Z SQUARE 7, A B-29 TRUE STORY

Omori POW Camp

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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
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Ivan Fail Introduction and "Long Before The Guns And Tanks."
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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
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Ivan Fail's "The Tuskegee Airmen"
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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

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Hap speaking to the Foreign Correspondents April 2008

ABOUT HAP SPEAKING! by Bill Copeland

This is one of the latest photos of Hap Halloran. He was on another of his frequent tours of Japan, April 15, 2008. He was honored guest and speaker  to a large group of business executives and press personnel.

I've heard Hap speak and he is inspiring and thought provoking. On this occasion, as always, he received a standing ovation. Hap has visited Japan and the Far East  many times. Originally to exorcise the demons that plagued his dreams but eventually to reunite with old friends that he was in deadly conflict with so many years ago.

As a B-29 "Special Prisoner", the Japanese did not abide by any humane conventions in their regard. The collective horrors are chronicled elsewhere but to the individual B-29 POW it was unmitigated humiliation, torture and death. Few of the B-29ers that bailed out or crashed on the Empire survived and if they did they were > scarred for life.  The trips and communion with former enemies have alleviated the horrible  memories but he has stated, in a mantra heard often here, "I will never forget".

The Japanese get both sides of Hap. The gracious, smiling American and the living reminder that they should never forget the cruelty of their  ancestors that was so prevalent during those turbulent years.

Keep traveling , Hap. Enjoy life.

Bill
Flower Mound

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Hap and Paul Tibbets - Thank you, Rick Feldmann!

OMORI POW CAMP

The recent postings (Sallyann Wagoner's B-29 Superfortress)  re "Honey Buckets" took my memories back to POW days in Tokyo.  After days in the solitary cages at Kempei Tai and then at Tokyo (Ueno) Zoo I was relocated to Omori prison camp.  At Omori there were 32 B 29ers assembled from various prior areas of confinement.  Great to be out of solitary and to be able to be amongst fellow B 29ers and talk and see the sky.
 
After a while we were assigned the job of "cleaning up" the city of Omori adjacent our camp (kind description of our holding facility).  Raids by B 29s had demolished/burned out much of the city.  Our function was to develop a garden area in Omori  contiguous the railroad tracks on the Tokyo-Yokohama rail sector.  We had no tools and very little strength/ability but did manage to dig/scrape trenches to plant our garden.
 
We needed fertilizer.  Several teams were formed to accomplish that mission.  Major Bob Goldsworthy (of Z 1) and I were a team.  With a 10 or 12 foot bamboo pole  and a wooden bucket suspended thereon we set out each day to gather human refuse to fertilize our garden area.  Sanitary toilet facilities were non existent.  We improvised a ladle and scooped out the human refuse from homes in the now destroyed neighborhood.  Long tapeworms prevailed  in this crude operation.  Then we loaded the refuse into our "honey buckets" and suspended on the pole between our shoulders we transported to our garden area; poured into the trenches to serve as fertilizer.  Needless to say; we were never allowed to eat any of crops that resulted.   Extreme hunger caused some of our group to violate the rule and severe immediate beatings by guards ensued if  our guys were caught.
 
Cucumbers and large white radishes (Diakons) were our most prolific crops. The rate of growth assisted by the earlier described fertilizer was amazing.  In the vegetable section of an occasional store these days I will see and purchase one of the large  Diakons. I only take a bit or two.  It's not about fulfilling hunger - it's about defying former rules that prevailed in the days of starvation long ago.
 
August 15, 1945 was the final day we 32 B 29 guys worked in the Omori garden area. I hope that some of the Japanese folks living in our former garden area enjoyed the crops left behind.  Those folks were starving also.
 
I will never forget those days of "Honey Buckets". 
 
Enjoy Life
Hap Halloran
 
 
 

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