I hope this letter will let you form some images and give you some feelings of your father while he served in the 71st Fighter Squadron of the 1st Fighter Group as we discussed on Sunday the 15th. I could tell from our telecon how proud you are of your father.

I have a flood of memories of your father as we were closely acquainted, and looking back at those fond memories, I think he treated me much like a brother. Then again, I think he treated everyone the same through out the squadron. My recollections will go back to the activation of the 71st to create and present a full picture to present some background on his early career. It is too bad that pictures and other documents your father had saved were destroyed in the fire, Maybe the following will fill in the blanks.

I will refer to your father as Big John. I believe he liked that nickname and that is what everyone knew him by. The enlisted personnel always addressed him as Captain and later as Major. I think an honest characterization of Big John would say he had a natural feeling and caring for people, he loved joshing others, lots of horse play and was full of fun. Big John was courageous and dedicated to the well being of his comrades of all ranks, officers and enlisted men alike. I will elaborate later on how I perceived him to be regarding the above. Big John was a man among men and a leader among leaders. Nothing phony, what you saw is what you got.

I first heard of Big John when he joined the 71st in April 1941 at Selfridge Field, located northeast of Detroit. Our Commanding Officer at the time was Captain Hickman, a regular army man. Big John was a hunk in today's street vernacular in describing his physique. While about six foot plus tall, he was trim and I would guess about 200 pounds in weight. He had black wavy hair, an ever present beautiful smile, a twinkle in eyes and that great charm and slow drawl of a southern gentlemen. Everything that Big John was in physique and looks, Captain Hickman was just the opposite. Big John was Captain Hickman's favorite and took him on along on his cross country flights as the co-pilot.

In those early days, the pilots were allowed to take planes on cross country flights on week ends or late in the evening to go home or go to see their girl friends. This enabled the pilots to log time. All pilots were required to perform ground administrative duties when not scheduled for the minimum flight hours during the month. Some pilots were able to log their minimum hours per month this way. This was also a bonus for enlisted personnel to bum a ride by monitoring the posting of cross country flights at the Air Base Squadron. Ground officers were not part of the operational squadrons rosters in the peace time Army Air Corp.

Captain Hickman usually went to Washington D.C. on week ends and he took Big John along as his co-pilot in the First Fighter Group's C-40. The twin engine C-40 plane allowed the 1st Fighter Group pilots to log their twin engine training time in prior to the transition to the faster and heavier Lockheed P-38's, a twin engine fighter. The plane was comparable to the Lockheed L-10 that Amelia Earhart flew on her tragic flight, trying to fly around the world. It was rumored that Big John was along because Captain Hickman was using Big John to draw the ladies. Bear in mind that Captains were high ranking important officers with power and there wasn't many Captains around in those days. It was said that 25,000 was the total of officers and enlisted personnel men in 1939 but the Army Air Corp was growing steadily under the direction of General Hap Arnold and President Roosevelt in 1941. Big John's career and the creation of the 71st were an early part of this expansion.

The first fighter planes, delivered to the 71st in the late summer of 1941, were P-43's, a single engine plane, already out dated and inferior in comparison to the Royal Air Force and German Luftwaffe fighter planes. The first complement of new pilots, fresh out of flying school, arrived about the same time as the plane delivery. The new pilots had to become proficient in the P-43's in a hurry as the First Fighter Group departed from Selfridge Field on Labor Day in 1941 to participate in the war games in Louisiana, Georgia and the Carolinas until the first week in December 1941. This was the beginning of the melding of a group of young aviators into a combat unit that trained together, flew together, lived and ate together for a period of three months. This togetherness would pay dividends in the months to come. Big John (one of the old timers), a catalyst in the flying disciplines of an operational unit with others, was faced with the responsibility to bring the 71st to a combat ready unit.

Combat readiness Groups in the U.S. Air Corp inventory, with the comparable aircraft to the Luftwaffe, did not exist in 1941. The First Fighter Group, with the three Squadrons, would be the first to receive the fighter that was technically superior to the Luftwaffe fighter planes but had not been proven in combat. The Army Air Corp, in the early days in 1941, was manned basically by a civilian air force trying to gear up for the responsibilities of air combat facing the country. The other two squadrons in the 1st Fighter Group, the 27th and 94th Squadron's, had already made their transition to the P-38's during the 1941 summer and were more capable of combat ready status if examined loosely. They had the advantage of flying P-38's during the war games.

Much would be asked of these young aviators, just out of flying school and assigned to the 71st with very little operational flying time, if any. They were faced with learning to flying an unproven fighter plane in a very short time period after the delivery of the P-38's. The demand would be placed on them much sooner than any could imagine at that time in the late summer and fall of 1941.

Lt Grambo was our new Squadron Commander and Big John ranked in the higher echelon of the command structure in the 71st during the war games with the US Infantry and the Tank Corp. Big John was always hustling to drum up a rivalry in sporting events and build esprit de corp between the enlisted personnel and the new pilots that had come together just a couple of months before the war games. The war games had the priority as usually the Squadron flew with a full complement of P-43's but time was available for the rivalry. This rivalry began the unification of the flying officers and the flight line personnel into an operational unit with good morale and a can do attitude that would serve the 71st well in just few months later. Discipline was not lax but fraternization between the officer and enlisted ranks was routine rather than an exception. Big John, with his natural out-going personality along with a few others, provided the lead as the other three higher ranking officers, with more service time, were more reserved and laid back in their personalities.

The first Fighter Group completed the war games in the last week of November of 1941 and arrived back at the home base during the first week of December of 1941 and were suddenly alerted to move out. The First Fighter Group organized to help counter a west coast threat, as ordered, and immediately left for the west coast after the attack on Naval Forces and Air Corp Units in the Hawaiian Islands by the Naval Forces of Japan. Messages on the radio stations alerted officers and enlisted personnel on leave, to return to Selfridge Field immediately. Big John and the rest of the 71st Squadron departed Selfridge Field in their P-43's the day after the Pearl Harbor attack enroute to the west coast. Flight line personnel boarded civilian transports to join the planes at the North Island Naval Air Station outside of San Diego, California. The First Fighter Group's mission, with their P-43's and P-38's, was to provide air patrols during the daylight hours off the west coast of California seeking out any threat by the Japanese Naval Forces to the coastal industries. The 71st lost one pilot in the sea while on daily patrols over the ocean.

The 71st received their first P-38 model D's and E's (single seater) and a new complement of pilots, just out of flying school, during January and early February of 1942 while at the Naval Air Station. The task ahead for the 71st was to make a swift and safe transition to the twin engine P-38 from the single engine, more docile P-43's while continuing the patrol missions. I don't believe any of the older 71st pilots had any flying time in the P-38 at Selfridge Field. Their transition to the twin engine fighter began, along with all the other pilots, during the January and February 1942 period. This period was also a transition time for the line personnel. Only a few were fortunate to receive a crash course in the maintenance of the twin engine fighter at the Lockheed facility or Wright Field in Ohio.

The 71st moved to the Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale, California in early February of 1942. I believe this was where Big John met Cleo Booth or Boothe as I recall. I believe Big John told me that Cleo was a stewardess for one of the major airlines. The street where Cleo lived dead ended near our Operations Building. Many people in the adjoining neighborhood would frequent the area as there was always something going on. I think they liked to watch the volley ball games which were always in play. It would also allow them to get a good view of the P-38's landing and taking off. The rivalry between the flying officers and the line personnel resumed, this time on the volley ball court next to the Operation's Building. Big John enjoyed the competition so much he would get a kick out of a spike over the net or a saved point no matter which side profited.

The 71st flew night missions while at Glendale as well as day patrols and familiarization flights. Luckily, only a few minor incidences occurred. The night flights without the outside references, placed a new burden on the pilots. The west coast was blacked out and pilots had to sharpen their instrument skills as many night flights were made without the benefit of moonlight. The only ground reference might be a searchlight trying to light the P-38 up in the night sky. The night flights did provide some feed back to Lockheed on the weak design of the electrical and other systems and the problems caused by the lack of a generator on the right engine. Changes were incorporated in the P-38F model. All the pilots adapted to these responsibilities whether flying day or night but yet the reputation of the P-38, as a pilot killer, prevailed among Army Air Corp pilots.

Pilots were concerned on hitting the tail section of the P-38 if a malfunction occurred requiring the pilot to bail out. Another concern was the inability of the pilot to recover from a dive that was too steep and too high an air speed. The P-38 did not respond to the normal recovery procedures if encountering these conditions. The Army Air Corp liaison pilot with the Lockheed Corporation visited the pilots at the Grand Central Air Terminal and put the P-38 through its paces, including single engine performances. I'm sure this demo of the P-38 flight handling and characteristics eased some minds on the safe operation of the P-38. Major Ben Kelsey, the liaison pilot, was also the pilot that had been flying the P-38 since its introduction to the Army Air Corp in 1939 and 1940. Kelsey's P-38 skills would be more advanced than the 71st pilots at this early stage.

The pilots of the Group made a trip to the Lockheed factory in nearby Burbank in late April of 1942. Each pilot made a personal selection among the new P-38F's parked on the ramp that would take him into the combat zone. This move to the combat zone had its initiation on May 20, 1942 when the 71st pilots, in the P-38F's, accompanied by the line personnel in a chartered TWA DC-3, departed Glendale for Bangor, Maine in preparation for the trip across the northern aerial route of the Atlantic ocean. This endeavor to cross the ocean with fighter planes was a first in world aviation history.

The Lockheed factory set up assembly lines in the hangar at Bangor to install carburetor air intake filters and fuel warning systems in the P-38's. If the Group had their thinking caps on, the ultimate destination of the Group could have been foreseen, as air filters were a giveaway to desert warfare. Extra fuel tanks, to increase the range of the P-38's, were suspended from the bomb shackles under the wings, necessitating the need for a fuel warning system for the belly tanks to alert the pilot to switch and draw fuel from the main tanks when the fuel in the belly tanks were nearly exhausted.

P-38's did not have the necessary radio and navigation aids to make an ocean flight. Fighter pilots flying with B-17 Flying Fortress pilots, practiced flying together to determine the best air speed, power settings, wing flap settings, propeller rpm's and fuel mixture settings for the P-38's. These practice missions enabled the P-38's to fly in formation with the slower bombers and to determine the best fuel economy. The solution for the lack of P-38 equipment, to navigate the ocean flight, was to use a B-17 with four P-38's flying in formation and following the B-17 lead.

Weather forecasting was a problem for each leg of the Atlantic crossing, first to Labrador, next to Greenland, to Iceland and on to Scotland. The flights were to be made in June and July in 1942 and the means of forecasting weather in the summer months did not exist. The weather conditions, during the ocean crossing, were adverse and the P-38's could not have flown the route with their meager radio and navigation equipment. The solution to the weather forecasting uncertainty was arrived at by utilizing a B-17, acting as a weather ship, to depart from the destination point and fly west. The B-17 would radio each hour to the eastbound B-17's, with the P-38's alongside. This westerly weather reporting hourly by the B-17 weather ship would be giving actual weather encountered on the way west. At the point of no return the decision would be made to continue on to the destination point or return to the departure point. The point of no return was roughly at the mid point of the P-38's range with the belly tanks. One flight of 71st (four planes) and the B-17 reached the point of no return between Labrador and Greenland and elected to return to Labrador at the point of no return with very little fuel remaining when they landed in Labrador. The B-17 weather planes played a difficult but worthy role in the crossing.

In mid July, four P-38's of the 1st Fighter Group and the B-17 actually had to crash land on the Greenland Icecap due to adverse weather between the Iceland and Scotland leg. Three P-38's and the B-17 are still there but all air crews were rescued. One P-38 was brought to the surface of the icecap recently from a depth equal to a ten story building and is being restored It can be seen from the above that any P-38 encountering a serious mechanical problem during the flight and unable to continue on with the rest would soon be on his own without the ability to navigate through unknown adverse weather or unable to communicate by radio to base. The crossing, without many serious mishaps. is a tribute to the skills of the fighter pilots and the design of the P-38's.

Don York and I was assigned to a "Tail End Charlie" detail along with the Lockheed Factory Representatives. The objective was to provide maintenance on any planes that fell behind. Our concern was the fuel warning systems installed by Lockheed at Bangor. The engineering was an admirable and necessary idea but the design and implementation of the hardware for the system was not adequate. The 71st's was the last squadron to leave from Presque Isle Maine and was delayed by weather between Maine and Labrador. York and I would pre flight all the 71st's plane each morning while waiting to depart Maine. York and I spent many hours trying to secure the fuel lines against vibration and tightening and retightening the rubber hose clamps. The fuel lines to the respective carburetor of each engine were very secure from engine vibration and connected with threaded connections. The leaks would come from the rubber hose clamp connections on the fuel warning systems which were separate from the engine fuel lines. The fuel warning alarms were typical of many Army Air Force planes. This system, installed by Lockheed was a risky installation. It was rumored that one P-38 pilot feathered one engine while flying the Group Commander's wing on the Labrador to Greenland leg. The reason for the problem was never stated but we had an idea.

The crossing of the Atlantic, by fighter planes of the First Fighter Group was quite an accomplishment and considered successful. The loss of the a few planes. the lack of navigation equipment in the P-38's and adverse weather conditions enroute did not deter the Army Air Corp from making one more crossing of the Atlantic by P-38 fighter planes of another unit. This achievement by the First Fighter Group is known as "Bolero" in Air Force history.

The 71st settled in at an air base near the town of Goxhill in England in July of 1942 with the planes. The air echelon joined the ground echelon that had departed Glendale in mid May of 1942 by train from Glendale and crossed the ocean on the Queen Mary. Big John and the pilots flew familiarization/orientation flights to acquire knowledge of the countryside and specific landmarks for navigation in the English combat zone. The pilots also had to adapt to the RAF radio communication system.

In August the 71st moved to another base near the town of Ibsley, not far from the southern coast of England. The training received in the summer and fall war games in 1941 and on the California coast was now a reality. The 71st was reedy for flight operations in late August of 1942. Beginning in September of 1942, the 71st began making fighter sweeps over France seeking out the Luftwaffe. Enemy reaction from the vaunted Luftwaffe on these fighter sweeps did not occur but one pilot, Lt. "Sleeper" Young, flying in the tail end Charlie position disappeared on one of these sweeps. What happened to Young on this mission was not known. The fighter sweeps were the first Army Air Corp fighters to seek out the Luftwaffe over the continent as part of the 8th Air Force, The 31st Fighter Group, a cadre of the 1st Fighter Group at Selfridge Field, made the first Army Air Corp fighter sortie on the continent providing air cover over the infamous Dieppe beachhead on August 19, 1942, flying RAF Spitfires.

The 71st pilots were asked to perform another hazardous over water crossing in the second week of November of 1942, similar to the Bolero mission over the Atlantic. The pilots of the 71st performed another outstanding flight of about eight hours over water non -stop and all landed successfully in North Africa, The 71st was now part of the invasion of the North Africa force and now in the 12th Air Force. The 71st would now be active and tasked to join other units in driving the Germans out of North Africa.

The 71st pilots flew non-stop from a base on the southern coast of England to a base called Tafarouri in Algeria. Tafarouri was about 15 to 20 miles south of Oran, Algeria. Navigation and radio communications were again provided by Army Air Corp bombers. Again the adverse weather was encountered, forcing the transport planes carrying the line personnel to turn back to England and to land at Gibraltar. Only the transport, I was flying in, was able to make it through to a landing at a French Air Base called LaSenia, 15 miles from the Tafarouri Air Base. Big John's log book would indicate the date of his flight to North Africa. I don't know the exact date as we were out of fuel and it took us a few days to find fuel to service the C-47 so the pilot could fly around till he spotted the P-38's at Tafaroui. I joined up with the squadron late in the evening at Tafarouri. I found someone to share a pup tent with and hit the sack.

The line chief awakened me before daylight and told me to go out and preflight a P-38 with the squadron identifier LMT. He said I would now be crewing for John Eiland. My pilot had been transferred out to another outfit when we left England. LMT was a new P-38 ferried over the southern Atlantic route from the Lockheed factory and had arrived at Tafarouri the previous day. I can remember the following as if it happened yesterday. I finally located LMT with my flashlight. I tried to start the engines for the preflight but the battery was dead. My first thoughts were not pleasant nor was I confident, at that early hour, that my beginning as a crew chief for Big John, who was second in command, was getting off to a good start. I knew Big John would be out to take off at the break of dawn, and I needed to get moving although I was all by myself. I sat down in the cockpit and primed the left engine with fuel, set the throttles, set the mixture controls, set the parking brakes and put wheel chocks in front of the wheels. The plane still had the belly tanks on from its last flight, I thought if I was successful in getting the engine inertia starter up to speed by hand cranking the starter by myself, I would be able to get the left engine started. I could jump on the belly tank, make one leap onto the wing, another leap into the cockpit and hit the starter switch before the inertia starter lost speed to turn the engine over. I believe the adrenaline jolt I was having, would enable me to make the first vault onto the belly tank and the rest would be a race against time. I hand cranked the inertia starter until I knew, from the high pitch whine, it wasn't going to go any faster so I dropped the crank and made my first leap. Every thing went as planned and the engine started at the first rotation of the propeller. I then started the right engine by using the generator on the left engine and continued on with the pre-flight.

Big John came out shortly after and took off on the mission. I had a feeling that I had gotten off to a good start with Big John. I don't recall what Big John said to me when he came out to take off or what he said when he landed. I don't recall what I said other than wishing him a good safe flight. I do recall the circumstances of finding LMT and getting over the shock that the battery was down. The rate of the battery charge from the generator was so high, the battery acid vented out the battery vent hose and etched the olive drab paint on the side of the battery compartment down to the aluminum skin. The radiomen had a habit of leaving the switches on after working on the radio. I was able to get a new battery the next day.

Big John came out to the line one day when we were based at Biskra in Algeria, sometime in early December of 1942 to see me. He handed me a telegram about the birth of my son back in Michigan. The telegram said my wife and son were both doing well and the birth date was the 9th of December. This was the first news I had of the birth of my son. He then handed me his personal check for $200.00 and warmly congratulated me,

Big John had asked me earlier to put Cleo's name on the plane. One day, I believe while still at Biskra, Big John came out to the plane. He was not his usual jolly self. He told the crew about Cleo being killed when the airliner crashed while flying in adverse weather in the western part of the country. Big John was devastated and so were we as we had never seen Big John like this. We all felt sorry for him. I had been able to know something about the family as Big John made sure the Booth's knew the names of his crew and we always received Christmas packages from them. I also received letters and pictures of them. Cleo was a beautiful young lady and the letters the Booth's wrote to me always expressed their love for Big John.

Big John used to enthrall the crew with stories of riding around in his red convertible with the top down to impress the girls. It was easy to visualize the picture he would be painting verbally with lots of laughter and chuckling. He always had his good luck charm in the front seat with him. The good luck charm was a little nigger boy. Big John used the term nigger like many true southern gentlemen did, as a term of endearment, certainly not in a derogatory sense. He said he used to rub the little nigger boy's head when he needed luck. Big John told us Cleo had made the little doll for him. The doll, complete with clothes, was small enough to fit in a pants pocket and had a wire attached to it. Big John asked that we hang it the cockpit of the plane so he could reach over and rub the black yarn on the doll's head when he was in trouble and in need of some good luck. The black yarn was worn off pretty good when he finished his missions. Big John told us at one of the reunions that he still had the little doll. I hope you can find this poignant memento. It has a great deal of sentiment attached to it.

Big John always chose to take the first plane that arrived at the 71st that was a later P-38 model than the one he was flying. Usually the later model was an improved plane over the planes the 71st had in service. A P-38G arrived when we were at a place called Chateau dun du Rhumel in Algeria. This field was near the city of Constantine. Usually planes were in short supply and it was not a practice to flight check the new planes for their airworthiness. Big John led a mission and as was the practice in the early days, the pilots fire tested the guns and cannon after becoming airborne. The gun and camera switches were on the control column and it was easy to finger both at the same time. Big John flipped the switches to check the guns and cannon and pushed the firing button on the first mission with the P-38G, but nothing happened, Rather than abort the mission he was leading, Big John chose to continue on with the mission. The mission was uneventful. He reported the malfunction and wrote it up when he returned. We replaced all the fuses and put the plane back in commission for his flight the next day. The next day the same thing happen, No guns but, again he continued on with the mission. Big John reported the problem and the next day he arrived at the line and said we were going for a ride in the war weary P-38 that had been converted into a piggy-back.

This conversion permitted the pilot to take a passenger along on a flight. The radios were removed from the radio compartment behind the pilot but the guns were still active in the nose. The armor plate that protected the pilot was removed. A lap safety belt was installed for the passenger. The passenger wore a back chute in case of an emergency exit from the plane. The passenger sat on the floor of the radio compartment behind the pilots seat and had to curl up in a fetal position with his head on the pilots shoulder. It was a cramped position and not a comfortable one for a long flight. After take off, we headed in a northerly direction toward the Mediterranean Sea. Big John wanted to show me something. He went into a dive and fired the piggy-back guns over the sea. I watched the cannon shells and .50 caliber tracer bullets hit the water ahead of the plane and I could feel the vibration from the firing. Then, Big John said we would make another dive and do it all over again. This time he pushed the firing buttons but nothing happened. He had turned the gun switches off. Everything was so nice and quiet. What a difference in the two dives. I guess I started to get the drift of what was going on and the purpose of the flight.

We ended up flying around the area and then Big John put the plane in a dive without telling me what he was doing. After we had gained air speed in the dive he pulled the control column back suddenly and the plane shot up into a steep climb to the right. Big John was shouting over and over "Do you see the needle and the ball?" "Do you see the needle and the ball?" I couldn't see anything, my eyeballs were down on my shoe tops from the G forces. Finally I could see a little gray out of my eyes when my vision returned. Big John was really laughing and enjoying my dilemma. I learned later, when I was taking my flight instruction, what centering the needle and the ball meant when making a coordinated turn.

We then flew onto a flat area, like a desert mesa and Big John put the plane on the deck. You could hear the dirt and the gravel being picked up by the propellers and hitting the plane. Big John was pretending he wasn't paying any attention by nonchalantly swiveling his head left and right while flying on the deck. We saw two Arabs up ahead trying to herd some goats into a small corral. The goats were in a nice tight vee formation, just reaching the narrow opening to the corral. They numbered about twenty to thirty and when we screeched over the goats, they went in all directions. Big John made a climbing turn to the right and we could see from over our shoulder that the Arabs were shaking their fist at us. The goats were all over the place. Big John was roaring with laughter. We headed back, Big John asked me to give a direction back to the field. Every thing looked the same to me and I selected a direction. He turned in the opposite direction I had chosen to take us home. We sure had fun that day. When I reminded him of that day, and his subtle play with the gun buttons over the Mediterranean at the Reno reunion, we broke out laughing again.

I did see Big John angry one time in late November of 1942 at the Maison Blanche Airdrome outside of the city of Algiers. This was the rainy season in North Africa and it seemed like all the planes in the 12th Air Force were based at Maison Blanche as all the temporary air fields were bogged down in gumbo clay. The planes had difficulty operating at the temporary fields. The clay would add to the weight of the plane and the wheels could not be retracted without filling the wheels wells with clumps of mud. The Maison Blanche Airdrome had only a single long hard surface runway that had been completed recently. The airdrome traffic was not controlled. I cannot recall if the customary Air Corp procedure to pitch up and land was in practice due to so many planes landing and taking off. At the proper time the planes would fall into a landing sequence and keep their spacing while in the pattern. Big John sequenced the plane and started his procedures for landing while keeping a sharp eye out for other planes of all types in the pattern as well as the planes that were taking off. This was the downwind leg. Big John made his left turn on to the base leg and then a left turn on to the final approach to descend to the runway. At this time the runway belonged to him. About half way down on final approach, a RAF Hurricane Fighter cut in front of Big John. He had the option of cleaning up his plane by retracting the gear and raising the flaps when safe and adding power and abort the landing. This aborted landing could be an unsafe and critical procedure at times. This was all happening at the same time once he saw the Hurricane. The other option was to bore on in to the landing strip and perhaps run into the Hurricane which had a much slower landing and roll out speed than a P-38. Big John chose the first option and went back up and then sequenced himself back into the landing pattern. This time everything went the way it should. When Big John got out of the cockpit he was fuming and he could have spit bullets. He told me his first reaction was to turn the gun sight and gun switches on. He said he had to restrain himself from blowing the Hurricane out of the sky. He was really ticked off at the Hurricane pilot. Cutting in on someone on final approach was and has always been a no no.

The 71st planes returned to the Chataeu dun du Rhumel field one day from a mission rather late in the afternoon. I sweated out the planes that were landing but Big John did not return with the squadron. The squadron usually returned in flights and it was not common for stragglers to return by themselves unless something was wrong. I stood out by the runway anxiously awaiting his return. I was surprised to see pilots from all the squadrons sweating out Big John's return also. They must have had some inkling of what the problem was. We finally saw a P-38 in the evening dusk lined up for a straight in approach to the runway. It was Big John coming in to land on single engine. I don't know how he was able to pick out the field in the dusk of the evening. The field did not have runway lights as all flight operations were conducted during daylight hours. I didn't think there were many distinctive landmarks that could be recognized that late in the evening. He knew what he was doing and where he was without a doubt.

The landing was like a scene in a Hollywood movie with everyone standing around near the runway, happy and relieved with his return. He had shut the engine down to conserve fuel. Later he told me that he had become separated and got lost. In order to collect his bearings, he had turned north to the Mediterranean Sea and flew west off shore until he recognized a particular land mark. He turned south at that point and picked up a heading that would take him to the field. What impressed me was the reception Big John received at the runway when exiting the cockpit when we all knew he was okay. It was an indication of the respect and love the other pilots had for him. This was the only time I ever saw this occur.

The Army Air Corp had not established operational squadrons or advanced flying schools to train new pilots in combat tactics in the early days of WW ll. This was left to the operational squadrons, once the pilots arrived in the combat zone. Big John made it a part of his responsibilities to introduce the new pilots from the states to the combat tactics and the discipline of the squadron and what the best procedures were for the P-38 to enable the new pilot to do his job and stay alive. Some new pilots arrived with very few hours in a fighter plane. Those that were more fortunate to log some time in a P-38 in the states were few. Big John would assign a new pilot to fly his wing on a mission with instructions to stay in that formation even when bounced by the Luftwaffe.

The Luftwaffe had fine tuned their combat tactics earlier and the experiences of the Luftwaffe pilots and the tactics dated back to the Spanish Civil War in 1936. They had also been contesting air supremacy with the British and the Russians in the late thirties, In North Africa, the Luftwaffee outnumbered the 12th Air Force in the early days of the campaign. This was the kind of experiences that Big John and the established pilots were up against. Those new pilots that did not learn their lessons early were at a disadvantage when a melee started. The combat tactics against the Luftwaffe's planes were just being developed. When and when not to engage and what to do when engaged? What was the best way to use the P-38 against the best Luftwaffe fighters? The P-38 left the drawing board as an interceptor fighter and now had to adapt to new combat tactics. The 1st Fighter was designated as an Interceptor Group at one time. Such was the state of the Army Air Corp's experiences. It's fortunate the P-38 was versatile, had good range, was excellent in a dogfight, could take a lot of damage and was a good dive bomber.

The four plane flight was the squadron basic formation with a flight leader, his wingman, a third man called the element leader and the element leader's wingman was the number four in the flight. The strength of the squadron on the mission was the ability of the three squadron flights (sometimes four flights) to stay together as much as possible to fly as an integral unit, This was not always possible and the Luftwaffe was always looking and seeking to bounce the fighters when the formation became ragged or a straggler was in trouble. The Luftwaffe would usually pick the time and the place to bounce the squadron fighters from a higher altitude which gave the Luftwaffe a great advantage. A common reference to the Luftwaffe was the " Yo Yo Boys" They would come down in their attack and go back up and try again, The 71st would maintain their squadron discipline and refuse to engage the Luftwaffe. The squadrons mission was to protect the bombers, flying below, allowing the bombers to stay in their formation and continue on with the bomb mission, make a good run and make good hit on their target. This responsibility to protect the bombers was a mandate by General Spaatz and General Doolittle of the 12th Air Force, yet some other fighter groups failed to maintain the discipline and lost many pilots and also bomber crews to the Luftwaffe attacks.

When the squadron or an individual four plane flights were broken up by an attack, the basic formation for the flight became the leader and his wingman or if separated from the flight leader by the attack, the element leader and his wingman. The two plane formation was the least safe, yet it put a tremendous burden on the new pilot to stay with the leader throughout the evasive maneuvering taking place during the attack to offset the Luftwaffe's edge in speed and altitude When the wingman was unable to stay with his lead and became separated, he was at the mercy of the Luftwaffe just waiting for such an opportunity, unless other squadron pilots were able to observe his problem in the ongoing melee and divert to drive the Luftwaffe away to save his life. This salvation by another P-38 pilot of the squadron or the group seemed to present itself on nearly all the early missions when the Luftwaffe was very aggressive. It was a mission similar to the above, that Big John made the first score for the 71st over the Luftwaffe. On Dec. 4, 1942, Big John shot down a fighter in a melee that took place that day. Big John claimed five Luftwaffe fighters destroyed during his tour in North Africa but only three and one probable could be confirmed.

I don't know how many new pilots Big John broke in on mission discipline and tactics or how long he stayed with the break in period, but Big John was very proud of the fact that not one pilot was lost in combat while he was the Commanding Officer of the 71st. He would often comment to me on those pilots, in his judgment, that had outstanding attributes that was a plus for the squadron.

In mid February of 1943, General Rommel retreating form the Eastern Libyan Desert from the British, turned his German Panzer Tank Divisions westward to drive a breach in the US Army 1st Infantry Division and the 1st Armored Division lines in the vicinity of the Kasserine Pass. If successful, the Panzer Divisions would make a dash for the Constantine area/Chateau dun du Rhumel area and on north westerly toward Algiers (Eisenhower's Headquarters) and to the area of Bone on the coast, splitting Eisenhower's forces. The 1st Army Infantry and the 1st Armored Divisions were all that stood between the Germans and their objectives but the 1st Armored Division had never been in combat yet. The battle for the Kasserine Pass was their first combat action encounter and were annihilated by the German Army. The 1st Infantry Division had made the initial landings on November 8, 1942 near Oran. The division was parceled out to the British and other units and was not up to full strength on Feb. 21, 1942 at Kasserine. Rommel's Panzer Divisions had driven about twenty miles north and about twenty miles northwest of the Kasserine Pass on Feb. 22 on the road that led to the Constantine area. The 1st Fighter Group was ordered to help stem the German offensive drive until the US Forces could be reorganized into a new command structure.

Big John led the morning mission to strafe the German Panzer Division and the supporting German Infantry. This was a desperate order on the part of the US Command as the P-38 was used as a strategic rather than a tactical supporting airplane. The devastating fire power from the nose of the P-38 could prove to be a turning point for the US Forces. When Big John got back from the morning mission, he told me to be ready to take the radios out of the back of the plane so I could ride piggy-back style behind him and we would take off before the Germans were successful in their drive to the Chateau dun du Rhumel area. He went to another Group briefing in the afternoon, expecting to lead another mission back to the Kasserine Pass. He was familiar with the terrain, having just returned from the area just a few hours before on the morning mission. Big John told me later that a close friend, Capt. Rimke of the 94th Squadron, said during the briefing, "No, Big John, you have already been there once and I will lead the mission." Capt. Rimke was killed by enemy ground fire, while strafing the German Panzer Divisions, on that afternoon mission on 22 Feb., 1943.

The US Forces were now under the command of General Patton. The British Infantry and the American artillery were able to turn Rommel back. The US 9th Infantry Division drove 777 miles in four days across the desert to support the counter attack in the Kasserine Pass. General Rommel withdrew his forces on the 23rd. The German's never knew they had captured Patton's son-in-law, a first lieutenant in the 1st Armored Division, during the battle. Three months later, the German and Italian Forces surrendered and the North African Campaign was over on 13 May, 1943.

One evening, Big John invited about eight enlisted men and one ground officer to go to a dinner that was held at the residence of a French family, in the countryside a short distance from Chateau dun du Rhumel. It was quite a treat for us as we had been living on English rations since arriving in England in July of 1942. The food was excellent and an evening of entertainment followed. We were particularly impressed with the genuine courtesy and graciousness of these fine people towards us.

Big John would spend time with the different sections in the 71st when he was in command of the 71st. One of his favorite places was the flight line engineering section. These fellows were in most cases, the higher ranking nom commissioned officers in the squadron as they were old timers with ten to twenty years of service in the army. Another favorite place to hang out was in the mess kitchen tent with the cooks. One day the Mess Sgt. returned from a sojourn with a hog, A hole in the ground was dug, a spit was improvised and the hog was roasted near the mess tent for all the rank's dinner. This was quite a change from the English rations and was appreciated very much. I have often wondered if this was another of Big John's touch when he was in command.

It was a sad day for the 71st enlisted men when Big John and Jake Moutier took off in two piggy-backs early in June of 1943 after completing their required combat hours and combat missions and were rotated back to the states. We never knew if we would see Big John again. Big John was unmatched in the confidence and support he gave to the enlisted men and probably many flying officers as well.

The 71st never had another Commanding Officer like Big John Eiland.

Big John was asked to perform on a radio show in Fort Worth, TX sometime after he arrived in the states. Big John played his own character in the script on the show and Preston Foster the, movie star, played the role of T/Sgt. Duncan. Big John had notified my family in Michigan of the date and time. It was a local radio show and the distance between Texas and Michigan was too far to enable them to pick up the radio broadcast.

One time when I drove to Florida from Michigan for a winter vacation, I chose to go through Verbena, Alabama. This was Big John's home town and I wanted to initiate a search for his whereabouts. This was in the days before the freeways. We had a nice drive through Birmingham, Alabama on the way south on to Verbena. I called a Dr. Eiland in the Verbena phone book and he told me Big John was living in Staunton, Va. Quite a few years later, while on a business trip to Marylamd, I diverted to Staunton. I called Big John's house and was invited to come out to the house. I met Big John's wife but unfortunately Big John was out of town. I did turn Big John's address over to the First Fighter Association and told different ones at the Scottsdale reunion. Everyone was wondering where he was and what had happened to him. I was disappointed at the first reunion held at Langley Field after the Scottsdale reunion when he did not show up for the reunion. It turned out that no one had contacted him and he was not shown on the roster. Someone put in a call to Big John from Langley. I don't know what the results were. You can only imagine the electrical charge among the 71st enlisted men when we found out he was at the Reno, Nev. reunion. When we finally met, we hugged and both teared up. It was an extremely emotional moment. We had not seen each other since June of 1943. I presented Big John with a cotton shirt at the Colorado Springs reunion. The white shirt was embroidered with---Big John, 71st FS and a P-38 silhouette in a shallow dive. That was the last time we met.

I believed I have gone into a lot of detail in passing onto you my perceptions of Big John, his responsibilities and his activities, as I knew them, and of the services with the 71st Fighter Squadron. I don't know if you will receive any feed back or photos from other 71st personnel to help you form the image. I don't have any photos of Big John and the only one I had, was taken by the squadron photographer. I gave the photo to him after he told me of the fire. I will dig out some squadron information and send it under separate cover along with a booklet on the 12th Air Force.