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  • Service and Sacrifice: Captain William “Ed” Dyess

    As commander of the 21st Pursuit Squadron, Dyess flew aggressively against the Japanese whenever one of the few remaining P-40s on Bataan was serviceable. In defense of Bataan, he served as an Infantry Officer, leading his unit against Japanese amphibious landings. Before the surrender order was

  • The Provisional Air Corps Regiment

    After Japanese air raids decimated USAFFE bases and the relocation of operational bombers were diverted to Australia, the USAFFE were left with only a handful of aircraft. Without aircraft to support the remaining maintenance, communication, intelligence, ground, and aircrew squadrons formed two

  • The Battle of the Points

    In a gamble, the Japanese tried to outflank the main line by landing a force of 900 men on January 23, 1941, in southern Bataan, followed by another 300 reinforcements four days later.  US and Filipino Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, to include the PACR, fought from fortified beaches hoping to repel

  • The Cost of Being Unprepared

    While under siege, the US Army realized that there were inadequate supplies for the nearly 80,000 troops and 26,000 civilian refugees.Surviving on only 800 calories a day, the defenders of Bataan had been subject to three months of malnutrition, disease, and infection. By March, most of the troops

  • The Bataan Death March

    With few aircraft left, United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) personnel fought as infantry to hold the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. Although they suffered from malnourishment and disease, these men battled valiantly until they were ordered by their commander to surrender on April 9,

  • First AAF Ace of WWII

    Lt. Boyd D. "Buzz" Wagner, commanding officer of the 17th Pursuit Squadron in the Philippines, was the first AAF ace of World War II. Flying against overwhelming odds, he was one of the handful of American fighter pilots who engaged vastly superior numbers of Japanese aircraft as the enemy overran

  • Zeamer and the "Eager Beavers"

    Tenacity over Bougainville"Jay Zeamer and his crew performed a mission that still stands out in my mind as an epic of courage unequaled in the annals of air warfare."- Gen. George Kenney, 5th Air Force Commander Capt. Jay Zeamer's remarkable crew was the most highly-decorated aircrew in history.

  • Royce Special Mission to Mindanao

    The Royce special mission back to the Philippines consisted of 10 B-25s and three B-17s, which took off from Darwin, Australia, on April 11, 1942, for the 1,500 mile flight to Mindanao. After arriving at their forward airfields, the planes flew bombing missions against Japanese ships, airfields and

  • Java

    While still conducting their conquest of the Philippines, the Japanese began an offensive against the Netherlands East Indies. As they progressed southward, the United States attempted to assist the Dutch and sent to Java all the AAF airplanes it could muster. The AAF carried out bombing attacks

  • Retreat in the Pacific

    Following the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese turned their attention to the Southwest Pacific. For the next five months they were to sweep the Allies before them with alarming ease.Their first objective was the Philippine Islands, which they attacked from the air on Dec. 8, 1941 (Philippines time)