AIRMEN"S HOLIDAY
T.J. McCann

The Korean War was into the thirteenth month in July 1951.

U.S.O. shows had been touring Korea but to larger commands that had accommodations for females in the shows. Outlying, smaller units, and sometimes, more dangerous areas, were bypassed by those shows.

The Far East Air Force's Special Services realized that the troops in those bypassed areas needed a morale boost as well, particularly since the "peace talks" had begun. These "talks" had, in effect, informed the U.N. forces that they would not be allowed to win the war. They would, however, be allowed to become casualties for the next two years, in some of the bloodiest and most prolonged battles of that war in stalemate.

The Air Force Special Services decided to form a show to tour Korea, which would be comprised of male Air Force personnel who had amateur or professional entertainment experience.

The selected airmen for the proposed show would perform under all conditions, weather included. No special accommodations would be expected or received. They would load and unload their equipment on buses, trucks, and planes; set up and strike the "stages," which were usually flatbed trucks; and if scheduled, put on "two-a-days" at two different locations. The airmen were to be selected from the entire Far East Command.

Thus, "Airmen's Holiday" was formed. The following is a true story. The events are actual, with only minor embellishment. The people are real; their names are not. Because, after forty-eight years, it's almost impossible to remember who said what to whom, most of the dialogue has been reconstructed or just manufactured. There are some actual quotes and conversations, remembered. But most of the expletives have been deleted from them, which was a difficult task because most conversations were expletive based.

This is a "war story" only in the sense that it took place, partially in Korea, during the Korean War. But hopefully the reader will find the events that occurred interesting and entertaining.

Thirty miles west of Tokyo is Yokota Air Base. In July 1951, it was the home of the 98th Bomb Group, and before that, the 92nd. These were overworked B-29 outfits that flew daily missions to Korea with engines that had too many "hours" on them because of a problem getting parts from the "States."

On takeoff, with the engines at maximum RPM, sometimes a B-29 engine would develop a "hung jug" (seized piston). That in turn would cause the engine to seize. The plane would then bank toward the dead engine, slip in that direction toward the ground, and crash.

Sometimes the bomb loads would explode, and sometimes the crews were killed. Of course, the planes and crews also were in jeopardy from flak and MiGs over Korea. If a crewman lived, and was not shot down and captured, his tour of duty was ninety days.

Yokota was also the home of the 91st and 56th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadrons that flew mapping and bomb-strike photo missions over Korea.

Then, there was the 548th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron, of which I was a member. The duties of the squadron personnel were many and varied. The 548th developed and evaluated bomb-strike photos. There were photo mapping and photo interpretation (intelligence) sections, as well as a fighter-gun camera film-development section. The squadron received a Meritorious Unit Commendation for mapping the Inchon invasion.

In 1951, the Air Force had been a separate branch of the armed forces for only four years. Olive drab Army uniforms were being phased out; Air Force "blues," in.

But, the Air Force had not yet changed enlisted rank designations. The following May (1952), Pfc.'s, Corporals, and Buck Sergeants would become Airmen 3rd, 2nd, and 1st class. Change in the Air Force was slow, and nonflying jobs were mostly routine efforts_important, essential of course, but still routine.

The tour of duty in the 548th was thirty very routine months_two and one-half years. Some people had been known to go "Asiatic" in that length of time.

It was said that one member of the squadron had taken off, AWOL, to "the boonies" one year before I arrived at Yokota and occasionally was seen, running around in a kimono and clogs, playing pachinko, and haggling prices at the fish market. He was still eluding the AP's when I left Japan.

A while into your tour, you would begin to refer to the United States as "the Zone of the Interior," "Truman's Island," and "the Land of the Round Eyes."

Squadron morale was neither high nor low. It just didn't exist. The official squadron motto was "When in danger, or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!" We printed and gave each other coveted awards such as "The Swiveled Chair Blister Award, with Butt Clusters."

Even the C.O., who was entitled to wear a chest full of ribbons, wore only one_made for him at the PX: "The Order of the Purple Shaft, with two Barbed Wire Clusters." On the wall, behind his desk, was a neatly framed sign, six feet long with foot-high letters, that consisted of one word: "Quitcherbitchen!"

To avoid the danger of going Asiatic, I felt that an activity of some kind was needed.

Luckily, my salvation appeared in the form of_ "Airmen's Holiday."

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