CHAPTER 32: AN ENEMY AT PEAK STRENGTH
1
Martin, Boy from Nebraska, p. 149.
2
Ben contemporaneously discussed his reasons for flying five “bonus” combat missions with the 93rd on at least two occasions: in an interview with a Los Angeles Daily News reporter in January 1944 and in a speech before the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on February 4, 1944. The article in which Ben discussed this with the Los Angeles Daily News was reprinted as “Ben Kuroki Is in the Limelight: Dramatic Story of War Record Brings Fame on Pacific Coast,” Lincoln County (Nebraska) Tribune, January 27, 1944, pp. 1 and 8.
3
Ben Kuroki interview with Bill Kubota, August 26–27, 1998, Most Honorable Son documentary, unedited footage.
4
Several 93rd men mentioned the rumors in diary entries and letters to family members in August 1943. Brutus Hamilton discussed the rumors in his diary entry for August 18, 1943. “Gen. [James P.] Hodges and Gen. [Ira] Eaker are in the Theatre and are no doubt discussing with the IX Air Force just what should be done with us. No announcements yet but plenty of rumors,” Hamilton wrote.
5
Elmer (Bill) Dawley interview with Bill Kubota, November 12, 1998, Most Honorable Son documentary, unedited footage.
6
Ibid.
7
Descriptions of the 93rd’s August 26–27, 1943, return trip from North Africa are drawn from the diary entries of navigator James Reid and gunners Donald Hudspeth and Edward Sand. Author’s collection.
8
Homer Moran interview with Bill Kubota, September 5, 1998, Most Honorable Son documentary, unedited footage.
CHAPTER 33: THE KILLING MONTH
1
In Masters of the Air, historian Donald L. Miller describes the October 9, 1943, raid on Marienburg as “the longest mission of the war up to this point.” See Miller, pp. 207–8. To be more precise, Marienburg was the “longest mission of the war up to this point” only for Eighth Air Force bombers flying from England. The one-way distance covered by the American B-17s and B-24s from their bases in England to Marienburg on October 9 was about 525 miles. By comparison, this is less than half the 1,200 miles flown one-way by the 93rd and other B-24 groups from their Libyan bases to Wiener Neustadt, Austria, on August 13, 1943. The first Wiener Neustadt raid would remain the “longest mission of the war” for US bombers based in both the European and Mediterranean theaters. By comparison, Berlin was about 500 miles one-way from the American B-17 and B-24 bases in East Anglia—less than half the distance of the first Wiener Neustadt raid.
2
Details about the emergency landing of Miles League in Satan’s Sister are drawn from the American Air Museum in Britain database. The entry reads as follows: “9-Oct-43 on mission to bomb Danzig U-Boat production in B-24 42-40610 ‘Satan’s Sister’ A/C took flak hits, lost engine on return, diverting to Sweden. A/C Belly landed in Rinkaby airfield, Sweden. Interned.”
3
The Nicholas Caruso quote is drawn from Stewart, Ted’s Travelling Circus, p. 250. In the early 1990s, I interviewed Caruso about his experiences with the 93rd, including the Danzig raid and his landing in Sweden. Nicholas Caruso, author interview, November 18, 1991.
4
The numbers of aircraft and losses on the October 9, 1943, raid by the Eighth Air Force are drawn from Kit C. Carter and Robert Mueller, eds., U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II. Combat Chronology: 1941–1945 (Washington, DC: Center for Air Force History, 1991), p. 229.
5
The Ben Kuroki quote is from Cal Stewart’s contemporaneous story about the 93rd’s October 9, 1943, raid on Danzig, written by Stewart in his role as the 93rd Bomb Group publicist. Cal Stewart, “Danzig Story,” Public Relations Office, Ninety-third Bombardment Group (H) AAF 104, October 9, 1943. Author’s collection.
6
Stewart, Ted’s Travelling Circus, p. 251.
7
Ibid., pp. 251–52.
8
Miller, Masters of the Air, pp. 208–9. Also see Gerald Astor, The Mighty Eighth: The Air War in Europe as Told by the Men Who Fought It (New York: Dell Publishing, 1998), p. 198.
9
Miller, Masters of the Air, p. 210.
10
Ibid., p. 214.
CHAPTER 34: DEATH DENIED
1
