Diary pages from this date

Had tooth ('upper left 8') taken out.

We had a letter from Father Moore ((still in Hong Kong)):

''Received  your card yesterday – probably held up a month. Since in it you mention the beginning of October devotions.  Heard our contact was still around, so thought I'd run off this note.

Glad to hear about parcels from England.  Should be some help. Hope to send you something before Christmas. May it be a happy day for you all, if not quite so merry.  Maybe the usual 'Merry Christmas' is not too far off.

'The news has been very good. The second front is going nicely; in Africa, and the Germans have been pushed back 150 miles beyond Tobruk.  Americans still holding the Solomons (3 of them) and sank 12 transports and 11 warships in latest battle.  Five years ago I had a New Year plum pudding with the Rear Admiral Norman Scott, who was killed in the Nov. 12 engagement.

'We have received definite word we cannot go to Kwangchowan; so we are here for the duration, I guess.  However, I've sent a letter via Chungking air mail home, and asked the folks to send your message to Mrs Hall in Australia.  Studying Chinese full tilt now.  Health generally good – flu or ?? once.  Prices terrific, but some things reasonable.  Japs expect more bombings. Understand 500  ((?)) books to camp.  Hope you find some good reading.  Take it easy.  Good health to you all, and God's blessing, John D. Moore.'

'Maryknoll now has new missions in many South American countries – and Mexico.  We have been ordered home ((USA)), but repatriation even from Shanghai is now very doubtful.'

I took 'Limelight' to Mrs Lewis Block A1 for her daughters to read.

Mabel and I to music at St Stephens tonight.  She was dizzy yesterday.

Lecture on cigarette making by J.A.Stericker.

((More about the meeting to discuss the bulk IRC rations)) I think it would not be incorrect to say that the majority of people who wanted to be issued with their full quota of rations had made a point of attending the meeting, while those who had nothing in particular to shout about (and those constituted the majority of people in our blocks) had not bothered to turn up. This was unfortunate because, after sundry pointed questions to the Chairman, a motion was proposed and carried (almost unanimously) that the Japanese should be sounded and if found to be amenable, the suggestion be made to them that the food be distributed pro rata.

Japs air patrolling all day.

Hair coolers. [?]

Rumour re men of military age being sent to Sham Shui Po, also of air battle over ShaTin yesterday.

((G.))

http://www.usaaf.net/chron/42/nov42.htm says:

(Tenth Air Force):

CHINA AIR TASK FORCE (CATF): 9 B-25s and 7 P-40s feint at Hong Kong, then fly to the Gulf of Tonkin and sink a freighter and damage 2 others near Haiphong, French Indochina.

OBJECTIVE: Bomb Tien Ho airfield in Canton

TIME OVER TARGET: ~2:30 p.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Seventeen P-40E and P-40K from 16^th, 75^th, and 76^th Fighter Squadrons (23^rd Fighter Group) and six B-25s from 11^th Bomb Squadron (341^st Medium Bomb Group).  All aircraft are from the China Air Task Force (10th Air Force).

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Col. Robert L. Scott; Lt. Col. Clinton D. “Casey” Vincent; Captain Edmund R. Goss; Captain C.B. Slocumb; 1^st Lt. George R. Barnes; 1^st Lt. Jack R. Best; 1^st Lt. J.R. Carney; 1^st Lt. Patrick H. Daniels; 1^st Lt. Charles H. Dubois; 1^st Lt. Martin W. Lubner; 1^st Lt. Robert H. Mooney; 1^st Lt. William W. Druwing; 1^st Lt. Harold K. Stuart; 1^st Lt. Heath H. Wayne; 1^st Lt. J.O. Wellborn; 2^nd Lt. W.S. Butler; 2^nd Lt. Aaron Liepe

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: Unknown

RESULTS: Bombs hit hangers, aircraft, barracks, and oil/gasoline storage facilities. 

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: Two fighter pilots assigned to the 25^th Sentai, 1^st Lt. Hideo Sugawara and Warrant Officer Katsuji Katayama, are killed on the ground during the bombing.  In addition, 1^st Lt. Fujio Ichihashi Shigenobu from the 33^rd Sentai is lost over Canton.  (Japanese records do not indicate how this pilot was killed.  See the November 23, 1942, raid on San Chau for a possible explanation of this loss.)

AIRCRAFT LOSSES: No American aircraft are lost.  Bomber crews claim 7 to 10 aircraft are destroyed on the ground.

SOURCES:

• Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.  I could not locate the relevant mission report for the B-25s in the archives, however.

• Japanese Army Fighter Aces, 1931-45, by Ikuhiko Hata, Yasuho Izawa, and Christopher Shores

Information compiled by Steven K. Bailey, author of Bold Venture: The American Bombing of Japanese-Occupied Hong Kong, 1942-1945 (Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press, 2019).

OBJECTIVE: Bomb airfield at San Chau Island

TIME OVER TARGET: ~8:15 a.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Ten P-40E and P-40K from 75^th Fighter Squadron (23^rd Fighter Group) and six B-25s from 11^th Bomb Squadron (341^st Medium Bomb Group).  All aircraft are from the China Air Task Force (10^th Air Force).

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: P-40s: Major John R. Alison; Captain Albert J. Baumler; Captain John H. Hampshire; 1^st Lt. H.M. Blackstone; 1^st Lt. Edward H. Calvert; 1^st Lt. Greg Carpenter; 1^st Lt. William T. Gross; 1^st Lt. Mack A. Mitchell; 2^nd Lt. Bernard A. Dyrland.  In addition, Col. Robert L. Scott and Lt. Col. Clinton D. Vincent aborted this mission due to mechanical issues with their P-40s.

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: Unknown

RESULTS: Bombs hit aircraft hangers and runway.  One fighter aircraft is destroyed on the ground.

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: Japanese fighters (possibly from the 25^th Sentai or 33^rd Sentai) take off during the raid but are unable to intercept American aircraft.  One Ki-27 from an unknown unit is encountered by two P-40 pilots during their flight back to Kweilin.  In the subsequent dogfight the American pilots claim to damage the Ki-27.   However, it is possible the Americans actually shot the plane down, as Japanese records indicate one pilot from the 33^rd Sentai was lost over Canton on this date.  The 33^rd Sentai flew Ki-43s rather than Ki-27s, however, so either the Americans misidentified a Ki-43 as a Ki-27 (unlikely, as the Ki-27 had a fixed undercarriage) or the 33^rd still had some Ki-27s. 

AIRCRAFT LOSSES: There are no American losses. 

SOURCES:

• Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.  I could not locate the relevant mission report for the B-25s in the archives, however.

• Japanese Army Fighter Aces, 1931-45, by Ikuhiko Hata, Yasuho Izawa, and Christopher Shores

Information compiled by Steven K. Bailey, author of Bold Venture: The American Bombing of Japanese-Occupied Hong Kong, 1942-1945 (Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press, 2019).