Gen. Kenney’s report – Reorganization – July 1945

18 July 1945, Okinawa, 90mm AAA-gun emplacement

During the night of 1 July, I found out that the was on Okinawa was not quite over.  Around midnight a party of Japs blundered into a fight with the guards about 50 yards from my tent. I put my pistol on a chair beside the bed.  The shooting died down a little later and I went to sleep.  The next morning, as I was taking off for Manila, Col. ‘ Photo’ Hutchison told me that he had had another battle going on during the night near his HQ.

On July 10th it was announced from Washington that the B-29s in the Marianas would form the 20th Air Force, under Gen. Twining and that those operating from Okinawa would form the 8th Air Force, under Jimmy Doolittle.  The 8th & 20th would together be called the United States Strategic Air Force, with Gen. Spaatz in command.

American soldier, Okinawa

On the same day, Nimitz turned over control of the 7th A.F. to the Far East Air Forces and told the Marine Fighter Wing at Okinawa to operate in conjunction with our (Army) show there.

On the 12th, Lord Louis Mountbatten and a few members of his staff flew from India to Manila for a conference with MacArthur.  We briefed him on the coming Olympic Operation and his staff in turn gave us the details of the proposed British operation to recapture Singapore.

Mountbatten wanted some bombing assistance at that time, if we had any to spare.  MacArthur asked me what I could do.  I gave him the details about the Australians and our B-24s and Mountbatten was quite pleased.

Kyushu Island, July 1945 bombing

All through July we kept moving aircraft into Okinawa from both the 5th and 7th Air Forces.  Generals Whitehead and Tommy White set up their HQ on the island and began the final sweep of Japanese shipping from the Yellow Sea and the Straits of Tusishima, between Japan and Korea.

In conjunction with the B-29 from the Marianas, who were battering the big cities of Japan apart and burning them down, we concentrated our attacks on the island of Kyushu, smashing airdromes, burning up gasoline stocks and wrecking the railway centers, bridges and marshalling yards.

The attacks were being made with a ever-increasing weight, as airdromes were being finished on Okinawa, allowing us to move the aircraft forward from the Philippines and the Marianas.

By the end of July, on an average day, when weather permitted large operations, there would be over 1500 of my airplanes operating along the line from Japan to Formosa to Shanghai to Borneo and the Netherlands East Indies.  Of this number around 600 bombers, strafers and fighters would be attacking targets in Japan itself.

It was a far cry from the days back in 1942, when a raid of 50 or 60 planes was such big news that we boasted about it for days!

Click on images to enlarge.

#############################################################################################

Military Humor – 

Great Lakes Training 1945

From: David Hart at https://mywarjournals.com/

#############################################################################################

Farewell Salutes – 

Paul Connelly – Tulsa, OK; US Army Air Corps, WWII / US Navy, Korea

Brian Hawkins – Pasadena, TX; US Army, 143rd/36th Division, medic

Herbert Hill – Shreveport, LA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-24 nose gunner

Ellis Lindsey – SC; US Army, 511th/11th Airborne & 504th/82nd Airborne divisions

William Mercantonio – East Orange, NJ; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Korea, TSgt.

Earl Ray – Cadillac, MI; US Army, MP

Maureen Rodgers – London, ENG; British Navy WRENS, Hut 11 decoder, Bletchley Park

Roland Rioux – Vero Beach, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO / Korea, Cuban Missile Crisis

Nicholas Vollweiler – Pleasant Valley, NY; US Army, K-9 instructor, Japan Occupation

Sam Wagner – Tonville, CO; US Army, WWII, PTO, Bronze Star

#############################################################################################