| Description | His experiences as a fighter pilot in the European, Mediterranean, and Pacific Theaters during World War II. Primary training, Muskogee, Oklahoma, 1940; secondary training, Goodfellow Field, San Angelo, Texas, 1941; advanced training, Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas, 1941; assignment to the 31st Fighter Group, 1942; training in the Bell P-39 Airacobra; move to England and assignment to fly a Spitfire; Dieppe Raid, August 19, 1942; North African Campaign, 1942-43; comments about General George S. Patton; combat against French Foreign Legion troops and award of Distinguished Flying Cross by General James Doolittle; downing of his plane by antiaircraft fire and his capture by German troops, April 17, 1943; treatment of his wounds by a German military surgeon; liberation by British troops eight weeks later; further recuperation in British and American hospitals; repatriation to the U. S. and marriage, 1943; assignment to P-47 squadron during the invasion of Okinawa, April, 1945; escort missions for B-29s; napalm raids against Japanese towns and villages on Kyushu; observations of the Japanese surrender delegation at his base on Ie Shima prior to the formal surrender in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. |
