The Mission

At 21:30 March 12, 1945 the wheels of the "Jeeter Bug" left Harmon Field, Guam. Frank Jeter was in command and his co-pilot was Herb Harter.  We were leaving on a night mission to Chichi Jima almost 1000 miles to the north. It was are 21^st mission, and the flight to the target was routine. On strict orders we were to keep clear of the naval task force at Iwo Jima by 50 miles which our navigator, John Weller did and we hit Chichi right on the nose.

Our radar operator, Dick David, put us on the target and the bombs were away at 02:50. Just as they were released by our bombardier, Greg Babykin, a burst of flak damaged #2 engine to the extent that it had to be feathered. To make matters worse, #3 had been running rough for half an hour.  Frank ordered all ammo and flack suits jettisoned and to ready the guns and ball turret to go next.  He asked John for an ETA for Guam and had John and Bob Larson, the engineer, check the fuel. Because of the required increase in power to engines #1 and #4, our fuel efficiency was so reduced that we did not have enough gas to make it to Saipan.  A conference was held on the flight deck and we were unanimous that we did not want to ditch in the dark.  Frank said, ñLet's take our chances with an emergency landing at Iwo. Radio Iwo and tell them were are coming in.

We were very close to the prohibited air space when Doyle Ebel, our tail gunner, said that a Black Widow (P-61) was behind us with his landing lights on looking us over. Even though our IFF was giving the proper signal, the pilot ordered certain symbols from the code to be sent by Aldis Lamp. At last, he decided that we were friendly and he told Frank what frequency to use to talk to the naval command ship.

Finally radio silence was broken, and we were given a compass heading to use for landing. We were told that the runway was not lighted and was too short, but Frank radioed that we were committed and were going in. On final approach there was an amazing cease firing command.  All firing on the battleships, cruisers, destroyers and other ships and all the Marine heavy gun positions stopped and star shells burst over the runway giving Frank and Herb the best available light. We flew over Mt. Suribachi and dropped onto the runway. The time was 03:50.

Frank did a masterful job when we touched down, no bounce. He and Herb were standing on the brakes as we roared down the runway that was pockmarked with shell holes and we were greeted with Jap mortars bursting around us.  We screeched to a halt at the very end in front of a huge mound of earth. There was no one to direct us to a parking place so we taxied over beside a Catalina which was the only familiar looking object in the darkness.

As soon as we landed the firing began. It seemed to come from everywhere. The ships were firing into Jap positions in the middle and northern part of the island. The Marine batteries were firing over the runway into positions that were all too close. We were flyboys in the midst of a ground battle. We knew from nothing.  We were out of our element, and we didn't even know where the front lines were.

We shut down the plane and Frank and Herb decided to look for someone to give us some directions. There was a small lean-to off the runway where they found a Marine sergeant and his buddy. The Marine told them there was a war going on and anything that moved at night had a good chance of being shot.  He advised that they return to the plane and wait for sunrise at 06:30. Frank told him we still had over 1000 gallons of gas aboard and one shell could finish us. The Marine said it was still as safe as any place on the island.  So we racked out in the plane hoping that some Jap mortar didn't find us.

When dawn came, we had a view of a volcanic island that had been stripped of vegetation and structures. Close to the plane we found a great example of Marine humor, a posted sign saying, "Take your first hot shower." Someone had found hot water by sticking a pipe into the volcanic sand.  Dale headed for base operations to find out why no reply to his message. He was told that they were shut down.  No one had been standing radio watch for all traffic after sunset was forbidden. Doyle and Dick, two of the best scroungers in the Air Corps gathered rations while Sammy Tillery, our armorer and balk turret gunner, and his assistant, Ray Fritter got a fire going. We had breakfast, and even though the morning was overcast the day seemed brighter. It was a kind of weird feeling to look skyward and realize that just a few short weeks earlier we had been flying over and bombing the very spot where we were now standing.

We began to gather tools, some from the Marines but most of what we needed came from a P-51 squadron that was just beginning to fly in. We acquired a hoist from them and went to work. Frank put Larson and his assistant Vic Crowell, the nose gunner, in charge.  By that evening we had the engine off the plane. An engine, two mechanics, and a prop man flew in the next morning on an ambulance C-46. The Marines were flying wounded out all the daylight hours to the hospitals on Guam, Tinian, and Saipan. The prop man was upset that we had removed the prop, but had to admit that Larson had done a good job.

We worked the rest of the 14^th and 15^th getting the new engine up and working. It wasn't very often that a flying crew was required to do much work.  Everyone pitched in. We all did the job Larson assigned. At 07:15 the next morning, we fired up the new engine and let it idle. At 07:30 we took off from that short runway.

Again, Frank and Herb did a great piece of flying. We cleared the end of the runway and roared over the Jap lines.  We took a couple of rounds but no damage. We landed on Guam at 12:30 March 16^th completing a combat mission of 87 hours, one of the longest (in time) of war.