HMFischer wrote:
In the pre dawn of June 26, Japanese soldiers got in and burned the P-47 "Hed up 'N Locked". Ground crews opened fire and yelled for reinforcements. Sgt. Raymond Murphy ran through a hail of fire and taxied the adjacent plane to safety. The Japanese tactic was to puncture gas tanks by bayonet and burn the planes. But they were all killed or captured and only got one plane. The same night, 300 Japanese broke through the lines and overran part of the field. Combat engineers, marines, and ground crews wiped them out. An enemy bomber managed to briefly ignite some gas drums very close to a large fuel tank. The fire was smothered by bulldozer. When it was over, the 318th had just become the first of only two Army Air Force units to fight in ground infantry combat in all of World War 2!
Copied from the 318th from website. Reference given to the book "One Damned Island After Another" Hugh
I think that men from the 163rd LS also fought on the ground on Okinawa at least once. The guy I flew at our event back in May told about their camp being infiltrated and seeing Japanese soldiers. He and his tent mate ended up opening fire with their .45s and he shot one Japanese soldier in a creek bed very near to their tents. I'd asked about his most interesting experiences on Okinawa and that was tops for him - more than being shot at by AAA. He said that the Japanese soldiers were starving towards the end, and would often invade the camps in search of food towards the end. One time they got very close to a fellow rummaging for provisions - but the Japanese soldier took off without opening fire.
Ryan
_________________
Aerial Photographer with
Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
Websites:
Texas Tailwheel Flight Training,
DoolittleRaid.com and
Lbirds.com.
The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31
- Train, Practice, Trust.
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