aircraft over the country, but the word had not reached the planes of the Seventy-Eighth until they landed. The code word UTAH had been broadcast to U.S. The emperor had announced Japan’s surrender three hours earlier, while Jerry and his flight were still over Japan. When he landed at Iwo Jima, meanwhile, he learned something else: the war was over. Most likely, he had been brought down by antiaircraft bullets fired into the clouds. Flying at an altitude of about 7,000 feet, Jerry focused his eyes on his navigation instruments, as the interior of the white, puffy clouds blocking his view of everything else.īut when the Mustangs emerged on the other side of the clouds, a devastating reality soon surfaced. With Phil still tight on his wing, Jerry led the four Mustangs into the cloud bank. A few moments later, as they approached the coast where they would rendezvous with the navigational B-29s, they neared a cloud cover in front of them, often the case when approaching the atmospheric temperature inversions near the coast. The three other Mustangs in Jerry’s squadron returned with him. With the battle of Tokyo complete, Jerry set his course back out to the ocean and banked to the south. Phil looked back and returned the gesture. Jerry looked over at Phil, who was still on his wing, and give him a thumbs up. But when one of the pilots radioed that his tank had reached the ninety-gallon mark-the amount a Mustang needed for the return flight-it was time to pull up and begin plotting the course back to Iwo Jima. Phil stayed tight on Jerry’s wing, just as instructed.Īfter strafing the last airfield, Jerry checked his fuel gauge and saw he was still in good shape. Tracer bullets flew up from the Japanese guns as the Severity-Eighth made multiple passes at each target. Within minutes, they swooped down over airfields and attacked despite heavy ground fire. As of yet, there had been no radio signal with the word “UTAH,” signaling the end of the war.Īs the Americans approached the Japanese capital, they began to identify targets. On Jerry’s order, al the planes in his squadron dropped their external fuel tanks over the ocean, then started their familiar aerial trek over the great, snow-capped peak of Mount Fuji. Bu while the revolt ended, the war did not, and so, with the shoreline of the enemy territory coming into view and Phil Schlamberg, his dear friend and fellow pilot, on his wing, Jerry knew it was time to go back to work. A group of senior Japanese officers talked the insurgents off the ledge, convincing them that there was nowhere to go. There was glory in death, but only shame in surrender Japan, for its part, had never been invaded or lost a war in its history.įortunately for the rest of the world, the coup did not succeed. For these officers, and for so many of the Japanese people, surrender was not an option. The officers burned the prime minister’s office and surrounded the Imperial Palace, hoping to kidnap the emperor, all in an effort to prevent Japan’s leadership from thinking about surrendering. The previous night, while another 300 American B-29s strafed Japan again, a group of rogue Japanese officers had started a coup against Prime Minister Suzuki and Emperor Hirohito. In general, hard, passionate divisions of opinion existed among the Japanese military: some of the older officers wanted to surrender to prevent the destruction of Japan, while others wanted to fight on to the death and kill as many Americans as possible. The “Big Six”-the six military officers running Japan-had been split by a vote of 3-3 on when and how to end the war with honor. They’d all thought the war was over, but now, here he was again, heading to strike a stubbornly resistant enemy.īut down below, in the nation they were about to attack, a philosophical battle was raging on whether to surrender or fight on. Jerry wondered how many more missions like this he would have to fly. The P-51s’ mission that day started out well.Ĭruising above the Pacific under the morning sun, the Americans had approached the Japanese coastline without incident.
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