thedrifter
10-03-04, 06:55 AM
Issue Date: September 27, 2004
The Lore of the Corps
Scroll dropped over Japan inked youths’ vow to fight
By Robert F. Dorr
Special to the Times
On May 27, 1944, a dark blue Marine Corps bomber swooped over the Japanese airfield at Rabaul, New Britain, in the South Pacific. For weeks, PBJ-1 Mitchells had been bombing the Japanese.
This plane was carrying bombs, too, but it was also carrying a scroll.
As recalled in a June 19 article in The Daily Oklahoman, 35,000 Oklahoma City schoolchildren had each donated a dime toward the cost of a Marine Corps transport plane. Each child also signed a 65-foot scroll conveying a warning to the Japanese that even the schoolchildren would fight, if necessary, to win World War II.
Staff Sgt. Bill Woolman, now 81, was a radio/radar operator and gunner aboard the PBJ-1. Woolman was chosen for the mission because he grew up in Watonga, Okla.
“They went through the squadron looking for men from Oklahoma,” said Woolman, who retired as an Army captain. “There were just two of us.”
The PBJ-1 was the Marine Corps’ version of the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.
The squadron was Marine Bombing Squadron 423, nicknamed the “Seahorse Marines” and one of seven PBJ-1 outfits that saw combat in the Pacific war. According to “Leatherneck Bombers” by Alan C. Carey, the squadron lost 10 aircraft and 37 men during the war.
“We had other guys from Oklahoma, but by [the time of the scroll drop] they were dead,” Woolman said.
Although the squadron was operating from Green Island in the Solomons, Woolman’s PBJ-1 crew was ordered to Bougainville to pick up the scroll.
In mounting the mission against Rabaul, Woolman’s crew was asked to go in low so the event could be photographed from an accompanying torpedo bomber.
“We said we couldn’t do that,” Woolman said.
The PBJ-1 attacked at 7,000 feet with a combat photographer on board.
The scroll was written in English and included photos of Adolf Hitler, Hideki Tojo and Benito Mussolini. By the time of the mission, Italy had been defeated, “so Mussolini’s face was [crossed] out,” Woolman said.
The scroll-dropping mission had the support of Maj. Gen. Ralph J. Mitchell, commander of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. When Woolman’s crew dropped the scroll (before returning to make another run with six 100-pound bombs), the signatures of Mitchell and two Army generals had been added to those of the Oklahoma schoolchildren.
The crew weighed the scroll down with a burned-out machine-gun barrel and dropped it squarely into the midst of the Japanese. In postwar years, no records have been found that indicate the Japanese received and understood the scroll.
Woolman flew 57 missions and in postwar years became an Army infantry officer. He served with the 45th Infantry Division, an Oklahoma National Guard unit, during the Korean War.
Robert F. Dorr, an Air Force veteran, lives in Oakton, Va. He is the author of numerous books on Air Force topics, including “Air Force One.” His e-mail address is robert.f.dorr@cox.net.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-MARINEPAPER-343327.php
Ellie
The Lore of the Corps
Scroll dropped over Japan inked youths’ vow to fight
By Robert F. Dorr
Special to the Times
On May 27, 1944, a dark blue Marine Corps bomber swooped over the Japanese airfield at Rabaul, New Britain, in the South Pacific. For weeks, PBJ-1 Mitchells had been bombing the Japanese.
This plane was carrying bombs, too, but it was also carrying a scroll.
As recalled in a June 19 article in The Daily Oklahoman, 35,000 Oklahoma City schoolchildren had each donated a dime toward the cost of a Marine Corps transport plane. Each child also signed a 65-foot scroll conveying a warning to the Japanese that even the schoolchildren would fight, if necessary, to win World War II.
Staff Sgt. Bill Woolman, now 81, was a radio/radar operator and gunner aboard the PBJ-1. Woolman was chosen for the mission because he grew up in Watonga, Okla.
“They went through the squadron looking for men from Oklahoma,” said Woolman, who retired as an Army captain. “There were just two of us.”
The PBJ-1 was the Marine Corps’ version of the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.
The squadron was Marine Bombing Squadron 423, nicknamed the “Seahorse Marines” and one of seven PBJ-1 outfits that saw combat in the Pacific war. According to “Leatherneck Bombers” by Alan C. Carey, the squadron lost 10 aircraft and 37 men during the war.
“We had other guys from Oklahoma, but by [the time of the scroll drop] they were dead,” Woolman said.
Although the squadron was operating from Green Island in the Solomons, Woolman’s PBJ-1 crew was ordered to Bougainville to pick up the scroll.
In mounting the mission against Rabaul, Woolman’s crew was asked to go in low so the event could be photographed from an accompanying torpedo bomber.
“We said we couldn’t do that,” Woolman said.
The PBJ-1 attacked at 7,000 feet with a combat photographer on board.
The scroll was written in English and included photos of Adolf Hitler, Hideki Tojo and Benito Mussolini. By the time of the mission, Italy had been defeated, “so Mussolini’s face was [crossed] out,” Woolman said.
The scroll-dropping mission had the support of Maj. Gen. Ralph J. Mitchell, commander of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. When Woolman’s crew dropped the scroll (before returning to make another run with six 100-pound bombs), the signatures of Mitchell and two Army generals had been added to those of the Oklahoma schoolchildren.
The crew weighed the scroll down with a burned-out machine-gun barrel and dropped it squarely into the midst of the Japanese. In postwar years, no records have been found that indicate the Japanese received and understood the scroll.
Woolman flew 57 missions and in postwar years became an Army infantry officer. He served with the 45th Infantry Division, an Oklahoma National Guard unit, during the Korean War.
Robert F. Dorr, an Air Force veteran, lives in Oakton, Va. He is the author of numerous books on Air Force topics, including “Air Force One.” His e-mail address is robert.f.dorr@cox.net.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-MARINEPAPER-343327.php
Ellie