Nine US Navy PB4Ys from Tinian Island scramble to takeoff on a daring low-level “suicide” morning bombing mission on Marcus Island.
By May 1945, the United States had secured the Marianna Islands, Guam, and Iwo Jima and were conducting almost daily B-29 and fighter attacks on mainland Japan. Several Japanese strongpoints had been bypassed and had been left to “wither on the vine”. The Palaus (Yap), Marcus Island, and Truk Lagoon were within bomber range of these US bases and also the key US Navy anchorage at Ulithi Atoll. These bases still poised a danger as Japanese aircraft could use them as a staging base to attack US forces in the Marianas. Thus the US continued to fly reconnaissance missions and harassment type bombing missions over them to keep an eye on them.
Marcus Island, with a garrison of approximately 4000 Imperial Japanese Navy and Army troops. It was a little over 800 miles from the big US bases on Saipan and Tinian. It had two runways, with appropriate facilities to fuel and maintain aircraft. Interdiction of Japanese merchant supply ships to Marcus Island had been severely curtailed. Supplies were only reaching the garrison by transport submarines and rarely at that. But it was still a capable base and remained a thorn in the Americans side.
Allied interest in monitoring the Japanese on Marcus Island increased in March 1945 with the capture of Iwo Jima the month before. Navy phot/reconnaissance planes from VD-1, VD-3 and VD-5 squadrons (Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron (Very Heavy)) stationed at NAS Agana, Guam flew frequent missions over Marcus.
A US Marine squadron, VMB-612, was directed to fly night armed reconnaissance missions of the sea lanes between Japan and Marcus Island with their twin engine B25s equipped with a special anti-shipping radar. No targets were ever seen.
With the taking of Iwo Jima, the Army Air Forces b-24s could devote more missions to other targets. During February, they had bombed Iwo Jima daily. Three B24 groups wer stationed in the area for this task: the 11th Bomb Group, flying out of Harmon Field on Guam; the 30th Bomb Group flying out of Saipan; and the 494th Bomb Group, at Anguar Island. (The 494th BG supplied crews to augment the 11th BG).
Sometime in late April, the code breakers either in Washington DC, or more likely, at the Navy Combat Intelligence Unit on Hawaii, code name HYPO, decoded a Japanese message that implied that a Kamikaze type mission was scheduled to pass through Marcus Island on the way to Truk. At Truk, the planes would take off and attack the major US anchorage at Ulithi atoll. Up to 30 bombers from the Japanese mainland were to be sent to Marcus or Truk to strike our bases.
On 20 April 1945, the US submarine USS JALLAO departed Midway Island on its third war patrol. While enroute to their patrol area on 28 April 1945, they received a message from ComSubsPac changing their destination to lifeguard duty off Marcus Island. With the scarcity of Japanese targets increasing daily, it was presumably assigned the peaceful mission of aircraft Lifeguard duties for the frequent B-24 bombing raids on Marcus Island. This entailed being at a specific spot near the target of attacking aircraft. This would give damaged aircraft a safe spot to ditch or have its aircrew bail out near the sub for rescue. The USS JALLAO immediately turned to their new course and went to maximum sustained speed. The captain of the USS JALLAO was Commander Joseph B. Icenhover, a veteran of 10 previous submarine war patrols.
Monday – 30 April 1945
Arriving off Marcus Island around 1146K on 30 April1945, the USS JALLAO did not have to wait long for action as bomb explosions on Marcus Island from 12 high altitude B-24s were sighted around 1400K. Approximately 10 miles away, the submarine USS JALLAO watched the lumbering bombers as they pummeled the island. Numerous bomb hits and return antiaircraft fire was seen over the island.
Tuesday – 1 May 1945
Nine US Army Air Forces B24Js from the 11th Bomb Group on Guam attack anti-aircraft positions and installations in the center of Marcus Island. All planes returned safely.
In response to the perceived increased threat to US forces, aircraft were put on alert to counter this threat. The Army Air Forces rotated their B-24 squadrons on Guam and Saipan on a 30 minute alert during the first part of the month of May. The Army Air Forces limited their B-24 action to Marcus Island and Truk Lagoon only. The 494th bomb Group established a detachment on Guam and sent 36 B-24Js and 48 crews to Harmon Field to assist the 11th Bomb Group against the Japanese from 29 April 1945 thru 11 May 1945. By 15 may 1945, they had all returned to Anguar Island. During the first part of May 1945, the 7th Bomber Command also maintained a detachment at Guam as a liaison between the 11th Bomb group and the Army Air Forces Pacific Ocean Area.
The US Navy put two Tinian based TPB squadrons, VPB102 and VPB108, on alert status to possibly strike Marcus Island or Truk. VPB-102 was flying PB4Y-1 Liberators and VPB-108 was flying the newer PB4Y-2 Privateers out of NAS Tinian (West Tinian AB).
Per order, all flyable planes of both squadrons were at all times during the alert gassed to 2300 gallons and armed with 20×100 General Purpose bombs. Each squadron would assign a crew for each flyable aircraft. They would be on alert for 24 hour hours, then another crew would take over alert duties. Around midnight of each night, the assigned alert crew would go preflight their airplane and then wait for the call. All personnel of the squadron were restricted to the Naval Air Base with instructions that the Duty Officer be notified of their whereabouts any time they left the immediate squadron area. In this way, it was hoped that the planes would be airborne within one hour of the execute signal.
Wednesday – 2 May 1945
Patrolling off of Marcus Island on the surface, the USS JALAO maintains a watch on the conning tower.At noon they mark their position as 17 miles south of Marcus Island. Nothing of interest is seen until 1534K when they note bomb hits on the island and light anti-aircraft fire. Unlike modern day subs, WW2 subs stayed on the surface as long as they could as they used diesel power mostly to get around. They could travel submerged on their battery power but not much more than 24-48 hours.
Thursday – 3 May 1945
On patrol to the south of Marcus Island, the sub receives an IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) electronic response 64 miles out. They allowed it to close to within 8 miles of them and then dove for safety and took up battle stations. They surfaced again at 1626 with no new reports of any activity.
Friday – 4 May 1945
Another day on the desolate seas around Marcus Island found the submarine USS JALLO 38 miles to the south east of the island. They had had an IFF response at 66 miles but it disappeared at 33 miles. While on the surface, Commander Icenhover decides to test fire the 40mm deck gun. All went well and the day ended uneventfully.
Saturday – 5 May 1945
At noon, the USS JALLAO was 35 miles due south of Marcus Island, cruising uneventfully on the surface. The WW2 submarines usually made what they called “Trim Dives” daily to adjust their buoyancy for the weight lost with the diesel burned in the last 24 hours. At 1610 the captain ordered a dive and battle stations for practice. They resurfaced at 1626 and remained on the surface throughout the night.
Sunday – 6 May 1945
An uneventful day for Marcus Island and the submarine USS JALLAO. Remaining south of the island, they conducted their daily trim dive at 1622 and assumed battle stations again for practice. They resurfaced again at 1640 for another uneventful night.
Monday – 7 May 1945
The daily trim dive was conducted early today at 0910 and they quickly resurfaced at 0935. At 1600, they sighted bomb explosions and antiaircraft fire on Marcus Island. Continuing the patrol on the surface, they received welcome news at 2354 of the unconditional surrender of the Germans in Europe.
Tuesday – 8 May 1945
May 8th was just another day for the sub as they watched the almost daily noon B-24 raid over Marcus Island. Coming from Harmon Field, Guam, 12 B-24s of the 98th Bomb Squadron of the 11th Bomb Group, attacked the island. Unbeknown to the USS JALLAO, the Japanese anti-aircraft fire today was very accurate and six of the planes received hits. One B24J, #44-40617, TEMPTATION, was hit badly enough that they had to ditch short of Saipan. Only two crewmembers survived the ditching.
At 1457 K they sighted a US Navy PBM doing a reconnaissance of the area.
Late that afternoon, six large unidentified planes were seen approaching Marcus Island from the west at low altitude, at a range of 12 miles. Following their flight path through binoculars, the lookouts aboard the USS JALLAO were surprised that the aircraft circled to the southwest of teh island and commenced landing at Marcus Island. Japanese aircraft! At 1814 K, the USS JALLAO sent JALLAO Serial No. Two message to ComSubsPac notifying them of the enemy activity.
Wednesday – 9 May 1945 – The attack order is given
At 0105 local time (Kilo), Wednesday morning, 9 May 1945, the signal to attack Marcus was received. The VPB-108 commander, Lt. Comdr. Muldrow, whose regular crew was not on standby, decided to go with Lt. Wallace’s crew, who were on alert. He had said he would always lead the mission. The three PB4Y-2 PRIVATEER aircraft from VPB-108 were the first to take off, all in terrible weather, with heavy rain. Lt Cmdr Muldrow was the first airborne and circled the field to give his two wingmen, Lts Hartvig and Panther, a chance to join on him.
the Clemson University, SC
Lt Cmdr Louis P Pressler of VPB-102 took off at 0202 local and the other five VPB-102 planes were off between that time and 0306 local. All planes took off in a driving rain. Since the primary target was the Japanese planes on the ground at Marcus Island, speed in getting to Marcus Island was of the utmost importance. Thus some of the American aircraft proceeded by themselves while others flew in groups of 2 or 3. Foremost in all the men’s mind was could they get there before the Japanese aircraft could take off again. It was little over a 5 hour flight to the target and the first aircraft would arrive after the sun came up. There would be no dawn surprise.
Unfortunately, the execute signal was not received in time to make a dawn attack. All planes were to get off the ground as soon as possible and make a running join up if they could, otherwise each plane was to attack the target as it arrived at the scene.
The aircraft flew at 12,000 feet then went down to 1000 feet above the ocean. At 150 miles out from Marcus, they went down to 200 feet above the water, and at 70 miles, went down to 100 feet. The attack itself would be from less than 100 feet above the surface. Normal procedure was one aircraft would go in at 25 feet and its wingman would go in at 75 feet. Just after sunrise, the lead aircraft of VPB-108, LtCmdr Muldrow/Wallace, saw a PB4Y-1 LIBERATO flying 10 miles to their right. This aircraft was later identified as LtCmdr Pressler’s.
It had been prearranged that the PBY4-2 PRIVATEERS of VPB-108 would attack from west to east down Marcus Rwy 1, the east-west runway running along the south coast of Marcus Island. And, the PB4Y-1 LIBERATORS of VPB 102 would make their attack down runway 2, the north-south runway running parallel to the west coast of Marcus Island.
The Navy attacks
Pressler was the first to arrive over the island, at around 0715 local time. He noted several airplanes on the ground at the intersection of the two runways, ready to take off. Realizing the importance of an immediate attack, he dived on the planes without waiting on the three VPB-108 aircraft. He attacked from the south on a northly heading, down the North-South runway (Runway # 2), paralleling the west coast of Marcus Island. One of the Japanese planes, a MYRT succeeded in getting off the ground but the other three, two BETTYs and a MYRT, were destroyed by Pressler’s bombing and strafing. Some reports indicate there were only two Japanese aircraft on the ground.
The two BETTYs burned for forty five minutes and the MYRT was nearly blown off the runway by accurate strafing fire. There was no element of surprise as Pressler’s plane was under intense AAA fire of all calibers when he was within two miles of the island. Despite the intensity of the AAA fire, and the necessity for taking evasive action, LtCmdr Pressler’s string of 20 x 100 bombs were very accurately placed, starting at the apex of the runway intersection and continuing along the inboard side of the No. 2 runway. As Lt Cmdr Pressler passed our of gun range on the north side of the island and started a left turn, the three VPB-108 Privateers could be seen starting in from the west on an west to east run in paralleling the west-to-east running No 1 runway.
The three planes of VPB 108, with Lt Cmdr Muldrow in the lead, had taken a course that took them them about twenty miles west of Marcus Island. Muldrow led the section with Panther to his left and Hartvig to his right. About three miles out, they began to come under intense and very accurate heavy anti-aircraft fire, the first burst coming quite near them. At this point they commenced mild evasive tactics which became more violent during the bomb run. The ceiling and visibility were unlimited and they could see the island and its defenses quite clearly. They spotted the smoke from the burning Japanese aircraft on the runway and headed directly toward it. LtCmdr Muldrow’s plane was hit before it crossed the reef and was soon hopelessly shot up.
The copilot was killed instantly and it is thought that Lt Cmdr Muldrow was thrown out of the open bomb bay doors as he was standing behind the pilots. The No. 3 engine was knocked out, the No 4 engine was torn completely off the wing, some of the tail surfaces were blown away, and there were fires in the forward section. One shell tore off the back of the plane captain’s head. The Privateer swerved to port, passed over the island at 100 feet altitude and crashed into the sea about a half mile offshore to the east of the island. Some reports say it crashed about 5 miles to the east of Marcus Island.
Panther and Hartvig made their bomb runs at 25 feet and 75 feet , respectively, bombing and strafing gun positions, airfield installations, and personnel along the east-west runway. A 40mm shell tore an eight inch hole in the aft section of Panther’s plane, struck an ammunition box, and started a fire, which with the prompt action of Plane Captain AMM 2/c, V.S. Hargraves, was kept under control.
Lt Cmdr Pressler flew around the island to the scene of the crash and saw several survivors in rafts. He orbited the area for awhile and tried to contact the submarine to arrange a rescue. He was not successful in contacting the sub.
Lt R.N. Barnes of VPB-102, flying the PB4Y-1 Liberators, was the next to hit the target at 0740 local time, about 25 minutes after the first plane attacked. Approaching from the southwest he sighted the smoke rising from the previous attacks at 35 to 40 miles. As he got nearer he could see that the planes on the runway were still burning and that a series of fires was burning along the inboard side of the the No 2 runway (North-South runway). Since it appeared that his primary target was well taken care of, Barnes went in on a large hangar abutting the No 1 runway (East-West runway) and the shops and operations buildings behind it. He deliberately started his string of bombs short to prevent overshooting the hangar.
Just as he dropped his bombs his plane was hit from below and to the right side of the nose compartment by an explosive 20 or 25mm shell. Considerable damage was done. Mixture controls, both inverters, electronic supercharger controls, hydraulic lines and the electrical system forward were shattered. The nosewheel tire was punctured and the nose wheel strut damaged. The navigator, Lt (jg) William T Pinney, was seriously wounded by shrapnel which came up between the light docking between the pilots and copilots seats. A serious fire started from the shorted electrical system.
As Barnes continued his run over the Japanese shops his plane was hit many times in the right wing by light caliber fire. The turbo superchargers in both the #3 and #4 engines were hit and the #4 engine ran wild up to 70 inches of manifold pressure. The sudden surge of power yawed the plane to the left and at that time it was hit by a larger explosive shell, probably 40mm, in the top part of the after station. The rudder cables were shot away and both the rudder and elevator tab control cables were sheared. Lt Barnes found himself in a left turn at 50 feet with no rudder control and elevator controls so stiff that he could not pull the yoke back enough to raise the nose. The automatic pilot was on and warned up but not engaged. Lt Barnes flipped the rudder and elevator switches on and the plane straightened out and leveled off barely 10 feet off the water.
So much had been happening in the plane that no one saw the actual bomb explosions. As soon as Barnes was able to equalize the power on the engines and got the plane climbing, a survey of the damage was made. AMM 2/c J.N. Wendt, the plane captain (crew chief) put out the brisk fire in the nose wheel compartment and started repairing the hydraulic lines, using tubing from the oxygen system.
AON3/c J.W. Bailey found that eight 100 pound bombs had hung up in the bottom of the forward starboard bomb bay. In an effort to increase the weight of bombs carried, two 100 pounders were hung on each shackle in the starboard forward bay since a bomb bay tank was in the port forward bay. Four of the double bombs had released from the shackles but had not fallen clear. Baily cut pieces of arming wire from the wire still attached to the shackles and inserted them into the fuses. The double bombs were cut apart and passed through the after station and dropped through the tunnel hatch.
Next to attack Marcus Island were two more Liberators from VPB-102. Lts S.C. Mildahn and R.L.Holahan arrived at the target at 0750 local time together, 35 minutes after Pressler’s first attack. They had been informed by radio that the defense of the island was very effective and knew that of the five planes that had already attacked, one had been shot down and three were badly damaged. Despite this bad news, they decided to attack, going in together, with Holahan tight on Mildahn’s right wing. As in Barnes case, they sighted the smoke from the fires on the island at almost forty miles out. They approached from the south, on an south to north run in, on the water and attacked the primary target assigned to VPB-102, the revetments on the inboard side of No 2 runway.
Although the fires from the burning planes on the runway had gone out, a series of fires from the burning building lined the side of the runway. Mildahn and Holahan came in at at about 150 feet. Just before reaching the release point, Holahan’s plane rose sharply and slid over Mildahns. Mildahn looked up into the open bomb bay of Holahan’s plane and saw that it was on fire. At the same time the bombs started spilling out, falling less than 50 feet ahead of Mildahn’s plane. Mildahn called to Holahan to ditch immediately as he could see that the fire could not be put out and would quickly burn the control cables out. Holahan’s plane passed over to the left and started down to the water, leveled out momentarily and then started settling again. Just before hitting the water, the left wing dropped and hit first. The plane cartwheeled, broke up, and burst into flames.
During the run in, Hildahn’s plane had also been hit hard in the left wing. The left tire was blown out and the landing gear damaged. Despite the damaged wing, Mildahn circled over Holahan’s burning plane for thirty minutes vainly looking for survivors. Three inflated overturned liferafts were seen but no one survived. The submarine that later picked up the five survivors of the VPB-208 plane searched the area thoroughly. While Mildahn was searching the area, the crew jettisoned six bombs which had also hung up in the forward bay just as Barne’s bombs had.
The last two VPB-102 Liberators then approached the target area. However, Lts J.H. Goodman and G.L. Stewart were instructed not to attack, probably by LtCmdr Pressler, as he thought that the additional damage that they might have inflicted was not commensurate with the risk involved. They jettisoned their bombs and returned to Tinian.
Two Myrts were reported to have escaped the onslaught of the Navy bombers. One made it to Truk while the other had to turn back and land back at Marcus after it developed mechanical difficulties. They were staging through Marcus Island to Truk, where they would fly reconaisance missions over the US fleet at Ulithi.
The survivors climb into a life raft
After their crash, the five surviving members of Muldron’s Privateer crew were able to make it to one of the plane’s life rafts that had deployed.
One of the survivors, Lt Wallace, recalls finding himself fifteen feet under water and swimming toward a bright spot above that proved to be the surface of the water. A small fuel tank that was used to refill an auxillary motor in the plane somehow became entangled in Wallace’s belt. That is what kept him afloat until he regained himself. He spotted the raft, climbed in and proceeded to paddle to the other 4 flyers and hauled them in with him.
The tail gunner had locked himself in the tail turret just before the crash and had no idea how he escaped. When he came to, he discovered he was caught on a piece of the wing that was floating upright with his clothing in shreds.
Another crewmember, Ensign Palma was dazed with a severe gash in his head.
All told, five men survived. Additionally, a squadron dog had accompanied them and also survived the crash.
They took turns in rowing away from Marcus Island. They were to spend seven hours in the raft before rescue.
The Commander, Air Sea Rescue Unit, Saipan, ordered a B-17 rescue plane equipped with a motor whaleboat and a PBY-5A Dumbo plane to proceed to Marcus Island and the scene of the downed aircraft. Lt Charles Baumgartner of VPB-108 was also sent out from NAS Tinian (West Tinian), to orbit the raft and coordinate the rescue work if necessary.
The arrival of a PB4Y-1P from Guam
At 0755 K (local) on 9 May 1945, Commander A.D. Fraser in a PB4Y-1P aircraft of Fleet Air Photographic Squadron Five, took off from Agana Airfield, Guam to photograph enemy installations on Marcus Island. Upon his arrival in the target area, he was contacted by the USS Jallao and requested Commander Fraser to assist him in searching for a rubber raft with survivors aboard. After completing his photographic runs at an altitude of 17,000 feet, Commander Fraser let down to a lower altitude and contacted the submarine USS JALLAO..
As the square search was commenced with the submarine as the center, Commander Fraser was notified by his plane captain, AMMF 1/c C.T. Carey, that he had observed an oil slick near Marcus island. Commander Fraser therefore abandoned his square search and proceeded towards the position of the oil slick, believing that to be a more likely position from which to start his search. As he approached the oil slick, he turned his plane to the left and observed a life raft directly below, at a position twelve miles northwest of Marcus Island. He immediately called the submarine and turned on his emergency I.F.F. and dropped smoke bombs. He then orbited the raft for about fifteen minutes. However, since he had difficulty in contacting the submarine, he dropped more smoke bombs and then proceed to the position of the submarine and guided it to the raft.
After making certain that the submarine had seen the life raft, Commander Fraser proceeded to the oil slick to ascertain if there were any more survivors. Finding his search negative, he returned to the raft and submarine and observed the rescue, taking photographs. While the submarine was effecting the rescue, enemy shore batteries fired on the submarine. Enemy fire was extremely accurate, four salvos bursting within 100 feet. As soon as the submarine had taken the survivors aboard, it made a 90 degree turn and submerged in a crash dive.
The survivors were close enough to the Marcus Island shore to see a Japanese motorboat being launched to pick them up. The tide was also pushing them toward shore. Only two men were able to paddle the raft. A fog descended. The boat came out and circled them, stopping its engines periodically to listen for them in the fog bank, then returned to shore. The fog began to lift. They could hear a plane warming up and fly over them in the thinning fog. They would surely be discovered on the next pass.
Rescue by the submarine USS Jallao
The USS JALLAO spent the night on the surface, lookouts ever aware of the enemy located so close. Dawn of 9 May 1945 found them alone off the waters of Marcus Island. They had not been notified of the incoming PB4Ys.
0643 K – Sighted four planes approaching Marcus Island from the west about 100 feet above the water.
0648 K – Sighted a single plane approaching us from 280 degree True, altitude 100 feet. No IFF (Electronic signal sent out, Identification Friend or Foe) Could not identify so at 0700 dove. At the time, believed those planes to be more Japs arriving at Marcus as they approached in the same formation and from the same direction as those of yesterday afternoon. We had not been informed of the strike scheduled for 0730 of this date.
0930 K – Surfaced
1007 K – Received message of four life rafts five miles north of Marcus. Went to flank speed and headed for position.
1246K – Sighted Privateer and asked him if he had seen rafts. His answer: “Negative, am searching.”
1330K – Plane sighted single raft nine miles north northeast of island and vectored us on. Plane said no more rafts to the north of Marcus.
1424K – Commenced rescue operations. Took following officers and men aboard from raft, all wounded, two seriously. Lt Marurice R. Wallace (83074), A-1, USNR. Ensign Jerome Palma (368813), A-1, USNR; Elthus J. Lassiter Jr. 846 42 32, ARM 2c, USNR; Harrison J. Henders, 702 85 31, AMMM3c, V-6, USNR; Robert L. Livesay, 8735612, S1c (AOM), V-6, USNR. All were members of VPB-108 based at Tinian.
1440K – Had received the men aboard but two of the most seriously wounded were still in raft, when shell from Marcus landed 50 yards ahead on port bow. Four more landed with errors of 25 feet to 75 yareds, spaced about 30 seconds apart, for remainder of operation. Believe condition of two officers and enlisted man n raft was such that tow of them might not have survived a longer stay in water and warranted continuing operations in lieu of diving and returning later. Although seriously wounded and suffering from great shock, no more than suppressed groans were heard from the last three while being manhandled below, as the tactical situation would imply. With their help we were able to get all three below and dive at 1443 30 to a previously prepared line of defense at 100 feet. In the excitement, they left the dog in the raft.
The officers and crew of USS Jallao have unlimited admiration for these Navy fliers who strafe and bomb, at 100 feet, a heavily-gunned island such as Marcus. The pharmacist’s mate gave immediate attention to the wounded in order of seriousness of wounds. The plane captain reported his plane crashed in two parts and that there were only five survivors. He further said that the plane that crashed to the east of Marcus burst into flames with no survivors possible. He was circled by a “Judy” and searched for by a patrol boat a few hours before we arrived.
Cleared island submerged.
At 1830, Lt Baumgartner reported that the submarine had rescued two officers and three enlisted men from Muldron’s plane. A dispatch from the submarine USS Jallao at 0407 hours the next morning confirmed the count, that all were wounded, two seriously.
12 May 1945
1407 K – Planes return to NAS Tinian (West Tinian)Entered Saipan, moored alongside USS Onon (AS-18)
1500 K – Transferred survivors.
The surviving planes return to NAS Tinian (West Tinian)
After remaining in the Marcus Island area in the vicinity of their shot down leader, Lts Panther and Hartvig climbed to 6000 feet and headed south west for Tinian. Hartvig was low on fuel, so he decreased power setting and fell behind Panther. He stayed in constant contact with the two following VPB-102 aircraft, Barnes and Mildahn, whose planes were badly damaged. NAS Tinian was 735 miles to their south west.
Barnes copilot, Lt Rex Reynolds, gave first aid treatment to the injured navigator on the return leg home. As they approached Tinian, after a 5.6 hour hour flight, he manually pumped down the flaps for the landing after the plane captain Wendt made his emergency repairs on the hydraulic systems. The main landing gear was cranked down manually and the nose wheel kicked out. Parachutes were rigged at both waist hatches and the tunnel hatch for release when the wheels touched since it was not known where sufficient accumulated hydraulic pressure remained to apply the brakes to stop the aircraft. A good landing was made with the automatic pilot and the parachutes quickly stopped the plane although it was found that they were not necessary as the hydraulic pressure was enough to have braked the plane. The flat nose wheel furnished additional braking. The plane was not repairable and was removed from service.
After flying the 735 miles back to Tinian, Lt Mildahn landed safely at the 8500 foot army strip, West Field # 1. Extra power on #1 and #2 engines kept the plane from swerving without use of excessive brakes on the right wheel.
VPB 102 Crews , PB4Y-1 Liberators________________________________________________________________________________________
Pressler
Holahan BuNo 38932 Shot down, 11 KIA, cartwheeled into ocean to the north of Marcus Island after being hit with anti aircraft fire during their attack on the north-south runway.
Barnes Bu No 38857 Surveyed (Removed from service)
Goodman Directed by LtCmdr Pressler to abort the mission. Did not attack
Stewart Directed by LtCmdr Pressler to abort the mission. Did not attack
VPB 108 Crews, PB4Y-2 Privateers__________________________________________________________________________________________
Muldrow Ditched 6 miles east of Marcus Island, 5 crew rescued
Hartvig
Panther
While the crews continued to be on alert for more such missions for the rest of the month of May, none were flown. A total of three planes had been lost, 2 shot down and 1 so damaged it would never fly again. Fifteen men had died and many more injured. Muldrow, Hartvig, Panther, and Hartgraves were all awarded the Navy Cross. Every man that had participated in the raid was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Thirteen Purple Hearts. The crews thought they were suicide missions.
10 Crewmembers of VPB-102 aircraft, BuNo 38932, PB4Y-1 Liberator “The Reluctant Dragons” that was shot down, all KIA
Lt R.L. Holohan, Aircraft Commander
Lt (jg) Roy Bennett Anderson, Jr. Copilot
AOM3c Earl E. Beard, Bombardier/Toggler
S1c Carl A. Brannen, Jr, Radio Operator
Lesie A. Burril, Tail Gunner?
AMM3c Arthur Almond Cooper, Nose Turret
ARM3c Ramon C. Fowler, Top Turret
AMM3c Harvey M. Jackson, Right Waist
S1c August J. Long, Jr. , Left Waist
ARM3c Vernon M. McCloskey, Ball Turret
13 Crewmembers of VPB-108 aircraft, Bu no 59444 “Liberty Hound”, that was shot down; KIA.
LtCmdr John Ellison Muldrow, Jr Pilot
Lt. (jg) John C. O’Connell, A-1 USNR
AMM 1/c John J Denton, V-6, USNR
ARM 2/c James Arthur Brumley, V-6, USNR
AFC 3/c Daniel H. Webster, V-6, USNR
AOM 3/c Bill D. Martin, V-6, USNR
AOM 1/c Henry J. Struck, V-6, USNR
AOM 1/c William P. Heaford. , V-6, USNR
Survivors, picked up by the submarine USS JALLAO
Lt. Maurice Radford Wallace
Ens Jerome Palma
AMM 3/c Harrison “Harry” J Henders
AMM 3/c Robert L Livesay
ARM 2/c Elthus J Lassiter Jr
The following is a newspaper account of the shoot down and recovery of LtCmdr Muldrow’s surviving crewmembers.
Bombing mission rescue incredible (Lt Panther’s crew)
It was 9 May 1945 in Tinian, Marinas Islands. We (Lt Panther’s crew) were rousted from our cots in the middle of the night. We were driven to the flight line in the back of an open truck. A steady rain was falling. We did our preflight on the PB4Y-2-Privateer. (The Navy used this latest modification of the B-24 for long-distance patrols). My job was to help turn the props through several revolutions, remove the four gas caps atop the wings and visually check the gas level, check the 20-bomb load and check my tail turret and its ammo.
We used up most of the long runway to lift the heavy load. The gentle rain had turned heavy. After about an hour, the crew chief came back, told us to put on parachutes and Mae Wests and man our turrets. The pilot told us on the intercom to test-fire our guns. Our destination was Marcus Island, a heavily fortified, bypassed island that a patrol submarine reported was being reinforced with a squadron of planes. We joined up in a tight three-plane formation. The squadron skipper was in the lead plane. We were on his port side.
We dropped down to about 100 feet and approached the island out of the rising sun (? They approached from the west, probably a little literary freedom involved here). The bow guns began to fire before I could see land. Flak that looked like bad fireworks floated past and exploded overhead in puffs of black smoke. I turned my guns as far to the right as I could and began firing at some buildings. Our bombs were set with delayed fuses and were dropped one at a time automatically so they were spaced about 100 feet apart. One of my guns jammed. I ceased firing to conserve ammo, as one of the crews had reported sighting enemy fighters. I watched the bombs explode. My plane took violent evasive action to the left. The pilot said, “Oh my god – the skipper has been hit.” I turned my turret to the right. The lead plane was at high attitude, all four engines turning. The nose dropped in a steep dive, the left wing dipped into a 90-degree bank, caught in the water (we had crossed the island), and did a cartwheel, breaking into several pieces with a huge splash. We circled the area, radioed and departed thinking there could be no survivors.
We herded a crippled plane from another squadron, with wounded and dead and many mechanical problems and watched it land safely in the water ahead of us. My friend, the tail gunner in the downed plane, woke up floating on the water with his Mae West inflated, not knowing how he got out. He was pulled aboard an inflated life raft by five shipmates. Of the 13 aboard, six men and the dog mascot had survived. The plane’s normal crew was 12, but the squadron skipper had gone along for the ride. They had taken a direct hit in the cockpit, killing the cockpit crew and sending the skipper, who was standing behind the pilots, out the open bomb bay.
Wednesday – 10 May 1945
Eleven B-24Js from Harmon Field, Guam were launched against Marcus Island, each loaded with twenty 100 pound fragmentation clusters on a daylight bombing strike. They caught on the ground one twin engine bomber and one single engine reconnaissance airplane. A Captain George and his crew were given credit for the destruction when bombs from their aircraft bracketed both airplanes. Photos later substantiated the claim. All bombing was reported as excellent and all planes returned from the 1910 mile round trip safely. Anti-aircraft fire at altitude was reported as meager and inaccurate.
20 May 1945 – Four crews of the 26th Bomb Squadron took off from Harmon Field to attack the Air Operations building west of the South Boat basin on Marcus Island. The target was completely covered with clouds which forced them to drop using radar. Results were undetermined.
25 May 1945 In conjunction with twelve planes of the 42nd Bomb Squadron and fourteen B-24s from the 431st Bomb Squadron, attacked Marcus Island from altitude. Due to a misunderstanding of signals on this super complicated conversion, high altitude, low altitude, spotter airplane, and advance formation bombing, the mission was somewhat a mess.
26 May 1945 – The US Army Air Forces also maintained an alert status on Harmon Field, Guam. With only 20 minutes notice, Ten B-24Js of the 26th Bomb Squadron. 11th Bombardment Group, took off and proceeded to Marcus Island. Bomb load was twenty 100 pound General Purpose bombs. Iwo Jima had been under all night Japanese fighteer attack and the US intelligence people thinks that they came from Marcus Island, or were staging from it. The formation was directed that if there were airplanes on the ground at Marcus Island, they were to bomb from altitude of 60 feet above the ground to assure destruction of any Japanese aircraft. There were no planes sighted so the formation maintained their 7,200 foot altitude and attacked the air installations on the island.
The formation broke up into elements of three and only three airplanes at a time passed over the island. A flight overshot the target and missed. B flight lead had a malfunction and released their bombs early, missing the target also. C flight, carrying fragmentation bombs, put them right on the target. Their target was the installations just north of the south runway (E-W). Three planes received minor damage from flak but all landed safely at Harmon Field, Guam. The crews main concern was meeting the Colonel and explaining the bad bomb drops.