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.

1/Lt. Robert J. Koss was the final member of the fatal 3rd Bomb Squadron mission of May 16, 1945, to be returned to his hometown for reburial.

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.

Flight Officer (posthumously promoted to 2nd Lieutenant) Barton L. Wherritt was a member of a six-man aircrew that perished after their B-25 was shot down over the Japanese-el airfield at Ichang (Yichang).

1/Lt. Donald J. Davis was the pilot of a six-man aircrew that was lost when their 3rd Bomb Squadron B-25 was shot down over Ichang (Yichang) on May 16, 1945. His remains were recovered and returned to his home in California for reburial on July 13, 1949.

James H. “Hank” Mills, a B-25 crew chief, found his name on the roster for the next day’s mission and participated in 3rd Bomb Squadron operations as an aerial gunner until the end of the war. “They volunteered me,” he later said in an interview.

Capt. Thomas S. Simpson and a mixed Chinese and American crew of the 3rd (Spray and Pray) Squadron, Chinese-American Composite Wing, were shot down on a mission on July 4, 1944. The narrative that follows describes their miraculous escape from pursuing Japanese soldiers through the swamps and jungles of Burma.

My dad, then Corporal James H. Mills arrived in Karachi to begin training Chinese mechanics in early April 1944. I was born three weeks later in Arkansas. I met him in November 1945, when I was eighteen months old.

From the collection of James H. Mills, this wartime photo taken in Kunming shows the Green Rooster Arch in the foreground and the Golden Horse Arch in the background.