Paul D. 'Don' McCloud I enlisted in the Army Air Corps the week following graduation from Ogden High School, May 28, 1942. That was also my 18th birthday. However, I was not sworn in until the 12th of August - due to paperwork, and then I was not called to duty until the following February 15th. First, I was sent to Santa Ana Army Air Base in California for pre-flight (where it was determined that I would qualify for fighter training) then to Santa Maria Army Air Base for Primary, Chico Army Air Base for Basic and then to Luke Army Air Base in Phoenix, Arizona for advanced training, at which time I graduated on the 5 December 1943, with the class 43K. I spent ten months in a great training program, and was cited as one of the top ten aerial gunners in my class. After two weeks leave, I reported to McChord Field, Tacoma, Washington, to await assignment. I learned Morse code - and how to relax. I was then assigned to the 327th Fighter Squadron, a replacement-training unit at Marysville, California, in February, where I learned to fly P39 Air-cobras! I also learned how to fly P40s at Luke Air Base. My class moved on after two months, where I was selected to stay on to be a flight leader in this expanding unit. I then moved to Chico (again) which had been changed to a fighter base, where I trained on P63 King Cobras for a time, and then to the beloved P38 Lightnings. I trained incoming pilots in fighter tactics until the following March when the base was disbanded, and I prepared to leave for India and China. I remember the experience in Chico lasted for almost a year, and was a delight. I had a marvelous airplane, country clublike facilities and great friends both military and in town. I continue to communicate with these friends today, and I know of no one who had a better military experience! I then went across the country on a train to Miami. After indoctrination I flew as a passenger on a C54 to Karachi, India, via Bermuda, Azores, Casablanca, and several locations in North Africa, then on to Cairo, and Abadan. I waited three months to go into China, I and then across India to Chabua - and over the hump to Kunming. Our 449th Fighter Squadron was a short distance from there at Chengkun. (Marco Polo traveled to that area.) We were there for only a short time until the outfit was moved by train 150 miles south to Mengtze in Yunnan Province. The airstrip was gravel and we lived in tents. This was June 1945 - so the war was soon to end. I flew four missions down into what was then French Indo-China (now North Vietnam). I was promoted to flight leader after my second mission and received a brand new P38L flown in from India in time to fly the next two missions. We were strafing and skip bombing trains, riverboats, train and airfield facilities. We faced only minimal defensive fire, with some of it quite accurate. The Japanese had pulled nearly all of their aircraft back to Japan - preparing for the talked about invasion to come. Then - the big bombs dropped and the war ended. I had the privilege of leading a flight of four P38s to escort an American Colonel in a C47 to Hanoi to accept the formal area surrender there. We had a Japanese 'Betty' bomber fly into Mengtze to acknowledge the cease-fire. My friend from Texas (we'd been together since basic training) and I were transferred with other pilots who had joined the 449th at the same time to a Combat Cargo squadron up north at Peyishi near Chungking flying as co-pilots in C47s. We had so few 'points' and the "old timers" (some had been with the squadron two years) went to Calcutta to catch a boat for home. We were not too happy about this turn of events, but our new assignment took us from Chungking to Shanghai several times (moving office furniture) for the Fourteenth Air Force to new headquarters there. With that completed, we boarded a class ship (3,000 capacity) to take us to San Francisco by way of the Straits of Malucca, the South China Sea to Manila and Wake Island. One of my favorite moments was sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge that beautiful spring evening. I attained the rank of Captain, and I'm very proud of my service record, but mostly, I'm grateful for the experience (I was still 21) and for my American citizenship. What a blessing to have lived in this (what I call a golden period) in this, the greatest of countries, and here in Utah! May God continue to bless America! These people are important for me to remember: Delores, Kristi, Brooke, Kerry and Courtney - my family. John Forrest Green- My great friend from Arlington, Texas. Jack A. Veltman - My primary flight instructor. 44 Louis Pfeiler Fellow flight instructor who gave me a great compliment. IGIT - the name of my airplane. Acronym for 'In God I Trust' Even then - I was a believer. The Ed Fosen family in Chico. I still love each one of them. The U. S. Army Air Corps - Where I grew up somewhat and found that I could do what I thought was impossible. God - Himself. For the opportunity to live in this place at this time, and who determined who my good parents (Paul and Leah) would be, and for helping me remember 'One life - that soon is past. Only what is done with love will last.' And FRIENDS: I'm rich because of them - and the above. Clyde R. Moss_ Clyde R. Moss served in the Air Force 7th Bomber Group. He flew B-17s in Pearl Harbor and also saw action in India and Burma. Victor Nolan Murphy Victor Murphy, an Army Air Corps corporal, received the Victory Medal. He was assigned to 'Plan 62' worldwide aircraft control. He taught technical subjects at Weber, first at the downtown location and later at the current site of the WSU campus. Clare Pace Naegle Clare was drafted into the Army Air Corps. He entered active service at Fort Douglas, Utah, on January 9, 1943. Basic training was at Tanforan, a converted racetrack near San Francisco (this track later became a Japanese internment camp). In the spring and summer of 1943, he received training at Will Rogers Field in Oklahoma, Harding Field in Louisiana, and marksmanship training in Ringgold, Georgia. Later that year, he was assigned to his first unit; the 469th Service Squadron in Dyersburg, Tennessee. The 469th was an intermediate-level aircraft maintenance squadron. It supported a fighter group, consisting of several fighter squadrons. From Dyersburg, his outfit went to Camp Kilmer in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in preparation for overseas deployment. In October of 1943, they departed in a troop ship bound for England. Troop ships were among the favorite targets for German U-boats. The shipping lanes between the United States and Great Britain were 3,000 miles long. At one point during the war, Hitler had 250 U-boats patrolling the Atlantic. Early on, the German subs were sinking eight ships, per U-boat, per month. Despite the threat at sea, the 469th safely pulled into port in Glasgow, Scotland, in November of 1943. From there, they went by train to Suffolk County, England. Dad spent the next year and a half at Leiston Air Station in England. World War II was well underway by the time the 469th arrived in England. Germany had invaded Poland, Denmark, Norway, Yugoslavia, Greece, Tunisia, Egypt, and France. Pearl Harbor was attacked three years prior, and the United States was unfortunately committed to a two-front war. The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) attempted to destroy English defenses with concentration bombing campaigns into the heart of England. British Royal Air Forces countered by conducting bombing raids into Germany. England bombed at night in order to take advantage of the grounded German fighters. Unfortunately, the same darkness that protected British bombers from the fighters, made precision bombing impossible. They had to blanket their target with explosives. This indiscriminate, saturation bombing destroyed the military targets but took a heavy toll on the civilian populace in the process. American heavy bombers (B-17s) had been operating out of England since late 1942. U.S. strategy was to conduct daylight, high-altitude, and precision bombing on key military targets. The British thought we were crazy. Our argument was that we had a superior bomber in the B-17, and the Norden bombsite was a real asset to precision bombing. German response was aggressive. Their Triple A (anti-aircraft artillery) combined with fighters controlling 45