Operations during the month of December were steadily moving Northward. All ships at APO 159 (Sansapor, New Guinea²) were covering two strikes during the same day. Flying to the Halmahera Islands in the morning and then going south to cover the Ceram strikes in the afternoon. Meanwhile at APO 926 (Morotai²) missions were to the Philippines with an occasional strike to cover in Borneo. Encounters with Japanese aircraft and shore batteries became more frequent. A total of 88 missions totaling 794:00 hours were flown during this period.

Ship 44-33884, flying a scheduled mission over the Sangibe Island Group on the 13 December, made a landing on the Northwest edge of Siaoe Island to put ashore 2 natives of the Dutch forces. The right wing was damaged about 15 feet from the wing tip, spars and stringers were badly damaged and the rear spar was completely broken by this landing. It was decided by the pilot and his crew that the ship could not be flown at that time but if the spare parts could be flown in it could be fixed in a couple of days. (Ship could not be repaired and was written off as a combat loss on 18 December 1944 per INDIVIDUAL AIRCRAFT RECORD CARD³) Friendly natives informed the crew that the Japanese forces were on the island and a garrison of about 500 Japs was stationed on the largest island of the group. It was decided to taxi the ship to nearby Makalebi Island, which was known to be free of Japs, and to beach it there at high tide. The native chief of this island informed the pilot that he had to make a weekly report to the Japanese Garrison and fearing that the landing had been observed wished the crew would leave as soon as possible. Next day another ship belonging to this squadron rescued the crew and brought them back to the base at APO 926. No injuries were sustained by any of the crew.

"NUISANCE AIR RAIDS" were quite frequent during the month and on the morning of 23 December a bomb was dropped in the Officers area of this squadron. Two officers were killed and nine others were wounded. (Read a report by Lieutenant Bill Holbrook, and a story by Captain Bill Harves on this attack)

THOSE KILLED: 1st Lt. Harold B. Smith, 0-1894469 1st Lt. Richard F. Finn, 0-814276 THOSE WOUNDED: 1st Lt. John M. Reeves, 0-246335 1st Lt. Alvin H. Haas, 0-744129 1st Lt. Kenneth N. "Doc" Hunter, 0-739790 1st Lt. Denzil L. Kathman, 0-753223 1st Lt. William M. McClendon, 0-563702 1st Lt. Peter F. Naylor, 0-682361 2nd Lt. David L. Boothe, 0-888891 2nd Lt. William V. Kissel, 0-828707 F/O Eugene Fontinell, T-126634 (See General Order #274, dated 30 December 1944, that awarded the Purple Heart to the above soldiers.)

The Ordinance Officer inspecting the area at daylight decided that the bomb had been of the 110 pound variety and that the explosive agent had been Picric acid. This bomb caused the total destruction of two tents [photo-1][photo-2][photo-3] and damaged several others in the immediate area. Personal articles of the deceased were located as far as 150 feet from where the bomb hit.

An additional wing was added to the mess hall at this time due to the sharp increase in personnel and because the 15th AAF Emergency Rescue Boat Squadron was attached for rations only. Food became increasingly hard to get and canned beef and chili con-carne were the mainstays of the menu. A turkey dinner for Christmas Day relieved this situation though and once again the men's morale was high.

The change in strength is recorded in the following figures:

Rest leaves, which were instituted during the latter part of October, for Air Crews, were given at the completion of 300 hours of Combat Flight Time. Two crews were allowed to be gone at the same time. The leaves were for a period of ten days at the Sydney Leave area in Australia. At this time almost all of the crews had completed the prescribed 300 hours so with the return of one group another would leave. Orders for these leaves were issued by the 5230th Composite Emergency Rescue Group (P). Major Mathis, the squadron commander departed on leave on the 2 December and Captain Gerard F. Wientjes, 0-374107, assumed command. Major Ben Mathis was placed in a hospital in Brisbane, Australia on the 17 December and had not returned by the end of the month.


Supervised by KENNETH O. EDDINS, Cpt, Air Corps

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This report was copied verbatim from the "Official" Squadron History that was obtained via microfilm from Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. The text that is in parenthesis ( ), I added to clarify the information. It is not Official.
¹ From Squadron Orders obtained from Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama
² APO numbers from "Numbered Army & Air Force Post Office Locations" - 7th Edition - by Russ Carter
³ From Individual Aircraft Record Cards - Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama


            DEC'43 - APR 15, '44 | APR 16, '44 - JUN'44 | JUL'44 | AUG'44 | SEP'44 | OCT'44 | NOV'44 | DEC'44
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