May 16, 1945, began as many other days, but its events lived on in the memories of the 3^rd Bomb Squadron members for many years. In the early morning hours, six B-25 crews were briefed at Liangshan on separate targets in the Ichang, Chingmen, and Shashih triangle in western Hubei Province for the purpose of hitting enemy troops and supplies on low-level bombing and strafing raids. Typical of the Chinese-American Composite Wing at this time, three aircrews were made up of all-Chinese members, and three crews were entirely Americans. Tragically, one of these bombers did not return. Aircraft #722 was hit by enemy fire over Japanese-held Ichang and crashed, burning as it went down. Five members of the crew died in the crash, and a sixth was injured as he bailed out. Captured by the enemy, he died soon afterward. The fate of these heroes was not discovered until after the war had ended.

As the rest of the world celebrated V-E Day, it was business as usual in China’s war zone. The Chinese-American Composite Wing’s 2^nd and 3^rd Bomb Squadrons, with two 32^nd Fighter Squadron P-51s, bombed separate targets in the vicinity of Chenghsien, Honan (Henan) Province, in Central China’s Yellow River Valley. When they received news of the German surrender soon afterward, they did not celebrate this victory but “took it just as another day.” it would be another three months before Japan admitted defeat in China. During that time, two more 3^rd Squadron planes were lost, and the fate of a six-man aircrew reported as missing in action was not confirmed until after the war ended.

By early May 1945, Allied forces in Europe were nearing victory, and the balance of power was shifting in China. The Battle of Chihkiang, in which the Chinese-American Composite Wing’s 5^th Fighter Group and 3^rd and 4^th Bomb Squadrons played a decisive role, proved to be the turning point of the war in China. Even as the war neared an end, replacements were being sent to the China Theater. Maj. Clarence H. (“Hank”) Drake was attached as a B-25 pilot in late April and flew missions with the 3^rd Bomb Squadron into June. On Drake’s first combat mission, he feared that enemy flak might bring down the plane, so he asked the pilot, “What do we do?”  1Lt. Willard G. Ilefeldt calmly replied, “Why, we just fly on through.”

After the loss of the 14^th Air Force base at Laohokow, Chihkiang (now Zhijiang) became the most easterly of the bases operated by the 14^th Air Force. On April 10, 1945, the Japanese initiated an offensive that claimed the full attention of the 3^rd and 4^th Bomb Squadrons and the 5^th Fighter Group stationed at Chihkiang. So successful was the opposition against enemy targets in the Chihkiang Campaign that it proved to be the last major offensive by the Japanese in China. Even as life-or-death operations were being conducted, the daily business of the squadron went on. “All the men who have been overseas for a rather long time, or those who seem to need a little diversion and rest, are being sent to Chengtu, several at a time, to enjoy the ‘almost stateside’ atmosphere, the good ‘American’ food, and the almost white creatures of feminine pulchritude.” Five 3^rd Bomb Squadron enlisted men were the next to be sent in late April.

By February 16, 1945, thirty B-25s from all four squadrons of the 1^st Bomb Group—called the “Gambay Group—had converged at Hanchung for a huge raid against railroad yards at Shihkiachwang (Shijiazhuang), Hopeh (Hebei) Province, on the following day. Because their fighter escort failed to join them, the bombers separated into two elements and diverted to alternate targets in the big Yellow River bend. The first element turned south to attack railroad yards at Yunchen. The 1^st Bomb Squadron’s Mitchells formed "Benton" flight, and 4^th and 3^rd Squadron planes made up "Charlotte." Nearly all bombs missed their targets and landed in rice paddies or villages outside the target area. The second element was slightly more effective. The 2^nd Bomb Squadron and remainder of the 3^rd Squadron, forming "Akron" and "Detroit" flights, turned north and attacked railroad yards, tracks, and barracks at Linfen. After a delay caused by foul weather, the four squadrons flew a successful joint mission against machine shops and rails at Taiyuan on February 21.

Maj. Chester M. Conrad served from March 1944 to February 1945 as commanding officer of the 3^rd Bomb Squadron, 1^st Bomb Group, Chinese-American Composite Wing. Known as "Chet" back home, he had picked up the sobriquet "Coondog" somewhere along the way (his radio call sign, according to my father). While previously serving in the 2^nd Bomb Squadron, his aircrew was credited with shooting down a Japanese bomber. Conrad, with his 3^rd Squadron, later provided air support to Chinese and American ground forces that retook Myitkyina, a Japanese stronghold used to attack Allied planes crossing the Himalayan “Hump.” He participated in many other successful missions, including a raid against storage facilities on the Hankow docks in January 1945. After his return to the US the following month, he continued to work with Chinese airmen. His military career was cut short in 1955, when then-Lt. Col. Conrad died as a result heart disease.

On January 21, 1945, the 3^rd Bomb Squadron began its move to Liangshan. Transporting everything that could not be carried aboard the B-25s, three separate details of enlisted men left Peishiyi to transfer squadron equipment and supplies by truck, sampan, and river steamer. Their new airfield was located about forty-five miles due west of Wanhsien (Wanzhou), the largest nearby town on the upper reaches of the Yangtze, and just north of a small mountain range.  My father, then Sgt. James H. (“Hank”) Mills, clearly remembered the journey and described it many years afterward. Others have also shared their recollections of it, as well as of Liangshan Field that became their base of operations after their arrival.

When Imperial Japanese naval and air forces attacked the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor and then the city of Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, Paul L. Young, an American citizen of Chinese descent, was an eye-witness to the devastation. Displaying extraordinary courage, he was wounded while moving undamaged fighters away from those that were burning, earning him the Purple Heart. After spending twenty-three months with a heavy bomb unit in the Southwest Pacific, he served as intelligence and historical officer of the 3rd Bomb Squadron of the Chinese-American Composite Wing. One of the five missions he completed against targets in Burma during that period earned him a second Purple Heart.

Thanksgiving on November 23, 1944, was not a memorable occasion for the men stationed at Peishiyi (Baishiyi).  Because some of the extra supplies ordered for the holiday feast had not arrived, the menu included duck and not turkey, which was promised later. It was finally on the menu a week later.  At about the same time, six of the 3^rd Bomb Squadron's B-25s were moved farther back to Wenkiang (Wenjiang) in the western suburbs of Chengtu (Chengdu). “Brass” considered them to be safer there from night attack now that the moon was waxing full, and the shortage of gas prevented them from flying missions, regardless of their location. The detachment that accompanied them went to Kwan-Sien Rest Camp north of the city. Meanwhile, in Chihkiang (Zhijiang), detachments from the 3^rd and 4^th Bomb Squadrons that made up Task Force 34 conducted business as usual. They took a one-day break on Thanksgiving Day before resuming operations. Another night mission to support heavy bomb operations by interdicting use of enemy searchlights at Hankow-Wuchang was off on the twenty-fourth. The bomber was pursued by enemy night fighters, but its pilot, 1Lt. Leo C. Baker, took cover in a patch of overcast encountered near Tungting Lake and lost them.

Carrying frag clusters fused instantaneous, the 4^th Bomb Squadron’s Capt. Moncure N. (“Monte”) Lyon, in command of Task Force 34 that flew out of Chihkiang (Zhijiang), took off in the 3^rd Bomb Squadron’s A/C #722 at 1805 on November 22, 1944. With him were the 68^th Composite Wing’s Maj. A. T. House as observer and copilot and a crew that included the 3^rd Squadron’s Sgt. Eril W. Peters and Cpl. Andrew R. Allegretto as waist and tail gunners, as well as the 4^th Squadron’s Capt. Wei H. S. as navigator and SSgt. Oswald Weinert as top turret gunner. They had volunteered for this hazardous mission without knowing what it entailed until the briefing just before takeoff. It was a joint mission with the 68^th Composite Wing that included twenty-two B-24s of the 308^th Bomb Group (H) and two P-51s of the 75^th Fighter Squadron, 23^rd Fighter Group. The “heavies” approached the target and made their runs singly or in small groups, dropping their 500-pounders. Each time the searchlights were illuminated in an attempt to pick them up, Lyon attacked the lights again. This mission against Wuhan was the first of many completed successfully by Task Force 34, as well as by its two bomb squadrons later operating independently.

In late 1944, it became clear to observers that Japanese forces coming from the north were moving toward a junction with troops advancing westward toward Nanning from Canton.  Col. John A. Dunning, in command of the 5^th Fighter Group at Chihkiang (Zhijiang), put in a request for four B-25s with crews to run missions in close conjunction with his "Flying Hatchet" fighters to resist the enemy drive. His pilots had found that daytime targets were scarce and scattered because the enemy was moving troops and supplies primarily at night, so that was when he intended to strike. Called "Task Force 34," its participants were detached from the 3^rd and 4^th Bomb Squadrons, and the majority of their missions were night single-plane strikes at river, rail, and road traffic in the Hsiang Valley and from Hankow to Kweilin. Many of them were accomplished without moonlight. So successful were these “moonless-night missions” that they became a specialty of Task Force 34.

Major General Claire Lee Chennault, in command of the 14th Air Force and formerly of the American Volunteer Group, envisioned and implemented his grand experiment--the Chinese-American Composite Wing. His purposes were to rehabilitate the Chinese Air Force fighting under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, head of the Republic of China, and to provide good will and understanding between the Chinese and Americans for the future. The CACW proved to be enormously successful and played a key role in defeating the Japanese invaders.

On August 26, 1944, members of the 3rd Bomb Squadron flew "the Hump" of the treacherous Himalayas, making the move from Chabua in Assam, India, to Kweilin (Guilin) in Kwangsi (Guangxi) Province, China. Flying the Hump took planes over rugged terrain, often through violent storms, sudden down drafts, and snow and ice at higher altitudes. It was some of the most dangerous flying in the world―so dangerous, in fact, that every flight over the Hump was logged as a combat mission. The planes all made it across safely, and squadron personnel arrived at their new base on September 1.

As 14th Air Force planes, including bombers and fighters of the Chinese-American Composite Wing, prepared for a suicide mission, code name "Butcher," to attack the infamous Yellow Bridge in an attempt to destroy it "once and for all," a message from the tower announced, "Don't take off. The flight's been canceled." When the 3rd Bomb Squadron's B-25s turned around and taxied back in, someone ran out onto the runway shouting, "The Japs have surrendered!"

On August 14, 1944--Chinese Air Force Day--Capt. Mark T. Seacrest led a two-plane formation to skip-bomb a twin highway bridge located near Lashio, starting point of the Burma Road's south end. Hit by ground fire, both B-25s went down. Capt. Seacrest kept his A/C #714 in the air until he reached friendly territory, but it took eleven days for him and his aircrew to "walk out" and return to their 3rd Bomb Squadron.

Capt. Mark T. Seacrest led a mission from Dergaon Field to bomb and strafe rolling stock on the Burma railroad, when he unexpectedly encountered a train.. Cpl. James H. “Hank” Mills recounted his memories of strafing the length of it, blowing it into bits.

Mitchells of the 3rd Bomb Squadron provided air support to Chinese ground troops as they retook the city of Myitkyina following a 78-day siege. “They knew we were paving the way.”

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James H. Mills, at that time a staff sergeant, clearly remembered his mission to Hankow-Wuchang on July 24, 1945, when he was hit in the leg by a spent bullet that penetrated the B-25’s fuselage but caused no injury to him.

Sgt. James A. Wadlow served as engineer-gunner and operated the waist guns on the ill-fated 3rd Bomb Squadron mission against the Japanese-held airfield at Ichang (Yichang) on May 16, 1945. Their B-25 was shot down by enemy ground fire and all six of the aircrew were lost.