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235 Chapter 17 Guam On August 21, 1944, 183 men, the ground echelon of the 42nd Bombardment Squadron, climbed aboard freshly painted green troop trucks and drove across Oahu from Mokuleia to the docks at Honolulu.1 Men breathed the strong smell of the trucks’ new enamel coats and the scent evoked a powerful sense of renewed purpose. The aroma of fresh government paint mixed with rich truck exhaust smelled like readiness for combat. By 8:00 that morning they were aboard the transport ship Cape Perpetua, right on schedule, and most of the squadron’s equipment was loaded aboard another ship, the Joseph Priestley.2 The squadron’s ground support was ready to ship out and set up another forward base while the aircrews and planes were left behind, waiting at Mokuleia for the new base to be ready. No one in the squadron knew where that next base would be, though bets were on Saipan, Tinian, or Guam. Eight months had passed since the 42nd was deployed to a combat zone. Their mission on Oahu made important contributions to the war effort in a strategic sense, reorganizing and rebuilding while training replacement crews for the other three squadrons of the group, but it wasn’t the same as being in action, doing what a bomber outfit is trained and equipped to do. Relieving the 42nd of their training duties back 236 Finish Forty and Home in June had increased their anticipation of a move, and when orders to ship out hadn’t come quickly, the anticipation became pent-up energy, stored like a compressed steel spring. The 42nd’s men had already taken every step required of them to be ready to return to combat. During July they inventoried clothing and equipment so that worn or missing items could be replaced. They endured dental exams and updated immunizations. They were issued new gas masks just in case the Japanese decided to use mustard gas. The men practiced shooting with carbines, Thompson sub-machine guns and .45 caliber pistols. The squadron’s trucks and other motor vehicles were washed, sanded, and repainted, then loaded with squadron equipment. And since the trucks were loaded for shipment, 7th Bomber Command Headquarters loaned their single-engine Cessna aircraft to the 42nd to serve as a courier vehicle between the base and Hickam Field.3 Scearce and the other radio operators spent three days working the squadron’s ground station, improving their understanding of the ground operator’s role in communications with aircraft and practicing their code speed and touch.4 Navigators became familiar with a promising new radio navigation system called LORAN, Long Range Aid to Navigation, which would help them determine their aircraft’s position relative to radio transmitters on the ground.5 The squadron’s pilots watched training films called “Thunderstorms” and “Aerology,” a film about weather forecasting based on atmospheric observations. The whole squadron sat through presentations on security and censorship and attended lectures about sanitation and insect-borne diseases, emphasizing the importance of controlling flies. Newer crews watched water landing films and the flight surgeon gave talks on emergency first aid. Aircrew gunners made certain their airplane’s weapons were in perfect working order.6 Guam 237 Crews practiced high and low altitude bombing with radar, a new technique they expected to use increasingly in the coming months.7 The squadron needed a training aid to help radar operators recognize islands as they appeared on the radar scope, so the photo section developed a camera attachment that could be placed over the scope for taking pictures of the radar image. Photographing the scope and labeling the ghostly images of islands was an idea developed in meetings during the early months of 1944, meetings and discussions between Capt. Charlie Bunn, Sergeant Scearce, and civilian technicians. The camera attachment produced by the photo section was cumbersome and there was no way to see the radar image once the camera and its boxy attachment were placed over the scope.8 Scearce learned to time placing the camera attachment over the scope just as the radar beam was sweeping across to light up the islands below. A blurry image in the center was sea return, a reflection of the radar beam from the ocean’s surface directly below. Scearce took dozens of radar photos of islands, at different altitudes and from various angles of approach, and these photos were used to train crews in radar navigation and island recognition. The photos depicted...

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