Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    P.O.W. Mayday Over China
    P.O.W. Mayday Over China
    P.O.W. Mayday Over China
    Ebook76 pages1 hour

    P.O.W. Mayday Over China

    By Andrew Priddy

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The courageous story of Jim Young, a B-25 Bomber Crew Member and WWII Prisoner Of War. His Diary of accounts, unedited and kept intact.

    Please view my other ebook- flushing fish

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAndrew Priddy
    Release dateOct 3, 2011
    ISBN9781465730138
    P.O.W. Mayday Over China
    Author

    Andrew Priddy

    life has been an interesting journey, i dicided to share it with others. I currently live in Seattle, have two wonderful daughters and the best of friends. I'm truly blessed!

    Related to P.O.W. Mayday Over China

    Related ebooks

    Military Biographies For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Who’s Afraid Of The Dark?

      Feb 7, 2023

      Who’s Afraid Of The Dark?
      12 min read

    • Article

      Who’s Afraid Of The Dark?

      Feb 7, 2023

      Who’s Afraid Of The Dark?
      12 min read

    • Article

      A Visit to the USS Philippine Sea

      Jan 31, 2023

      A Visit to the USS Philippine Sea
      3 min read

    • Article

      A Visit to the USS Philippine Sea

      Jan 31, 2023

      A Visit to the USS Philippine Sea
      3 min read

    • Article

      Payback

      Jun 13, 2023

      Payback
      11 min read

    • Article

      Killer Corsair

      Oct 17, 2023

      Killer Corsair
      11 min read

    • Article

      BLOOD SWEAT & GEARS

      Sep 12, 2022

      BLOOD SWEAT & GEARS
      10 min read

    • Article

      No Typical Day

      Apr 2, 2019

      No Typical Day
      11 min read

    • Article

      Banshee Wail!

      Oct 17, 2023

      Banshee Wail!
      11 min read

    • Article

      Long Way To Victory

      Dec 19, 2023

      Long Way To Victory
      9 min read

    • Article

      Worry Aboard Ole Worrybird

      Sep 29, 2020

      Worry Aboard Ole Worrybird
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Craftsman

      May 16, 2019

      The Craftsman
      8 min read

    • Article

      Night Jump Into Normandy

      Jan 10, 2023

      Night Jump Into Normandy
      7 min read

    • Article

      Sole Survivors

      Jun 16, 2020

      Sole Survivors
      8 min read

    • Article

      In His Element

      Mar 16, 2021

      In His Element
      4 min read

    • Article

      Lightning ACE!

      Nov 17, 2020

      Lightning ACE!
      11 min read

    • Article

      Fast Fingers cause Disasters

      Apr 14, 2022

      Fast Fingers cause Disasters
      10 min read

    • Article

      MUSTANGS over Normandy

      Apr 11, 2023

      MUSTANGS over Normandy
      13 min read

    • Article

      Ruthless Jug Jockey

      Oct 11, 2022

      Ruthless Jug Jockey
      10 min read

    • Article

      THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY

      Feb 1, 2024

      THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY
      14 min read

    • Article

      Navy Typhoon Hunter

      Jan 25, 2022

      Navy Typhoon Hunter
      10 min read

    • Article

      Backstreet Brawler

      Oct 17, 2023

      Backstreet Brawler
      9 min read

    • Article

      Ruff Stuff

      Oct 11, 2022

      Ruff Stuff
      9 min read

    • Article

      Knockout Punch!

      Dec 19, 2023

      Knockout Punch!
      9 min read

    • Article

      Tom Landry’s Touchdown

      Dec 21, 2021

      Tom Landry’s Touchdown
      9 min read

    • Article

      Tom Landry’s Touchdown

      Dec 21, 2021

      Tom Landry’s Touchdown
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Longest Day

      Aug 14, 2021

      The Longest Day
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for P.O.W. Mayday Over China

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      P.O.W. Mayday Over China - Andrew Priddy

      P.O.W.

      Mayday Over China

      The Dairy of Jim Young

      *

      Collected by Andrew Priddy

      Copyright 2011 by Andrew Priddy

      Smashwords edition

      This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Contents

      Uncle Jimmy

      The Mission

      Set Up

      Crime Trail Testimony

      Uncle Jimmy

      Jim Young, my great Uncle, was an extraordinary man. As you will learn by the trials you are about to read, he endured more than most possibly could have, and hopefully ever will. He was a man that never spoke an unkind or judgmental word, climbed Mt. Rainer after his release, ran several miles a day, truly embraced life.

      Jim Young passed away from a heart attack during the 6 mile Tacoma- Narrows race, and is truly missed.

      His writing was left unchanged with the exception of Japs being replaced by Japanese throughout his story.

      The Mission

      October 24, 1942- This is the mission we have all assembled here for, said Colonel Morgan. We will take off at 0400. All combat crews will be on the flight line by 0330, and that doesn’t mean 0331.

      That was about all he told us. There were about 45 of us assembled in the dirty, book-strewn operations briefing room. We were rather excited, thinking that the big push was finally ready to roll. We, who heard the Colonel, represented 75 or so men who made up the crews of 16 B-25 bombers. The rest of the men were on alert crew. Two men for each bomber had to be at, or near their planes, which were dispersed over this large base at Kunming, China. Whenever an enemy air raid threatened, it was the duty of the alert crew to get each bomber off the field and to circle around in the vicinity of the Tibetan border until they were called back after the attack was over.

      We went out to our planes and loaded each with six 500-pound bombs. As the belly gunner, I had the additional dubious honor of tossing ten, small, 10-pound incendiary bombs through the hole in the plane’s belly where my guns swung. This was a tricky operation, consisting of removing a cotter pin from the fuse. The fuse had a small propeller on it, which prevented the fuse from detonating the bomb until it spun off its fuse shaft. The cotter pin locked the prop to the shaft.

      We worked till well past dark on some generator trouble on an engine and squeezing every last drop of gas in the tanks that they would hold.

      We who attended the briefing slowly meandered the ½ mile back to the hostel where we ate and slept. The high tree-lined lane along which we strolled took on a new significance for many of us as we felt we were enjoying a rather uncertain existence anyway. This was the first formal full-dress briefing I had ever attended and it all sounded very ominous and important to me. I had little knowledge of the massive flights soon to be employed over Europe in which 10,000 or more crewmen participated with their 1,000 bombers. No this was the largest number (16) of planes I had ever flown with on a bombing mission and I believe we were all quite proud, if somewhat apprehensive. My 34 previous missions had made me rather philosophical about any other missions to come—better not think too much about it; better to give some thought to the condition of the guns, the radios, gear storage, and what we were going to have for supper—fried eggs or scrambled eggs?

      Twenty-fifth October 1942 came on Sunday. The weather was clear, cool and beautiful as we walked in the darkness to the operations office where we converged, talked in low tones for a few minutes, and straggled to our planes—carrying odds and ends of flight clothing. As daylight was breaking, the pilots began to start up their engines and test them. Ours started fine, and, as we were waiting for the lead planes to start off, we got the signal from the leader to shut everything off. We did—wondering what the hell was the matter. A car was dispatched with a messenger to tell each plane commander to immediately check his plane for sabotage. It seemed that the lead plane had discovered a loosened oil connection just before taking to the runway for take-off. It lost 27 gallons of oil before it was discovered. We climbed to the ground and checked our own motors and everything seemed all right.

      After about an hour delay we were signaled to start up again. This time we got off the ground and settled down for a flight to we didn’t know where. In our briefing the only thing that wasn’t told us was our target. Not even the pilots knew where we were going to bomb. There was much speculation—even that we were going to cross the China Sea to Japan proper. Our group leader apparently feared a leak in security, so he didn’t even entrust the secret of our target to anyone. After about three hours of flight we came in to the airstrip at Kweilin, China. The approach to the small field was rather tricky our pilots all negotiated it well enough. We noticed small smoking piles of debris along the runway. We soon learned that the Japanese had strafed and bombed the field only an hour before we arrived. Coulees were carrying burning dummy planes away and there were soft spots in the runway, which were newly filled bomb craters. It was lucky for us that we were delayed at Kunming, China, for we most certainly would have been caught on the ground at Kweilin when the Japanese paid their visit, and probably would have destroyed all our planes.

      It was warm at Kweilin. We were all curious as to our ultimate destination. We had stopped at Kweilin, which was an advance base to refuel with gas and proceed on to we still didn’t know where. Everyone started checking and rechecking his plane as we waited for the fuel truck to get to us; it proceeded along the straight line our planes

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1