RE: 11BG(H)/431st - Jack Drenan, Satan's Kite
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09/07/2008 03:24:56 PM
This story was transcribed from an article originally published in the Alhambra Post-Advocate, Alhambra, California, in 1943. The exact date of the article is unknown. Wednesday, May 12, 1943 is a good guess. A jpg image of the original article was sent to me by Penny LeGrand, whose father, Charles 'Hoppy' Hopkins, was a pilot in the 7th air force and trained and flew with Don MacArthur. I e-mailed Harvey Lundy to inquire as to the date of the Air Medal awards ceremony and he replied:
"Newspaper articles are not always accurate. We actually bombed Nauru on April 21st, 1943. That night the Japanese bombed us at 3 in the morning, the 22nd, about 60 bombs from 18 planes. I agree with Mac. We were scared to death. The fox holes were actually holes in which the natives had planted trees. I was on top of four in the hole in front of our tent. A piece of shrapnel landed on my belt buckle and made it hot.
We received decorations at Hickam Field, Honolulu, Oahu on May 7th, 1943. I got the purple heart from General Boyd and we all got air medals. Admiral Nimitz was there and about a dozen generals. - Harvey Lundy"
This mission was actually an effort of the 7th AF, 307th BG, 372nd & 371st BS.
Alhambra Flyer Writes Vivid Story of Two Pacific Raids
The first detailed account of April raids on Jap-occupied Nauru and Tarawa Islands in the Northern Gilberts, for which Lieut. Donald MacArthur,pilot of a B-24 Liberator, “Satan’s Kite” and 16 other Southland residents received the Air Medal in ceremonies at Honolulu last weekend has been received by the heroic flyer’s family here.
Lieut. MacArthur’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Hodgman, live at 837 South Stoneman Avenue. His wife is the former Shirley Zbinden, 250 West Valley Boulevard. The flyer is 23 years old.
As carefree as though he were telling about a Sunday School picnic, Lieut. MacArthur begins:
“Well, I’ve had quite an experience. I’ve had my first real taste of this damned war. It’s not all fun and the sooner we exterminate the little stinkers the better this world will be to live in.
“Our squadron went down en masse and we operated from a small island (Funafuti). It was one of those South Sea Islands you read about – sandy beaches, palm trees and natives still living by the old customs."
Two Raids
“We raided the Japs twice. Once we raided one of their bases on the island of Nauru. When we were dropping our bombs on them it really seemed hard for me to realize that we were dropping real bombs on people. It was hard to realize the black puffs of smoke that were breaking all around us were real flak and that they make nasty little holes in planes.
“We encountered some Jap aircraft resistance but they seemed very reluctant to come in close, so we didn’t get many good shots at them. My top turret man was quite sure that he hit one. One of the Nips got a good burst into one of our planes with his 20-millimeter guns and did some damage to Jake’s rudder. Jake is the guy that was flying the ship and he did a marvelous job of it, too.
“Another of our boys also got some lead. A 20-millimeter went through the radio man’s window and hit the top turret man in the foot. With his toes blown away, the man stayed with his guns and hit a Jap. Another 20-millimeter shell went into the rear of his ship and caused quite a bit of damage. It wounded some men and one of them died later. All of our ships got back O.K. and we did a hell of a lot of damage to Tojo. More in fact than I realized myself. We all took pictures of the target while we were bombing it and I saw those pictures the other day. I don’t think the Nips will forget that raid for a while.”
Return Visit“Our first raid was carried off on the 20th and two nights later, on the 22nd, the Japs paid us a visit. It was about three in the morning when Jack Drenan woke me up with, “Hey, Mac, it’s an air raid!”
“It was kind of hard to believe but when I got outside the tent everyone was running to fox holes and I could hear the planes over us. We all ran to the nearest fox holes. The holes are about five feet across and three feet deep. The Japs didn’t bomb right away because of cloud coverage, and we all huddled together in the holes wondering if it was true and what the first bombs would sound like.
“We soon found out.
“When the clouds opened up the Nips laid their eggs. God, what a sound! I’ll never forget it. I don’t think any of us will. The bombs sound like sky rockets when they’re falling and then they go – ‘KARUMPH’ when they hit. Those that were close – 40 feet away – showered sparks and red-hot shrapnel. Some of the boys, who were still running for holes when the bombs hit, got it badly. I saw one of them lying beside a road the next morning and he looked just like he had laid down on his side to sleep. There were several more under a truck that had been hurled about 25 feet. They were a terrible, unbelievable sight. I just can’t tell you. The same bomb got all of them.”
Went Back Again
“I had the pleasure of going back on another raid after that when we bombed them on the island of Tarawa. We bombed them at night. We lost our formation about three-fourths of the way so we had to go in alone. Ted (Kamen) did some marvelous navigation. Whenwe got there we flew some evasive action over the target and I cut the motors several times just to worry them as they did us. We made a good run and got rid of all our bombs. I’m sure we did a lot of damage. They fired ack-ack at us but we didn’t get hit. That tracer didn’t look so good coming at us, though. I was really glad to get out of there.
“Don’t think for a minute that I wasn’t scared. I’ve never been more terrified in all my life. There’s not one man who was there who won’t admit the same thing. It’s not so bad when you’re in the air because then you have a fighting chance – but when you’re on the ground in a hole, just waiting, it’s hell. You can hear the bombs falling right down the line and coming closer. It’s really no fun.
“Well, we’re back in the Hawaiian Islands now and all my crew is O.K."