This turned out to be my last flight as a standby wingman, and I couldn't have been happier. Maybe the high command considered me a jinx. Two of the men for whom I had been standby wing-man had been killed shortly after I had flown with them. Even I was beginning to feel a bit of a jinx.

 

The next step closer to Japan was to be an attack on the Island of Okinawa. Planes from Task Group 38 were to strike the airfield at Naha, as well as other military targets and shipping in the area. The strike was set for 22 January 1945.

 

The night before, each squadron met in its Ready Room to be briefed on the operation. A Senior Grade Lieutenant with an identity crisis briefed our squadron. He couldn't make up his mind whether he was Robert Taylor or Tyrone Power. With his fancy boots, his heavy ID bracelet dangling around his wrist, his tie with the perfect knot, and the way he held his cigarette and exhaled the smoke, he was enough to tun anyone's stomach. Ugh!

 

He briefed us by reading from a paper. He discussed the air power in the area, the heavy anti-aircraft installations around Naha, Okinawa and the anti-American feeling of the natives. Anyone shot down on the island would certainly be caught, and possibly tortured before being killed. As a final bit of joy, he announced there were 14 different kinds of poisonous snakes on the island. That made my night.

 

As he began to read the last bit of information from the sheet, I bent down to tie my shoelace. At that moment General Quarters sounded, indicating imminent attack should follow. I straightened up, and where Robert Taylor had been standing was only the sheet of paper floating to the floor like a dried leaf. Robert had made it out the door in one big jump. The rest of us followed, sanely, to the Wardroom, which is below the armor deck, and is the designated area for flight personnel during night attack. As I walked into the Wardroom, the Flight Surgeon was bandaging Robert's head. He had been in such a hurry to reach safety that he had collided with the rim around a water-tight door and opened a gash in his forehead.

 

The Night Fighters encountered no bogies, so no attack materialized.