sYbomber raids
Enjoys ”WeH-Eqrned" Leave!
By ERIC W. RODGERS, Editor
The Scotland Neck Commonwealth
Graham T. Johnson, Scotland Neck native, pilot of 51
raids over enemy territory, who rose from the rank of air
corps cadet to that of captain, enjoys the quiet of home and
the prosaic affairs of a small town._
tsacK among tne torn wuu wuum
he was raised, most of whom call
him by his first name, modest
Graham Johnson is playing down
the heroic role which he has en
acted for almost eight months de
spite the fact that on his chest
he wears the visible evidence of a
nation’s appreciation—two service
ribbons, an air medal and two oak
clusters of the nine he has been
awarded. The service ribbons were
awarded for piloting a Flying For
tress from America to Africa un
der constant danger of enemy at
tack and for his part in the Afri
can and Cicilian campaigns. The
Air Medal was awarded for his
first five successful bombing mis
sions over enemy territory, and
each of the nine oak leaves was
awarded for five additional suc
cessful flights on bombing epedi
tions. And the Flying Fortress he
left behind him when he was re
turned to the United States for a
rest period proudly carries the in
signia which testifies to bringing
down two enemy attacking planes
while engaged in bombing mis
sions. The plane is named “The
Battleaxe” and the boys who have
carried it through 51 expeditions
without losing a man, and with
only three wounded, refer to it as
“Ye Olde Battleaxe.”
Capt. Johnson’s one regret is
that he was not allowed to parti
cipate in the first bombing of
Rome. As a member of General
Jimmy Doolittle’s 12th Air Force
he was among those who might
have been selected. But he comple
ted his 50th expedition a few days
before the flight over Rome, and
under the regulations he had earn
ed a relief period and was sched
uled to be returned home for a
rest. But the day before the Rome
bombing his squadron was sched
uled for bombing mission over Sic
ily, and the flight commander be
came ill. Captain Johnson was se
lected to lead this his 51st expe- ;
dition, and he did it very sue-1:
eessfully, but the next day’s flight i:
over Rome went to others in the ] ]
12th Air Force who had not earn- j i
ed their rest period at home. This 1 ]
is the rule of the Air Corps and <
Captain Johnson did not expect 4
to be made an exception to the i
rule—but he still hoped against i
hope. i
Captain Johnson left Scotland i
Neck in 1940 to take training as i
an air corps cadet at Fort Worth, t
an instructr at Camp Barksdale,
Miss, for 14 months. He was com
missioned a first lieutenant in the
Air Corps in June 1942, and re
ceived his commission as a captain
about 60 days ago, shortly before
leaving his desert base in North
Africa. In December, 1942, as pi
lot of a Flying Fortress he flew
across the Atlantic safely, part ol
the time exposed to fire, and
landed his Fortress safely at an
unnamed desert air base in North
Africa.
Then he went on active duty im
mediately as a part of General
Doolittle’s 12th Air Force. His
plane took part in the Tunisian
campaign and after Africa had
been conquered, went on to take
part in the Sardinian, Sicilian and
Italian campaigns. At least one
third of the raids in which he en
gaged, he says were over the It
alian mainland. During the Afri
can campaign they shot down the
first enemy plane and later over
Sicily they shot down the second.
In their 51 missions, Captain John
son was selected to lead the
squadron in twenty five, a squad
•on being several planes to the
nission to be undertaken.
Graham Johnson doesn’t mind
laying that he was plain “scared”
nany a time, especially at first
!t wasn’t anything easy to engage
slanes in . active combat way up
n the skies, and they engaged
ilanes in combat on virtually
very raid. The closest to being
hot down was when he was on a
aid over North Africa three Ger
nan planes nose-dived at his for
nation in what looked like suicide
or them—and also death for A
nericans. By skilful maneuvering
hey avoided the dashing Germans,
' mighty close. sa\d Captain John
son. On another occasion a metal
seat he had fashioned for himself
as additional protection was mis
sing from his plane, and that day
; two big chunks of “ack ack” came
through the bottom of the Flying
Fortress, between his legs as he
piloted the plane and lodged in
the top of the plane above him.
He brought those two pieces of
metal home with him. When he
got back to his base the first
thing he did, he says, was to fas
hion another metal seat for the
next raid.
Most of the opposition planes
they met, said Captain Johnson,
were Germans, and they were good
fighters. The young officer wasn’t
any too optimistic about the war
being short. He doesn’t feel that
the Germans are going to surren
der in a hurry, and he expects
the war to be hard-fought for
many months to come. "They will
hold on longer than most folks
think,” he said, when asked his
opinion about Germany "caving in”
within the next few weeks or
months.
Illustrating the deception prac
tised b” Germany is this incident
which occu’—'ed on the transport
which brought him- beck to re
united States. The-e were a lar^-u
number of Cerma- prisoners on
the vessel, and the first ma*c
happened to be a Norwegian whe
spoke German fluently. With the
Americans returning home as au
dience he constantly engaged the
Germans in conversation, and the
prisoner^ were amazed to learn
that .the vessel would land in New
York City. Why, they said -on
Americans must be master engin
eers because you could hardly re
'’iild New York that quickly.
Questioned on tht point they sajrf.
their higher-ranking officers haa
‘old them, and the German radio
Nad broadcast, that the United
States had been severely bombed
and both New York an'd Boston
’’ad been destroyed almost beyoi^#
rnoair. They were hard to con?
vince, even when the Statue of
Liberty came into view in New
York harbor, so great was their
Nvth in their German leaders.
I^o'scfay Corning
j On Monday, August 30th, the
j Weldon High School began ses
! sion for their 1943-44 school year
in the recently completed gymna
sium. Excercises were conduced
and three new teachers were ack
nowledged. They we -e: Miss Dei
ma S, Finch of Farmville and Miss
Louis< Ward of Edenton, in the
High School faculty list, and Miss
Clara Lee Hales of Pikesville Cn1
the elemetntary department. , Id
Other teachers in this school !
will be Mrs. W. W. Wallace, Eva A <'i
Irene Peele, Elizabeth Johnson, J ■
Margaret H. Joyner, Sally Ander- ^
son, Ido Mae Cheatham, Frantfc j I
Smith, Gladys B. Neal, Elizabeth
Wyehe, Evelyn Griffin, Ida H.
Vick, Olivia Bridges, Fay R. Tay- ,
lor, and Elizabeth Harris.
Pfc. Chester Simms of Canl*
Rucker, Ala., spent last week here
with Mr. and Mrs. Luther Simms.
Mrs. J. Markham and daughter
Sybil Jean, have returned to Ports
mouth.
Misses Eileen Barnette ai»d
Helen Starke attended a formal
U. S. O. dance Friday at Camp
Butner.
—
jtplimvMuiv/xmsuMX'
r :
~At&r/n/u?y... . Mary comes from
the Ozarks . . . Square Comers, Missouri to be
exact. From three years of teaching and correcting
school papers, she is now checking plane parts.
Three months and two days after Pearl Harbor
Mary was in school again — But this time to learn
the skill of war. Today Mary is an important person
in Los Angeles. Her okey is necessary before giant
Liberators can go to war
Mary is one of over 2,500,000 women who have 1
given up the soft life of yester-year so that the .child I ^
they will some day hold in their arms can proudly
say ... "I am an American." K
it's people like Mary, millions of them, who are
winning this war. And it's Trailways' job to help S
them by seeing that they get where they're needed l|
when they're needed. Over a nationwide network
of America's highways, the thousands of buses of
the 43 member companies of the Trailways System Sj
are rolling - trom coast to coast — carrying people ™
where manpower is needed most
i
" Somewhere your skill or ability — whether great
or small — is needed in the Battle of Production. Mt
So go to your local U. S. Employment Service O
Office today. They'll tell you just what you can
do to help Uncle Sam win this war. W
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