November 20, 1943 - United States Marines, supported by the United States Navy launch Operation Galvanic - The Battle of Tarawa.  The attacking Marines suffer heavy casualties from Japanese artillery and machinegun fire as they land on the small atoll in the Gilbert Islands.  The battle lasted three days and marked the second time the United States had been on the offensive in the Pacific Campaign (the first being Guadalcanal).

The island was garrisoned by 2,619 Japanese troops supported by 2,217 Japanese and Korean laborers.  At the battles end, 17 Japenese soldiers and 127 Korean laborers were all that survived of the 4800+ defenders.  The U.S. suffered 1,687 killed and 2,296 wounded.

November 20, 1945 - Trials against twenty four Nazi war criminals begin at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg (Nürnberg), Germany

November 20, 1962 - The Cuban Missile Crisis comes to a peaceful end.  United States President John F. Kennedy discontinues the naval blockade and quarantine of Cuba following the Soviet Union agreeing to remove strategic missiles from the Caribbean island nation.  The crisis marked possibly the closest the world had come to the realization of nuclear war as the two superpowers postured and threatened in the deadly game of brinkmanship.

Most Japanese Americans who fought in WWII were Nisei, second-generation Japanese Americans born in the U.S. Nevertheless, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese American men were categorized as 4C (enemy alien) and therefore non-draftable.

As a regimental combat team, the 442nd RCT was a self-sufficient fighting formation of three infantry battalions (originally 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions, 442d Infantry, and later the 100th Infantry Battalion in place of the 1st), the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, the 232nd Engineering Company, an anti-tank company, cannon company, service company, medical detachment, headquarters companies, and the 206th Army Band.

Flightline Fabrications recently interviewed retired 442nd Regimental Combat Team US Army Veteran Arthur Iwasaki.  Mr. Iwasaki was generous enough to sit down for our Living History Project and tell us about his life during WWII, fighting in Europe,  and one of the soldiers who helped to rescue the “Lost Battalion” in France during WWII.

The 442nd famously rescued the “Lost Battalion” at Biffontaine. Pursuant to army tradition of never leaving soldiers behind, over a five-day period, from October 26 to October 30, 1944, the 442nd suffered the loss of nearly half of its roster—over 800 casualties, including 121 dead — while rescuing 211 members of the 36th Infantry Division’s 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry, which had been surrounded by German forces in the Vosges mountains since October 24.

Over the next three weeks Flightline Fabrications will be posting segments of Mr Iwasaki’s interview for all generations to hear.  Arthur’s story is truly one of honor, sacrifice, and heroism;  you will feel for Arthur and the men who fought along side him.

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Acquired in 2007, this C-47 Gooney Bird Pilots Door was originally NOS Military Inventory.  During the restoration of this Pilots Door a dicision was made to paint the door in the colors of the C-47 transports that participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944. 

Fly By: C-47 Gooney Bird
 

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*Virtual museum artifacts are not for sale.* 

September 7, 1940 - On the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing, 300 German bombers raid London.  The bombing attack which will continue until May 1941 is called the “Blitz“, short for the german word “blitzkrieg” (lightning war).

On this first night of the Blitz, 337 tons of explosives are dropped mainly on he London docks though several errant bombs fell on the poorer neighborhoods in London’s East End.  As a whole the Blitz was designed to soften the British resolve and prepair the way for Operation Sealion - the invasion of the British Isles by German forces.  The plan failed, England’s resolve held firm and the invasion never happened.

September 7, 1997 - The first flight of the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor takes place.

“Gray Eagles” is the story of one WWII P-51 Mustang Ace, his grandchildren and the bond that is formed when history comes alive set againt the backdrop of one of the most admired WWII fighter planes in history and the pilot who flew one of these P-51 Mustang fighters.

Jim Books was a young, soft-spoken farm boy from Virginia when America entered WWII.  Like so many other Americans, Jim enlisted in the Army Air Corps and eventually became a P-51 Mustang pilot and Ace in the European Theater of Operations.

While Jim Brooks’ fellow aviator Chuck Yeager’s story became the stuff of legend, Brooks’ story never made the history books and sadly, as in ever-increasing number of WWII-era pilots pass, his story is fading from our history as well.

Following the War, Brooks moved to Los Angeles and became a test pilot for North American Aviation. He met, then married Martha Tilton, a popular Big Band singer of that era. Together they raised a family, worked hard, and like so many thousands of other veterans, established what would become the model for the generation of Americans that followed.  - GRAY EAGLES.com 

Gray Eagles has put together a tribute video about Jim and his family, this video is worth the time to watch.

Flightline Fabrications recently interviewed retired USAAF B-17 Bombardier Morris “Morrie” Yellen. Morrie was generous enough to sit down for our Living History Project™ and tell us about his life on a B-17 Flying Fortress as a 15th Air Force, 2nd Bomb Group, 20th Squadron Bombardier in Italy during WWII.

Morrie Flew 51 Missions, was escorted by the Tuskegee Airmen, had his entire squadron shot down by German Flak after his 2nd or 3rd mission, and that is just to start.

Morrie’s account of his WWII Service is truly a great story; you almost feel like you are there with him flying in a B-17 Flying Fortress over Germany. The photos you will see in this video were graciously provided by Morrie and taken during his WWII service.

Part Three of Three:  

If you would like to leave your comments about this interview,
please click the “Comments” located at the bottom of this post.

The mission of the Flightline Fabrications Living Histroy Project™ is to preserve the heritage of our heros; to make certain their stories are recorded and shared and to honor the sacrifice and courage these heroes have shown throughout history.

Please join this important mission; be part of our journey by adding your story so that generations to come may better understand history - through your experiences, your eyes, and in your words.

For addtional information about the Flightline Fabrications Living History Project™ visit us at: www.FFLivingHistory.com or contact us at: LHP@FlightlineFabrications.com

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Patriotic Americans were treated like the enemy after the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor just because their parents were from Japan. While doubts of their loyalty swept the nation, these young “Nisei,” or second generation Japanese Americans, fought to prove they were 100% American by entering the U.S. Army. By the thousands they came, even from internment camps where they and their families were locked up just because of their Japanese ancestry.

Their story became one of the shining examples of patriotic sacrifice in our nation’s history. The 100th / 442nd Regimental Combat Team is one of the most awarded and acclaimed units in American history. The Military Intelligence Service (M.I.S.) saved countless lives using their knowledge of Japanese language and culture to help the Allies end World War II quickly in the Pacific. But the story is just the beginning. Their proud American legacy continues, but it may be lost as the veterans, who are now in their 80’s and 90’s, pass away. We must find ways to keep their story alive.

Help us campaign to keep a national permanent record of the Nisei WWII soldiers with a U.S. postage stamp. The Postal Service must be convinced that the Nisei WWII soldier’s story is a subject that “has stood the test of time, is consistent with public opinion and has broad national interest.”

Reprinted from : http://www.niseistamp.org/

Flightline Fabrications feels that this US Postal stamp is important in recognizing one of the highest decorated units of WWII, the 100/442nd Regimental Combat Team, and we’d like to encourage you to add your signature, too.  It’s free and takes less than a minute of your time. 

Flightline Fabrications recently interviewed retired USAAF B-17 Bombardier Morris “Morrie” Yellen. Morrie was generous enough to sit down for our Living History Project™ and tell us about his life on a B-17 Flying Fortress as a 15th Air Force, 2nd Bomb Group, 20th Squadron Bombardier in Italy during WWII.

Morrie Flew 51 Missions, was escorted by the Tuskegee Airmen, had his entire squadron shot down by German Flak after his 2nd or 3rd mission, and that is just to start.

Morrie’s account of his WWII Service is truly a great story; you almost feel like you are there with him flying in a B-17 Flying Fortress over Germany. The photos you will see in this video were graciously provided by Morrie and taken during his WWII service.

Part Two of Three: 

If you would like to leave your comments about this interview,
please click the “Comments” located at the bottom of this post.

The mission of the Flightline Fabrications Living Histroy Project™ is to preserve the heritage of our heros; to make certain their stories are recorded and shared and to honor the sacrifice and courage these heroes have shown throughout history.

Please join this important mission; be part of our journey by adding your story so that generations to come may better understand history - through your experiences, your eyes, and in your words.

For addtional information about the Flightline Fabrications Living History Project™ visit us at: www.FFLivingHistory.com or contact us at: LHP@FlightlineFabrications.com

Flightline Fabrications

August 15, 1945- With the receipt of Japan’s surrender declaration, America celebrates the end of World War II.  At a little past noon local time (Japan), Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration to the Japanese people.  The same message was conveyed to President Truman via the Swiss diplomatic mission in Washington DC.

Despondent over what was felt to be a humiliating defeat, many Japanese soldiers committed suicide, over 100 American prisoners of war held by the Japanese were executed and many British and Australian prisoners in Borneo were similarly illegally executed.

While the formal surrender would be signed on September 2, 1945 aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, and President Truman would declare that day as the official VJ Day,  August 15 marks the end of large scale hostilities between the last of the axis powers and the allied nations.

The war over, allied troops at home and abroad began to celebrate the end of a long and bloody war.  The war had been more costly in terms of material and human lives than any other conflict before or since.  While an exact number will never be known, estimates range between 39,963,700 - 72,771,500 dead on all sides, military and civilian.  A horribly high price to pay for a mad man’s hateful ambition, failures of diplomacy, economic greed, paranoia and racism.  Let us all pray it never happens again on such a horrific scale. 

On June 18, 1940, in a speech made before the British House of Common, Prime Minister Winston Churchill stated “The Battle of France is over.  I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin...”.  On this day, August 13, 1940 that suspicion became a reality as German Luftwaffe bombers and fighters begin a systematic attack of British Royal Air Force airbases and radar installations.

The proposed German invasion of the British home islands, code-named ”Operation Sealion” scheduled for mid-September 1940, required total air superiority to have any chance of success.  This necessitated the destruction of the RAF as well as the radar early warning stations.

Videos courtesy of YouTube, UKMatt89 and Bomberguy