having my rubber life raft as it was left behind, but walking in the brush prevents carrying anything that cannot be tied to you. I attempted, unsuccessfully, to make a raft but could not tie the thing together, so I decided to follow one edge of the river. The terrain by now had flattened out and walking was much easier, except for swamps and numerous tributaries to the river, which slowed my progress. I tried to go through one swamp and it took me three hours to break out of it.

    "It is much better to detour any obstacle, even if it means climbing a hill to get around it. Luckily I as well equipped for the trip. My compass, canteen, and machete were my most important  assets. The machete was useful for making a lean-to in which to spend the nights. Sleeping was fair except for the mosquitoes. I found a coconut tree the third day, which was a nice change from the D rations, the sweetness of which was getting hard to take. I was not particularly hungry in the entire four days I walked, probably because I was thinking more about getting to the beach. Aside from the coconut tree I saw nothing in the jungle in the way of food. Although I knew the ocean must be close ahead, the mangroves were so think that it was a complete surprise when I finally walked out onto the beach.

    Following the beach, Smith encountered some natives who took him to their village, rested and fed him, and then carried him 30 miles by canoe to a point from which he was picked up by a PBY 'Dumbo' and returned to Guadalcanal. He advised... "Don't bail out in the jungle except as a last resort. If you find yourself in one, take your time, walk in one direction, and by all means take advantage of the first natives you see. Their appearance may be deceiving, but they are friendly, and will do anything to help you."

4 Awarded Navy DFC for Heroism

    16th April, 1944: Four P-38's were ordered by Air Operations at Stirling to escort a PBY on a rescue mission, picking up survivors of a PV that had gone down off Ballale Island. The P-38's took off from Stirling at 1030 and rendezvoused with the Dumbo one mile north of Mono Island. They proceeded to their objective and stayed with the Dumbo while it landed. When the shore batteries opened fire, the P-38's strafed them knocking out several. Because of the heavy fire the Dumbo had to retire leaving two of the PV crew still there, along with two of its own crew.

    The P-38's started back with the Dumbo, when another Dumbo was called to pick up the survivors. The P-38's although their ammunition was almost exhausted, returned to lend what aid they could by flying over the area, and drawing fire so the rescue could be affected. Three of the P-38's were badly damaged, but all stayed in the area until the PBY took off and headed for home base.

    Three P-38s then started for Stirling but due to fire in the cockpit of the leaders plane, they headed in the direction of Munda. Captain Howard Cleveland pancaked his badly damaged plane, with the hydraulic system shot out, making a belly landing and washing out the plane. Time 1302. The two airplanes also landed at the same time. Captain Cleveland was uninjured. The other P-38 headed for Stirling and pancaked there around 1200, a few holes in the fuselage. Captain Cleveland and Lieutenant Dick Cartwright both took off from Munda at 1550, leaving Lieutenant Joe Adams to continue his journey to Stirling by Scat. The two P-38s landed at Stirling at 1630.

    Captain Cleveland's report: "At 1015, Lieutenants Jack Laurie, Dick Cartwright and I took off on the Dumbo escort. A few minutes later, we were joined by Lieutenant  Joe Adams. As we approached within three miles east of Ballale, I noticed two lift rafts with men in them. Dumbo #1 went in and landed. Gun flashes emanated from the shore. I called Lieutenant Laurie, my element leader, saying we'd make a strafing run. We made numerous passes at the gun positions along the eastern shore, strafing the entire area. We succeeded in silencing many of the guns, in face of heavy, intense and fairly accurate antiaircraft.

    "We escorted Dumbo #1 to safety and escorted Dumbo #2 into the area showing it the location of the life raft. As our ammunition had been expended, we flew up to 3,000 feet in an effort to divert Jap fire from the second Dumbo rescue crew. We received intense, heavy antiaircraft fire. Suddenly, I heard a loud explosion and realized that my left engine had been shot out. (it was later determined that the hit was made by a 40mm shell) Hydraulic fluid splashed over my face, eyes and over my whole body. Blinded momentarily, I withdrew; Lieutenant Laurie landed at Stirling at 1200.

    The rest of my flight and I headed for Munda, where I was forced to belly land at 1302. Lieutenants Cartwright and Adams landed shortly after. On landing, a closer examination revealed hits in Lieutenants Adams' wing and two 7.7 hits on the windshield. There were also hits in Lieutenant Cartwright's wing, severing one cable. At 1550 Lieutenant Cartwright and I departed Munda and landed at base at 1630. Lieutenant Adams remained at Munda. All four pilots were presented with the Navy Distinguished Flying Cross for their heroism.

Jungle Kit, Complete

Lt's Pollock, Koval, Vahey Score Four!

    3 November Mission - Escort 4 Squadrons of B-25's to Alicante and Fabrica Airfields on Negros. On reaching Negros, five of our P-38's intercepted ten Jap planes over Alicante and four of our planes intercepted ten more Japs over Bacalod. Five additional Japs joined the fight, making it a total of fifteen. At the beginning of the fight over Bacalod which occurred at low altitudes (3500-1500 feet), Lt. Harrison Rogers, who was "tail end Charlie", was tapped. As the Oscar came down on him, Lt. James Vahey turned into the Jap. This is Lt. Vahey's account-

    "I turned left and went back, catching him head-on. He began smoking and I followed him around 70 degrees and hit him again. He caught fire and I caught him in the tail and broke it off.  He went down right over the field. I then joined the Luftbery with the other eight planes.

    "Lt. Rogers broke out of the Luftbery  and headed into the clouds tot he east towards Leyte. As I broke out of the Luftbery, I saw another Oscar starting across the field after Lt. Rogers. I got one 90 degree deflection shot and smoked him slightly. I then broke off and followed Lt. Rogers until he was clear. I saw Lt. Leslie Koval shoot the Oscar I had smoked- the Oscar exploded on Bacalod airstrip. After getting a few shots into a third Oscar just west of the field, a plane got on my tail, and I got into the clouds. I then came west and joined Lt. Koval and returned to Leyte.

    Lt. Donald Moore also witnessed the two Oscars destroyed over Bacalod and then spotted another Oscar.

    "In making my first pass, I got in a short burst head-on. In a second pass on another plane, I got a long burst at 90 degree deflection. There were several hits at which time I was forced to break away by another Oscar which was diving on my tail.

    Lt. Rogers, whose right engine was shot out, used the clouds in making his way safely back to Tacloban field on Leyte. Lts. Koval, Moore, and Vahey also landed on Tacloban, from which they flew to Morotai and then back to Mar on New Guinea.

    Meanwhile, over at Alicante, LtCol. Milton Adams, 18th Fighter Group C.O. spotted fifteen Oscars. While he was over the runway at 800,feet, LtCol. Adams attacked an Oscar, closing to 400 yards. He saw tracers striking all over the plane and parts of the plane splintered. The Oscar then swerved around and fired at his wingman, Lt. Edward B. Campbell, but missed him. It then went in a steep dive down to the deck and then rose up again.

    As Lt. Shallenberger's four plane flight reached the target, fifteen enemy fighters attacked. He immediately dropped his bomb and made an overhead pass on one of the enemy panes, scoring hits on its right wing and forcing it to break off an attack on another P-38. He was about to make the final kill when his guns jammed and he had to leave the fight.

    When another enemy fighter came around from the right, Lt. Shallenberger maneuvered to get on its tail, but again he had to break off his attack because his guns were inoperative. As he was pulling up, he noticed that one P-38 in his element was being boxed in by two Jap Zeros, one of which was closing quickly. Fully aware that he had no firepower and that he would be in serious trouble  should the enemy decide to turn against him, he made a pass at the Jap. Just as he was in range, the Jap pilot discontinued his attack. Lt. Shallenberger's unselfish action probably saved the P-38 pilots life.

    1st Lt. John Pollock was the next to see action:

    "Five minutes off the target I saw something shining from Alicante Field. A bogey was taking off. I then spotted the first Jap plane. He had come over the field high and about 2000 feet. I dropped my bombs and then went after the Oscar. I swung on around tot he left and met him head-on. Saw him in flames, but I did not see him blow up.

    "I turned left and saw another Oscar. I crossed on him at about a 90 degree deflection shot about a ½ mile away when I started closing in. At 500 yards, I shot and he began smoking  when I saw another Oscar fire on my tail, and I then lost sigh of my smoker.

    "I booted rudder, pulled up and then saw one out of range. I closed on him and started firing. He split-S'ed and left. Another Oscar came down on my tail and then I left the area and headed down the strait. After a few seconds, I headed back toward Alicante and saw a P-38. Shortly after, an Oscar was on my tail and the P-38 (Lt. Shallenberger) made on pass at him, even though his guns were jammed. The Oscar split S'ed and Lt. Charles Shallenberger followed him down.. Then another Oscar got on Lt. Shallenberger's tail and I was closing in on him. I noticed an Oscar above me split-essing to attack. I nosed my plane down and left the area with Shallenberger.

    Destruction of the 2 Oscars by Lt. Pollock was confirmed by Col. Adams who saw one go down in flames, and the rear gunner of a B-25 who witnessed the other.

    1st Lt. Gene A. Anderson, who was a member of Col. Adams section, was last seen over Benate bay at an altitude of 3,000 feet heading in a westerly direction by Lt. Shallenberger, his wingman, who was also engaged in enemy action.

    Both Lts. John Pollock and Charles Shallenberger were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for their outstanding efforts on this mission.

Vampires Earn Distinguished Unit Citation Today

    The Next mission on 10 November, earned the squadron a rare Distinguished Unit Citation for it's efforts along with the 12th Fighter Squadron and the 70th Fighter Squadron. Each squadron had 12 P-38s.

    A large Jap troop ship convoy was sighted attempting to make a landing on Ormoc Bay on the west coast of Leyte to help their beleaguered troops on the island. The convoy was protected by two light cruisers and four destroyers and was near Palompon Island  just northwest of Ormoc Bay.

    The following are excerpts from the Citation:

    "...on the morning of 10 November, 33 P-38 aircraft of the group took off from Wama strip, Morotai. Each plane carried one 1000 pound armour-piercing bomb and one 315 gallon belly tank. Arriving over Ormoc Bay early in the afternoon, the group came upon a large Japanese troop transport protected by 2 light cruisers and 4 destroyers.

    "Although 8 aggressive enemy fighter planes made desperate attempts to break up their formation, and although the ships below sent up an intense barrage of antiaircraft fire which brought down 3 of the P-38s and seriously damaged another, the pilots of the 18th Fighter Group completed their bombing runs on the transport and scored 2 direct hits, sinking the vessel almost immediately.

    "In the action that followed, the group sank a destroyer with a direct hit, scored several damaging near misses on the remaining destroyers and cruisers and left one destroyer with its deck in flames.

    "Engaging the intercepting enemy fighters, 2 of the P-38s probably destroyed one and damaged another. The group then flew to Tacloban Strip on Leyte.

    Individual pilots comments:

    1st Lt. James Fritsch: "I started my dive bomb run at 14,000 feet. One Nip made a pass at me at about 9,000 feet and broke right off. I pulled out of my dive at 8,000 feet, climbed, met two Nips at 9,000 feet and fired head-on with unobserved results. I rejoined the rest on my formation and headed for Leyte.

    2nd Lt. Robert Mitchell: "At approximately 1345 over a Jap convoy of 7 ships while making my bomb run I saw a group of 8 Oscars in a Luftbery at 6,000 feet. I made my bomb run; released bomb at 6,500 feet and upon pulling out  of run fired at two of the Oscars. I then pulled away from the convoy and climbed to 8,000 feet, circled to gain altitude. 

    One P-38 of the 70th, later identified as  Ellis L. Bently, Jr., and two other P-38s joined me. I was leading this flight of 4 at 11,000 feet, heading for the Oscars. The 2 P-38s broke off. My wingman and I made an overhead pass from 11,000 feet, contacting two Oscars at 8,000 feet  and fired at them. They started a big corkscrew; we followed them for 4,000 feet. I held two long bursts from 55 to 150 yards (at a 75deg. to 80deg. deflection) on of the Oscars, and at 350mph; saw plane smoke. Also observed another Oscar going thru tracers fired by my wingman. Oscars went straight down from 4,000 feet toward convoy, and we broke off.

   1st Lt. William Starke: "We were over convoy at 14,000 feet. As I pulled up to start my dive I sighted a group of 4 Jap planes, possibly Oscars, directly over convoy at 10,000 feet. I continued down on my dive and at 8,000 feet two of the Nips passed directly in my gun sights. I gave the lead ship a short burst with unobserved results, continuing down in my dive and released my bomb at 4,000 feet. I then pulled out and joined another member of my squadron. We circled convoy, saw no other enemy aircraft, and headed for Leyte.

    Unfortunately, we lost 2nd Lt. James R. Glenny on the mission. He was last seen making his bomb run by 1st Lt. William Starke. After the section had completed its mission and reassembled, Lt. Glenny was missing.