Where did you hide to get away from the bombing?
We didn't stay in the barracks. We were bivouacked away from the base about one-half mile in "the boonies." Our field kitchen was there too.

Were there human casualties from the bombing and strafing?
Clark Field had the most injuries and people killed because the Japanese caught them at lunchtime with their pants down. Just how many, I don't know, but it was quite a few. At Nichols, we had more time to disperse. The Japanese wanted to hit the bases and knock out aircraft. I flew one bombing mission.

The 27th Bombardment Squadron (L) from the United States had come over without airplanes. They came to Nichols Field and borrowed three of our old obsolete B-18's to bomb Lingayen. They didn't have enough qualified crewmembers and asked me to fly with them. Our commander said to me, "You go with them."

What was the date of this bombing mission?
It was December 21, 1941.

Where is Lingayen?
Lingayen is north and west of Manila. The Japanese had invaded the Philippines up there with virtually no opposition. Their transports were still anchored in the harbor.

We wanted to try and sink some of them. It was tough because we didn't have a bombsight in the plane. But, we dropped the bombs at about 18,000 feet anyway. I don't know if we hit anything, but I saw water splashing.

On the way home, instead of going straight back to Nichols Field, we made a big circle. We weren't far from Lingayen and north of Baguio. At dusk, Zeros jumped us! They hit the plane and set an engine on fire. We had to bail out!

You were a long ways from Nichols Field. Were you scared when you had to bail out?
Yes because I had never jumped before! It was dark and I lit in a tree. I stayed there since I couldn't see anything. I wasn't about to jump down. Who knows what was below me or how far away the ground was? In peacetime we had lost a couple of aircraft that had gone down through the jungle canopy. The canopy could be a hundred feet from the ground.

What did you think about all night?
Well, just how fortunate I was to find a crotch in the tree so I could be comfortable.

When daylight came, how far up in the tree were you?
I was about fifty feet up in the tree. I was lucky because the chute had caught in the tree. The constabulary, or Philippine troops, found me the next morning. The rest of the crew was scattered close to Baguio. The Filipino scouts found everybody. Later that day, we all got together. The scouts found a car and sent us back to Manila.

How many crewmembers were in the plane?
There were six of us.

Were you ever together again?
No.

Jane, did you know he was shot down and spent the night in a tree?
Half of this I don't know. (Jane)
We stayed at Nichols Field until it was time to leave. We evacuated Manila on December 24, 1941 and boarded some inter-island steamers. They carried us from Manila to Bataan.

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