Z SQUARE 7, A B-29 TRUE STORY

Ivan Fail's "When The Mustangs Came"

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The Z Square 7 Crew
Z Square 7 Crew Families
Z Square 7 Crew Cemeteries.
Missing Air Crew Report
Z Square 7 Crew Military Funeral
Memorial Lt Eugene M. Thomas Jr (Marion, Al)
Memorial Lt Francis X. Glacken (Cambridge, MA)
Memorial Lt Norman B. Bassett (Cornell University, Ithaca, NY)
Marcia Bassett McGrattan
Memorial Sgt George P. Demers (Lynn, MA)
Memorial Sgt George P. Demers (Lynn, MA)
Peter & Lillian Demers/Charlotte (Demers) Fiasconaro
Memorial Sgt Louis A. Dorio (Clarksville, VA)
POW-MIA-KIA Ceremony
Bill Mauldin With Willie And Joe
Father John McBride
S/Sgt Kenneth O. Eslick with Photo Album
Sgt Jesse S. Klein. 41-13180
Sgt James B. Rice, Radio Operator, C47, 42-108884
Frank Farr & Merseburg, Germany
Ivan Fail Introduction and "Long Before The Guns And Tanks."
Ivan Fail's "Tribute to the Queen"
NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL
Frank Farr Poetry "November 2, 1944", "Old Men And The War", " Merseburg"
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Pages Introduction
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Crew Index
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 1
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 2
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 3
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 4
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 5
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 6
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 7
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 8
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 9
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 10
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 11
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 12
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 13
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 14
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 15
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 16
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 17
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 18
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 19
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 20
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 21
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 22
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 23
Zachary Taylor Nat'l Cemetery Memorial Page 24
Ivan Fail's "The Tuskegee Airmen"
Memorial Page #1
Memorial Page #2
Memorial Page #3
Memorial Page #4
Memorial Page #5
Memorial Page #6
The Navajo Code Talkers & Native American Medals Of Honor
Ivan Fail's "D Day, The Normandy Invasion"
Ivan Fail's "When The Mustangs Came"
Ivan Fail's "Against All Odds - Mission Complete"
Ford Tolbert by Sallyann
Ford Tolbert Pictures
A Tribute to Lt Raymond "Hap" Halloran
Lt Raymond "Hap" Halloran
Colonel Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, USMC, The Black Sheep Squadron
Lt Halloran Eulogy for Colonel Boyington
Omori POW Camp
Ivan Fail's "A Salute To Lt. Holguin"/ "Shoo Shoo Baby"
General Lemay's biography including a B-29 nose art photo album
March 9 and 10, 1945 Over Tokyo
Lt "Hap" Halloran on March 10, 1945
General Earl Johnson
General Earl Johnson Biography
313th Bomb Wing Mining Missions
Lt Robert Copeland, copilot, Z Square 8
Pyote Bomber Base With A Photo Album
"Hap" Halloran induction Combat Airman Hall of Fame
Blackie Blackburn with a photo album
Hap's Memorable Flight On FIFI
C. Douglas Caffey, A WW2 Veteran, Book Of Poetry
C. Douglas Caffey Collection Of Poetry
C. Douglas Caffey Poetry
C. Douglas Caffey Poem "Graveyard at the Bottom of the Sea"
C. Douglas Caffey Poem "I Saw Liberty Crying"
C. Douglas Caffey Poem "Old Memories"
C. Douglas Caffey Poem "I Saw An Old Veteran"
C. Douglas Caffey Poem "Flying Backwards"
C. Douglas Caffey Poem "All Is Quiet On Iwo Jima"
C. Douglas Caffey Poem "Bones In The Sand"
C. Douglas Caffey on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
C. Douglas Caffey With More on PTSD
C. Douglas Caffey Memorial Day Flying The Flag
C. Douglas Caffey Saying Goodbye To America
The Pacific Theater
Battle of Saipan, Mariana Islands
Saipan Medals of Honor
Battle of Tinian, Mariana Islands
Tinian Medals of Honor
Battle of Guam, Mariana Islands
Guam Medals of Honor
Battle of Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima Medals of Honor
Cpl Ira Hayes, USMC
Battle of Okinawa
Okinawa Medals of Honor
Ivan Fail's "The Saga Of The Superfortress"
Ivan Fail's "The Silent Sentries"
Last Page

   When The Mustangs Came

 

In the darkest days of WWII, the Luftwaffe roamed at will,

 

Across the skies of Fortress Europe, to terrorize and kill.

 

And far below them thousands died, as tools of war were hurled.

 

By those who swore allegiance to a thug who'd rule the world.

 

Death was not selective, the innocent and the helpless died,

 

The young who'd never lived, and moms with toddlers at their sides.

 

In the air, on the ground, aboard the ships at sea.

 

Those who served the tyrant sought oppression of the free.

 

But factories where their guns and tanks, their planes and ships were made,

 

Would feel the awesome, righteous wrath of Allied bombing raids.

 

But as the bombers struggled through, without escorts at their sides,

 

Some raids would be successful, but some were suicide.

 

With targets well beyond the range of Thunderbolts and"38's",

 

The lumbering bombers were easy prey, as the Luftwaffe lay in wait.

 

But that all changed when the Mustangs came, a drop tank on each wing.

 

The fuel and range to carry out the vengeance they would bring.

 

As American sons in "51's" prowled cold and hostile skies ,

 

The tables turned, the Luftwaffe learned their role was "compromised".

 

With Mustangs flying overhead, mile after bloody mile,

 

Roles reversed, no longer first, the Luftwaffe was "on trial"

 

Bomber crews in crippled ships were no longer left alone.

 

As the "Guardian Angel Fifty Ones" throttled back and "nursed them home".

 

And as they faced the Luftwaffe guns and sheltered bomber crews,

 

With valor worthy of their cause, the Mustangs paid their dues.

 

American sons in P-51's, the gallant and the brave,

 

Earned respect --, and gratitude ---, of the bomber crews they saved!

 

Mission boards" would often read --, "both the plane and pilot lost".

 

The haunting question ever present "will I return this day"?

 

"Or will my resting place tonight be a lonely field of clay"?

 

If I must die to save to save a bomber and her crew of ten,

 

Then I WILL die to save my "brothers" so they can "fight again".

 

"One life for ten" will WIN this war, will my loved ones understand,

 

That I died so they could live in a free and peaceful land?

 

Day after day the Mustangs faced the Luftwaffe and the flak,

 

Like the bombers some returned but some were NEVER "coming back".

 

Some returned without a scratch, some would crash and burn.

 

Others simply disappeared, their fate their loved ones never learned.

 

On combat missions in a realm that few can understand,

 

With no comrades their to comfort them or to hold their dying hand.

 

At thirty thousand feet and many miles from home,

 

It was the fighter pilot's fate to fight and die alone.

 

Half a world away from Europe the forces of the Rising Sun,

 

Would come to know the "taste of justice" delivered by the Mustangs guns.

 

B-29's en-route to bomb the war lords of Japan,

 

Could do their job and make it home with the Mustangs close at hand.

 

Then mushroom clouds above Japan and WWII was done.

 

Ignited by the "Lords of War", "extinguished" by our gallant sons.

 

Then 1950 Korean skies were war torn and aflame 

 

And like before the "Knights of War", the gallant Mustangs came.

 

Each time the free world was at risk in wars around the world,

 

Mustangs and their pilots fought to keep our flag unfurled.

 

And in the hearts of grateful nations there is a surge of pride,

 

As they recall the gallant ways the Fighter Pilots fought and died!

 

Ivan L. Fail (c) 1986: Revised 2001

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