HISTORY OF THE 69TH BOMBARDMENT SQUADRON (M)

    For you men who are returning to the states immediately and for those of you who have hopes of returning someday, this abridged history has been prepared. Its purpose is to give you a very brief outline of the results of the efforts of you and your predecessors, a chronological account of the major events, and a succinct narrative of the origin of the squadron.

    At this writing very little data of any description is available concerning the squadron or its activities prior to November 1941. As such information becomes available, this will be reedited. This squadron was activated at Langley Field, Virginia on January 15, 1941 and at that time was comprised of one officer and 26 enlisted men. Their personnel were derived from the 2nd Bombardment Squadron and the organization was temporarily attached to the 2nd Bomb Sq and the 33rd Bomb Sq. On June 3, 1941 the organization moved to Jackson Air Force Base, Jackson, Mississippi. The 69th was one of the squadrons of the 38th Bomb Sq., which then consisted of the 69th, 70th, 71st Bombardment Squadrons and the 15th reconnaissance Squadron. The whole group was complemented with the amazing total of seven B-18s and five PT-17s until November when they acquired B-26s.

    In January 1942 the group was ordered to leave Jackson, Mississippi, where it had been stationed for six months, and the personnel departed in sections on January 17, 18, and 19 respectively for San Francisco. Arriving on the 23rd of January the ground echelon of the enlisted men were quartered in the Livestock Pavilion, affectionately known as the “Cow Palace”. On the 29th the ground echelon of the 38th Group boarded the Army Transport Bliss, formerly the President Madison. The Bliss left in convoy from San Francisco on the 31st and arrived at Brisbane, and finally at Amberly Field near Ipswich. On May 17th the 69th ground echelon on a Dutch steamer M.S. Cremer left for Noumea, New Caledonia. From Noumea they went directly by truck convoy to Tontcuta, arriving there on May 20th, 1942. While here the air echelon joined them, forming the complete 69th Bombardment Squadron for the first time overseas. After a move on June 23 to Plaines de Gaiaca (PDG), the 69th was detached from the 38th Bomb Group which later was incorporated into the 5th Air Force. It is interesting to note that this organization later combined efforts in strikes with its former parent unit against the Halmaheras and again against Balikpapan. The 69th during their stay at New Caledonia was under the direction of ComAirSoPac.

    During the time the Air echelon was separated from the ground crews they too had some further diverse adventures. They were stationed at Fort McDowell, California till the 8th of March 1942 when they all left for Patterson Field. At Patterson Field further instructions on B-26 airplanes were received and in May 1942, the 38th Bomb Group was equipped with B-26B airplanes. On May 19th the 69th Bomb Sq received orders to proceed overseas, and departed immediately for Hamilton Field, California. It is necessary to digress at this point for a moment. Hitherto the air echelon personnel of the 69th had been actually the 71st Squadron, but when the order was issued, the 71st air echelon was assigned to the 69th ground echelon overseas while the original 69th air echelon became the 71st and stayed at Patterson Field. Hence the offices and men of the 69th air echelon changed the number of their organization. At Sacramento Air Depot the planes were stripped of armor plate, machine guns, and unnecessary equipment, while extra gas tanks were fitted in the bomb-bays. The first of the b-26s left Hamilton Field, for Hickam Field, Oahu, Hawaii on May 22, 1942. The flight lasted 13 hours, and it was the first time that the 2200 mile hop had been negotiated by a medium bomber. From May 22 to June 10, 1942 the 69th and 70th Bomb Sqs ferried 26 Martin medium bombers from California to Hickam Field without a single mishap.

    At Hickam all of the armor plate, guns and other equipment were reinstalled and practice missions were run. This did not last long as one flight was alerted and sent to Midway Island. From here, on the morning of June 4, 1942 the planes took off at 0630 and 30 minutes later established contact with the enemy whose naval task force was approaching Midway. Both planes made their runs and dropped their torpedoes but one was shot down and crashed into the sea. The returning plane is credited with sinking one Jap carrier and with three Zero fighters. The plane returned with more than 100 bullet holes in it and crash-landed, for the hydraulic system had been shot away. This was the first use of torpedoes by land based bombers.

    On June13, 1942 the 69th received orders to proceed to New Caledonia via Christmas Island, Canton Island, Fiji Island to Tontouta, all arriving by June 23rd. The move was then made with the ground echelon to PDG.

    During the period at Plaines de Gaiac, the squadron was honored by a visit from General Arnold, Chief of the Army Air Forces. Here he personally commended the men of the 69th for their unstinting labor, excellent morale and hard work under the most difficult conditions. After a period of training the squadron flew patrol and anti-submarine until December 2, 1942. During this time the squadron is credited with an assist to destroyer in sinking a submarine. Also during this period the squadron was responsible for a search sector of 167,700 square miles and somehow managed to do a remarkable job even though at times six planes were all that could struggle into the air.

    On December 2, 1942 the air echelon departed for Efate, New Herbides and the ground echelon arrived five days later. Again practice, patrol and search missions were flown from this base. On the last day of 1942 the air echelon landed on Guadalcanal, operating from there till January 12, 1943 when they returned to Efate. Here the squadron had finally succumbed to the ever present jungle sicknesses and diseases; malaria, dengue, and dysentery were rampant and even a few cases of psycho-neuroses were present. It was during this period that there were only six navigators for 12 ships, and they did their own jobs ass well as that of bombardiers and occasionally even rode as co-pilots. Supplies and equipment were unobtainable and it is nothing short of a miracle that the work continued.

    On January 26, 1943 the ground echelon left on the transport Hunter Liggett for Guadacanal, and they arrived on February 9, 1943. On the 7th the boat dropped anchor and was aready to unload when it was ordered to retire from the area as an enemy counter-invasion force was expected at any moment. They returned two days later and the ground echelon set up camp 100 yards from the military cemetery. Missions were commenced immediately.

    On February 27th all of the B-26 planes were transferred to the 70th Bomb Sq (M) and b-25s began to arrive. On March 22 by order of the 13th Air Force, the 69th Bomb Sq. and the 70th Bomb Sq. were reassigned to the 42nd Bombardment Group, and a very intensive three month training program was carried out. The last week in May of 1943 the ground echelon of the 69th was replaced by the 75th's ground echelon and the former returned to Plaines de Gaiac and the air echelon came forward. During the next nine days 10 missions were carried out, including a night bombing attack on Ballale, and shipping sweeps in the vicinity of New Georgia, Choiseul, Shortlana, and Fauro Islands.

    During the 69th's 13 month of overseas duty, they had conducted 40 combat missions from Guadalcanal and it is conservatively estimated that from June to December 1942, when the squadron was on New Caledonia and Efate, that it accomplished more than 300 missions. For approximately six weeks alone there were six daily patrol missions, not to mention the many searches for lost planes and surface vessels, alerts with torpedoes to intercept the Japanese fleet, escorting of fighters to Efate and Espiritu Santo and the ferrying of torpedoes to Espiritu Santo.

    From June 1943 until February 1944 the ground echelon remained at Plaines de Gaiac but the air echelon continued their efforts in the New Georgia and Northern Solomons campaigns, based first at Guadalcanal and later at the Russell Islands. During this time every type of mission was assigned to the squadron; shipping sweeps, low altitude attacks, medium bombing attacks, and searches for surviors. Vella Gulf, Kahili, and Kara Airdromes, Shortlands, CHoiseul, Bougainville and Sakan Islands were all familiar names. It was during this period that the Nips learned a most fervent respect for the Mitchell bomber, and well they could. One strike of five planes on the 20th of July alone accounted for one cruiser and two destroyers sunk, and two destroyers and one assault transport damaged. For the period the records show a total of one cruiser, two destroyers, and one transport sunk, one destroyer and one transport destroyed by fire and four destroyers and an assault transport damaged- no mean box score in any man's language.

    The flight echelon departed from the Russell Islands February 19, 1944 and arrived at Stirling Island in the Treasury Group the same day, to begin combat operations from there. In the meantime the entire ground echelon left Plaines de Gaiac for Noumea, arriving February 1, 1944. They were quartered at the 6th Replacement Depot while awaiting transportation by boat to the United States. The new ground echelon of 8 officers and 219 enlisted men was formed from a group of casuals at Seymour Johnson Field, North Carolina in October 1943; and left that field 15 November for the Port of Embarkation area, Camp Kilmer New Brunswick, N.J. The unit left New York City December 20, 1943 on the U.S.A.T. Exiria and arrived at Noumea January 31, 1944 via Panama. The new ground echelon officially became part of this organization February 6 upon its departure from Noumea. They arrived at Stirling Island February 19, 1944.

    The old ground echelon of 4 officers and 209 enlisted men having completed over two years of overseas service, left Noumea in March, 1944 for rotation to the United States.

    From then on until the next move, names such as Tobera, Lakunai, Vunakanau, Rapopo and Kervat airfields, Nordup, Talili Bay, Rataval, Cape St. George, Kavieng and Borpop were all to familiar. Most of these missions were medium altitude but a few of them were barge hunts at minimum altitude with the new "Hs" carrying that 75mm cannon. Effective July 22 further combat operations were canceled, pending completion of a movement to a new theatre of operations.

    While waiting for the ground crews to set up a new camp at Sansapor, Dutch New Guinea, the air echelon went to Hollandia and the flight echelon remained at Stirling. The air echelon arrived at Hollandia July 23 and began to set up camp. The flight echelon later arrived on September 3, and started operations. From here interdiction missions covering the Palau invasion convoys and medium altitude missions leading attack units stationed at Hollandia were return to Nabiri, Uterum, Babo, Boela and Otawiri. On the 13th of September, 1944 the planes took off from Hollandia, struck Babo and landed at the new base at Sansapor.

    Meanwhile, the ground echelon embarked on the 14th of August on the USAT Sea Perch. Short stops were made at Finschaven, Hollandia, Maffin Bay. They debarked on the 23rd of August, 1944 and that first night slept in the jungle or in the middle of a jeep track, right on the edge of the almost non-existant perimeter. Some men received a terrible shock when they found out the next day that they had slept in the field of fire of Infantry's 50 calibres. That was the closet spot to the Philippines in those days before MacArther made his second debut there one could be apprehensive with plenty of company. A rear echelon departed the 20th of August, 1944 from Stirling, on the liberty ship George Boutwell, and arrived the first of September. The time until the flight echelon arrived was spent in setting up camp and line areas.

    The mission assigned to the group was the neutralization of enemy installations in Ceram, Boerce, Halmahera, and Celebes Islands, all in the Netherlands East Indies. Medium altitude strikes against airfields and supply areas were run until the middle of December. Since then all work of this squadron has been done from minimum altitude. Airfield strikes and shipping sweeps filled the picture for the balance of the stay at Sansapor.

    By the time that February 1945 had rolled around there was a dearth of suitable targets in the Dutch East Indies and on Februaary 23, 1945 the air echelon departed for Morotai Island, there to assume a new role: that of flying air support missions for group forces invading Zamboanga. In the meantime, the ground echelon had departed by LST 919 for Puerto Princessa, leaving February 24, arriving at Palawan and debarking on March 14, 1945, D plus 14. The flight echelon arrived on March 23, and operations were begun almost immediately. The balance of our combat effort was characterized for the most part by minimum altitude pre-invasion bombing and strafing and air support missions; however a few shipping sweeps to Borneo and the Indo-China coast were run. Our pre-invasion and support work again started at Cebu, moved on to Mindanao both at Cotobats and again at Cagayan, and then on to Borneo at Tarakan, Brunei Bay, Miri, and finally Balikpapan. Our last strikes of the war were in support of the XIV Corps on Luzon.

    Due to the conditions under which the original 69th operated when they first came overseas, no details of operational analysis are available. No records of any kind had been kept of the missions, so the statistical data prior to June 14, 1943 is not available. A brief resume of facts and figures since that date is added here to give an overall picture of the superior job done by this organization.

Total Missions 577
Total Sorties 3,286
Total Bombs Dropped 4,802,295
Rounds of Ammo, .30 and .50 caliber 1,869,195
75mm HE shells 302
Five inch Rockets 47
Gross tonnage of shipping sunk 25,900 tons
Aircraft destroyed on Ground 6
Aircraft probably destroyed on ground 11
Men killed in action 27
Men Missing in Action 17
Men wounded in Action 33
Men wounded by bombing 7
Air Raid alerts since May 11, 1943 139

    This organization has been officially credited with participation in the Guadalcanal, Northern Solomons, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, and the Southern Philippines campaigns. Still pending the issuance of General Orders are the Western Pacific, China, Northern Philippines, the air offensive of Borneo, and the anti-submarine campaign.