Brothers in Arms - Page 2
On one run, McRorie’s squadron made it to the target, but due to cloud cover, the group could not identify the target, which resulted in the squadron turning back. On the way back to their field, they looked for a “target of opportunity” and the lead plan descended to 10,000 feet.
“This was ill-advised,” McRorie said, adding that at that altitude, “our heavy bombers were easy targets for flak batteries.” Nonetheless, the lead plan dropped its bomb load and as soon as they started falling, flak began hitting the formation, knocking that lead plane out of the sky. After the lead ship was hit, McRorie’s pilot—1st Lieutenant Bill Pelto—banked their ship hard to the left in a dive to avoid another direct flak hit. This proved to be a saving grace: several bursts of flak riddled their B-24 with dozens of holes, but fortunately the crew escaped uninjured.
On another mission during a heavy flak barrage, McRorie recalled a chunk hitting the cockpit window, zipping into the space between him and Pelto, and exiting the plane near the upper gun turret. “No one was injured, but that was a very close call,” he said.
The combat action Furse encountered took place in the Pacific Theatre as a Naval Hellcat pilot. His first mission with his flying fighter group was an attack on the homeland of Japan. In addition, his group also flew support missions for the Okinawa invasion and Iwo Jima, and Furse won several air medals. But his most important mission was one that earned him his first of two Distinguished Flying Cross medals.
On May 14, 1945, Ensign Furse’s Group 12 battled the Japanese Naval fleet from the Philippines to Tokyo. At one point, an American dive bomber took fire and crashed into the ocean in the middle of the battle with Japanese ships around. The pilot and his gunner clung to a small life raft, floating among the enemy ships less than a mile from shore. Furse and his “skipper,” Lt. Commander Frederick H. Michaelis, made two strafing runs at an enemy tanker that headed toward the downed pilot and gunner. The craft began to smoke, turned back and before it made it to port, burst into flames.
To request an issue of Kettering Perspective, contact us at
Kettering Perspective, Office of PR & Communications, 1700 West Third Avenue, Room 4-934 CC, Flint MI 48504.
810 762-9538 voice; 810 762-7435 fax; gerwin@kettering.edu