European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 23, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                I r i when the aircrew men came Back from their Low level the thing they talked about most was the Lack of Jap air by James Goble yank staff correspondent aboard a Carrier off last flight was coming the planes circled through the thick Mist toward the Stern of the Esse class one by one they hit the and with names like Hydraulic miss sweater girl and Kansas City they were part of the navys Force of Carrier planes that was finishing the historic first full scale air attack at Low level on the japanese for two Days the planes of this worlds largest Carrier task Force had bombarded the Tokyo area with bullets and the carriers and their accompanying warships were Only a Hundred Miles off the coast of but few enemy planes had come out to attack and the Jap Fleet had remained in a plane handler waved a Welcome to one of the returning a Man wearing an Asbestos suit and carrying a fire extinguisher also waved a on the catwalk at the flight decks Edge a shivering gun crewman jumped up and maybe Only to warm his Tropic thinned the wintry weather of the last few Days seemed strange to men who had become used to the Down in the aircrew mens ready room every body was whooping it frequently one of the men would look up at the drawing chalked on the blackboard and the drawing showed a scrawny woman behind a a bomb was hurtling toward her presumably the woman was Tokyo none of the aircrew men had believed that the Jap resistance would be so All of them talked about it while they played shot the Bull or horsed they said the enemy resistance on the japanese Homeland had been much weaker than that on Formosa and not one of the carriers aircrew men suffered a scratch in the three strikes they made on the and none of them saw a Jap plane in the we caught them with their planes cracked one shut said you read that in readers at the front of the ready room Edward Fay amm2c of paraded around without his Yelling and he wore his shorts and a and carried a Long stick on his shoulder like a Fay was egged on by Freddie Horan arm3c of in spite of the pleas of the poker players to hold the in the Center of the room William Buckner arm3c of told his his bomb carrying torpedo had barrelled out of the Clouds that surrounded the Carrier Force into a Patch of sunlight Over the an air Field about 50 Miles South of we heard a Jap voice on the said it sounded like a woman soon the japs really had something to scream single seat hellcats and corsairs blasted the hangars and three seat torpedo in which the crewmen made Bucklers plane had hurtled Down from the George Harding of dumped his radio and rear gunner William Roberts amm2c of strafed the Field As the plane pulled out of the Buckner stopped strafing to take pictures of the the flak that followed them was not in route Back to the Buckner frequently heard hellcat and Corsair fighter pilots shout tall Yho Over the then he saw them diving toward coastal blasting with bullets and whatever they had Buckner got some pictures of sinking All Small the hellcats and Toms were manned by Navy the corsairs were piloted by the Marine pilots had been assigned to the Carrier recently and were making their first in one Corner of the ready room dirty Dan Dodge arm2c of described an attack on an Airfield 70 Miles South of Dodge says his nickname was Given to him by his Loving his plane dived through Low Clouds toward hangars and Barracks that were already the it William Chalverus of new York dumped his Dodge strafed Jap fighters that were standing along the Edge of the rear gunner Elliott Carver am Mac of Sioux held his he was saving it for any japs that might take to the Light flak had come up at them at the beginning of the dive but ceased the escorting fighters had taken care of the Jap another John Odonnell arm2c of Kansas yelled Over the Din in the ready his plane had been in one group the Carrier had launched at target not in the Home the target was an Airfield on Hachijo about 150 Miles Southeast of the ceiling was Odonnell plane started to dive from 800 Ellis Lee of Sioux dropped his bombs from 600 it was the shortest Damn dive i Ever Odon Nell the plane started out of the then it a Bright Flash appeared on the port Odonnell saw exploding flak rip a Hole two feet wide near the he called Over the radio we have a Hole in the port the Pilot the message and then where did our bombs hit the other Robert Crowther aom2c of spoke we got a hit on the hangar and on a two motor plane at the Edge of the the flak became thicker around the As usual the japs concentrated on the Odonnell and Crowther watched for Jap planes to take to the air after the Hole in the Wing had Cut the Speed to about 180 Miles per the plane was wobbling but it got Back to the Carrier escorted by the the attacks on Japan proved to be almost a junket for these it want a Walkaway for the that was brought Home by an announcement from the Loudspeaker in the read room first there was the eerie wailing of the Boatswain then a voice said this is the it is with deep regret that i Tell you that four corsairs and three hellcats Are missing from our we will miss their pilots very let us Bow our for a few moments the ready room was then the rattling of poker the talk and the horseplay one Man threw a Mae West at an aircrew Man whistled a and up front Robert Ellis Webster aom2c of reached into a crate of oranges and Toia cd one to Clifford Knox karmic of they Are the Mutton Jeff team of the air assigned to the same a rear is 5 4 inches a is 6 feet had been Over the Jap but we didst see said nothing except an Airfield not far from we bombed hell out of army lint tip my u a