1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:44,957 --> 00:00:46,394 -Careful, it'’s hot! -I need something! 4 00:00:46,481 --> 00:00:47,830 The damn thing is jammed! 5 00:00:47,917 --> 00:00:49,136 -You have to pull the release! -I can'’t! 6 00:00:49,223 --> 00:00:50,441 -There'’s a piece of flak! -Hey! 7 00:00:50,528 --> 00:00:52,008 -It'’s wedged! -This one'’s out! 8 00:00:52,095 --> 00:00:53,183 -Pull the release! -I am! 9 00:00:53,270 --> 00:00:55,272 Get me something to pry this! 10 00:00:55,359 --> 00:00:56,534 It'’s coming loose! It'’s loose! 11 00:00:56,621 --> 00:00:58,449 That'’s got it! 12 00:00:58,536 --> 00:00:59,842 I can'’t get the rear 13 00:00:59,929 --> 00:01:01,365 bomb bay doors to close! 14 00:01:01,452 --> 00:01:03,411 The flak must have damaged the Pneumatics! 15 00:01:03,498 --> 00:01:06,762 We'’ll have to close them by hand! 16 00:01:13,421 --> 00:01:14,335 Nothing! 17 00:01:14,422 --> 00:01:15,640 No movement! 18 00:01:15,727 --> 00:01:17,033 Nothing! 19 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:19,601 Flak! FUBAR! 20 00:01:19,688 --> 00:01:22,212 What about the bomb hoist? 21 00:01:22,299 --> 00:01:23,866 Yeah! We can strap it 22 00:01:23,953 --> 00:01:25,781 to the doors and winch them up, 23 00:01:25,868 --> 00:01:27,739 like McCaskill'’s crew! 24 00:01:35,051 --> 00:01:37,140 Patitucci, status? 25 00:01:37,227 --> 00:01:38,402 Electrical fire! 26 00:01:38,489 --> 00:01:39,490 How bad? 27 00:01:39,577 --> 00:01:41,231 Bad. Real bad. 28 00:01:45,409 --> 00:01:47,107 Bombardier to tail gunner: 29 00:01:47,194 --> 00:01:49,805 Wright, we'’ve just extinguished a fire in the radar compartment. 30 00:01:49,892 --> 00:01:51,633 Heavy flak damage to the electrical system. 31 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:52,895 Be advised. Over. 32 00:01:52,982 --> 00:01:55,158 You alright back there? 33 00:01:55,245 --> 00:01:57,291 Wright, please respond, over. 34 00:02:04,776 --> 00:02:06,778 Get every available fire extinguisher back here! 35 00:02:06,865 --> 00:02:07,910 -Understood? -Yeah! 36 00:02:07,997 --> 00:02:09,999 Go, go, go! 37 00:02:10,086 --> 00:02:12,044 Wright? 38 00:02:12,132 --> 00:02:14,612 Wright? Wright? 39 00:02:17,093 --> 00:02:19,139 Ship'’s interphone, non-functional, Captain! 40 00:02:19,226 --> 00:02:20,879 Ship'’s radio still transmitting and receiving, 41 00:02:20,966 --> 00:02:22,185 but I don'’t know for how long! 42 00:02:22,272 --> 00:02:23,534 Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. 43 00:02:23,621 --> 00:02:24,927 This is Mashnote, this is Mashnote, 44 00:02:25,014 --> 00:02:26,624 this is Mashnote, over. 45 00:02:26,711 --> 00:02:27,973 Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. 46 00:02:28,060 --> 00:02:29,410 This is Mashnote, this is Mashnote, 47 00:02:29,497 --> 00:02:30,411 this is Mashnote. 48 00:02:30,498 --> 00:02:31,847 Transmitting for fix. 49 00:02:31,934 --> 00:02:33,979 We will be Davy Jones, Davy Jones, over. 50 00:02:34,066 --> 00:02:35,764 Captain, all radio facilities are out. 51 00:02:35,851 --> 00:02:40,116 We have A channel VHF only, again, A channel VHF only. 52 00:02:40,203 --> 00:02:42,379 Copy, Sparks! Switching to A channel VHF. 53 00:02:43,293 --> 00:02:44,773 Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. 54 00:02:44,860 --> 00:02:46,905 Wing, this is Dragon Lady, this is Dragon Lady, 55 00:02:46,992 --> 00:02:49,691 this is Dragon Lady, two-seven-seven, respond, over. 56 00:02:49,778 --> 00:02:50,866 Copy, Dragon Lady, 57 00:02:50,953 --> 00:02:52,172 go ahead, over. 58 00:02:52,259 --> 00:02:53,695 We are heavily damaged from flak. 59 00:02:53,782 --> 00:02:55,305 Electrical fire in our tail section. 60 00:02:55,392 --> 00:02:56,872 Inform Playmate of our condition. 61 00:02:56,959 --> 00:02:58,526 Copy, Dragon Lady. 62 00:02:58,613 --> 00:03:00,528 Damage due to flak, electrical fire, aft. 63 00:03:00,615 --> 00:03:02,399 Informing Playmate. Over. 64 00:03:02,486 --> 00:03:03,835 Roger, Wing. Shutting down power 65 00:03:03,922 --> 00:03:05,750 until this fire is under control. 66 00:03:05,837 --> 00:03:07,317 Copy, Dragon Lady. 67 00:03:09,014 --> 00:03:10,929 Out. 68 00:03:11,016 --> 00:03:12,844 Gibbs! Cut power! 69 00:03:12,931 --> 00:03:14,237 Copy! Cutting power! 70 00:03:20,112 --> 00:03:21,462 Wright! 71 00:03:32,821 --> 00:03:35,215 Find a place and get yourself secure! 72 00:03:36,825 --> 00:03:38,566 Captain, the fire'’s under control. 73 00:03:38,653 --> 00:03:40,785 It'’ll stay out as long as the power stays off. 74 00:03:40,872 --> 00:03:43,005 It'’s fighting us. Everything on this ship is electrical! 75 00:03:43,092 --> 00:03:44,311 That shell blast under the cockpit 76 00:03:44,398 --> 00:03:45,529 has everything shorting out on us. 77 00:03:45,616 --> 00:03:47,009 Sparking wires started it. 78 00:03:47,096 --> 00:03:49,054 We need power back to get us home. 79 00:03:49,141 --> 00:03:51,361 The wiring, it'’s got to be shredded! 80 00:03:51,448 --> 00:03:52,623 -Gibbs! -Sir? 81 00:03:52,710 --> 00:03:53,755 I need power back! 82 00:03:53,842 --> 00:03:55,452 Can you give it to me? 83 00:03:57,976 --> 00:03:59,761 Standby, Captain. 84 00:04:04,287 --> 00:04:06,420 Power restored, Captain! 85 00:04:26,875 --> 00:04:30,574 Fire, everything is on fire. 86 00:04:30,661 --> 00:04:32,620 Say again, say again! 87 00:04:32,707 --> 00:04:35,187 Everything is on fire! 88 00:04:38,278 --> 00:04:39,627 Captain, the fire has resumed. 89 00:04:39,714 --> 00:04:41,324 We used all the extinguishers! 90 00:04:41,411 --> 00:04:43,674 Wing, this is Dragon Lady, we are preparing to ditch. 91 00:04:43,761 --> 00:04:44,980 Radio our position to Navy Playmate... 92 00:04:45,067 --> 00:04:46,460 Verdeschi! What'’s our position? 93 00:04:46,547 --> 00:04:48,200 -I'’m working on it! -ETA, Lieutenant? 94 00:04:48,288 --> 00:04:50,551 Wing, this is Dragon Lady... 95 00:04:50,638 --> 00:04:52,117 Gibbs, my airspeed indicator, 96 00:04:52,204 --> 00:04:53,467 it'’s non-functional! 97 00:04:53,554 --> 00:04:56,557 Airspeed is two-seven-zero miles per hour. 98 00:04:56,644 --> 00:04:58,167 -Two-seven-zero. -...this is Dragon Lady, 99 00:04:58,254 --> 00:05:00,082 two-seven-seven, respond, over! 100 00:05:00,169 --> 00:05:01,823 Lieutenant! Our position, please! 101 00:05:01,910 --> 00:05:03,303 -Copy! -Wing, this is Dragon Lady. 102 00:05:03,390 --> 00:05:04,782 -Respond, over. -Captain, 103 00:05:04,869 --> 00:05:06,131 Captain, our position is 30 degrees... 104 00:05:06,218 --> 00:05:08,090 Wing, we are preparing to ditch. 105 00:05:08,177 --> 00:05:09,526 Copy, over. 106 00:05:09,613 --> 00:05:11,049 Captain, all radio facilities are out. 107 00:05:11,136 --> 00:05:13,313 Channel A VHF, out! I can'’t get it back. 108 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:17,055 Copy, all radio facilities out! 109 00:05:17,142 --> 00:05:19,014 We have to cut the power! 110 00:05:22,974 --> 00:05:24,280 Gibbs, cut power! 111 00:05:24,367 --> 00:05:25,325 Copy! 112 00:05:25,412 --> 00:05:26,848 Install ditching braces! 113 00:05:26,935 --> 00:05:29,154 Open all escape exits and assume ditching positions. 114 00:05:29,241 --> 00:05:30,765 Prepare to ditch! 115 00:05:30,852 --> 00:05:33,985 Open all escape exits, assume ditching positions! 116 00:05:50,132 --> 00:05:52,090 Gibbs, on my command, I'’m gonna need power back. 117 00:05:52,177 --> 00:05:54,049 Copy! Power back on your command. 118 00:05:56,181 --> 00:05:58,749 Two hundred and seventy miles per hour. 119 00:05:58,836 --> 00:06:00,621 Descending at 3,000 feet per minute! 120 00:06:00,708 --> 00:06:02,318 Level out at 500 feet. 121 00:06:02,405 --> 00:06:04,886 Prepare for 25 degrees of flaps when power is restored. 122 00:06:04,973 --> 00:06:07,454 Copy, 500 feet, 25 degrees of flaps! 123 00:06:09,020 --> 00:06:11,980 We are at 3,500 feet and descending. 124 00:06:21,903 --> 00:06:24,427 One thousand feet! 125 00:06:25,863 --> 00:06:27,691 Nine hundred feet! 126 00:06:30,346 --> 00:06:31,913 Eight hundred feet! 127 00:06:34,829 --> 00:06:36,613 Seven hundred feet! 128 00:06:39,399 --> 00:06:40,661 Six hundred feet! 129 00:06:45,187 --> 00:06:47,668 -Gibbs, standby on power. -Standing by! 130 00:06:47,755 --> 00:06:49,147 Five hundred and fifty feet! 131 00:06:49,234 --> 00:06:50,758 Gibbs, power! 132 00:06:50,845 --> 00:06:53,108 Copy, power restored, Captain! 133 00:06:59,810 --> 00:07:02,073 Standby to cut engines two and four! 134 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:03,945 Standing by to cut engines two and four! 135 00:07:04,032 --> 00:07:05,294 Twenty-five degrees of flaps! 136 00:07:05,381 --> 00:07:06,730 Twenty-five degrees of flaps! 137 00:07:06,817 --> 00:07:08,166 Cut engines two and four! 138 00:07:08,253 --> 00:07:09,907 Cutting engines two and four! 139 00:07:13,563 --> 00:07:14,825 Three hundred feet. 140 00:07:14,912 --> 00:07:16,871 Do you see any swell down there, Lieutenant? 141 00:07:16,958 --> 00:07:18,916 Negative! Two hundred feet! 142 00:07:19,003 --> 00:07:21,484 I'’m gonna put us down into the wind. 143 00:07:21,571 --> 00:07:23,878 Hundred and ten miles an hour. One hundred feet! 144 00:07:23,965 --> 00:07:25,183 Here we go. 145 00:07:27,664 --> 00:07:29,971 Nose up. Nose up! 146 00:07:57,999 --> 00:07:59,304 Everyone out! 147 00:08:29,813 --> 00:08:30,771 Gotcha! 148 00:08:44,785 --> 00:08:46,917 He'’s hurt! He'’s hurt! 149 00:08:48,528 --> 00:08:50,007 Easy, easy, easy. 150 00:08:54,708 --> 00:08:57,014 Easy, easy, easy. 151 00:08:57,101 --> 00:08:58,668 We gotta even up these boats, boys. 152 00:08:58,755 --> 00:09:00,452 Verdeschi, Lloyd! 153 00:09:02,716 --> 00:09:03,934 Who do we have? 154 00:09:04,021 --> 00:09:05,719 Sound off! 155 00:09:05,806 --> 00:09:07,329 Wilcoxon. 156 00:09:07,416 --> 00:09:08,939 Gibbs present, sir! 157 00:09:09,026 --> 00:09:10,593 James! 158 00:09:10,680 --> 00:09:12,203 Lloyd! 159 00:09:12,290 --> 00:09:13,814 Verdeschi! 160 00:09:13,901 --> 00:09:15,467 Cody! 161 00:09:15,555 --> 00:09:17,121 Tancreti! 162 00:09:17,208 --> 00:09:18,775 Weaver. 163 00:09:18,862 --> 00:09:20,821 How you feeling, Sergeant? 164 00:09:20,908 --> 00:09:22,736 Still here, Cap. 165 00:09:22,823 --> 00:09:24,564 -Do we any have morphine? -Yes, sir. 166 00:09:24,651 --> 00:09:27,218 Get this man some morphine! 167 00:09:27,305 --> 00:09:30,482 Anybody have eyes on Patitucci, Larson, or Wright? 168 00:09:30,570 --> 00:09:33,529 Wright deceased prior to ditching, Captain. 169 00:09:33,616 --> 00:09:35,705 You'’re certain? 170 00:09:35,792 --> 00:09:37,533 Absolutely certain. 171 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:45,541 James, sound that whistle. 172 00:09:45,628 --> 00:09:47,151 All eyes, look sharp! 173 00:09:57,814 --> 00:09:59,207 Cap... 174 00:09:59,294 --> 00:10:01,862 do they know we'’re down? 175 00:10:01,949 --> 00:10:03,254 It'’ll be okay. 176 00:10:03,341 --> 00:10:06,431 They'’ll be coming for us. 177 00:10:06,518 --> 00:10:08,042 They'’ll be coming. 178 00:10:12,437 --> 00:10:15,136 What the crew of the Dragon Lady did not know 179 00:10:15,223 --> 00:10:17,704 was that on the island of Iwo Jima, 180 00:10:17,791 --> 00:10:20,489 a 22-year-old pilot and his crew 181 00:10:20,576 --> 00:10:22,796 would be coming for them. 182 00:10:22,883 --> 00:10:26,060 But that pilot, my great uncle, 183 00:10:26,147 --> 00:10:29,324 Royal A. Stratton, 184 00:10:29,411 --> 00:10:31,195 would never return home. 185 00:10:38,942 --> 00:10:43,120 Many young enlisted men came from small-town America, 186 00:10:43,207 --> 00:10:46,341 places like Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, 187 00:10:46,428 --> 00:10:48,996 where our veterans are revered 188 00:10:49,083 --> 00:10:52,303 and things still move a little slower, 189 00:10:52,390 --> 00:10:56,786 where family reunions, old-timey guessing games, 190 00:10:56,873 --> 00:10:59,746 and favorite pastimes are still alive and well. 191 00:11:10,278 --> 00:11:13,194 For anyone who'’s lost a loved one in war, 192 00:11:13,281 --> 00:11:17,764 the emptiness left behind can resonate for generations. 193 00:11:17,851 --> 00:11:21,289 For my family, it was World War II. 194 00:11:21,376 --> 00:11:24,988 Many of us didn'’t know my great uncle, just a name: 195 00:11:25,075 --> 00:11:27,730 Royal A. Stratton. 196 00:11:27,817 --> 00:11:30,690 But the few still among us who did 197 00:11:30,777 --> 00:11:35,520 also reside here, in small-town America. 198 00:11:35,607 --> 00:11:38,001 I didn'’t know it then, but going home 199 00:11:38,088 --> 00:11:40,264 is where my long journey began-- 200 00:11:40,351 --> 00:11:42,310 traveling back through time. 201 00:12:20,827 --> 00:12:23,743 His orders from Dad was watch Ada, 202 00:12:23,830 --> 00:12:25,657 '’cause I was the smallest one. 203 00:12:32,621 --> 00:12:36,059 I met Royal in School. 204 00:12:36,146 --> 00:12:38,496 We were in the fifth grade together. 205 00:12:45,547 --> 00:12:47,157 He was nice. 206 00:12:47,244 --> 00:12:50,334 We would go out and sit on our swing on the back porch, 207 00:12:50,421 --> 00:12:52,293 and he'’d talk about everything. 208 00:12:55,731 --> 00:12:58,865 I knew Royal before Mary Ellen knew Royal. 209 00:12:58,952 --> 00:13:00,692 My mother'’s maiden name was Timmerman. 210 00:13:00,780 --> 00:13:02,433 So it was Mary Ellen Timmerman. 211 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:04,653 And, he was dating my aunt Kay at the time. 212 00:13:04,740 --> 00:13:06,742 Well, I was going with another fella. 213 00:13:09,353 --> 00:13:11,051 I said, "Would you like to meet her?? 214 00:13:11,138 --> 00:13:12,443 He said, "Sure!" 215 00:13:18,406 --> 00:13:19,886 That was it. 216 00:13:22,323 --> 00:13:24,281 They hit it off and here we are. 217 00:13:25,892 --> 00:13:27,807 My mom, she was a spitfire. 218 00:13:27,894 --> 00:13:30,200 One time when my dad was supposed to pick her up 219 00:13:30,287 --> 00:13:32,986 at seven, and he wasn'’t there, and she left. 220 00:13:33,073 --> 00:13:34,901 And he came about ten after seven 221 00:13:34,988 --> 00:13:36,859 and asked where she was and she said, 222 00:13:36,946 --> 00:13:38,730 "If you'’re not here at seven, she'’s gone." 223 00:13:38,818 --> 00:13:40,254 She wouldn'’t wait on him. 224 00:13:40,341 --> 00:13:41,385 From then on, 225 00:13:41,472 --> 00:13:43,083 if he was gonna be late, he'’d call. 226 00:13:43,170 --> 00:13:45,215 And my grandpa, his dad, 227 00:13:45,302 --> 00:13:47,043 would say, "I want to meet this girl 228 00:13:47,130 --> 00:13:49,263 that'’s having you call her when you'’re gonna be late." 229 00:13:49,350 --> 00:13:50,655 He was never late again. 230 00:13:58,098 --> 00:13:59,839 It was about a hundred yards 231 00:13:59,926 --> 00:14:01,579 north of where the present one is. 232 00:14:01,666 --> 00:14:03,277 The building is still there. 233 00:14:07,498 --> 00:14:10,110 It was a Travel Air 2000. 234 00:14:10,197 --> 00:14:11,633 It was a biplane. 235 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:14,070 Two wings, open cockpits, 236 00:14:14,157 --> 00:14:17,900 powered by a 90-horsepower OX-5 engine. 237 00:14:17,987 --> 00:14:20,860 He was very gifted as a pilot. 238 00:14:20,947 --> 00:14:25,386 And I'’m so proud of him, very, very proud of him. 239 00:14:37,093 --> 00:14:40,140 We were moored over at Pearl City Landing. 240 00:14:40,227 --> 00:14:42,011 That morning, 241 00:14:42,098 --> 00:14:44,796 we were all awakened by the... 242 00:14:44,884 --> 00:14:46,363 the bombs going off. 243 00:14:57,070 --> 00:15:00,900 7:59 a.m. 244 00:15:00,987 --> 00:15:03,511 That'’s when they hit. 245 00:15:03,598 --> 00:15:05,469 When they bombed Pearl Harbor 246 00:15:05,556 --> 00:15:07,384 and they sunk theArizona, 247 00:15:07,471 --> 00:15:09,212 and they sunk those other ships, 248 00:15:09,299 --> 00:15:11,606 and those men were in steaming oil 249 00:15:11,693 --> 00:15:13,260 on the sea dying, 250 00:15:13,347 --> 00:15:16,524 the country rallied, but the country was different. 251 00:15:16,611 --> 00:15:19,657 I was at a movie at the Tivoli in Richmond, Indiana, 252 00:15:19,744 --> 00:15:21,485 when they closed down the screen 253 00:15:21,572 --> 00:15:23,966 and the owner came on stage and told us 254 00:15:24,053 --> 00:15:25,141 that we had been bombed. 255 00:15:25,228 --> 00:15:27,665 I think we realized at that time 256 00:15:27,752 --> 00:15:30,581 that we were going to be in a long fight. 257 00:15:41,941 --> 00:15:43,768 ...1941... 258 00:15:43,855 --> 00:15:47,250 Went to school and when we got to civics class, 259 00:15:47,337 --> 00:15:49,644 our teacher had brought in this portable radio 260 00:15:49,731 --> 00:15:51,472 and we listened spellbound. 261 00:15:51,559 --> 00:15:55,867 ...a date which will live in infamy. 262 00:15:55,955 --> 00:15:58,914 Infamy; a word we'’d never heard before. 263 00:15:59,001 --> 00:16:00,698 Then he turned to the Congress 264 00:16:00,785 --> 00:16:02,918 and he asked them to declare war, and they did. 265 00:16:03,005 --> 00:16:05,660 ...with the unbounding determination 266 00:16:05,747 --> 00:16:08,228 of our people, 267 00:16:08,315 --> 00:16:12,667 we will gain the inevitable triumph, 268 00:16:12,754 --> 00:16:14,451 so help us God. 269 00:16:18,890 --> 00:16:20,805 There was quite an inundation 270 00:16:20,892 --> 00:16:24,505 of people showing up at recruiting stations 271 00:16:24,592 --> 00:16:26,855 in the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor. 272 00:16:26,942 --> 00:16:29,989 I enlisted out of Binghamton, New York. 273 00:16:35,907 --> 00:16:39,433 I signed all the papers and was sent to Camp Blanding, Florida, 274 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:41,304 which was an infantry base, 275 00:16:41,391 --> 00:16:44,046 and I thank the good Lord 20 times a day 276 00:16:44,133 --> 00:16:45,656 that I didn'’t join the infantry. 277 00:16:45,743 --> 00:16:47,919 I wanted to get in the action. 278 00:16:48,007 --> 00:16:49,530 Of course we were just emerging 279 00:16:49,617 --> 00:16:51,053 from the Great Depression. 280 00:16:51,140 --> 00:16:55,188 America in tragedy comes together. 281 00:16:55,275 --> 00:16:57,929 The Depression had a great leavening effect. 282 00:16:58,017 --> 00:17:00,497 We were living in a quite different world. 283 00:17:00,584 --> 00:17:05,720 We had rationing: butter, milk, eggs, silk stockings. 284 00:17:05,807 --> 00:17:07,852 Consequently, a lot of people would begin to grow 285 00:17:07,939 --> 00:17:09,593 what they called a Victory Garden. 286 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:12,944 An estimated 40 percent of the vegetables grown in America 287 00:17:13,032 --> 00:17:14,859 were grown in those Victory Gardens. 288 00:17:14,946 --> 00:17:16,165 And there were these drives. 289 00:17:16,252 --> 00:17:17,471 They needed rubber desperately. 290 00:17:17,558 --> 00:17:19,038 They needed scrap metal. 291 00:17:19,125 --> 00:17:21,866 And I saved tin foil in bundles 292 00:17:21,953 --> 00:17:24,086 and gave it to the collectors. 293 00:17:24,173 --> 00:17:26,306 As a matter of fact, some people began to give up-- 294 00:17:26,393 --> 00:17:27,829 I know Rita Hayworth did-- 295 00:17:27,916 --> 00:17:30,266 to give up the bumpers on their cars 296 00:17:30,353 --> 00:17:32,529 to the scrap metal people, honest to God. 297 00:17:32,616 --> 00:17:35,837 Everybody shared in the war effort. 298 00:17:35,924 --> 00:17:37,839 My mother rolled bandages, 299 00:17:37,926 --> 00:17:40,450 worked for the Red Cross in Oklahoma. 300 00:17:40,537 --> 00:17:43,279 My great regret then was that I wasn'’t a little bit older 301 00:17:43,366 --> 00:17:45,890 so I could actually wear a uniform. 302 00:17:45,977 --> 00:17:48,676 I wanted to do that too. I wanted to get involved. 303 00:17:48,763 --> 00:17:52,288 So I convinced my mother, if I joined the Navy under-age, 304 00:17:52,375 --> 00:17:55,204 I would not be sent overseas until I was 18. 305 00:17:55,291 --> 00:17:57,467 Now, it was a lie, but I was desperate. 306 00:17:57,554 --> 00:17:59,774 I wanted so badly to get into the service. 307 00:17:59,861 --> 00:18:01,384 It had to be fought. 308 00:18:01,471 --> 00:18:05,606 We were fighting Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo. 309 00:18:05,693 --> 00:18:07,260 The entire world was at war. 310 00:18:07,347 --> 00:18:09,827 These madmen had to be stopped. 311 00:18:09,914 --> 00:18:12,700 So you sign on and you do what you can. 312 00:18:12,787 --> 00:18:15,006 So we had a nation that had a purity of purpose 313 00:18:15,094 --> 00:18:16,965 and that was to eliminate evil in the world. 314 00:18:17,052 --> 00:18:18,575 My name is John Ree. 315 00:18:18,662 --> 00:18:21,361 Freeland C. Terpenning. 316 00:18:21,448 --> 00:18:23,580 Walter O. Sheppard. 317 00:18:23,667 --> 00:18:25,060 Milton Robbins. 318 00:18:25,147 --> 00:18:26,409 Mark Kishego. 319 00:18:26,496 --> 00:18:27,802 Raymond Lee. 320 00:18:27,889 --> 00:18:29,760 -Verle Westerman. -John Misterly. 321 00:18:29,847 --> 00:18:32,023 -Edward Goetz. -Lyle Umenhoffer. 322 00:18:32,111 --> 00:18:33,895 -Jerry Yellin. -Earl Holliman. 323 00:18:52,957 --> 00:18:54,568 There were so many pilots, 324 00:18:54,655 --> 00:18:56,047 were shot down, 325 00:18:56,135 --> 00:18:58,180 and they didn'’t know whether they survived 326 00:18:58,267 --> 00:19:00,487 or whether they were in the water for weeks. 327 00:19:00,574 --> 00:19:03,751 The 4th Emergency Rescue Squadron was formed 328 00:19:03,838 --> 00:19:06,319 when the Navy decided that they were spending 329 00:19:06,406 --> 00:19:09,583 too much time rescuing Air Force pilots. 330 00:19:09,670 --> 00:19:12,063 So, the next thing I knew I had orders to go 331 00:19:12,151 --> 00:19:14,936 through the advanced training school at Pensacola 332 00:19:15,023 --> 00:19:16,764 learning to fly the PBY. 333 00:19:16,851 --> 00:19:20,246 We'’re talking about a Consolidated PBY, 334 00:19:20,333 --> 00:19:23,336 which was a sea plane; amphibious. 335 00:19:23,423 --> 00:19:25,555 It had landing gear you could land on. 336 00:19:25,642 --> 00:19:28,558 It was built so that you could land in water. 337 00:19:28,645 --> 00:19:30,169 Primarily I would say 338 00:19:30,256 --> 00:19:32,954 the thought was rescue in the open sea. 339 00:19:33,041 --> 00:19:35,130 An airplane gets shot down, 340 00:19:35,217 --> 00:19:36,827 whatever reason you had to ditch, 341 00:19:36,914 --> 00:19:39,395 a PBY was one of the best airplanes 342 00:19:39,482 --> 00:19:43,051 for landing and picking up people and retrieving them. 343 00:20:22,264 --> 00:20:23,961 After we were graduated 344 00:20:24,048 --> 00:20:27,182 from Pensacola, we were designated Naval Aviators. 345 00:20:27,269 --> 00:20:30,968 We were then entitled to wear Navy Wings and Air Corps Wings. 346 00:20:31,055 --> 00:20:33,797 We wore Air Corps Wings over our heart, 347 00:20:33,884 --> 00:20:35,712 Navy Wings on the right side. 348 00:20:35,799 --> 00:20:38,411 After, we were sent to Biloxi, Mississippi. 349 00:20:38,498 --> 00:20:39,890 Keesler Field. 350 00:20:39,977 --> 00:20:42,850 That'’s where we became a member of a crew. 351 00:20:58,518 --> 00:21:00,737 I knew Royal Stratton real well. 352 00:21:00,824 --> 00:21:02,348 He was a dear good friend. 353 00:21:02,435 --> 00:21:03,914 Extremely excellent pilot. 354 00:21:04,001 --> 00:21:06,352 I can'’t say enough about his piloting ability. 355 00:21:06,439 --> 00:21:08,005 And a fine man. 356 00:21:15,970 --> 00:21:17,624 And then flew from there 357 00:21:17,711 --> 00:21:21,367 to McClellan Field in Sacramento, California. 358 00:21:21,454 --> 00:21:24,021 We went over with white planes 359 00:21:24,108 --> 00:21:27,851 and they painted them blue to match the water 360 00:21:27,938 --> 00:21:31,942 so planes flying above us wouldn'’t be able to see us. 361 00:21:32,029 --> 00:21:35,946 It was a Catalina and we named it Prowlin'’ Puss. 362 00:21:36,033 --> 00:21:39,559 And we had a Prowlin'’ Puss on the side of the plane 363 00:21:39,646 --> 00:21:42,213 and he'’s sitting drumming his fingers. 364 00:21:42,301 --> 00:21:44,868 It was a real good picture. 365 00:21:44,955 --> 00:21:46,305 We thought it was. 366 00:21:46,392 --> 00:21:47,784 My engineer, 367 00:21:47,871 --> 00:21:50,265 he came up with the name Superduck. 368 00:21:50,352 --> 00:21:53,834 And he painted Superduck on Superduck. 369 00:21:53,921 --> 00:21:56,227 We called it the old Lard Ass. 370 00:21:56,315 --> 00:21:57,707 Took off at 90 knots, 371 00:21:57,794 --> 00:21:59,883 flew at 90 knots, and landed at 90 knots. 372 00:22:24,125 --> 00:22:25,605 We waited there for 373 00:22:25,692 --> 00:22:29,348 our instructions to go overseas. 374 00:22:37,312 --> 00:22:39,967 John Garfield, a New York actor, 375 00:22:40,054 --> 00:22:43,753 all excited about the Stage Door Canteen, 376 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:45,407 told Bette Davis about it. 377 00:22:45,494 --> 00:22:48,279 It was made up, of course, of Broadway stage actors 378 00:22:48,367 --> 00:22:51,500 entertaining G.I.s, American service men, 379 00:22:51,587 --> 00:22:54,851 about to embark for the adventure of their lives. 380 00:22:54,938 --> 00:22:57,724 And Bette instantly caught fire and said: 381 00:22:57,811 --> 00:23:00,857 "This is the West Coast port of embarkation 382 00:23:00,944 --> 00:23:03,512 and they'’re coming flooding through here 383 00:23:03,599 --> 00:23:05,862 and they have nowhere to go. 384 00:23:05,949 --> 00:23:08,169 So, there has to be a Hollywood Canteen," 385 00:23:08,256 --> 00:23:10,519 and indeed, it happened. 386 00:23:12,913 --> 00:23:14,654 And they created this wonderful, 387 00:23:14,741 --> 00:23:16,307 wonderful place where the soldiers, 388 00:23:16,395 --> 00:23:18,527 who were on their way overseas in the Pacific, 389 00:23:18,614 --> 00:23:21,487 could stop and be fed, you know, by movie stars 390 00:23:21,574 --> 00:23:24,272 and dance with movie stars and be entertained. 391 00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:26,492 The war was on, and my mother, 392 00:23:26,579 --> 00:23:28,363 one night she came home and she said 393 00:23:28,450 --> 00:23:30,409 "You'’re going to sing at the Hollywood Canteen." 394 00:23:30,496 --> 00:23:32,672 And I got out on the stage 395 00:23:32,759 --> 00:23:36,197 and I sang and they stood up and applauded, 396 00:23:36,284 --> 00:23:39,156 and what I realized is these young men, 397 00:23:39,243 --> 00:23:43,944 they were so baby-faced, and young, and courageous, 398 00:23:44,031 --> 00:23:47,513 and they loved everything we did for them. Everything. 399 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,603 We had the big bands playing there. 400 00:23:50,690 --> 00:23:52,561 One name band after another. 401 00:23:52,648 --> 00:23:54,824 Any that was in town at the time 402 00:23:54,911 --> 00:23:57,131 would be happy to play for nothing 403 00:23:57,218 --> 00:23:59,263 to our young military. 404 00:23:59,350 --> 00:24:02,092 And so there was some pretty great dancing done 405 00:24:02,179 --> 00:24:04,268 on the most crowded of dance floors. 406 00:24:04,355 --> 00:24:06,357 I got five hours'’ liberty every night 407 00:24:06,445 --> 00:24:08,272 and I would hightail it right over 408 00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:09,578 to the Hollywood Canteen, 409 00:24:09,665 --> 00:24:11,188 which was incredible. 410 00:24:11,275 --> 00:24:13,974 And I remember walking in one day 411 00:24:14,061 --> 00:24:16,498 and there was the great, gorgeous John Garfield 412 00:24:16,585 --> 00:24:19,675 with his sleeves rolled up and apron on doing dishes. 413 00:24:19,762 --> 00:24:22,591 And it was a sight that I'’ll never forget as long as I live. 414 00:24:22,678 --> 00:24:24,463 The boys wanted proof 415 00:24:24,550 --> 00:24:26,987 that they had been to the Hollywood Canteen. 416 00:24:27,074 --> 00:24:28,641 So I signed everything. 417 00:24:28,728 --> 00:24:31,905 I had to sign their best girl'’s pictures, imagine. 418 00:24:31,992 --> 00:24:34,821 What a privilege it was for me to be part of that. 419 00:24:34,908 --> 00:24:37,388 The barn held about a thousand G.I.s 420 00:24:37,476 --> 00:24:39,652 and a number of hostesses to welcome them. 421 00:24:39,739 --> 00:24:41,131 And finally, one night, 422 00:24:41,218 --> 00:24:42,742 they prepared for the millionth man 423 00:24:42,829 --> 00:24:45,309 to come through those doors, and he did. 424 00:24:45,396 --> 00:24:47,616 The place just absolutely erupted 425 00:24:47,703 --> 00:24:49,009 when he walked through the door. 426 00:24:49,096 --> 00:24:51,054 He didn'’t know he was the millionth man. 427 00:24:51,141 --> 00:24:52,882 By the time they closed in '’45, 428 00:24:52,969 --> 00:24:55,145 they had served three million service men. 429 00:24:55,232 --> 00:24:57,583 Many of them, of course, never came back. 430 00:24:57,670 --> 00:25:01,325 So that was the last view they had of America, 431 00:25:01,412 --> 00:25:05,721 and kindness and people trying to help them. 432 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:14,121 My mom wanted to name me Royal Ann. 433 00:25:14,208 --> 00:25:16,471 Thank God she didn'’t. Dad said no. 434 00:25:16,558 --> 00:25:19,082 "If we ever have a son, we'’ll name him Royal." 435 00:25:19,169 --> 00:25:20,736 So he named me Vicky Elaine. 436 00:25:20,823 --> 00:25:23,173 He was gone a lot when he was in the service and... 437 00:25:23,260 --> 00:25:25,393 he was home when I was born 438 00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:27,830 and then he left when I was four days old 439 00:25:27,917 --> 00:25:30,354 and that'’s the last we saw him. 440 00:25:30,441 --> 00:25:34,010 Then we did get instructions to go overseas. 441 00:25:34,097 --> 00:25:35,925 I had our aircraft 442 00:25:36,012 --> 00:25:39,450 blessed by a priest before I ever left the States. 443 00:25:39,538 --> 00:25:41,496 But, I'’m not Catholic. 444 00:25:41,583 --> 00:25:43,411 I'’m an Episcopalian. 445 00:25:43,498 --> 00:25:46,370 But I asked each man if they had any objection to it, 446 00:25:46,457 --> 00:25:47,589 and they said, "No, sir." 447 00:25:47,676 --> 00:25:49,199 And so the airplane was blessed 448 00:25:49,286 --> 00:25:51,898 and I have the Saint Christopher medal on the wall here. 449 00:25:51,985 --> 00:25:54,465 It was glued to my instrument panel. 450 00:25:54,553 --> 00:25:56,685 We took off different days en route 451 00:25:56,772 --> 00:25:59,645 to Hickam Air Corps Base in Honolulu. 452 00:25:59,732 --> 00:26:01,647 And it was a long flight. 453 00:26:01,734 --> 00:26:04,737 We lost a plane when we first went overseas. 454 00:26:04,824 --> 00:26:06,477 Nobody knows what happened. 455 00:26:06,565 --> 00:26:09,829 It gets awful dark as you keep going west. 456 00:26:09,916 --> 00:26:12,571 And there'’s lots of water under there. 457 00:26:12,658 --> 00:26:15,312 Our first flight to get to where we were gonna serve, 458 00:26:15,399 --> 00:26:17,140 we had to make to Hawaii. 459 00:26:18,620 --> 00:26:20,317 As I remember it, we took off 460 00:26:20,404 --> 00:26:22,058 about 3 o'’clock in the morning 461 00:26:22,145 --> 00:26:23,625 from Sacramento, California. 462 00:26:23,712 --> 00:26:25,322 And about halfway across, 463 00:26:25,409 --> 00:26:27,237 we got a radio transmission-- 464 00:26:27,324 --> 00:26:29,065 it was all in code, of course-- 465 00:26:29,152 --> 00:26:31,502 they told us to turn around and go back. 466 00:26:31,590 --> 00:26:33,679 That there was a headwind gonna hit us 467 00:26:33,766 --> 00:26:36,812 and we probably didn'’t have enough gas to reach Honolulu. 468 00:26:36,899 --> 00:26:39,119 They want us to return to Sac-- 469 00:26:41,034 --> 00:26:43,558 Zalkan, how far are we from Hawaii? 470 00:26:45,342 --> 00:26:46,822 Seven-point-five hours 471 00:26:46,909 --> 00:26:48,258 at our current heading and airspeed. 472 00:26:48,345 --> 00:26:49,651 If we maintain, total flight time 473 00:26:49,738 --> 00:26:51,131 will be just over 19 hours. 474 00:26:51,218 --> 00:26:52,828 We'’ve passed the halfway point. 475 00:26:52,915 --> 00:26:54,438 What'’s happening? 476 00:26:54,525 --> 00:26:57,528 They want us to turn around and go back. 477 00:26:57,616 --> 00:26:59,748 To Sacramento? 478 00:26:59,835 --> 00:27:02,142 That doesn'’t make any sense. 479 00:27:04,753 --> 00:27:07,277 Radar operator to engineer. 480 00:27:07,364 --> 00:27:10,454 How long can we stay airborne with those new Tokyo tanks? 481 00:27:10,541 --> 00:27:12,108 Over. 482 00:27:12,195 --> 00:27:16,330 We got about 20 hours'’ total flight time, Chief, over. 483 00:27:16,417 --> 00:27:18,332 Copy, Doc. 484 00:27:18,419 --> 00:27:22,031 Radio operator to pilot. 485 00:27:22,118 --> 00:27:24,033 Pilot to radio operator, go ahead. 486 00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:25,556 Lieutenant, we'’ve been instructed 487 00:27:25,644 --> 00:27:27,733 to return to Sacramento, over. 488 00:27:27,820 --> 00:27:30,083 Copy. Instructed to return to Sacramento, over. 489 00:27:30,170 --> 00:27:31,606 Return to Sacramento? 490 00:27:31,693 --> 00:27:34,348 Sir, I requested code verification. 491 00:27:34,435 --> 00:27:37,003 Transmitting party was unable to verify, over. 492 00:27:37,090 --> 00:27:38,439 Copy, unable to verify. 493 00:27:38,526 --> 00:27:39,875 Japanese dummy transmission? 494 00:27:44,532 --> 00:27:46,882 Pilot to crew; according to my calculations, 495 00:27:46,969 --> 00:27:49,580 we are past the halfway point to our destination. 496 00:27:49,668 --> 00:27:53,323 Therefore, I will ask each of you to vote, yay or nay, 497 00:27:53,410 --> 00:27:55,717 as to whether we return to Sacramento. 498 00:27:55,804 --> 00:27:58,067 Take a moment to consider, over. 499 00:27:58,154 --> 00:28:01,636 Navigator to pilot, you flying by ear again, Lieutenant? 500 00:28:01,723 --> 00:28:03,116 Pilot to navigator; 501 00:28:03,203 --> 00:28:04,552 1st Lieutenant. 502 00:28:04,639 --> 00:28:07,163 And are my calculations incorrect? Over. 503 00:28:07,250 --> 00:28:08,556 No, sir. 504 00:28:08,643 --> 00:28:10,645 Your calculations are correct, over. 505 00:28:10,732 --> 00:28:12,603 Navigator, please say again, over. 506 00:28:12,691 --> 00:28:14,780 Your calculations are correct. 507 00:28:17,043 --> 00:28:18,958 -Over? -Over! 508 00:28:19,045 --> 00:28:20,699 Repeat. 509 00:28:22,265 --> 00:28:23,832 And so we all voted-- 510 00:28:23,919 --> 00:28:25,268 let'’s go ahead. 511 00:28:25,355 --> 00:28:27,183 And when we did land at Honolulu, 512 00:28:27,270 --> 00:28:29,925 we were in the air 19 hours and 55 minutes 513 00:28:30,012 --> 00:28:31,361 as I remember it. 514 00:28:31,448 --> 00:28:33,537 And our flight engineer later told me-- 515 00:28:33,624 --> 00:28:39,239 He said we had about 15 minutes'’ flying time left, so-- 516 00:28:41,807 --> 00:28:44,679 From Wheeler Field we went to a little spot 517 00:28:44,766 --> 00:28:46,986 in the ocean called Johnson Island. 518 00:28:47,073 --> 00:28:49,249 Orders, we finally got them 519 00:28:49,336 --> 00:28:51,686 after two or three weeks. 520 00:28:51,773 --> 00:28:54,645 We searched for General Harmon, 521 00:28:54,733 --> 00:28:56,299 he was an Air Corps General. 522 00:28:56,386 --> 00:28:57,736 Most of the time 523 00:28:57,823 --> 00:29:00,129 when we were searching for rafts, 524 00:29:00,216 --> 00:29:02,871 I was in the blister watching for it 525 00:29:02,958 --> 00:29:05,482 because radar wouldn'’t pick it up. 526 00:29:05,569 --> 00:29:08,398 And the radar on our plane was up high 527 00:29:08,485 --> 00:29:10,618 so you couldn'’t shoot down with it. 528 00:29:10,705 --> 00:29:12,402 You had to shoot out. 529 00:29:12,489 --> 00:29:15,275 I don'’t think they ever did know what happened to that plane. 530 00:29:15,362 --> 00:29:17,799 We couldn'’t find any evidence of it anywhere. 531 00:29:17,886 --> 00:29:20,541 Even though we were all a bunch of young guys, 532 00:29:20,628 --> 00:29:22,891 we suddenly became men. 533 00:29:22,978 --> 00:29:25,720 So we left there and headed west again. 534 00:29:25,807 --> 00:29:27,243 From Johnson Island 535 00:29:27,330 --> 00:29:28,941 we were sent temporary duty 536 00:29:29,028 --> 00:29:31,595 to Kwajalein, Eniwetok, 537 00:29:31,682 --> 00:29:33,249 Bikini Atoll, 538 00:29:33,336 --> 00:29:34,947 and finally to Saipan. 539 00:29:35,034 --> 00:29:36,775 When we got to Saipan, 540 00:29:36,862 --> 00:29:41,344 officers and enlisted men both lived in tents in the mud. 541 00:29:41,431 --> 00:29:44,434 Wise guy me said, "Where'’s the hotel?" 542 00:29:44,521 --> 00:29:46,349 And they said, "You'’re sleeping here." 543 00:29:46,436 --> 00:29:48,047 From Saipan, 544 00:29:48,134 --> 00:29:50,005 we had four flights in the squadron: 545 00:29:50,092 --> 00:29:52,007 A flight, B flight, C flight, D flight. 546 00:30:06,674 --> 00:30:09,329 It was the largest airplane to go into production 547 00:30:09,416 --> 00:30:11,070 during World War II. 548 00:30:11,157 --> 00:30:13,855 It was a beautiful airplane, flew beautifully. 549 00:30:13,942 --> 00:30:17,424 One problem, the engines, they overheated readily. 550 00:30:17,511 --> 00:30:19,295 We were losing a lot of them at sea. 551 00:30:19,382 --> 00:30:22,211 There were 20 crews in our squadron, 552 00:30:22,298 --> 00:30:25,736 and of each of the squadrons assembled on Saipan, 553 00:30:25,824 --> 00:30:29,001 I must say that half of those crews were lost 554 00:30:29,088 --> 00:30:31,481 during the time we were bombing Japan. 555 00:30:59,118 --> 00:31:02,686 It was horrifying because I don'’t think many of them were 556 00:31:02,773 --> 00:31:05,864 over five feet over the water when they took off. 557 00:31:05,951 --> 00:31:08,779 And it was hair-raising to them, I'’m sure. 558 00:31:31,411 --> 00:31:33,152 Why was Iwo Jima important? 559 00:31:33,239 --> 00:31:35,458 Because it was midway point 560 00:31:35,545 --> 00:31:38,244 from the Marianas to Tokyo. 561 00:31:38,331 --> 00:31:39,941 There were two things important 562 00:31:40,028 --> 00:31:41,160 about Iwo Jima. 563 00:31:41,247 --> 00:31:42,639 One, it was within range 564 00:31:42,726 --> 00:31:44,554 of Japan for fighter aircraft: 565 00:31:44,641 --> 00:31:47,993 P-47s and P-51s could reach Japan and come back. 566 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:51,257 And it was an emergency landing strip for B-29s 567 00:31:51,344 --> 00:31:54,260 that carried 11 or 12 crew members. 568 00:31:54,347 --> 00:31:58,133 So it was a place of rescue for the B-29s. 569 00:31:58,220 --> 00:32:00,701 Hundred and fifty of us got shipped out at one time. 570 00:32:00,788 --> 00:32:04,096 And I'’ll never forget it, the first sergeant came out, 571 00:32:04,183 --> 00:32:07,621 was giving us a pep talk, 572 00:32:07,708 --> 00:32:10,537 and all of a sudden he stopped. 573 00:32:23,245 --> 00:32:27,771 He said: "You men are gonna make history." 574 00:32:27,858 --> 00:32:30,426 And history we did. 575 00:32:35,257 --> 00:32:36,606 During the battle, 576 00:32:36,693 --> 00:32:39,870 there was 36 planes landed there. 577 00:32:39,958 --> 00:32:43,874 The first one was on the 13th day. 578 00:32:43,962 --> 00:32:46,181 That left 23. 579 00:32:46,268 --> 00:32:47,835 It'’s almost two a day. 580 00:32:47,922 --> 00:32:50,142 And those 36 planes 581 00:32:50,229 --> 00:32:53,275 probably saved 360 lives 582 00:32:53,362 --> 00:32:56,626 because there'’s a minimum crew of ten. 583 00:32:56,713 --> 00:32:58,541 So they attacked Iwo Jima 584 00:32:58,628 --> 00:32:59,716 and finally got it. 585 00:32:59,803 --> 00:33:01,240 My wing of our squadron 586 00:33:01,327 --> 00:33:02,719 were assigned to Iwo 587 00:33:02,806 --> 00:33:06,071 and we flew rescue operations out of there. 588 00:33:06,158 --> 00:33:07,637 The island itself was 589 00:33:07,724 --> 00:33:10,249 about four, or four and a half miles long, 590 00:33:10,336 --> 00:33:12,207 and a mile and a half wide. 591 00:33:12,294 --> 00:33:15,428 And there was around 40,000 of us on the island. 592 00:33:15,515 --> 00:33:19,040 Life on Iwo Jima was miserable. 593 00:33:19,127 --> 00:33:20,520 We had no fresh water. 594 00:33:20,607 --> 00:33:22,870 They had a distiller ship out on the ocean 595 00:33:22,957 --> 00:33:24,959 and we drank distilled ocean water. 596 00:33:25,046 --> 00:33:28,484 That extremely fine volcanic ash was always in the air. 597 00:33:28,571 --> 00:33:30,965 Our only means of washing up: 598 00:33:31,052 --> 00:33:34,186 going into the ocean with your clothes on and all. 599 00:33:34,273 --> 00:33:36,579 Where our encampment was down 600 00:33:36,666 --> 00:33:38,407 right next to Suribachi. 601 00:33:38,494 --> 00:33:40,583 There was two crews to a tent. 602 00:33:40,670 --> 00:33:44,631 No floors; it was really kind of nomadic conditions. 603 00:33:44,718 --> 00:33:47,547 We spent six months living in the tents. 604 00:33:47,634 --> 00:33:49,679 Me and Holliday, the flight engineer, 605 00:33:49,766 --> 00:33:51,899 always slept in the plane, and Sam. 606 00:33:51,986 --> 00:33:54,815 Well, old Sam Zuck was a mechanic, he was a good one. 607 00:33:54,902 --> 00:33:56,643 So they assigned him to our plane. 608 00:33:56,730 --> 00:33:58,471 And so wherever we'’d land, 609 00:33:58,558 --> 00:34:00,908 Sam was always going around working on the plane. 610 00:34:00,995 --> 00:34:02,605 Me and Holliday had been up 611 00:34:02,692 --> 00:34:04,825 most of the night playing poker somewhere. 612 00:34:04,912 --> 00:34:06,522 And Sam, he'’d get up while me 613 00:34:06,609 --> 00:34:08,481 and the flight engineer was trying to sleep, 614 00:34:08,568 --> 00:34:10,309 and he'’d start working on the plane. 615 00:34:10,396 --> 00:34:12,746 And he'’d be hammering, and that plane is just like a drum. 616 00:34:12,833 --> 00:34:14,922 When you'’d beat on the side, it reverberates, 617 00:34:15,009 --> 00:34:17,011 and the flight engineer told Sam, he said, 618 00:34:17,098 --> 00:34:18,795 "Sam, why don'’t you knock that off? 619 00:34:18,882 --> 00:34:20,710 We can let that go to some other time." 620 00:34:20,797 --> 00:34:23,452 But old Sam wasn'’t that way. Sam was conscientious. 621 00:34:23,539 --> 00:34:25,628 And Holliday, he said, "Sam, damn it, 622 00:34:25,715 --> 00:34:28,762 I gave you a direct order to go back to bed." 623 00:34:28,849 --> 00:34:30,111 I couldn'’t stand it. I laughed. 624 00:34:41,079 --> 00:34:43,298 We got eight new B-17s 625 00:34:43,385 --> 00:34:45,866 and was on Iwo Jima till the war ended. 626 00:34:45,953 --> 00:34:49,043 I was a radio operator on Bulgin'’ Bessie. 627 00:34:49,130 --> 00:34:52,133 We would go on standby offshore 628 00:34:52,220 --> 00:34:54,657 so that if a crippled plane come back, 629 00:34:54,744 --> 00:34:57,182 we had the boat on the B-17. 630 00:34:57,269 --> 00:34:59,445 We could drop a boat or give assistance 631 00:34:59,532 --> 00:35:02,578 and call a submarine or a rescue ship in 632 00:35:02,665 --> 00:35:04,232 to assist them. 633 00:35:04,319 --> 00:35:05,842 A lot of airplanes have ditched 634 00:35:05,929 --> 00:35:07,540 because of mechanical problems. 635 00:35:07,627 --> 00:35:09,281 A lot of them made it too. 636 00:35:09,368 --> 00:35:13,023 Kind of luck plays a big part of that. 637 00:35:20,857 --> 00:35:25,427 My combat experiences began on March 7th, 1945, 638 00:35:25,514 --> 00:35:28,996 when our squadron landed P-51s on Iwo Jima. 639 00:35:29,083 --> 00:35:31,390 We knew that there were Dumbos, 640 00:35:31,477 --> 00:35:33,435 PBYs flown by the Army Air Corps, 641 00:35:33,522 --> 00:35:36,090 and the Navy, on the way to Japan. 642 00:35:36,177 --> 00:35:38,048 The next group were the destroyers 643 00:35:38,136 --> 00:35:39,702 on top of the ocean. 644 00:35:39,789 --> 00:35:41,748 And the next group were the submarines. 645 00:35:41,835 --> 00:35:43,967 And yes, we knew that they were out there. 646 00:35:44,054 --> 00:35:46,361 We had code words for them. We named them something. 647 00:35:46,448 --> 00:35:47,928 And we used them. 648 00:35:48,015 --> 00:35:50,235 My father was Hiram Cassedy. 649 00:35:50,322 --> 00:35:53,499 He was a submarine commander in the Pacific 650 00:35:53,586 --> 00:35:56,197 and he took command of the Tigrone. 651 00:35:56,284 --> 00:35:58,460 When the Tigrone was commissioned, 652 00:35:58,547 --> 00:36:00,506 Hiram was put in charge 653 00:36:00,593 --> 00:36:05,380 of the whole lifeguard rescue operation in the South Pacific. 654 00:36:05,467 --> 00:36:08,688 When the pilots were coming back from a mission, 655 00:36:08,775 --> 00:36:11,691 if they had been hit and couldn'’t get the planes 656 00:36:11,778 --> 00:36:14,563 back to base, then they would coordinate 657 00:36:14,650 --> 00:36:17,000 where they were going to ditch the plane, 658 00:36:17,087 --> 00:36:21,440 and the sub would come up as close as they could to them 659 00:36:21,527 --> 00:36:24,573 and then rescue the pilots and the crew. 660 00:36:24,660 --> 00:36:26,880 This work was very dangerous 661 00:36:26,967 --> 00:36:30,536 because they were operating in enemy waters. 662 00:36:30,623 --> 00:36:32,755 V Square 10 was the plane 663 00:36:32,842 --> 00:36:34,496 we flew overseas. 664 00:36:34,583 --> 00:36:38,587 And it'’s got a name: A-Broad with Eleven Yanks. 665 00:36:38,674 --> 00:36:42,330 You know, flying missions is kind of a harrowing experience. 666 00:36:42,417 --> 00:36:45,551 There'’s 1,500 to 1,700 miles 667 00:36:45,638 --> 00:36:48,641 between Saipan and the target area of Japan. 668 00:36:48,728 --> 00:36:51,731 And as far as we knew, there'’s nothing between us 669 00:36:51,818 --> 00:36:53,211 but open ocean. 670 00:36:53,298 --> 00:36:55,082 We were on our way to the target 671 00:36:55,169 --> 00:36:58,346 when the propeller ran away, ran at high-speed, 672 00:36:58,433 --> 00:37:00,479 and we were not able to control it. 673 00:37:00,566 --> 00:37:03,003 So we headed for the island of Agrihan. 674 00:37:03,090 --> 00:37:06,398 Just before we got there, fire broke out on the engine. 675 00:37:06,485 --> 00:37:08,574 And when fire broke out, we bailed out. 676 00:37:08,661 --> 00:37:11,620 We were at 3,000 feet at three o'’clock in the morning 677 00:37:11,707 --> 00:37:13,666 over the wide Pacific Ocean, 678 00:37:13,753 --> 00:37:16,408 but at least with an island visible to us. 679 00:37:16,495 --> 00:37:18,801 I'’m sure we were all hanging in our parachutes 680 00:37:18,888 --> 00:37:20,803 when the plane exploded 681 00:37:20,890 --> 00:37:23,458 and crashed into the island of Agrihan. 682 00:37:23,545 --> 00:37:26,983 Well after daylight, a PBY flying boat flew over. 683 00:37:27,070 --> 00:37:29,290 Little did I know that they had been alerted 684 00:37:29,377 --> 00:37:31,118 and they came to search for us. 685 00:37:31,205 --> 00:37:33,120 The B-29 scattered itself 686 00:37:33,207 --> 00:37:35,209 across about a third of the way up. 687 00:37:35,296 --> 00:37:37,211 We circled in close. 688 00:37:37,298 --> 00:37:40,606 I never once felt that we were all lost, 689 00:37:40,693 --> 00:37:44,740 but I was extremely thankful when I saw the PBY flying over. 690 00:37:44,827 --> 00:37:46,264 Twelve of us bailed out. 691 00:37:46,351 --> 00:37:49,963 Unfortunately, only 11 were picked up. 692 00:38:13,856 --> 00:38:17,164 So we got alongside of them, and two of my crewmen, 693 00:38:17,251 --> 00:38:19,253 they got a rope to the life raft 694 00:38:19,340 --> 00:38:21,908 and we were able to pull them up to the aircraft, 695 00:38:21,995 --> 00:38:24,345 and between all the men on the crew, 696 00:38:24,432 --> 00:38:26,391 we were able to get the three men in 697 00:38:26,478 --> 00:38:28,610 through the blister of the aircraft. 698 00:38:45,671 --> 00:38:47,237 My name is Doug West. 699 00:38:47,325 --> 00:38:48,891 I'’m the son of Clyde Allen West. 700 00:38:48,978 --> 00:38:51,111 He was a captain and pilot of the B-29 bomber 701 00:38:51,198 --> 00:38:52,591 called Dragon Lady. 702 00:38:52,678 --> 00:38:54,332 It was actually his final mission 703 00:38:54,419 --> 00:38:56,986 and he was flying Dragon Lady on a bombing mission over Japan. 704 00:38:57,073 --> 00:38:59,075 I'’m Steven Wilcoxon, and I'’m the son 705 00:38:59,162 --> 00:39:00,773 of Roderick Gale Wilcoxon. 706 00:39:00,860 --> 00:39:02,818 My dad was flying as co-pilot 707 00:39:02,905 --> 00:39:05,386 on the Dragon Lady when she went down. 708 00:39:05,473 --> 00:39:10,609 In 1945, General LeMay, of the 73rd Bomb Wing, 709 00:39:10,696 --> 00:39:12,611 and all of the 20th Air Force, 710 00:39:12,698 --> 00:39:15,701 decreed that incendiary raids should be carried out 711 00:39:15,788 --> 00:39:19,792 to successfully stop the production of war matériel. 712 00:39:19,879 --> 00:39:22,838 So incendiary bombing was carried out. 713 00:39:22,925 --> 00:39:25,754 It was not a small thing to prep 714 00:39:25,841 --> 00:39:28,278 one of those planes for a mission like that. 715 00:39:28,366 --> 00:39:31,456 It would start six to eight hours before the mission. 716 00:39:31,543 --> 00:39:33,849 And those missions were 15 to 18 hours long. 717 00:39:33,936 --> 00:39:35,895 That particular mission, that was the Yokahama raid. 718 00:39:35,982 --> 00:39:37,766 They were flying off of North Field Tinian. 719 00:39:37,853 --> 00:39:39,420 That was the same airfield 720 00:39:39,507 --> 00:39:42,118 that the Enola Gay in the 509th set up. 721 00:39:42,205 --> 00:39:44,338 On their way back, they encountered flak, 722 00:39:44,425 --> 00:39:46,253 and it damaged the plane. 723 00:39:46,340 --> 00:39:48,386 The shell that damaged them the most 724 00:39:48,473 --> 00:39:49,996 exploded right under the cockpit, 725 00:39:50,083 --> 00:39:52,172 and it started electrical fires in the airplane, 726 00:39:52,259 --> 00:39:54,392 and the airplane was also hit in other places. 727 00:39:54,479 --> 00:39:56,611 So, they were pretty badly limping. 728 00:39:56,698 --> 00:39:58,439 The plane was an electronic airplane, 729 00:39:58,526 --> 00:40:02,312 and it was dependent on the internal navigation, 730 00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:04,314 radar, and electronic controls, 731 00:40:04,402 --> 00:40:06,839 and if the electronic system went out, 732 00:40:06,926 --> 00:40:08,710 then you couldn'’t control the aircraft. 733 00:40:08,797 --> 00:40:10,625 They kept turning off the electrical system, 734 00:40:10,712 --> 00:40:12,975 and it was able to get the fire to stop, 735 00:40:13,062 --> 00:40:15,151 but then whenever they tried to turn it back on again, 736 00:40:15,238 --> 00:40:16,762 the fire started again. 737 00:40:16,849 --> 00:40:18,459 The tail gunner apparently 738 00:40:18,546 --> 00:40:20,418 burned alive because of the fire. 739 00:40:20,505 --> 00:40:21,897 -Wright! -Everybody else is trying 740 00:40:21,984 --> 00:40:23,551 to put the fires out. It'’s chaos. 741 00:40:23,638 --> 00:40:25,597 You have no situational awareness 742 00:40:25,684 --> 00:40:27,599 outside the aircraft and you don'’t know 743 00:40:27,686 --> 00:40:29,775 if you'’re going to be called on to parachute 744 00:40:29,862 --> 00:40:32,995 or whether or not the pilot is gonna put her down. 745 00:40:34,693 --> 00:40:38,218 So he decided to ditch the airplane. 746 00:40:38,305 --> 00:40:40,263 You can feel your stomach goes right up in your throat. 747 00:40:40,350 --> 00:40:42,744 I mean, you can feel the plane is going down like a stone. 748 00:40:42,831 --> 00:40:44,877 Descending at 3,000 feet per minute! 749 00:40:44,964 --> 00:40:47,532 That'’s a really rapid descent. 750 00:40:47,619 --> 00:40:49,403 It would be very close 751 00:40:49,490 --> 00:40:51,231 to feeling as if you'’re in free-fall. 752 00:40:51,318 --> 00:40:53,712 The noise and the vibration 753 00:40:53,799 --> 00:40:56,062 are just tremendous, they'’re absolutely deafening. 754 00:40:56,149 --> 00:40:58,456 And you feel this through your whole body. 755 00:40:58,543 --> 00:41:00,153 You want to put her down tail-first, 756 00:41:00,240 --> 00:41:01,459 smoothly hit the water, 757 00:41:01,546 --> 00:41:03,286 and you'’ve got to keep her level. 758 00:41:08,770 --> 00:41:10,119 When the plane crashed, 759 00:41:10,206 --> 00:41:11,860 several of the crewmen were swept out. 760 00:41:11,947 --> 00:41:14,254 Two were lost and never recovered. 761 00:41:14,341 --> 00:41:16,343 At that point, because the ship was sinking, 762 00:41:16,430 --> 00:41:18,301 they had to get on to their life rafts. 763 00:41:18,388 --> 00:41:20,521 They weren'’t able to radio anybody their location 764 00:41:20,608 --> 00:41:22,523 because the electrical equipment had been out. 765 00:41:22,610 --> 00:41:24,133 They could count on the fact that somebody 766 00:41:24,220 --> 00:41:25,613 was gonna be looking for them. 767 00:41:25,700 --> 00:41:27,789 They just didn'’t know how much information 768 00:41:27,876 --> 00:41:29,487 the rescuers would have about them 769 00:41:29,574 --> 00:41:31,663 because their communications had been cut off. 770 00:41:31,750 --> 00:41:34,535 So they were out there floating in the middle of the ocean 771 00:41:34,622 --> 00:41:36,581 probably thinking that this could be the end, 772 00:41:36,668 --> 00:41:38,844 that they didn'’t know whether they were going to be rescued, 773 00:41:38,931 --> 00:41:40,846 killed by a Japanese submarine 774 00:41:40,933 --> 00:41:43,196 or Zeros that may have seen them and come in. 775 00:41:43,283 --> 00:41:46,416 You'’re at zero elevation and everything is above you. 776 00:41:46,504 --> 00:41:49,158 You know, the Queen Mary could be a hundred yards away 777 00:41:49,245 --> 00:41:51,509 and if you weren'’t on the top of one of the swells, 778 00:41:51,596 --> 00:41:52,771 you'’d never see it. 779 00:41:52,858 --> 00:41:54,729 So, it was a scary thing 780 00:41:54,816 --> 00:41:57,558 because you just don'’t know how long you'’re gonna be. 781 00:41:59,560 --> 00:42:01,083 How'’s Weaver? 782 00:42:01,170 --> 00:42:03,085 We'’re out of morphine. 783 00:42:05,914 --> 00:42:09,178 She nosed over too quick, Cap. 784 00:42:09,265 --> 00:42:11,398 Couldn'’t get to the provisions. 785 00:42:13,618 --> 00:42:16,359 James, any food or water in that thing? 786 00:42:16,446 --> 00:42:17,839 Negative, Captain. 787 00:42:19,885 --> 00:42:22,235 How long do these rafts stay afloat? 788 00:42:22,322 --> 00:42:24,367 They'’ll hold for a good long while, Verdeschi. 789 00:42:24,454 --> 00:42:26,587 Don'’t you worry. We'’ll be on Tinian 790 00:42:26,674 --> 00:42:28,981 long before these rafts give way. 791 00:43:23,862 --> 00:43:25,254 Sam. 792 00:43:26,778 --> 00:43:28,562 Sam! 793 00:43:30,172 --> 00:43:31,260 Sam! 794 00:43:31,347 --> 00:43:33,480 Rise and shine, boys. 795 00:43:33,567 --> 00:43:35,917 Sam, why don'’t you knock that off 796 00:43:36,004 --> 00:43:38,485 till another time? 797 00:43:41,140 --> 00:43:43,098 You boys up all night playin'’ poker again? 798 00:43:43,185 --> 00:43:45,753 Samuel Zuck, I'’m giving you a direct order! 799 00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:48,103 Stop working! 800 00:43:50,802 --> 00:43:52,847 My cousin would never put up with this. 801 00:43:52,934 --> 00:43:55,589 You know, the last time you told that story, 802 00:43:55,676 --> 00:43:57,373 Doc Holliday was your uncle. 803 00:43:57,460 --> 00:43:59,898 Don'’t start with me, Chief. 804 00:43:59,985 --> 00:44:01,595 The operations officer, 805 00:44:01,682 --> 00:44:04,206 he got notice from whomever 806 00:44:04,293 --> 00:44:06,861 that this was down or that was down, 807 00:44:06,948 --> 00:44:09,995 and he'’s the one that came and notified us that, 808 00:44:10,082 --> 00:44:11,300 "You'’re on, go." 809 00:44:15,740 --> 00:44:17,393 Sam! Lieutenant'’s on his way! 810 00:44:17,480 --> 00:44:19,787 We'’re going up; emergency search and rescue. 811 00:44:21,397 --> 00:44:23,182 Can you put that back on? 812 00:44:26,054 --> 00:44:27,882 Zalkan: B-29 ditched. 813 00:44:27,969 --> 00:44:30,406 Last known position. Go ahead and plot us a course. 814 00:44:30,493 --> 00:44:31,886 They'’re in the water-- we'’re against the clock. 815 00:44:31,973 --> 00:44:33,671 Roger that. 816 00:44:33,758 --> 00:44:35,368 We gotta get those propsturned through. 817 00:44:35,455 --> 00:44:36,761 Sam! 818 00:44:48,990 --> 00:44:51,514 Zuck, you breaking my plane? 819 00:44:51,601 --> 00:44:52,951 No, sir. 820 00:44:53,038 --> 00:44:54,735 You still looking for a change of scenery? 821 00:44:54,822 --> 00:44:56,302 -Yes, sir. -When you'’re done there, 822 00:44:56,389 --> 00:44:57,477 come aboard. 823 00:44:57,564 --> 00:44:59,653 Yes, sir! 824 00:44:59,740 --> 00:45:01,220 Thank you, sir! 825 00:45:26,506 --> 00:45:28,160 Radio check, radio check. 826 00:45:28,247 --> 00:45:29,901 -Tower check. -Radio, copy. 827 00:45:29,988 --> 00:45:30,684 Navigator, check. 828 00:45:30,771 --> 00:45:32,294 Radar operator, copy. 829 00:45:33,774 --> 00:45:34,557 Doc, let'’s get this thing running. 830 00:45:34,644 --> 00:45:35,994 Start on engine number one. 831 00:45:36,081 --> 00:45:38,561 Engineer to pilot, copy, start on engine number one. 832 00:45:47,266 --> 00:45:48,920 Start on engine two. 833 00:45:49,007 --> 00:45:51,444 Engineer to pilot, copy, start on engine number two. 834 00:46:14,510 --> 00:46:16,295 Walnut, this is Dumbo number one 835 00:46:16,382 --> 00:46:17,600 requesting clearance for takeoff on Maple, 836 00:46:17,687 --> 00:46:19,385 emergency rescue, over. 837 00:46:19,472 --> 00:46:20,952 Copy, Dumbo. 838 00:46:21,039 --> 00:46:23,041 You are currently number one and cleared for takeoff, Maple. 839 00:46:23,128 --> 00:46:23,998 Over. 840 00:46:24,085 --> 00:46:25,217 Copy, tower. 841 00:46:29,003 --> 00:46:30,657 Pilot to crew, prepare for takeoff. 842 00:47:02,820 --> 00:47:03,951 Navigator to pilot, 843 00:47:04,038 --> 00:47:05,518 we'’ve reached their last known position, over. 844 00:47:05,605 --> 00:47:07,215 Pilot to navigator, copy. 845 00:47:07,302 --> 00:47:08,347 Very nice work, Zalkan. 846 00:47:08,434 --> 00:47:10,566 Over. 847 00:47:10,653 --> 00:47:13,265 We'’re going to do an expanded square search. 848 00:47:13,352 --> 00:47:14,440 They'’re out here somewhere. 849 00:47:14,527 --> 00:47:16,398 Lieutenant, we'’re well within fighter range. 850 00:47:16,485 --> 00:47:16,921 We'’re going to have to keep moving 851 00:47:17,008 --> 00:47:18,966 when we find them. 852 00:47:19,053 --> 00:47:20,446 If we find them. 853 00:47:20,533 --> 00:47:22,491 We'’re not leaving without them, Lieutenant. 854 00:47:22,578 --> 00:47:24,667 It'’s very difficult to find people 855 00:47:24,754 --> 00:47:26,626 in a small boat in the ocean. 856 00:47:26,713 --> 00:47:28,280 It'’s just a big ocean out there, 857 00:47:28,367 --> 00:47:30,238 and a lot of room, 858 00:47:30,325 --> 00:47:32,545 and if you make a pass going east to west 859 00:47:32,632 --> 00:47:34,547 and turn around and come back the other way, 860 00:47:34,634 --> 00:47:36,070 how close are you? 861 00:47:36,157 --> 00:47:40,292 Because you can'’t come back a mile off or two miles off. 862 00:47:40,379 --> 00:47:42,772 There were Japanese subs in the area, 863 00:47:42,860 --> 00:47:45,775 and the crew members that he was trying to rescue 864 00:47:45,863 --> 00:47:49,431 would not be surviving by nightfall. 865 00:47:53,131 --> 00:47:54,480 Cap? 866 00:47:54,567 --> 00:47:55,916 What is it, Sparks? 867 00:47:56,003 --> 00:47:59,398 Cap, you hear it? 868 00:47:59,485 --> 00:48:00,616 I think you'’re hearing things, Cody. 869 00:48:00,703 --> 00:48:02,183 No. 870 00:48:02,270 --> 00:48:04,533 No, I know that sound. 871 00:48:04,620 --> 00:48:08,450 It'’s a twin engine, synchronized. 872 00:48:08,537 --> 00:48:10,278 One of ours. 873 00:48:22,421 --> 00:48:24,075 Hey, that'’s not funny! 874 00:48:24,162 --> 00:48:24,858 You know, you should keep your mouth shut 875 00:48:24,945 --> 00:48:25,946 if you don'’t know what you'’re talking about. 876 00:48:26,033 --> 00:48:26,729 Why don'’t you shut the hell up, Tancreti? 877 00:48:26,816 --> 00:48:27,687 We lost Wright. 878 00:48:27,774 --> 00:48:29,732 We already lost two guys! 879 00:48:29,819 --> 00:48:31,778 And now you'’re hearing things? 880 00:48:31,865 --> 00:48:33,171 Come on! False hope is worse than no hope! 881 00:48:33,258 --> 00:48:35,390 Don'’t give people false hope! 882 00:49:00,938 --> 00:49:02,156 Engineer to pilot, I'’ve got eyes 883 00:49:02,243 --> 00:49:04,376 on nine Davy Jones in two Goodyears! 884 00:49:04,463 --> 00:49:06,378 Repeat: nine Davy Jones, two Goodyears. 885 00:49:06,465 --> 00:49:07,553 Copy, Doc. We'’ve seen them. 886 00:49:07,640 --> 00:49:08,858 Coming around for another pass. 887 00:49:08,946 --> 00:49:10,773 What is the condition of the crew? Over. 888 00:49:10,860 --> 00:49:12,514 One appears to be critical. 889 00:49:12,601 --> 00:49:13,951 The others, satisfactory. Over. 890 00:49:16,127 --> 00:49:17,519 How far out is that Navy Lifeguard sub? 891 00:49:17,606 --> 00:49:20,000 ETA to Playmate, three hours, at maximum speed. 892 00:49:26,485 --> 00:49:28,269 Pilot to crew, prepare for water landing. 893 00:49:28,356 --> 00:49:31,098 Floats down, floats down. 894 00:49:31,185 --> 00:49:33,666 Copy, floats down, floats down, over! 895 00:49:55,079 --> 00:49:56,558 He made an open sea landing, 896 00:49:56,645 --> 00:49:57,646 which was prohibited. 897 00:49:57,733 --> 00:49:59,126 It was just too dangerous. 898 00:49:59,213 --> 00:50:02,390 He thought of others before he thought of himself. 899 00:50:02,477 --> 00:50:04,218 We pulled up to the raft. 900 00:50:04,305 --> 00:50:06,177 He was afraid to kill the engine 901 00:50:06,264 --> 00:50:08,092 because we had to get out of there as quick as we could. 902 00:50:08,179 --> 00:50:11,356 And so the plane was always moving forward. 903 00:50:11,443 --> 00:50:13,880 The life raft was floating back under the plane. 904 00:50:13,967 --> 00:50:15,534 When we'’d come up, 905 00:50:15,621 --> 00:50:17,014 the tail of the plane would be way out of the water 906 00:50:17,101 --> 00:50:18,885 and then come down and slap. 907 00:50:18,972 --> 00:50:22,584 Well, it was beatin'’ those guys to death in the raft. 908 00:50:22,671 --> 00:50:25,848 And so I had to lean out as far as I could over the blister 909 00:50:25,935 --> 00:50:27,633 and pull the raft forward 910 00:50:27,720 --> 00:50:29,809 against the motion of the plane 911 00:50:29,896 --> 00:50:30,505 Start climbing. 912 00:50:30,592 --> 00:50:31,985 Right over! Hurry! 913 00:50:33,900 --> 00:50:35,423 Come on boys, go! 914 00:50:38,122 --> 00:50:38,992 Hold up! 915 00:50:39,079 --> 00:50:41,734 Take my hand! 916 00:50:48,219 --> 00:50:49,263 Keep an eye out. 917 00:50:49,350 --> 00:50:50,960 I'’m worried about Zeroes. 918 00:50:57,489 --> 00:50:58,925 Logan! 919 00:50:59,012 --> 00:51:00,535 Get those men on board! 920 00:51:00,622 --> 00:51:03,582 Double time, double time! 921 00:51:03,669 --> 00:51:05,366 -Watch his leg! -Go, boys, go! 922 00:51:23,993 --> 00:51:25,821 -Pull him in! -Got him! 923 00:51:28,215 --> 00:51:29,564 You'’re next! 924 00:51:29,651 --> 00:51:30,913 I can'’t leave him. 925 00:51:31,000 --> 00:51:33,481 We'’re not leaving anyone! Lets go! 926 00:51:33,568 --> 00:51:35,353 We'’re not leaving you. 927 00:51:35,440 --> 00:51:36,963 You hear me? 928 00:51:48,931 --> 00:51:51,369 Then we got down to the injured guy in the raft. 929 00:51:51,456 --> 00:51:53,327 You never saw such a pitiful look on a guy'’s face 930 00:51:53,414 --> 00:51:54,981 in your life. 931 00:51:55,068 --> 00:51:58,419 He thought we'’s gonna go off and leave him. 932 00:51:58,506 --> 00:51:59,681 What'’s your name, airman? 933 00:51:59,768 --> 00:52:02,249 Weaver. My name'’s Weaver. 934 00:52:02,336 --> 00:52:03,120 All right, Weaver. 935 00:52:03,207 --> 00:52:04,512 I'’m Logan. 936 00:52:04,599 --> 00:52:05,992 I need you to work with me for a minute. 937 00:52:06,079 --> 00:52:07,602 Can you do that for me, Weaver? 938 00:52:07,689 --> 00:52:09,082 I can'’t move. 939 00:52:09,169 --> 00:52:10,431 You have to leave me. 940 00:52:10,518 --> 00:52:11,693 We'’re not going to leaving you! 941 00:52:11,780 --> 00:52:12,912 Go! 942 00:52:12,999 --> 00:52:14,043 You listen to me! 943 00:52:14,131 --> 00:52:15,175 We are all going home! 944 00:52:15,262 --> 00:52:16,742 Do you understand me? 945 00:52:30,234 --> 00:52:31,365 Logan! 946 00:52:34,455 --> 00:52:36,762 Logan! 947 00:52:44,335 --> 00:52:47,555 -Hang on! -Watch his head! 948 00:55:25,539 --> 00:55:26,845 And in the meantime, 949 00:55:26,932 --> 00:55:28,890 the radioman had been very busy searching for help 950 00:55:28,977 --> 00:55:30,588 and he got in touch with a submarine, 951 00:55:30,675 --> 00:55:32,285 the U.S.S. Tigrone, 952 00:55:32,372 --> 00:55:33,721 and I think it took them an hour, 953 00:55:33,808 --> 00:55:35,332 or maybe a little more, 954 00:55:35,419 --> 00:55:37,769 to reach our destination, which they did. 955 00:56:25,947 --> 00:56:27,819 Scheuch. 956 00:56:27,906 --> 00:56:29,037 You go on now. 957 00:56:29,124 --> 00:56:31,083 I can'’t, I... I have to make sure 958 00:56:31,170 --> 00:56:32,911 -everyone gets-- -Walter. 959 00:56:32,998 --> 00:56:36,175 I outrank you, son. 960 00:56:36,262 --> 00:56:39,526 They'’re going to ask a lot of questions about today. 961 00:56:39,613 --> 00:56:41,354 You just tell '’em it was a direct order. 962 00:56:41,441 --> 00:56:42,921 That I stayed with the ship. 963 00:56:44,792 --> 00:56:46,315 You go on with our skipper now. 964 00:56:46,403 --> 00:56:49,623 Get him safely across. 965 00:56:49,710 --> 00:56:51,669 Put his head to the back. 966 00:57:05,987 --> 00:57:08,337 They transported the pilot 967 00:57:08,425 --> 00:57:11,123 from the plane to the sub in a sling of some kind. 968 00:57:15,040 --> 00:57:17,869 Then the front of the sub pulled up to the plane wing. 969 00:57:17,956 --> 00:57:19,131 The nose of the sub was, I want to say, 970 00:57:19,218 --> 00:57:21,829 about two or three feet beyond the end of the wing. 971 00:57:21,916 --> 00:57:23,265 To get on the sub, 972 00:57:23,352 --> 00:57:26,399 we all climbed out one of the windows of the plane 973 00:57:26,486 --> 00:57:28,488 and made our way out on the wing. 974 00:57:28,575 --> 00:57:32,274 As the swells came by, we'’d go up and down. 975 00:57:32,361 --> 00:57:34,059 One moment, the sub would be below us 976 00:57:34,146 --> 00:57:35,713 and the next moment, 977 00:57:35,800 --> 00:57:39,325 it'’d rise up above us and then back down. 978 00:57:39,412 --> 00:57:42,284 Well, we walked out on the end of the plane wing 979 00:57:42,371 --> 00:57:45,636 and when the sub would start coming up, we'’d jump on it. 980 00:57:45,723 --> 00:57:48,073 You had to time it just right. 981 00:57:48,160 --> 00:57:50,989 You'’d go up and come back down and the next guy'’d jump. 982 00:57:51,076 --> 00:57:54,383 All those men on the plane made that transfer safely 983 00:57:54,471 --> 00:57:57,125 with no incident whatsoever. 984 00:57:57,212 --> 00:57:59,127 They'’d already taken the wounded guy. 985 00:57:59,214 --> 00:58:00,346 Thank goodness we found out later 986 00:58:00,433 --> 00:58:02,261 he didn'’t have a broken back. 987 00:58:02,348 --> 00:58:04,176 Come to find out, he had a whole bunch of flesh 988 00:58:04,263 --> 00:58:06,831 gouged out of one thigh. 989 00:58:06,918 --> 00:58:11,009 They got him straightened around pretty well. 990 00:58:11,096 --> 00:58:13,490 Being as I had been taking care of Lieutenant Stratton, 991 00:58:13,577 --> 00:58:15,840 I was next to the last man off the plane. 992 00:58:15,927 --> 00:58:19,408 The last man was Captain Zalkan, our navigator. 993 00:58:19,496 --> 00:58:22,281 But we all made it safe and sound with no problems. 994 00:58:57,142 --> 00:58:59,274 We thought Stratton was as good a pilot as we could have. 995 00:58:59,361 --> 00:59:01,407 We thought he was as good a pilot as there was 996 00:59:01,494 --> 00:59:02,843 in the organization. 997 00:59:32,264 --> 00:59:33,091 They surfaced, 998 00:59:33,178 --> 00:59:35,354 it would have been a formal burial at sea. 999 00:59:35,441 --> 00:59:37,356 Captain Cassedy, the captain of the Tigrone, 1000 00:59:37,443 --> 00:59:39,967 he would read the burial service, 1001 00:59:40,054 --> 00:59:43,667 and then the body will be slid over the side of the ship, 1002 00:59:43,754 --> 00:59:45,494 with the crew at attention. 1003 00:59:45,582 --> 00:59:48,106 Hiram took things on the boat personally. 1004 00:59:48,193 --> 00:59:51,805 It was done with dignity, respect, and love. 1005 01:00:08,517 --> 01:00:09,736 That was a record. 1006 01:00:09,823 --> 01:00:12,304 That was the most pilots and aircrew rescued 1007 01:00:12,391 --> 01:00:14,262 by any lifeguard submarine. 1008 01:00:14,349 --> 01:00:17,048 The sub put them ashore on Iwo Jima on June the 1st. 1009 01:00:17,135 --> 01:00:20,051 And there'’s a picture of them on the deck of the Tigrone 1010 01:00:20,138 --> 01:00:21,879 when she pulled into Iwo Jima 1011 01:00:21,966 --> 01:00:24,185 and there was a famous radio transmission 1012 01:00:24,272 --> 01:00:27,754 that Cassedy had sent after he had left his lifeguard station 1013 01:00:27,841 --> 01:00:31,105 to Commander in Chief, submarines, and said, 1014 01:00:31,192 --> 01:00:34,152 "Tigrone has saved the Air Force and is returning to Iwo Jima 1015 01:00:34,239 --> 01:00:36,371 with 28 Zoomies." 1016 01:00:36,458 --> 01:00:38,330 We'’d come back from a mission one time 1017 01:00:38,417 --> 01:00:41,420 and there was a large group of people around a tent. 1018 01:00:41,507 --> 01:00:44,553 One of the survivors was telling us what had happened. 1019 01:00:44,641 --> 01:00:46,860 I got to talk to John Logan, 1020 01:00:46,947 --> 01:00:50,124 who was a member of that crew who witnessed 1021 01:00:50,211 --> 01:00:53,301 all that horrendous stuff. 1022 01:00:53,388 --> 01:00:54,651 No good. 1023 01:00:56,130 --> 01:00:58,089 No good. 1024 01:00:58,176 --> 01:01:03,094 We were transferred to Iwo Jima in May of 1945. 1025 01:01:03,181 --> 01:01:05,923 We learned that we were replacing a crew 1026 01:01:06,010 --> 01:01:08,577 that their service had been lost, 1027 01:01:08,665 --> 01:01:12,320 and this crew was headed by Lieutenant Royal Stratton 1028 01:01:12,407 --> 01:01:16,107 and was killed in that operation. 1029 01:01:16,194 --> 01:01:18,326 I wanted to get down to where the action was. 1030 01:01:18,413 --> 01:01:22,243 And I got the opportunity to volunteer as a co-pilot 1031 01:01:22,330 --> 01:01:24,463 in the 4th Emergency Rescue Squadron. 1032 01:01:24,550 --> 01:01:26,117 And I didn'’t want to be a co-pilot, 1033 01:01:26,204 --> 01:01:28,423 but that'’s the way it all worked out. 1034 01:01:28,510 --> 01:01:30,338 In the long view of things, 1035 01:01:30,425 --> 01:01:33,167 probably it was the best thing that ever happened to me! 1036 01:01:33,254 --> 01:01:36,257 So I was assigned to Captain Richardson'’s crew, 1037 01:01:36,344 --> 01:01:38,390 and that very hour, 1038 01:01:38,477 --> 01:01:40,827 I was on a plane headed for Iwo Jima. 1039 01:01:40,914 --> 01:01:44,483 I noticed that he had me sit in the pilot seat. 1040 01:01:44,570 --> 01:01:46,006 Well, I didn'’t realize it at the time, 1041 01:01:46,093 --> 01:01:48,574 but later, I found out the reason that I flew 1042 01:01:48,661 --> 01:01:50,358 in the pilot seat is because 1043 01:01:50,445 --> 01:01:51,925 when the prop comes off of that motor, 1044 01:01:52,012 --> 01:01:54,014 it comes and kills the pilot. 1045 01:01:54,101 --> 01:01:57,757 So, Bud and I became great friends later on after the war 1046 01:01:57,844 --> 01:02:01,456 and I never ceased to remind him of that fact. 1047 01:02:01,543 --> 01:02:03,415 And he always blushed up and said, 1048 01:02:03,502 --> 01:02:05,678 "Well, you were last in." 1049 01:02:09,551 --> 01:02:13,512 It was the 3rd of July, 1945. 1050 01:02:13,599 --> 01:02:16,733 I always remember it because I say I got my fireworks 1051 01:02:16,820 --> 01:02:18,996 a day early. 1052 01:02:19,083 --> 01:02:20,388 I'’ll never forget that day. 1053 01:02:20,475 --> 01:02:25,437 It was---it was, uh, it wasn'’t good at all. 1054 01:02:25,524 --> 01:02:26,830 I was a squadron leader 1055 01:02:26,917 --> 01:02:28,919 on a mission over Chichijima. 1056 01:02:29,006 --> 01:02:30,442 Richard Schroeppel, 1057 01:02:30,529 --> 01:02:31,965 Dick Schroeppel from Ridgewood, New Jersey, 1058 01:02:32,052 --> 01:02:34,098 was my wingman. 1059 01:02:34,185 --> 01:02:36,100 And I gave a waggle and we all strung out 1060 01:02:36,187 --> 01:02:37,841 in a string formation, 1061 01:02:37,928 --> 01:02:40,278 turned our airplanes over, and went down and dropped 1062 01:02:40,365 --> 01:02:44,021 500-pound bombs on the Japanese landing strip 1063 01:02:44,108 --> 01:02:45,805 on Chichijima. 1064 01:02:45,892 --> 01:02:47,720 And they were shooting at me first, 1065 01:02:47,807 --> 01:02:49,678 but they hit Dick Schroeppel. 1066 01:02:49,766 --> 01:02:52,856 And he got up and bailed out, got into a one-man life raft, 1067 01:02:52,943 --> 01:02:54,248 got out to sea a little bit. 1068 01:02:54,335 --> 01:02:56,076 We called for a Dumbo. 1069 01:02:56,163 --> 01:02:58,339 There was anti-aircraft on both sides 1070 01:02:58,426 --> 01:03:00,211 where you went in to this bay. 1071 01:03:00,298 --> 01:03:03,649 Well, he was down inside the bay in his little dinghy, 1072 01:03:03,736 --> 01:03:05,782 and we got the boat down to him, 1073 01:03:05,869 --> 01:03:09,524 and the Japanese were all firing at him 1074 01:03:09,611 --> 01:03:11,526 and firing at us. 1075 01:03:11,613 --> 01:03:13,093 We were called there, 1076 01:03:13,180 --> 01:03:14,703 but by the time we got there, 1077 01:03:14,791 --> 01:03:17,532 another B-17 had dropped his boat. 1078 01:03:17,619 --> 01:03:19,970 We could see flashes from the shore. 1079 01:03:20,057 --> 01:03:22,494 An Army PBY landed 1080 01:03:22,581 --> 01:03:24,409 with a flight surgeon in it. 1081 01:03:24,496 --> 01:03:26,193 Of course I was a co-pilot, 1082 01:03:26,280 --> 01:03:29,022 but that was the first time I'’d ever landed in a PBY. 1083 01:03:29,109 --> 01:03:31,024 I had no experience. 1084 01:03:31,111 --> 01:03:33,722 To tell you the truth, I thought we were sinking. 1085 01:03:33,810 --> 01:03:35,289 He saw the rescue boat 1086 01:03:35,376 --> 01:03:36,987 that was dropped by the B-17. 1087 01:03:37,074 --> 01:03:38,597 The only thing that I regret, 1088 01:03:38,684 --> 01:03:40,817 we didn'’t get the guy. 1089 01:03:40,904 --> 01:03:42,819 And that, of course, haunts me. 1090 01:03:42,906 --> 01:03:44,864 He had been killed, 1091 01:03:44,951 --> 01:03:47,475 and the squadron that replaced my squadron 1092 01:03:47,562 --> 01:03:49,608 were ordered to use rockets to sink 1093 01:03:49,695 --> 01:03:53,873 that rescue lifeboat with Dick Schroeppel'’s body in it 1094 01:03:53,960 --> 01:03:56,876 so that the commanding officer of Chichijima 1095 01:03:56,963 --> 01:03:59,052 wouldn'’t have another liver to eat, 1096 01:03:59,139 --> 01:04:03,100 of which he was accused of doing after the war. 1097 01:04:03,187 --> 01:04:04,753 It was a bad day. 1098 01:04:04,841 --> 01:04:08,757 We were just fortunate that we got out of there and back to Iwo 1099 01:04:08,845 --> 01:04:10,672 without any more problems. 1100 01:04:10,759 --> 01:04:12,718 We had some holes in the plane 1101 01:04:12,805 --> 01:04:15,721 but they didn'’t happen to hit anything vital 1102 01:04:15,808 --> 01:04:17,549 that knocked us down 1103 01:04:17,636 --> 01:04:21,335 or we'’d have been right down there with him. 1104 01:04:21,422 --> 01:04:23,424 July the 30th, 1945, 1105 01:04:23,511 --> 01:04:24,425 the ship was sunk. 1106 01:04:24,512 --> 01:04:27,733 I first went aboard in February 1942. 1107 01:04:27,820 --> 01:04:31,345 My name is Lyle Umenhoffer, I was Seaman First Class, 1108 01:04:31,432 --> 01:04:34,435 and I served aboard the U.S.S. Indianapolis. 1109 01:04:34,522 --> 01:04:36,785 My station was the last one on the back of the ship. 1110 01:04:36,873 --> 01:04:38,962 The eight-inch guns back aft, 1111 01:04:39,049 --> 01:04:40,877 that'’s where I went in to be a gunner'’s mate. 1112 01:04:40,964 --> 01:04:42,879 Well, they took us over to Hunter'’s Point. 1113 01:04:42,966 --> 01:04:45,316 This huge, big crate was sitting on the dock. 1114 01:04:45,403 --> 01:04:47,187 So we loaded it aboard ship 1115 01:04:47,274 --> 01:04:49,233 and put a Marine guard on the door. 1116 01:05:00,853 --> 01:05:03,247 Well, we had no idea what it was or anything like that. 1117 01:05:03,334 --> 01:05:05,292 MacArthur was over there for a while, 1118 01:05:05,379 --> 01:05:07,468 and they thought maybe it was a load of toilet paper 1119 01:05:07,555 --> 01:05:09,340 or something to take to MacArthur. 1120 01:05:09,427 --> 01:05:10,689 Even on Saipan, 1121 01:05:10,776 --> 01:05:13,648 we didn'’t know anything about the mission. 1122 01:05:13,735 --> 01:05:16,042 We went to Guam and we took on ammunition 1123 01:05:16,129 --> 01:05:17,957 and supplies and things. 1124 01:05:18,044 --> 01:05:20,786 We left out and the captain requested escort 1125 01:05:20,873 --> 01:05:22,657 and they turned him down, 1126 01:05:22,744 --> 01:05:25,051 so we were by ourselves out in the Philippine Sea. 1127 01:05:25,138 --> 01:05:25,965 And that evening, 1128 01:05:26,052 --> 01:05:28,663 I had just got off watch at 12:00. 1129 01:05:28,750 --> 01:05:31,884 When the first torpedo hit, it blew off our bow. 1130 01:05:31,971 --> 01:05:33,668 And then when the second torpedo hit, 1131 01:05:33,755 --> 01:05:35,757 it hit in our high-octane gasoline 1132 01:05:35,844 --> 01:05:38,238 in one of our powder rooms where we kept our powder 1133 01:05:38,325 --> 01:05:39,587 for our ammunition. 1134 01:05:39,674 --> 01:05:41,589 And it exploded and sent fire 1135 01:05:41,676 --> 01:05:42,764 all through the front of the ship. 1136 01:05:42,851 --> 01:05:46,159 It was about 12 minutes after midnight when we got hit 1137 01:05:46,246 --> 01:05:48,988 and I went in the water and I didn'’t see anybody 1138 01:05:49,075 --> 01:05:51,034 until about 6:00 the next morning. 1139 01:05:51,121 --> 01:05:53,253 There was thousands and thousands of sharks 1140 01:05:53,340 --> 01:05:55,342 just milling around, 1141 01:05:55,429 --> 01:05:56,953 and barracuda. 1142 01:05:57,040 --> 01:05:58,563 We could see '’em, and they were picking guys 1143 01:05:58,650 --> 01:06:00,304 that was off by themselves. 1144 01:06:00,391 --> 01:06:02,045 They were just taking them real quick. 1145 01:06:02,132 --> 01:06:03,742 There'’s no sound out there, 1146 01:06:03,829 --> 01:06:06,049 just a little, maybe, chopping of a wave, 1147 01:06:06,136 --> 01:06:07,441 or something like that. 1148 01:06:07,528 --> 01:06:10,836 But then of course, there was guys talking 1149 01:06:10,923 --> 01:06:13,491 and crying and praying-- 1150 01:06:13,578 --> 01:06:15,493 we were out there for five days. 1151 01:06:15,580 --> 01:06:18,278 So we just kept hanging on, saying, well, 1152 01:06:18,365 --> 01:06:20,541 maybe somebody will spot us. 1153 01:06:20,628 --> 01:06:22,587 No water, no food. 1154 01:06:22,674 --> 01:06:24,589 The Navy didn'’t report 1155 01:06:24,676 --> 01:06:27,200 theU.S.S. Indianapolis missing 1156 01:06:27,287 --> 01:06:29,681 until three days later. 1157 01:06:29,768 --> 01:06:30,987 The fourth day, 1158 01:06:31,074 --> 01:06:33,467 Wilbur Gwinn and his crew, based on Tinian, 1159 01:06:33,554 --> 01:06:36,079 they were out to spot submarines. 1160 01:06:36,166 --> 01:06:37,950 They had put an antenna on the back of the plane 1161 01:06:38,037 --> 01:06:39,082 and it broke off. 1162 01:06:39,169 --> 01:06:40,953 So they went back in and picked up another one 1163 01:06:41,040 --> 01:06:42,389 and came back out again. 1164 01:06:42,476 --> 01:06:43,521 It started acting up, 1165 01:06:43,608 --> 01:06:46,306 so Wilbur Gwinn, he went back aft and he said, 1166 01:06:46,393 --> 01:06:47,699 "Let me take a look at this." 1167 01:06:47,786 --> 01:06:49,483 They had the bomb bay doors open. 1168 01:06:49,570 --> 01:06:52,921 He looked down and he saw an oil slick, which was us. 1169 01:06:53,009 --> 01:06:55,402 And he spotted the heads bobbing up and down, 1170 01:06:55,489 --> 01:06:57,622 we were splashing and everything, 1171 01:06:57,709 --> 01:06:59,537 and he said, "There'’s men in the water." 1172 01:06:59,624 --> 01:07:01,539 So he radioed back in. 1173 01:07:01,626 --> 01:07:04,672 Lieutenant Adrian Marks, his crew was standing by, 1174 01:07:04,759 --> 01:07:07,719 so he and his crew jumped in the PBY 1175 01:07:07,806 --> 01:07:09,677 and flew in and he saw sharks, 1176 01:07:09,764 --> 01:07:11,723 so he made an open-sea landing. 1177 01:07:11,810 --> 01:07:13,638 And he bounced a couple of times, 1178 01:07:13,725 --> 01:07:15,509 popped holes in the plane, 1179 01:07:15,596 --> 01:07:18,817 and they plugged them up and started taxiing around 1180 01:07:18,904 --> 01:07:22,342 and started picking up survivors just one at a time. 1181 01:07:22,429 --> 01:07:24,431 We were on Peleliu, flight D. 1182 01:07:24,518 --> 01:07:27,434 As a flight leader, I was able to dispatch 1183 01:07:27,521 --> 01:07:29,393 all three of our airplanes. 1184 01:07:29,480 --> 01:07:32,657 Lieutenant Richard C. Alcorn went to the northwest, 1185 01:07:32,744 --> 01:07:34,615 my aircraft went west, 1186 01:07:34,702 --> 01:07:37,705 and Lieutenant Willy Emonds went to the southwest. 1187 01:07:37,792 --> 01:07:40,186 Lieutenant Alcorn found them. 1188 01:07:40,273 --> 01:07:42,841 He landed, and the survivors had been in the water 1189 01:07:42,928 --> 01:07:44,234 withoutrafts. 1190 01:07:44,321 --> 01:07:47,541 He threw them rafts full of water and canned food, 1191 01:07:47,628 --> 01:07:49,282 or rations, rather. 1192 01:07:49,369 --> 01:07:52,198 Some of them ended up in rubber rafts, floundering, 1193 01:07:52,285 --> 01:07:56,420 and I swam out and grabbed it and swam to our airplane. 1194 01:07:56,507 --> 01:07:59,727 The surface craft reached them a little bit just before dark. 1195 01:08:04,428 --> 01:08:06,560 I was picked up probably about 8:00 1196 01:08:06,647 --> 01:08:08,171 from the PBY, 1197 01:08:08,258 --> 01:08:10,303 and that'’s when they sent a boat overto pick us up 1198 01:08:10,390 --> 01:08:12,305 from the U.S.S. Cecil Doyle. 1199 01:08:35,633 --> 01:08:36,547 We didn'’t know anything 1200 01:08:36,634 --> 01:08:38,070 about the atomic bomb. 1201 01:08:38,157 --> 01:08:39,811 It was a well-kept secret. 1202 01:08:39,898 --> 01:08:41,552 We didn'’t even know what the mission was, 1203 01:08:41,639 --> 01:08:43,336 but they called a mission. 1204 01:08:43,423 --> 01:08:45,860 and we took off, 5:00 in the morning, 1205 01:08:45,947 --> 01:08:47,775 and we had number one station, 1206 01:08:47,862 --> 01:08:49,995 which is right off the coast of Japan. 1207 01:08:50,082 --> 01:08:51,170 It was a beautiful day. 1208 01:08:51,257 --> 01:08:54,347 It was clear blue sky, maybe a cloud here and there 1209 01:08:54,434 --> 01:08:55,348 once in a while. 1210 01:08:55,435 --> 01:08:57,785 Smooth sailing, and we was going along there, 1211 01:08:57,872 --> 01:08:59,700 and all of a sudden, George, 1212 01:08:59,787 --> 01:09:02,181 radio operator that sat across from me, 1213 01:09:02,268 --> 01:09:05,315 he looked out the window and he see this cloud coming up 1214 01:09:05,402 --> 01:09:08,405 And he said, "What the hell was that?" 1215 01:09:08,492 --> 01:09:11,538 And I stood up and looked out the top hatch, 1216 01:09:11,625 --> 01:09:14,324 and you could see this flower getting bigger and bigger 1217 01:09:14,411 --> 01:09:15,238 and bigger. 1218 01:09:15,325 --> 01:09:16,848 We didn'’t see the flash 1219 01:09:16,935 --> 01:09:19,242 '’cause I don'’t think we were that close. 1220 01:09:19,329 --> 01:09:23,985 I do recall we felt the shock of it blowing out. 1221 01:09:24,072 --> 01:09:25,291 It just come over the radio 1222 01:09:25,378 --> 01:09:27,206 a short time later 1223 01:09:27,293 --> 01:09:30,427 that it was what they called the atomic bomb. 1224 01:09:30,514 --> 01:09:34,561 It was horrendous. 1225 01:09:34,648 --> 01:09:36,172 We didn'’t know at the time 1226 01:09:36,259 --> 01:09:40,828 how many thousands of people it had killed, but... 1227 01:09:40,915 --> 01:09:44,441 it was just something I was not very proud of. 1228 01:10:44,544 --> 01:10:46,459 On August 15th, 1229 01:10:46,546 --> 01:10:48,331 at about 10:00 in the morning, 1230 01:10:48,418 --> 01:10:51,856 we got the notice that the Japanese had surrendered. 1231 01:10:51,943 --> 01:10:54,380 I have received this afternoon 1232 01:10:54,467 --> 01:10:57,122 a message from the Japanese government 1233 01:10:57,209 --> 01:10:59,951 in reply to the message forwarded to that government 1234 01:11:00,038 --> 01:11:03,607 by the Secretary of State on August 11th. 1235 01:11:03,694 --> 01:11:06,349 I deem this reply a full acceptance 1236 01:11:06,436 --> 01:11:09,177 of the Potsdam Declaration, 1237 01:11:09,265 --> 01:11:11,963 which specifies the unconditional surrender 1238 01:11:12,050 --> 01:11:13,225 of Japan. 1239 01:11:47,694 --> 01:11:50,480 He got to about maybe 50 yards. 1240 01:11:50,567 --> 01:11:54,135 I could see the pilot as clearly as I'’m looking at you. 1241 01:11:54,222 --> 01:11:57,356 I thought sure that this was the end of my life. 1242 01:11:57,443 --> 01:11:59,053 Just at that point, 1243 01:11:59,140 --> 01:12:01,317 one of the shells from the destroyer 1244 01:12:01,404 --> 01:12:04,581 must have hit the bomb this kamikaze was flying with, 1245 01:12:04,668 --> 01:12:07,235 it just blew up in a huge ball of flame. 1246 01:12:07,323 --> 01:12:09,412 I didn'’t even see the wreckage. 1247 01:12:09,499 --> 01:12:13,024 That was my most frightening experience. 1248 01:12:13,111 --> 01:12:15,896 More so than landing in Tokyo Bay. 1249 01:12:15,983 --> 01:12:17,637 I was up at Japan 1250 01:12:17,724 --> 01:12:19,552 when Admiral Halsey came on and said 1251 01:12:19,639 --> 01:12:21,815 for all pilots to return to base, 1252 01:12:21,902 --> 01:12:23,339 that the war was over 1253 01:12:23,426 --> 01:12:24,992 and the Japanese had surrendered. 1254 01:12:25,079 --> 01:12:27,255 And then, one of the worst six hours 1255 01:12:27,343 --> 01:12:29,127 of my life of flying. 1256 01:12:29,214 --> 01:12:31,347 My father had taken me to see the movie 1257 01:12:31,434 --> 01:12:34,001 All Quiet on the Western Front, 1258 01:12:34,088 --> 01:12:37,135 where the guy gets plugged the last day of the war. 1259 01:12:37,222 --> 01:12:39,224 And I thought, oh shit, 1260 01:12:39,311 --> 01:12:40,356 this is going to happen, 1261 01:12:40,443 --> 01:12:41,357 we'’re going to get lost, 1262 01:12:41,444 --> 01:12:43,184 something bad is gonna happen. 1263 01:12:43,271 --> 01:12:46,057 And that'’s the way I thought all the way back to Iwo. 1264 01:12:46,144 --> 01:12:47,450 Near the end of the war, 1265 01:12:47,537 --> 01:12:52,280 we lost one aircraft with seven guys. 1266 01:12:52,368 --> 01:12:54,021 Shot down. 1267 01:12:54,108 --> 01:12:56,633 It hit us pretty bad. 1268 01:12:56,720 --> 01:13:00,811 Particularly when just hours away from the end of the war. 1269 01:13:00,898 --> 01:13:04,249 The last plane shot down in World War II was a PBY, 1270 01:13:04,336 --> 01:13:07,992 4th Emergency Rescue Squadron in Tokyo Bay. 1271 01:13:14,085 --> 01:13:16,957 We got a mission to fly a courier 1272 01:13:17,044 --> 01:13:18,829 to the battleship Missouri. 1273 01:13:18,916 --> 01:13:22,963 The courier was carrying the surrender documents. 1274 01:13:23,050 --> 01:13:25,662 I was co-pilot on that flight. 1275 01:13:25,749 --> 01:13:27,925 Charles Oates was the pilot. 1276 01:13:28,012 --> 01:13:30,884 The courier and I decided to play cribbage 1277 01:13:30,971 --> 01:13:32,103 on the way. 1278 01:13:32,190 --> 01:13:35,106 I could see the outline of the document binders 1279 01:13:35,193 --> 01:13:37,151 in his mailbag. 1280 01:13:37,238 --> 01:13:40,720 The courier wouldn'’t let go of that bag the entire flight, 1281 01:13:40,807 --> 01:13:44,115 obviously for good reason. 1282 01:13:44,202 --> 01:13:47,248 We are gathered here, 1283 01:13:47,335 --> 01:13:53,211 representatives of the major warring powers, 1284 01:13:53,298 --> 01:13:57,563 to conclude a solemn agreement 1285 01:13:57,650 --> 01:14:01,828 whereby peace may be restored. 1286 01:14:01,915 --> 01:14:09,314 The issues involving divergent ideals and ideologies 1287 01:14:09,401 --> 01:14:14,450 have been determined on the battlefields of the world. 1288 01:15:03,063 --> 01:15:06,110 I announce it my firm purpose, 1289 01:15:06,197 --> 01:15:09,766 in the tradition of the countries I represent, 1290 01:15:09,853 --> 01:15:13,509 to proceed in the discharge of my responsibilities, 1291 01:15:13,596 --> 01:15:15,685 with justice and tolerance, 1292 01:15:15,772 --> 01:15:19,340 while taking all necessary dispositions 1293 01:15:19,427 --> 01:15:23,083 to ensure that the terms of surrender 1294 01:15:23,170 --> 01:15:28,132 are fully, promptly, and faithfully complied with. 1295 01:15:30,134 --> 01:15:31,178 We didn'’t dream 1296 01:15:31,265 --> 01:15:33,093 of anybody getting killed. 1297 01:15:33,180 --> 01:15:35,182 We were friends. 1298 01:15:35,269 --> 01:15:37,358 When you lose a friend, 1299 01:15:37,445 --> 01:15:40,361 you lose a part of yourself. 1300 01:15:40,448 --> 01:15:44,278 We had built a theater on Saipan 1301 01:15:44,365 --> 01:15:46,324 where we could watch movies at night 1302 01:15:46,411 --> 01:15:49,109 and named it the Stratton Memorial Theater, 1303 01:15:49,196 --> 01:15:52,025 which proved what the gentlemen of the squadron 1304 01:15:52,112 --> 01:15:54,811 felt about Royal. 1305 01:15:54,898 --> 01:15:55,942 Unfortunately, he lost his life 1306 01:15:56,029 --> 01:15:58,249 But it'’s because of that that I'’m here today, 1307 01:15:58,336 --> 01:15:59,946 my family is here, 1308 01:16:00,033 --> 01:16:01,121 several generations of family are here 1309 01:16:01,208 --> 01:16:03,602 because of the efforts of Stratton and his crew. 1310 01:16:03,689 --> 01:16:05,343 So, words escape me 1311 01:16:05,430 --> 01:16:07,867 as to the gratitude I have for the gentleman. 1312 01:16:07,954 --> 01:16:11,349 Understanding that dynamic of the young soldier, 1313 01:16:11,436 --> 01:16:14,570 the hero is born just from circumstance. 1314 01:16:14,657 --> 01:16:16,876 He'’s pushed into a circumstance. 1315 01:16:16,963 --> 01:16:19,836 It'’s the decision he makes at that moment 1316 01:16:19,923 --> 01:16:21,533 that makes him the hero. 1317 01:16:21,620 --> 01:16:24,492 And some of them don'’t survive those decisions. 1318 01:16:24,580 --> 01:16:25,624 I'’m here. 1319 01:16:25,711 --> 01:16:27,539 I was born in '’52. 1320 01:16:27,626 --> 01:16:30,281 I was born way after this event, 1321 01:16:30,368 --> 01:16:32,109 so I'’m lucky to be here, 1322 01:16:32,196 --> 01:16:34,502 and I'’m lucky that the legacy goes on 1323 01:16:34,590 --> 01:16:37,331 and that these things are documented and we remember. 1324 01:16:37,418 --> 01:16:39,420 You know, when somebody is taken away from you so young, 1325 01:16:39,507 --> 01:16:42,467 that'’s the way you remember them forever. 1326 01:16:42,554 --> 01:16:44,208 You don'’t see '’em getting old and cranky 1327 01:16:44,295 --> 01:16:46,819 and losing their hair. 1328 01:16:46,906 --> 01:16:50,823 You know, he was always 22 in her mind. 1329 01:16:50,910 --> 01:16:55,698 It'’s hard to imagine the reverberations of, 1330 01:16:55,785 --> 01:16:57,830 of somebody, you know, 1331 01:16:57,917 --> 01:17:00,441 a very beloved family member, a community member, 1332 01:17:00,528 --> 01:17:04,097 a friend that is not here anymore. 1333 01:17:04,184 --> 01:17:08,493 My son was killed in Iraq in April of 2004. 1334 01:17:08,580 --> 01:17:11,191 The Cindy Sheehan that existed on April 3rd 1335 01:17:11,278 --> 01:17:13,803 didn'’t exist on April 4th. 1336 01:17:13,890 --> 01:17:15,674 It was a totally different person. 1337 01:17:15,761 --> 01:17:17,807 We got the knock on the door, 1338 01:17:17,894 --> 01:17:21,071 and the Army came to tell us that Casey was killed. 1339 01:17:21,158 --> 01:17:24,683 I fell on the floor screaming for I don'’t know how long, 1340 01:17:24,770 --> 01:17:27,251 until my head hurt, until my heart hurt, 1341 01:17:27,338 --> 01:17:28,861 and when I got up, I was a different person. 1342 01:17:28,948 --> 01:17:30,733 How could I not be? 1343 01:17:30,820 --> 01:17:32,604 I'’m sorry. 1344 01:17:34,824 --> 01:17:38,915 One of my limbs was amputated. 1345 01:17:39,002 --> 01:17:43,789 What is hard is to see how my mom reacted. 1346 01:17:43,876 --> 01:17:47,227 She never got over the death of my dad, ever. 1347 01:17:47,314 --> 01:17:49,229 You'’d mention his name and she'’d start crying, 1348 01:17:49,316 --> 01:17:50,535 so it was something 1349 01:17:50,622 --> 01:17:53,103 that I never really wanted to get to, 1350 01:17:53,190 --> 01:17:56,889 because it just tore her up too much. 1351 01:17:56,976 --> 01:17:59,892 She loved him till the day she died. 1352 01:17:59,979 --> 01:18:03,026 I like that old saying thatsays 1353 01:18:03,113 --> 01:18:06,116 a person never dies until the last person 1354 01:18:06,203 --> 01:18:08,248 that remembers that person dies. 1355 01:18:08,335 --> 01:18:10,468 So I don'’t think Casey'’s ever gonna die. 1356 01:18:10,555 --> 01:18:14,951 His story and our story is written up in history books 1357 01:18:15,038 --> 01:18:17,693 and has made that-- 1358 01:18:17,780 --> 01:18:21,044 that Casey is actually immortal. 1359 01:18:23,568 --> 01:18:26,963 It'’s Congress'’s responsibility 1360 01:18:27,050 --> 01:18:29,182 and our honor to call attention to those 1361 01:18:29,269 --> 01:18:32,969 who have given meritorious service to our country. 1362 01:18:33,056 --> 01:18:36,407 And certainly, the Congress recognize the importance 1363 01:18:36,494 --> 01:18:39,758 of those who have served in World War II. 1364 01:18:39,845 --> 01:18:42,239 We'’ve honored them with a special memorial, 1365 01:18:42,326 --> 01:18:45,068 and we know that those who served 1366 01:18:45,155 --> 01:18:47,244 are in some ways, 1367 01:18:47,331 --> 01:18:49,115 many of them are starting to answer 1368 01:18:49,202 --> 01:18:51,814 their last call of duty, 1369 01:18:51,901 --> 01:18:54,642 and we want to take every opportunity 1370 01:18:54,730 --> 01:18:56,166 to be able to come forward 1371 01:18:56,253 --> 01:18:58,516 for those individuals who have served 1372 01:18:58,603 --> 01:19:00,387 and pay them special recognition. 1373 01:19:00,474 --> 01:19:03,695 We rise in honor of World War II rescue pilot 1374 01:19:03,782 --> 01:19:06,002 1st Lieutenant Royal Stratton, 1375 01:19:06,089 --> 01:19:08,700 who died May 29th, 1945, 1376 01:19:08,787 --> 01:19:11,659 after being mortally wounded while saving nine crew members 1377 01:19:11,747 --> 01:19:13,966 from a downed B-29. 1378 01:19:14,053 --> 01:19:16,664 Royal hailed from Ellwood City, Pennsylvania. 1379 01:19:16,752 --> 01:19:18,536 His love of flying led to his enlistment 1380 01:19:18,623 --> 01:19:20,277 in the Army Air Corps, 1381 01:19:20,364 --> 01:19:22,670 where he excelled to become one of the few pilots 1382 01:19:22,758 --> 01:19:24,585 to wear both Army and Navy wings. 1383 01:19:24,672 --> 01:19:27,545 Royal joined the 4th Emergency Rescue Squadron. 1384 01:19:27,632 --> 01:19:29,242 With his crew of six, 1385 01:19:29,329 --> 01:19:31,462 he'’d fly off Iwo Jima and police flight paths 1386 01:19:31,549 --> 01:19:34,682 searching for B-29 bombers in jeopardy. 1387 01:19:34,770 --> 01:19:36,293 Generations have passed 1388 01:19:36,380 --> 01:19:39,426 since the members of the 4th Emergency Rescue Squadron 1389 01:19:39,513 --> 01:19:41,951 set foot on these shores. 1390 01:19:44,867 --> 01:19:46,738 It doesn'’t seem that long ago that they started out 1391 01:19:46,825 --> 01:19:49,001 on their journey 1392 01:19:49,088 --> 01:19:54,441 and faced an entire world at war. 1393 01:19:54,528 --> 01:19:57,793 This remote island of Iwo Jima is the last place on earth 1394 01:19:57,880 --> 01:20:02,319 a pilot from Pennsylvania, and many others, would set foot 1395 01:20:02,406 --> 01:20:03,929 and it'’s this hallowed ground 1396 01:20:04,016 --> 01:20:06,932 I'’ve chosen as the last stop on my journey as well. 1397 01:20:12,677 --> 01:20:14,679 Here, atop Mount Suribachi, 1398 01:20:14,766 --> 01:20:18,074 I'’m alone with the memory of those brave individuals 1399 01:20:18,161 --> 01:20:21,207 who forever set aside everything they could have been 1400 01:20:21,294 --> 01:20:23,644 in the name of freedom, 1401 01:20:23,731 --> 01:20:25,951 and they changed the world. 1402 01:20:33,611 --> 01:20:38,007 Many of us didn'’t know my great uncle, just a name: 1403 01:20:38,094 --> 01:20:41,445 Royal A. Stratton. 1404 01:20:41,532 --> 01:20:44,491 He was one among millions. 1405 01:20:44,578 --> 01:20:46,058 But he was ours. 1406 01:20:48,713 --> 01:20:50,846 I think back fondly about all the roads I'’ve taken 1407 01:20:50,933 --> 01:20:55,415 on this long journey reaching back through time. 1408 01:20:55,502 --> 01:20:59,376 But in all my travels, I'’ve found none so cherished 1409 01:20:59,463 --> 01:21:01,421 as the road that leads us home. 1410 01:21:01,508 --> 01:21:04,033 Floats up. 1411 01:21:04,120 --> 01:21:05,512 We'’re going home. 1412 01:21:33,062 --> 01:21:36,065 look back to you 1413 01:21:39,764 --> 01:21:41,766 we see the light 1414 01:21:41,853 --> 01:21:45,248 dispels the night 1415 01:21:56,912 --> 01:22:03,962 in truth and love 1416 01:22:06,399 --> 01:22:10,795 we are one family 1417 01:22:10,882 --> 01:22:15,017 we are one tribe united 1418 01:22:19,804 --> 01:22:23,503 my greatest joy 1419 01:22:23,590 --> 01:22:28,813 we are one family 1420 01:22:36,821 --> 01:22:38,649 It'’s been a good life that we'’ve had. 1421 01:22:38,736 --> 01:22:40,999 We'’ve had positive experiences, 1422 01:22:41,086 --> 01:22:43,219 we'’ve had a positive attitude. 1423 01:22:43,306 --> 01:22:44,655 What legacy do we want to leave behind, 1424 01:22:44,742 --> 01:22:45,873 you know? 1425 01:22:45,961 --> 01:22:48,572 We want to leave a legacy of peace and harmony 1426 01:22:48,659 --> 01:22:50,313 all over the world. 1427 01:22:50,400 --> 01:22:52,880 I just wanted to do my part. 1428 01:22:52,968 --> 01:22:56,362 I tried my best to do everything they asked of me, 1429 01:22:56,449 --> 01:22:59,452 and, uh, I got through. 1430 01:22:59,539 --> 01:23:01,106 We were out there to save lives 1431 01:23:01,193 --> 01:23:03,456 rather than to take lives. 1432 01:23:03,543 --> 01:23:05,458 Feels great knowing that we were 1433 01:23:05,545 --> 01:23:09,767 part of a group trying to rescue survivors. 1434 01:23:09,854 --> 01:23:12,335 You can'’t imagine the feeling that you have inside, 1435 01:23:12,422 --> 01:23:15,816 that you and these men saved those lives. 1436 01:23:15,903 --> 01:23:18,123 Everyone took pride in what they did 1437 01:23:18,210 --> 01:23:20,560 and it'’s a real happy feeling. 1438 01:23:25,174 --> 01:23:27,393 I'’ve had a terrific life. 1439 01:23:27,480 --> 01:23:30,570 I wouldn'’t trade anybody for mine. 1440 01:23:30,657 --> 01:23:33,138 Well, you don'’t salute without your hat.