Mark T. Seacrest: “Resourceful Combat Pilot”

Captain Mark T. Seacrest is pictured here with Chinese personnel who had presented an embroidered silk banner to the American component of the squadron. The large characters are translated “Destroy Tokyo,” the smaller characters on the left as “New 6th Army, Leader Liou Yao Shion,” and at the right as “Chinese Air Force in India, 1st Air Wing and 3rd Squadron.” The exact date and location cannot be verified, but it is likely this photograph was taken at the celebration of Chinese Air Force Day on August 14, before Seacrest led the bridge-busting mission to Lashio in Burma. The American-trained and -equipped New Sixth Army was moved to China in autumn of 1944.  R. L. Logan Collection, courtesy of Katherine A. Logan; translation courtesy of David Ting.

Mid-August of 1944 found Capt. Mark T. Seacrest and his binational aircrew making their way through unfamiliar territory, traveling on foot and by horseback through western China’s Yunnan Province toward Kunming. 

It had begun at Dergaon Field on the morning of August 14, when American members of the 3rd Bomb Squadron celebrated Chinese Air Force Day with their Chinese counterparts. This annual holiday commemorates the heroism and sacrifice of Chinese pilots in defense of their homeland on that date in 1937, when the Republic of China Air Force scored its first air-to-air victory against imperial Japanese invaders. The entire squadron participated in a flag ceremony, with two Chinese generals and staff as guests of honor. Several banners to commemorate the occasion were presented to the squadron’s American component.

Squadron Mitchells flew two missions to Burma that afternoon. Maj. Chester M. Conrad, with two high-ranking Chinese officers along as observers, led a nine-plane formation that bombed and strafed the city of Mohnyin "with excellent results.” Conrad’s plane encountered light antiaircraft fire. Although a projectile shattered the Plexiglas structure in the rear turret, no injuries were reported from it or from other enemy fire.

Capt. Seacrest led the second mission of the day, also carrying two Chinese officers as observers. The objective of this two-plane formation was to skip-bomb a twin highway bridge near Lashio, terminus of the Burma Road's south end. Concealed by the surrounding jungle, machine gun nests were dispersed throughout the target area. On approach, the two B-25s first dropped down to strafe a convoy of trucks spotted near the bridge on six passes. Both planes reported hits from small-arms fire.

After destroying seven of the trucks, Seacrest went in low to skip-bomb the bridge, causing extensive damage to its south end. The Mitchells, both with engines backfiring, smoking, and sputtering from antiaircraft fire, turned toward the nearest friendly territory rather than attempting to return directly to their base. Their goal was to reach Yunnanyi, site of the most westerly of the bases operated by the 14th Air Force.

The Chinese pilot of the wing plane made a forced landing on an open plateau on the west side of the Salween River, just before reaching China. Seacrest managed to stay in the air slightly longer, but he and his aircrew bailed out about 150 miles before reaching Yunnanyi. All returned safely. Seacrest and his crew covered 130 miles in eleven days. He was hospitalized briefly for lacerations to his hands caused by the parachute straps but returned to duty in early September.* 

After graduating from high school, Seacrest had attended New Mexico Military Institute in 1939 and Colorado State University the following year, when he also registered for the draft. Ten days after the attack that plunged America into war, he received orders to report for training as an aviation cadet. He later served as an instructor before being transferred to the China-Burma-India theater, where he was attached to the recently-formed Chinese-American Composite Wing.

Seacrest demonstrated his capabilities as a B-25 pilot/flight leader while initially serving with the CACW’s 2nd Bomb Squadron, officially attached on October 9, 1943. He “flew the Hump” and arrived in Kunming later that month. After the CACW entered combat on November 4, Seacrest’s name appeared in operational reports for many bombing and strafing raids that followed, often gaining the attention of service publications and newspapers. His record of successful missions continued after he was transferred to the newly-activated 3rd Bomb Squadron on March 4, 1944.

Capt. Seacrest was appointed squadron operations officer on July 15. It was soon afterward that he put my father, then-Cpl. James H. (“Hank”) Mills, on flight duty. One of Hank’s most memorable missions took place on August 7, when he flew as Seacrest’s top-turret gunner. Following the pilot’s detailed instructions, he strafed a train loaded with enemy supplies and troops. “I turned the guns around and he did what he said. He went in at an angle where he fired, then he pulled up and I put those tracers on that train and fired all the way down, and in a little bit one blew up and it made fire—smoke and flame you could see for fifty miles.”**

It was during this period that Seacrest began to receive official recognition for his earlier achievements. Orders had been issued in June for him to receive the Air Medal. It wasn’t until the CACW celebrated its first anniversary on October 8, 1944, that he was presented with the Air Medal (for completing 25 missions) with Oak Leaf Cluster (for an additional 25) and the Purple Heart (for his injuries on the August 14 mission).

The citation accompanying the Air Medal stated that Seacrest “distinguished himself by meritorious achievement in twenty-five combat missions” between November 25, 1943, and January 1, 1944, as a pilot and leader of Chinese personnel in medium bombardment aircraft. He displayed excellent flying ability and aggressiveness on various sea sweep missions on which he sank a seagoing tug, a tanker, and a large enemy passenger vessel. “During his attack on the passenger ship on 26 December 1943 the nose wheel door of his plane was shot off and antiaircraft fire damaged the right wing. Despite this damage to his bomber, he completed the attack, sinking the vessel. [Then-]Lieutenant Seacrest's accomplishments are consonant with the finest traditions of the Army Air Forces.”***              

In December, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for meritorious achievement in a combat mission on December 23, 1943, when he sank a 200-foot enemy gunboat. “While on a sea sweep mission in a flight of two medium bombers in an area where rain and a low ceiling hampered visibility, he discovered the gunboat at anchor in a cove surrounded by high hills,” according to the accompanying certificate. “Despite the hazards of heavy antiaircraft fire from the vessel and flying into a difficult location with poor visibility, Captain Seacrest pressed his attack to masthead height. A direct bomb hit in the boat's magazine sank the vessel in eight minutes. This display of aggressiveness and courage are in accordance with the highest traditions of the American military service.”

He was "one hell of a great pilot", and William T. Earley Jr., who served with him in the 2nd and then the 3rd Bomb Squadron, later described an event that proved it. While the bomb squadron and its B-25s were sharing a base with one of the fighter squadrons and its P-40s, it was inevitable that disagreement arose as to which was the better aircraft, so a competition was arranged. Seacrest took off aboard his Mitchell and the best of the fighter pilots was off flying his “Shark.” The fighter plane should have had a clear advantage over the bomber because of its greater speed and maneuverability. Ten minutes or more passed as the men on the ground waited. Then the P-40 came "screaming past" with Seacrest in his B-25 right on the fighter's tail, "chasing the hell out of him.”

When the 3rd Squadron’s CO, Maj. Chester M. Conrad, left in November for Bangalore in India to "trade in" an old B-25D for a newer model, Capt. Seacrest temporarily assumed command. He was promoted to major in early December, and he was appointed commanding officer when Maj. Conrad unexpectedly received orders to return to “Uncle Sugar” in early February 1945. Praising his "quiet efficiency and inspiration,” 1Lt. Willard G. Ilefeldt, squadron historical officer as well as flight leader, expressed confidence that Maj. Seacrest would "keep the squadron on the same level of effectiveness" that it had always enjoyed.

Seacrest received his orders to return to the States on February 26 and was released from the squadron on March 1. It came as no surprise since he had been put in rotation to go home shortly before taking command the previous month. Ilefeldt wrote that Seacrest “certainly deserved to go home, for very few men in this theater can claim as impressive a record.” Overseas since July 1943, he had completed sixty-four combat missions and had 305 combat hours to his credit, and the amount of tonnage he had sunk while operating in the China Sea totaled among the highest of any B-25 pilot in any theater. “Maj. Seacrest is indeed a resourceful combat pilot, for on several occasions, he has made as many as seven passes to knock out a very hot target, such as a Japanese gunboat. . . . Maj. Seacrest's exploits as a combat pilot are well known in this theater, and he leaves many admirers behind.”

After returning home, Seacrest was awarded the OLC to his DFC on April 10, 1945, and another OLC to his Air Medal on April 18. Stationed at March Field, Riverside, California, as civilian personnel officer, Seacrest was placed in charge of the central post fund and was a member of the board of property survey, as well as other duties. He was discharged at Fort Logan separation center in mid-September 1945, following Japan’s official surrender.

Mark Seacrest later worked with his family's newspaper in Lincoln, Nebraska, eventually taking over the publishing company as its president. In 1955 he accepted an invitation from the Crusade for Freedom to make an overseas inspection tour of the facilities of Radio Free Europe and Free Europe Press, and to promote freedom of information.

*  For more details, see “Forced Down in Yunnan,” 8/17/2024.

** “They Volunteered Me,” 7/10/2024; and “Blasting a Burma Train,” 8/7/2024.

***  “CACW’s 1st Anniversary,” 10/9/2024.

There is much more to this compelling account. You can find it in The Spray and Pray Squadron: 3rd Bomb Squadron, 1st Bomb Group, Chinese-American Composite Wing in World War II.