delaware wing - feb 2009

8/9/2019 Delaware Wing - Feb 2009

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Issue #2 February 1, 2009

HONORED BY THEPRESIDENT

On January 19th, 2009 I was given theprivilege of representing Hanby MiddleSchool by laying a wreath at the Tomb

of the Unknown Soldier in ArlingtonNational Cemetery. In October of 2008, Iwrote an essay explaining why I wantedto go to the inauguration of the 44thPresident of the United States. My essaywas ranked in the top four out of all theessays written, allowing me to lay awreath. It was an amazing honor tostand at the steps of the tomb and laythe wreath in front of it and to knowthat I was paying tribute to those who

fought and died for our country.

By Neallie C Payne

Neallie is a Cadet basic in the New Castle CadetSquadron

****

BATTERY 223 ----OURHISTORY

It looks like something from the set of ascience fiction movie or a buildingwashed up from the mythical city ofAtlantis. But whatever it looks like, it isright there on the beach of Cape MayNew Jersey and it is part of our heritageand history. Battery 223 isapproximately 200 feet wide and 100feet deep. The walls inside and out aremade of 6 foot thick reinforced concrete.

Besidesbeing big

what is itand why isit part of ourhistory?

Shortly afterPearlHarbor themilitarybelievedthat the

attack in thePacific wasonly partone of a likeattack on theEast Coast.

DELAWARE WING

In This Issue

PRESIDENTIALHONOR page 1

OUR HISTORYpage 1 & 2

STORIES OF AWWII HERO page 4

DRILL TEAMWINS PRIZE page 5 IF NOT WHY NOT

Our Challenge Coinpage 5

WING CALENDAR


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With only a few Military basesprotecting the East Coast, the DefenseDepartment came up with the idea ofbuilding these enormous structures assub stations to the main Military fort.

That is fine, but what is it and why isit part of our history?

In front of this structure are twoconcrete pads about 60 feet in diameterand 10 to 15 feet thick. On those padsstood a carousel On top of each carouselstood a 6 canon that could fire a 2200lb shell 25 miles into the ocean. That issort of like throwing a VW Beetle from

Wilmington to Philadelphia.

That is clever. Put a canon on thebeach that can fire a projectile 25 milesinto the ocean. But if you stand on thebeach you can only see to the horizonand that is about 15 miles off. So by thetime we see the enemy, they are already

firing at us with their 6 canons. Afterall, it is a lot easier to hit a continentthan it is to hit a ship moving around inthe ocean.

You still dont get it, do you? The ArmyCorp. of Engineers built other structures

to help out. But the real targetingreliability could only come fromairborne reconnaissance. That is wherewe came in. Pilots were being trainedand planes were being built as fast as

possible. But they were all going to thefront lines in Europe and the Far-east. Itwas the Civil Air Patrol that did asubstantial amount of that targeting forplaces like Battery 223. 'It was becauseof those damned little red and yellowplanes!'[1] that the Army and CoastGuard were able to spot the enemy U-Boats far enough out at sea to beeffective in protecting American ships

leaving the harbors of New Jersey andDelaware.

The Federal Government hasdetermined that it is not going topreserve Battery 223. By the way itwas built, Battery 223 will be aroundfor quit some time. At the same time itwill never be in better condition than itis now. The bank vault doors thatprotected the openings have already

rusted into the sea. All that remains ofthem is the 300lbs hinges. It really is

Battery 223 at Cape May, NJ


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worth the trip to see Battery 223. Witha little imagination you can hear ourplanes overhead and see the canonsswinging into position marked by thethose little red and yellow planes.

In the words of a country and westernsong, now thats something you can beproud of.

****

[1]p. 45, Flying Minute Men, Revised edition, 1988.

BEFORE IT IS GONE

Sgt. Raymond (Ray) Russo (retired) a B-29Engine Specialist, was the guest speaker ofour North Chesapeake Squadron.Amazingly, Sgt. Russo stood in front of theCadets and spoke for over two hours.What was incredible was the fact that he is

over 90 years old and not a single Cadetseemed to mind listening to him, just theopposite. They were all enthralled.

He spoke of his life in the Army AirCorp. As part of a B-29 flight crew, theywere his engines that made the plane fly.

What is now public information is thathe flew a secret mission after thebombing of Nagasaki. After EmperorHirohito agreed to surrender, theImperial Officers under his commandplanned to assassinate him. Theserenegade warriors The Tigers vowed tocontinue the war with a secret attack.Reminiscent of the events of December 7,1941, while the peace treaty was beingsigned the Imperial Officers would beattacking U.S. troops.

The plan was uncovered only days beforethe coup was to be carried out.

Sergeant Raymond Russo (retired) WWII hero with the Squadron of North

Chesapeake Squadron


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In that short time, the Army Air Corp. had tofind usable B-29s and enough fuel and

ammunition to mount The Last Mission.The Mission was simple enough hide theEmperor of Japan away until the formalsigning of the Peace treaty. Prevent the very

well equipped and armed Tigers fromattaching the American forces, and do it allin the dark of night. The only problems withthe plan were, as Sgt. Russo tells it, theplanes were pretty battle weary andammunition was scarce. He also mentionedthere wasnt a lot of fuel. With a smile onhis face, he tells of his B-29 that held 8600gallons of fuel. On this trip he could onlyget 7700 gallons, 900 gallons less than themost missions needed. Then he was told his

target. It was Akita Japan. That was a roundtrip of 3800 miles. Sgt. Russo freelyadmitted he was only barber before heentered the Army He was trained as anEngine Specialist. Even with that education,He knew the B-29 has a maximum range of3,500+/- mile. I did some quick math andeven with full tanks He was shy about 300miles give or take a little. Oh! Hell, I wasyoung, he says, We can do it Ithink. At speeds and altitudes lower than I

thought we could fly a combat mission, weflew 17 hours to Akita. I knew that if theFlack didnt get us, the after shock of ourown bombs would. Oh! Hell, I was young.We hit our target an oil refinery and theafter shock from the bombs at the lowaltitude nearly tore the plane apart.

Okay! We were successful. But now wasthe trip home. Each of us got our turn to askthe flight engineer, You sure we gotenough fuel to get back? Each time he

would say, Sure I got yah this far didnt I

We could see the base and as we approachedthe field we lost one of the engines. Dontworry bout it were fine. But nobody askedI guess we were too scarred. Oh! Hell, I wasyoung.

We finally landed. My engines made it. Aswe turned off the runway the enginesbackfired and all four stopped. We were outof fuel.

A jeep had to tow us off the taxiway therewere 140 planes behind me and they wereall just about out of gas. At our debriefing,the C.O. offered us all a shot of whiskey thentold us we ended the war. Oh! Hell, I wasyoung.

*****

Sgt Russo and all the Members of his 315thWing received a Distinguished Unit Citation forflying the longest mission in history anddestroying the Akita target. A note from the Unithistory microfilm reads: "This target was ofextreme importance to the enemy as it processedcrude oil from the fields around Akita, the largestnatural source in Japan proper. The damageassessment on all structures averaged 86%."

STAFF AND CONTRIBUTORS

Pietro A. Barbieri Capt. CAP (PAO)

[email protected]

610 280 7078

Your stories make this letterpossible. With your help the Wingcan get out to the public the goodwork we do. So please send them inleads for articles.

Special help from

Neallie C. Payne is a Cadet basic inthe New Castle Cadet Squadron


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The Chesapeake Cadet Squadron is again tobe congratulated. The Drill and Parade team

captured second Prize in the Cecil CountyChristmas Parade. The team dressed in theirBDUs proudly carried their squadron colorsalong the parade route. There is no doubt theCadets were cold but not a single Cadetshowed even the slightest discomfort. Theonly thing you can see on their faces is thepride of representing this nation's very bestand Northern Chesapeake Cadet Squadron.They performed their drills near flawlesslyand for that they were awarded Second

Place in the Youth Marching Category.Along with Second Place came a small cashprize that we hope they will use it to havesome fun. From the Wing, well done. Fromall of us we are proud of you. We hope nextyear you will be the first place winner. Wewill be rooting for you.

****

THE CHALLENGE COIN

During World War I, American volunteersfrom all parts of the country filled the newly

formed flying squadrons. Some werewealthy young men who left colleges suchas Yale and Harvard in order to enlist in themilitary.

In one squadron, a wealthy lieutenant

ordered solid bronze medallions embossedwith the squadron emblem for everymember of his squadron. He carried hismedallion in a small leather sack about hisneck.

Shortly after acquiring the medallions, thelieutenant's aircraft was severely damagedby ground fire during a mission. He wasforced to land behind enemy lines where hewas captured by a German patrol.

In order to discourage his escape, theGermans took all of his personalidentification except for the small leatherpouch around his neck.

He was eventually taken to a small Frenchtown near the front lines where he managedto escape during a night bombardment.During the attack, he donned civilian clothesand fled without personal identification.

THIS IS YOUR CHALLENGE....

North Chesapeake Squadron at theChristmas Parade


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After escaping, the brave pilot succeeded inavoiding German patrols until he reachedthe front lines. With great difficulty, hecrossed no-man's land and stumbled into aFrench outpost.

Unfortunately, the French in this sector hadbeen plagued by German saboteurs, whosometimes masqueraded as civilians andwore civilian clothes. Not recognizing theyoung pilot's American accent, the Frenchthought him to be a saboteur and madeready to execute him.

Just in time, the American remembered hisleather pouch containing the bronzemedallion. He showed the medallion to his

would-be executioners. When the Frenchcaptors recognized the squadron insignia onthe medallion, they gave the pilot enoughtime to confirm his identity. Instead ofshooting him, they gave him a bottle ofwine.Eventually the pilot made it back to hissquadron, where it became a tradition toensure all members carried their medallionor coin at all times as a symbol of pride.

In or out of uniform, on or off duty we carryour coin. If you begin to talk about yourunit/squadron/wing a fellow servicemember has ask to see the coin to test yourloyalty. If the challenged can not producehis coin it is usually a moment of great

embarrassment, but atonement can be hadby purchasing a drink of choice for themember who had challenged him.

If the challenged member produced his coin,then the challenging member was requiredto pay for the drink.This proud tradition continues today. Insome cases a coin can be earnedmeritoriously for a job well done. In anyevent it is the reminder that we as Civil Air

Patrolmen have a code that we live by "Wewill not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerateamong us anyone who does."

Regardless of how they are acquired, thehistory of the challenge coin remains a partof Army Air Corp, Civil Air Patrol and AirForce tradition, and I will continue todisplay mine proudly for years to come. Bythe way my drink is Coke Zero.

delaware wing - feb 2009

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