Richard Bong was a red haired Wisconsin farm kid like most of the farm kids who became heroes in World War II. Major Bong would go on in the Pacific to shoot down 40 Japanese aircraft with the wonderful P 38, which was a twin engine fighter.
The tale of this is simple. He was a natural pilot just like all of America’s best in those we knew. Chuck Yeager had that horizon eyesight where he could spot planes before others could see them. Pappy Boyington and Joe Foss were just good hunters.
Richard Bong was not flashy. He simply knew his plane, flew it well, studied the situation he was in and then struck the enemy.
His first combat in America though was with an American housewife in California who Bong decided to play with as she was hanging out her clothes. Bong would fly so low he blew her laundry off the line.
His General, Kenney, after getting an ear full, called Bong into his office and told him that he was going to go to that woman’s house, do her laundry, put it up, hang around and mow the lawn, take down the laundry and not drop any on the ground.
Richard Bong did all of that and proved the Army Air Corp was good for something other than annoying housewives.
He would complete the war covered with medals including the Medal of Honor. He would die though in serving America in America on of all days, the day America dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.
He was test flying a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star in jet propulsion when the plane malfunctioned and crashed too close to the ground.
Wild Thing’s comment……..
September 2 yesterday was V-J Day…..VJ Day, when Japan surrendered
Each person that has served our country is so important, each one has a story, and we must never forget our Heroes. We must never forget those that have sacrificed and served our country, to me they are the Stars that shine and light the way for freedom. Because without them, the Stars they would not really shine as brightly , and we would not know the Freedom we have been so blessed to have.
…. Thank you Eden for sending this to me.
H/t to Lame Cherry for a beaurtiful write up about Richard Ira Bong.
One of the first books I read as a kid was about Marine pilot Joe Foss and his adventures on Guadalcanal. Then when I was older I read several books about Richard Bong and fell in love with the P38 Lightning. I thought it was the neatest fighter of WWII.
It was lots of Americans like Bong and Foss and lots of American blood that gave us the victory over Japan and Germany. Today’s War on Terror shows us that we still have heroes.
Thank you WT and Eden for the wonderful tribute, I’ve read about Bong and his exploits.
Back as a kid I remember passing by Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah, to pick up my uncle who was working there, it was just after a test crash, the wreckage was in flames and there was the pilot’s helmet on the road alongside the runway, torn off in the crash, the rescue teams were just getting on the scene and hadn’t yet sealed off the area.
Those test pilots like Chuck Yeager and Richard Bong paid heavy prices for technical advances.
Last year I finally put to rest an accident I witnessed in the RVN, I’d had a similar experience in 1975 but survived, knowing who the victims were helped me put it to rest as it had haunted me for years. It took me nearly 40 years to make that connection of what really happened and understand that even with the best equipment accidents do happen and to learn from them is to honor the efforts and sacrifices of those doing the testing. You can’t operate out side the equipment’s operating parameters, not for long anyway, as they say “there are no old bold pilots”.
RIP my fallen countrymen.
Oh Jack, that’s a long time to wonder. What did you find out if you don’t mind sharing?
I love all the soldiers and patriots and all things aircraft. I didn’t pay attention to these things until recently and find it all very fascinating. I really like all you guys posting about your war and military experiences–I remember Viet Nam as I am 52, for example, but the guys I knew that were there back in the day didn’t want to talk much about it, so hearing the behind the scenes truly is appreciated.
Glad to share Eden. Sometimes an event happens that haunts a person for many years. it’s the not knowing or the why. On February 7 1969, I was at our company area at Ky Ha, working from the motor pool on our line vehicles when an M88 towing an M48 Tank rumbled by.
Atop the M48 were the 4 man tank crew and a few more men, maybe 8 all toll, we waved at each other had a few catcalls between us and they seemed to be happy to be out of the field and anxious for a few days rest and maybe PX privileges.
These men had just offloaded from the U.S. Navy Sea Bee base on Colco Island just North of us a couple of miles for rear echelon repairs to their tank at battalion HQ.
Since I needed a part or something from battalion supply I took a jeep to run down to battalion supply and get the item, just before reaching the PX the towed tank that had been going down the steep hill had swerved sideways and had flipped upside down atop a 3/4 ton truck coming up the hill.
Bodies were strewn about and some were beneath the wreckage as rescue efforts were being made, it was a helpless and hopeless feeling with an M48 Tank crushing that 3/4 ton truck. I had heard the death toll was four, thank God it was only two, but two too many.
After Vietnam I had some experience in the M60A1 Patton tank, the M48’s successor, I’ve driven both and they are very similar. It was during a similar incident that afterward I understood what really had happened during the war.
Both tanks are diesel powered, both have hydrostatic drives, meaning that both have total hydraulic transmissions, steering and braking systems.
This requires engine power and increased engine RPM’s for control, they are an awesome vehicle able to go most anywhere that will support their weight.
I took an M60A1 out on some cross country maneuvers at the Yakima Firing Center, there is a hill just Northwest of the base there known as ‘Squaw Tit’. It’s an 1185-foot pinnacle, much steeper than it looks; I went to the top, spun around and started slowly back down. As the speed increased I needed more braking, totally inadequate at engine idle, as was the steering.
Inherent with diesel engines is the lack of engine braking regardless of the transmission gear selected. This necessitated increasing engine speed to maintain steering and a fast failing brake system, in the end I was able to maintain steering but had totally lost the brakes as we sped off the hill.
None of that zigzag stuff, it was impossible, there were 4 of us badly shaken, bruised but alive at the bottom of the hill.
Post MP’s showed up as they had witnessed the entire debacle, they estimated we had clocked at least 60mph coming off that steep bitch.
Now about that tank, we were going so fast that the tracks rounded out, ripping off the fenders, there were quite a few times we were airborne, 60 tons of shit in the air at terminal velocity rattled all of us. The mistake I made was a direct downhill path but in retrospect the zigzag would have resulted in that fatal flip.
It surely wasn’t my only mistake nor the first.
I now know what happened to those poor unfortunates so long ago in that M48 tank. That M48 was dead weight and pushing that M88, which handles just like a tank without the turret, I know too why that recovery vehicle driver lost control and could not brake due to excessive weight. At idle speed he’d lost all control, both braking and steering, his trying to halt all that momentum caused the towed M48 to veer sideways where it’s tracks dug in and it flipped.
Now I know the names of the men lost too. SGT Peter C. Hurlock, North Miami, FL, A Trp, 1st Sqdn, 1st Cavalry, Tank commander and PFC Richard L. Davis, Red Lion, PA, C Co, 1st Bn, 52nd Infantry the 3/4 Ton driver.
RIP my brothers.
Wow…thanks for the explanation.
RIP Hurlock & Davis
Never realize he didn’t survive the War. I looked him up and read the bio he was really something. But this country always produces the men necessary to win these things. Great story. You’d never hear anything like this, today, reported in the press of any Military Hero.
Maybe now when we are in need of a strong leader with whats going on one will surface. I hope soon, we need him or her to lead us out of this hell.
Tom, thank you for sharing about the books.
I agree our country is so blessed and yes we
still have heroes in todays war.
Jack, thank you for sharing about
your experience, reading it one is
right there.
Hurlock and Davis will never be
forgotten. Thank you Jack.
Mark, your so right, the media is shameful
how they will not share about the heroes
today.