How could I not? <\/span><\/p>\n Growing up in a small suburban community in the Pennsylvania of the 1960s and 70s, the Second World War formed a historical and cultural backdrop for the world around me.\u00a0 The son of a veteran of World War Two and the Korean War, every adult male I knew \u2013 or so it then seemed<\/em> – participated in the struggle against either Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, or, Imperial Japan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For my parent’s generation, the war seemed to have been a foundational experience that generated a cultural commonality that resonated – for a little while, at least – through the immediate postwar decades.\u00a0 At family gatherings, or, when I quietly observed even most random, fleeting, casual interactions between adults, reminiscences of the war \u2013 sometimes humorous; occasionally grim; oftimes profound \u2013 were mentioned in a way that could briefly transcend differences in politics, or even economic and social status.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At least it then seemed as such, from my perspective.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Like many boys of my generation, I built plastic model kits of warplanes, military vehicles, naval ships, and a variety of other subjects, like Revell\u2019s 1\/48 Mercury \/ Gemini spacecraft.\u00a0 For me, building models wasn\u2019t simply a hobby.<\/span>\u00a0 It was my way of identifying with, if not indirectly becoming, part of the past.\u00a0 So, admiring my elders; with a sense of accomplishment from assembling a set of injection-molded plastic pieces into \u201ca fighter plane!\u201d, \u201can aircraft carrier!\u201d, or \u201ca tank!\u201d (or a spacecraft, like Monogram Models’ beautifully produced 1\/48 Lunar Module) and maybe patriotism too (though I built many kits of German and Japanese warplanes!), if I couldn\u2019t participate in<\/em> history, I would model<\/em> history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If I couldn\u2019t command a battle tank against Panzer IVs in the hedgerows of Normandy, I could put one together.\u00a0 (Revell’s 1\/40 M-4 Sherman)\u00a0 If I couldn\u2019t launch torpedoes from a PT-boat against a Japanese destroyer as dusk quietly descended over the Solomon Islands, I could assemble one.\u00a0 (Revell’s 1\/72 PT-109)\u00a0 If I couldn’t pilot a fighter plane against Me-262 jet fighters over Berlin, I could construct one.\u00a0 (Monogram’s 1\/48 P-51B Mustang) Then, I learned more.\u00a0 In fourth grade, I received a copy of William Green\u2019s Famous Fighters of the Second World War <\/em>from my uncle, who served as a Flight Surgeon in a 9th Air Force Fighter Squadron.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One day, I asked him to show me his album of wartime pictures.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He sat next to me, and, placing the album before him, began to leaf through the photographs he\u2019d accumulated or taken during his military service.\u00a0 There were pictures of airfields in England and Continental Europe, with the usual array of improvised, nondescript buildings, shacks and tents associated with most any flying field.\u00a0 But, the majority of the images were of pilots: fighter pilots.\u00a0 The men were wearing flight helmets, attached to which were flying goggles (late-war style, with one-piece lenses), with the hoses of oxygen masks draped nonchalantly over their shoulders.\u00a0 They were seated in the cockpits of their planes – birdcage and bubbletop P-47 Thunderbolts – or, standing casually at unnamed airfields.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Whether shyly, confidently, or both, many were smiling.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My uncle flipped through the album, page by page, momentarily lingering over each image as if in silent tribute, and he continued on until the last photograph had been reached.\u00a0 Then, he closed the album.\u00a0 Upon seeing each picture, he quietly, quickly, and matter-of-factly said words to the effect of: \u201cHe\u2019s dead.\u201d\u00a0 Or, \u201cHe got killed.\u201d\u00a0 Or, he would point at a picture and softly say, \u201cDead\u201d.\u00a0 That was true for all the images, and that was all he said.<\/span><\/p>\n How many photographs?\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember.\u00a0 Certainly more than ten; certainly less than thirty.\u00a0 Certainly enough.\u00a0<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Then, he returned the album to the bookshelf in his library, and walking away, said no more. Other books were very different.<\/span><\/p>\n Famous Fighters of the Second World War<\/em> became my favorite reading material throughout my latter years of elementary school.\u00a0 Even if I didn\u2019t understand (or have much interest in) the technical development of World War Two fighter planes (I liked the \u201cbirdcage\u201d P-51B far more than the bubble-top D version of the aircraft; still do) the many profile line drawings in Green\u2019s book were the templates from which I created innumerable aerial battles on sheets of tracing paper.\u00a0 A host of other works in the same genre followed, such as Gene Gurney\u2019s Five Down and Glory<\/em>, Quentin Reynolds\u2019 70,000 to One<\/em>, J.R.D. Braham\u2019s Night Fighter<\/em>, Walter Lord\u2019s At Dawn We Slept<\/em>, and a, plethora of paperback books published by Ballantine Books.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Then, in 1970, I discovered Scale Modeler<\/em> magazine.\u00a0 A close-up photograph of Revell\u2019s newly released 1\/32 P-38J Lightning graced the cover.\u00a0 Another discovery:\u00a0 Al Kropff and Sydney P. Chivers\u2019 The Art of Plastic Modelling<\/em>.\u00a0 And then, Joseph V. Mizrahi\u2019s duo of Wings <\/em>and Airpower <\/em>aviation magazines.<\/span><\/p>\n I was, frankly, amazed that other people \u2013 adults<\/em>?- what? \u2013 who? – how?! – shared the same interests as I.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Came the autumn of 1970.\u00a0 History was re-created; history had become real, for the 20th Century Fox Corporation had released the movie Tora! Tora! Tora!,<\/em> a cinematic depiction of Japan\u2019s strike against America\u2019s Pacific Fleet from both the American and<\/em> Japanese viewpoints, portraying \u2013 as best as late-1960s technology and special effects would allow \u2013 the weaponry and events of the actual attack.\u00a0 I had<\/em> to see this movie.\u00a0\u00a0 I wanted to see P-40 Warhawks and A6M2 “Zeroes” and Nakajima B5N2 “Kates” and Aichi D3A “Vals” and the Akagi, Hiryu, and the other Japanese aircraft carriers, and of course, the battleship Pennsylvania.\u00a0 And at the center of everything, the USS Arizona.\u00a0 Or, more accurately, its demise.<\/span><\/p>\n (By that time, I\u2019d known \u201cabout\u201d Pearl Harbor.\u00a0 Not from family lore; not from books; not from newspapers, but from television.\u00a0 Namely, from \u201cThe Day The Sky Fell In\u201d, an episode of Irwin Allen\u2019s science-fiction series The Time Tunnel<\/em>, which was broadcast by the ABC Television Network on September 30, 1966.\u00a0 Popular culture, it would seem, had as much potency in 1966 as in 2016…)<\/span><\/p>\n So, with family members, I saw the film at a theater in a small northeastern Pennsylvania town.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n We arrived by car.\u00a0 The parking lot was jammed. I was bored, at first.\u00a0 Very bored.\u00a0 \u201cWhy are they talking about papers and plans and diplomats and codes and cables and translations and why all the talking?!\u00a0 Gee, where are the ships?!\u00a0 When are they gonna’ show the planes?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I was riveted, not long after.\u00a0 The movie brought history to life in a way that didn’t supplant Day of Infamy<\/em>, but enhanced it, and prompted me to read Lord\u2019s book anew.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the hindsight of forty-six years, three memories remain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The line.<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The queue of theater-goers extended several hundred feet from the ticket-counter, to very the entrance of the parking lot.\u00a0 Perhaps it was my age, but, I\u2019d never seen so many movie-goers waiting for a film with such anticipation and patience; with what in retrospect was a kind of deliberation<\/em>.\u00a0 This was different.\u00a0 This was important.\u00a0 Well, it seemed so.<\/span><\/p>\n The silence.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n We knew about the Arizona.\u00a0 I assumed everyone <\/em>knew about the Arizona.\u00a0 The destruction of the battleship and the massive loss of life among her crew, singularized, epitomized, and symbolized the suddenness and devastation of the attack.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The silence in the theater is complete.\u00a0 Val dive-bombers fly overhead.\u00a0 The scene changes to the interior of one of the planes aircraft.\u00a0 The film\u2019s perspective pans toward a photograph of the Arizona, coincidentally attached to the interior of dive-bomber\u2019s cockpit (with the caption in English underneath) a visual cue to the audience about what was coming.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The ship, struck by a bomb, explodes.\u00a0 A quiet, collective \u201coomph\u201d emerges from the crowd; their spirit deflates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The cheers.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n From Walter Lord\u2019s book, I knew of the bravery and dedication of Second Lieutenants Kenneth M. Taylor and George Welch, and several other Army Air Corps pilots, in attempting to defend the naval base and its complex of army airfields from the Japanese attackers.\u00a0 I knew they had shot down several enemy planes.\u00a0 I knew that some of these army pilots were killed, on the ground and in the air.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And with every Japanese aircraft shot down \u2013 by Taylor and Welch; by US Navy gunners; by an Air Corps mechanic manning a heavy machine gun (casualties and devastation all around him) \u2013 a cheer; clapping; a collective \u201cyeeaaaah!\u201d arose from the audience.\u00a0 Loudly.\u00a0 Clearly.\u00a0 Distinctly.\u00a0 Lengthily.\u00a0 As if the audience was primed, wanting this to happen, waiting for this to happen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Considering the scope of the attack, though the number of aerial victories they achieved was few, the nominal fact that the American pilots were able to \u201cfight back\u201d created a small beacon of pride amidst a day of unrelieved disaster \u2013 in 1969.\u00a0 Though the scale of their efforts was minor in comparison to the magnitude of the events of December 7, the fact that they were able to resist, was enough.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The response of the audience to the film, rather than the film itself, is my strongest memory of seeing Tora! Tora! Tora!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The film inevitably and understandably simplified complexity, location, and the specific events involved in the aerial defense of Pearl Harbor by depicting Taylor and Welch\u2019s attacks against their opponents in a nicely filmed three-minute aerial combat sequence, using a combination of aerial footage of actual P-40s, and, AT-6s and BT-13s modified to represent Zero fighters and Kate torpedo-bombers.\u00a0 This is interspersed with studio footage of the actors playing Taylor (Carl Reindel) and Welch (Rick Cooper) seated in mock-ups of P-40 cockpits, behind whom a sky background is projected.\u00a0 (A precursor to the use of a \u201cgreen-screen\u201d, which featured in the filming of Jude Law and Gwyenth Paltrow in a P-40 cockpit, in Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow<\/em>!)<\/span><\/p>\n Only years later did I learn that the film received indifferent reviews and under-performed financially, partially attributable to the expenditures for ensuring realism and technical accuracy through the use of actual aircraft.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The aerial combat sequence from Tora! Tora! Tora!<\/em>, posted by “Combo Breaker 96” in July of 2015, can be found at:<\/span><\/p>\n Tora! Tora! Tora! P-40s versus Zeroes Scene<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Well, that is how I remember the world of 1970.<\/span><\/p>\n * * * * * * * * * *<\/span><\/p>\n Some decades later, while researching images pertaining to the World War Two Army Air Force at the United States National Archives, in College Park, Maryland, I discovered the Archives’ collection of \u201cPhotographic Prints of Air Cadets and Officers, Air Crew, and Notables in the History of Aviation\u201d.\u00a0 This remarkable trove of photographic portraits and other images comprises 105 boxes (heavy, archival storage boxes, that is) containing several thousand \u2013 the exact number unknown \u2013 images of aviators, the overwhelming majority taken during the very late 1930s, and early 1940s; with a very small number from WW I and the twenties.\u00a0 A few civilian flyers (like Amelia Earhart and Anthony Fokker) are also present, along with a few images of famous German WW I aviators.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Most of the portraits are of Flying Cadets, or, men who had just graduated as Second Lieutenants and received their \u201cwings\u201d from Army Air Force pilot, bombardier, and navigator schools.\u00a0 The majority of images seem to have been taken from 1941 through 1943, with some taken in 1944, and very few thereafter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Some pictures were taken outdoors, along an airfield flight-line, apparent from background scenery.\u00a0 Some, with photographic back-drops of aircraft, clouds, or other aviation-related images, were obviously taken in studios.\u00a0 Other were taken in very simple, unadorned, indoor settings.\u00a0 Some images are printed upon 8 \u00bd\u201d x 11\u201d black & white glossy finish photographic paper, while others, of smaller dimensions, are mounted upon (glued to) heavy 8 \u00bd\u201d x 11\u201d stock.\u00a0 Typically, information such the date of the photograph, name and rank of subject, and the aviation school where the image was taken is recorded with the images; sometimes on the image itself.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Inevitably, given the coincidence between the timing of their graduation and the time-frame of the Second World War, many of these men were killed in action, while others lost their lives in training or operational accidents.\u00a0 Similarly, it is notable that there are no photographs of aircrews<\/em>; only individuals.\u00a0 Notably, this collection of photographs comprises a limited number of the tens of thousands Army Air Force pilots, bombardiers, navigators who were Aviation Cadets, or were commissioned, during World War Two.<\/span><\/p>\n * * * * * * * * * *<\/span><\/p>\n It was the discovery of these pictures that has led to this post.<\/span><\/p>\n Within the photo collection, there are images of Aviation Cadets Samuel W. Bishop (later 1st Lt., 44th Pursuit Squadron, 18th Pursuit Group), Hans C. Christiansen (later 2nd Lt., 44th Pursuit Squadron, 18th Pursuit Group), John L. Dains (later 2nd Lt., 47th Pursuit Squadron, 15th Pursuit Group), Gordon H. Sterling, Jr. (later 2nd Lt., 46th Pursuit Squadron, 15th Pursuit Group), and, George A. Whitman (later 2nd Lt., 44th Pursuit Squadron, 18th Pursuit Group).\u00a0 All four except Sterling were photographed at (then) Kelly Field, in San Antonio; Bishop and Christiansen in 1940, and Dains a year later.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On December of 1941, these five men were stationed at Pearl Harbor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The only one still alive on December 8 was Samuel Bishop.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Bishop, Christiansen, and Whiteman, were stationed at Bellows Field.\u00a0 The events there are described in 7 December 1941 – The Air Force Story, <\/em>as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n Personnel of the 44th Pursuit Squadron rushed out to disperse, fuel, and arm their twelve P-40 Warhawks, which were lined up on the edge of the runway.\u00a0 Only four of the squadron\u2019s officers were at Bellows that morning, and three were pilots.\u00a0 They wanted to get into the air immediately, despite the fact that their aircraft were not completely armed, but Lieutenant Phillips, the armament officer, insisted that all six .50. caliber guns be fully loaded before any aircraft took off.\u00a0 As 2d Lt. Hans C. Christiansen started to get into the cockpit of his plane, he was struck in the back by enemy fire and fell at the feet of his mechanic, Cpl. Elmer L. Rund, who was standing by the lower right wing.\u00a0 Blood gushed out from a large hole in the life jacket of the fatally wounded pilot.\u00a0 Rund and his crew chief, Joe Ray, then had to quickly duck under the aircraft for protection from the strafing attack by the Japanese planes, which seemed to come at them from all directions. (27)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The third pilot at Bellows was 1st Lt. Samuel W. Bishop, who taxied into position, turned his plane toward the ocean, and began his takeoff roll directly behind Whiteman.\u00a0 He saw Whiteman\u2019s plane go down after a burst of gunfire went right into the cockpit.\u00a0 The only emotion he felt was deep rage as he got airborne, holding the trigger down all the while, as Japanese planes swarmed around him.\u00a0 He retracted his landing gear and hugged the water, trying to gain speed, but the Zeros clung tenaciously to him and shot him down in the ocean about half a mile offshore.\u00a0 Despite a bullet wound in his leg, Bishop managed to get out of his plane and, with his Mae West keeping him afloat, swam to shore. (29)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Biographical information for Christiansen<\/a> can be found at his FindAGrave on-line memorial, as can that for Whiteman<\/a>, after whose name the formerly inactivated Sedalia Army Airfield \u2013 reactivated in October of 1952 as Sedalia Air Force Base – was renamed in 1955.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Sterling was killed in what would be his first and only dogfight.\u00a0 As recounted in John W. Lambert\u2019s The Long Campaign \u2013 The History of the 15th Fighter Group in World War II<\/em>,<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe pilots mounted their planes, fired up their engines, and prepared for the first sortie from Wheeler.\u00a0 At the last minute, leaving his engine running, Norris climbed out of his cockpit and ran to get a better fitting parachute.\u00a0 Seeing the rest of the formation beginning to taxi out, 2nd I.t. Gordon H. Sterling, who had been standing by hoping to get into the fight, bounded into the empty cockpit of the fourth P-36.\u00a0 He handed his wrist watch to an astonished mechanic, and said. \u201cSee that my mother gets this.\u00a0 I won\u2019t be coming back,\u201d slammed the canopy and gunned the plane down the field.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt was about 0850 when Sanders\u2019 flight cleared Wheeler, entered a cloud base at 2.000 feet and headed southeast.\u00a0 As they broke out of the clouds at 28,500 feet Sanders advised the fighter control center of his position and availability.\u00a0 The fighter director reported many bogeys over Kaneohe and Bellows Fields.\u00a0 Sanders acknowledged, increased his climb at full <\/em>throttle to 11,000 feet, and turned north.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n “By this time the first wave of the Japanese attack force was streaming back to their carriers.\u00a0 Fuchida, cruising at 15,000 feet over Pearl Harbor, was surveying his handiwork and directing the next wave.\u00a0 This force, led by Lt. Commander Shigekazu Shimazaki of the Zuikaku, had been launched at 0715.\u00a0 It consisted of 167 Kates. Vals, and escorting Zekes.\u00a0 About 0850 they began to deploy for the attack run on their targets off the East Coast of Oahu.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n “Shimazaki\u2019s units struck Kaneohe and Bellows airfields and renewed the attacks on Hickam and the badly wounded fleet at Pearl Harbor.\u00a0 These Vals with Zekes flying top cover were the bogeys identified by fighter control who had directed the 46th Squadron\u2019s P-36s to rendezvous.\u00a0 Lew Sanders relates the action:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn a slight dive at near maximum throttle, we sighted a formation of 11 enemy planes at about 6,000 feet.\u00a0 I rocked my wings and the formation tightened up around me.\u00a0 As I began to give hand signals to my flight I saw that Sterling had some- how taken over Norris\u2019 plane.\u00a0 It was quite a shock to discover this youngster in formation under such dire circumstances.\u00a0 However, there was no alternative but to signal him to take my right wing position.\u00a0 Then I directed the left element pilots to take aggressive action.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cWe dived, coming in on the enemy formation at an overtaking speed, from about level flight.\u00a0 I fired at the leader, watched tracers enter the fuselage, saw him pull up slightly, and then fall off the right, smoking.\u00a0 I made a fast 360 degree turn to clear my tail and, at a very short distance ahead, saw a P-36 I thought to be my wingman.\u00a0 Sterling was shooting at a burning enemy plane in a near vertical dive.\u00a0 An instant later another enemy fighter split S-ed on Sterling\u2019s tail.\u00a0 I pushed over on the three planes below me and began firing at the one on Sterling.\u00a0 Soon the P-36 ahead of me was on fire and spiraling slowly out of control.\u00a0 The Japanese fighter in my sights was in a dive, trailing white smoke.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Lt. Sterling, whose body has never been found, is memorialized both at the Honolulu Memorial<\/a>, and Arlington National Cemetery<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n John Dains may have been the first American \u201cfriendly fire\u201d fatality of the Second World War.\u00a0 Shot down over Schofield Barracks, his fate is described by Leatrice R. Arakaki and John R. Kuborn, John R., and also in James R. Jones\u2019 best-selling novel, From Here to Eternity<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n According to 7 December 1941 – The Air Force Story<\/em>,<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cWhile this [the attempted take-off at Bellows field by Bishop, Christiansen, and Whiteman] was going on, Haleiwa launched aircraft as fast as pilots showed up.\u00a0 Lts. John Dains and John Webster both got off at different times in P-40s, while Lts. Harry Brown and Robert Rogers each took off in P -36s.\u00a0 From Wheeler Field, Lts. Malcolm Moore and Othneil Norris entered the fight, also flying P-36s.\u00a0 Brown and Rogers headed out to Kahuku Point, where they engaged the enemy without any confirmed kills, but Rogers damaged one enemy aircraft. From there they joined up with Moore and Webster and headed west.\u00a0 At Kaena Point, Webster damaged one aircraft, but could not confirm a kill.\u00a0 Rogers was cornered by two Japanese; and Brown plowed into the fight, shooting down one attacker.\u00a0 As the action started to wind down, Moore opened up on one retreating Japanese aircraft but failed to down it.\u00a0 Brown spotted the smoking ship and also fired but, like Moore, could not hit a vital spot, and the aircraft got away.\u00a0 Rogers started to run low on fuel, so he returned to Haleiwa where he took off on his second mission in a P-36.\u00a0 Dains also returned to Haleiwa and got off on a second mission in a P-40.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBy this time the Japanese had completed their attack and were returning to their carriers as fast as they could.\u00a0 Wheeler Field and Haleiwa kept launching aircraft for the next hour with little coordination or direction for the pilots.\u00a0 No additional combat with the Japanese occurred.\u00a0 One mystery still remains concerning the action that occurred in the air that Sunday morning.\u00a0 Radar operators at the station at Kaaawa watched a P-40 shoot down a Japanese Zero during the height of the battle.\u00a0 The operators were positive the American aircraft was a P- 40, and they identified it both from its distinctive silhouette and the sound of its engine.\u00a0 None of the pilots that survived that morning\u2019s action remembered flying in the Kaawa area.\u00a0 The only pilot whose action was unaccounted for was Lt. John Dains, who flew two missions that morning in a P-40.\u00a0 Both times he was separated from the other American fighters and fought by himself.\u00a0 After landing the second time, he switched to a P-36 and joined up with George Welch for a third mission.\u00a0 Neither pilot spotted anything because by that time the Japanese had cleared the area, so they decided to return to Wheeler Field.\u00a0 On the return flight, antiaircraft guns at Schofield Barracks opened up on the two aircraft, killing Dains.\u00a0 There were three plausible explanations.\u00a0 First, the radar operators could have been mistaken in what they saw; second, some other P-40 pilot downed the Japanese plane and was unaware where the action occurred; or third, we suspect that Dains did get the enemy plane as the ground personnel observed and just never got the chance to tell his story.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The account of Dains\u2019 death occupies a brief passage in Jones\u2019 lengthy and superb 1951 novel, the clarity of the description therein suggesting that Jones witnessed the event firsthand, or, learned about the story from fellow soldiers.\u00a0 Certainly this would be consistent with Jones\u2019 presence at Schofield Barracks<\/a> that December morning.\u00a0 As penned by Jones, \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Lt. Ross dived under the porch for the supplyroom as another single <\/em>[aircraft] came blasting in from the southeast and the roaring umbrella of fire rose from the roofs to engulf it.\u00a0 It seemed impossible that he could fly right through it and come out untouched.\u00a0 But he did.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Right behind him, but flying due north along Waianae Avenue and the Hq Building, came another plane; and the umbrella swung that way without even letting go of its triggers.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The plane\u2019s gastank exploded immediately into flames that engulfed the whole cockpit and the plane veered off down on the right wing, still going at top speed.\u00a0 As the belly and left under-wing came up into view, the blue circle with the white star in it showed plainly in the bright sunlight.\u00a0 Then it was gone, off down through some trees that sheared off the wings, and the fuselage, still going at top speed, exploded into some unlucky married officer\u2019s house quarters with everyone watching it.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat was one of ours!\u201d Reedy Treadwell said in a small still voice.\u00a0 \u201cThat was an American plane!\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTough,\u201d Warden said, without stopping firing at the new double coming in from the northeast.\u00a0 \u201cThe son of a bitch dint have no business there.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n After the Jap double had flashed past, unscathed, Warden turned back and made another circuit up and down the roof, his eyes screwed up into that strained look of having been slapped in the face that he sometimes got, and that made a man not want to look at him.\u00a0 <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBe careful, you guys,\u201d he said.\u00a0 Up the roof.\u00a0 Down the roof.\u00a0 \u201cThat last one was one of ours.\u201d\u00a0 Try and be careful.\u00a0 Try and get a good look at them before you shoot.\u00a0 Them stupid bastards from Wheeler liable to fly right over here.\u00a0 So try and be careful after this.\u201d\u00a0 Up the roof.\u00a0 Down the roof.\u00a0 The same strained squint was in his voice as was in his eyes.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n From Here to Eternity<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n James R. Jones<\/span><\/p>\n (1951) 1954<\/span><\/p>\n New American Library (Signet Books; paperback edition), pp. 720-721<\/span><\/p>\n The defense of Schofield Barracks occurs three-minutes into this snippet from the full film.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s entertaining and well-acted, and, akin to the dogfight scene from Tora! Tora! Tora!, <\/em>shows the near-inevitable, natural simplification of characters and events that occurs when a story \u2013 any story; any text (this action comprising 14 pages in the paperback edition); fiction or fact – is transformed from text to the moving image.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s notable that stock footage of SBD Dauntless dive bombers was used to represent Japanese bombers and torpedo plane, while AT-6 trainers \u2013 \u201cJapanese\u201d by virtue of the hinomarus painted on their wings and fuselages! \u2013 represent strafing Zero fighters.\u00a0 This was in 1953, only eight years after the war\u2019s end, when certainly much of the viewing audience \u2013 inevitably including many recent veterans – would have recognized these incongruities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I remember how shocked I felt when I read the above passage in Jones\u2019 novel.\u00a0 I suppose it\u2019s understandable that in the context of 1953, John Dain\u2019s loss was not incorporated into the film.\u00a0 Well, at least one thing was consistent:\u00a0 In the film as in the Jones\u2019 novel, the soldiers of Schofield Barracks do <\/em>shoot down a Zero.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Well, no matter.\u00a0 Vastly different in concept, creation, and scope from Tora! Tora! Tora!<\/em>, this was a film that was driven, and extremely well driven, by character, plot, and setting.\u00a0 The aerial attack on Schofield Barracks in From Here to Eternity <\/em>(spliced from video version posted by Trena Sorman), can be viewed at: Japanese Attack on Schofield Barracks as portrayed in From Here to Eternity<\/em> (1953)<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Dains<\/a> is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, in Honolulu.
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\n<\/span><\/p>\n![\"5-bishop-samuel-w-44-rtd-400\"](\"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/5-Bishop-Samuel-W-44-RTD-400.gif\")
<\/a>Flying Cadet Samuel W. Bishop.\u00a0 Photographed on May 16, 1940.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n![\"6-christiansen-hans-47-kia-c-400\"](\"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/6-Christiansen-Hans-47-KIA-C-400.gif\")
<\/a>Flying Cadet Hans C. Christiansen.\u00a0 Photographed on December 26, 1940.<\/span>![\"9-whiteman-george-a-44-kia-400\"](\"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/9-Whiteman-George-A-44-KIA-400.gif\")
<\/a>Flying Cadet George A. Whiteman.\u00a0 Picture taken on September 5, 1940.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n![\"8-sterling-gordon-h-jr-46-kia-600\"](\"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/8-Sterling-Gordon-H-Jr-46-KIA-600.gif\")
<\/a>Flying Cadet Gordon H. Sterling, Jr.\u00a0 Date unknown.
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![](\"http:\/\/thepastpresented.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/7-Dains-John-L-44-KIA-600-c.jpg\"){kind=link}