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  • The Mission

    The world entered a new era on Aug. 6, 1945, when the crew of the B-29 Enola Gay released an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan. Maj. Charles W. Sweeney, commander of the 393rd Bomb Squadron, accompanied the Enola Gay on the mission, piloting the B-29 The Great Artiste as an observation aircraft. The

  • The Tragic Story of The Flying Dutchman

    On Nov. 10, 1942, the C-47 nicknamed The Flying Dutchman (S/N 41-18564) hit a strong down-draft over the Owen Stanley Range while carrying U.S. Army troops from Port Moresby to Pongani, New Guinea. It crashed into the side of Mount Obree, killing seven of the 23 onboard and destroying most of the

  • The "Hump": Lifeline to China

    Burma lies like a giant wedge between India and China, and after its occupation by the Japanese, the only link between these two countries was a hazardous air route across the rugged Himalaya Mountains -- the famed "Hump." The obstacles posed by terrain and the extremes in climate were difficulties

  • Turning the Tide in New Guinea

    Attacking at treetop level, Allied aircrews withstood deadly ground fire to strafe Japanese airfields and shipping. Adding to devastation inflicted by their machine guns, the low-flying attackers destroyed Japanese aircraft on the ground with 23-pound fragmentation bombs. At the suggestion of

  • The Eight Who Were Captured

    Following the Tokyo Raid, the crews of two planes remained unaccounted for. On Aug. 15, 1942, it was learned from the Swiss consulate general in Shanghai that the Japanese had eight American flyers at police headquarters in that city. On Oct. 19, 1942, the Japanese broadcast that they had tried two

  • The Aftermath: Prison Camps and Hell Ships

    Due to Japan’s inhumane treatment of the POWs, as many as 11,000 died on the Death March. And yet, the survivors’ suffering was not over – more than 20,000 POWs died in the first two months of imprisonment at Camp O'Donnell. Thousands more died of malnourishment, disease, exhaustion, physical abuse,

  • The Last Days on Bataan

    On December 8, 1941, the Japanese destroyed two-thirds of the American aircraft in a surprise attack on Luzon. The island was home to both the Filipino capital city of Manila and headquarters of United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE). Within weeks, the Japanese invaded the island on

  • 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