Operation PLUM : The Ill-fated 27th Bombardment Group and the Fight for the Western Pacific

by Martin, Adrian R.

• ISBN13: 9781603441841
• ISBN10: 1603441840
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-07-15
• Publisher: Texas A & M Univ Pr

Summary

They went in as confident young warriors. They came out as battle-scarred veterans, POW camp survivors . . . or worse. The Army Air Corpsrs" 27th Bombardment Group arrived in the Philippines in November 1941 with 1,209 men; one year later, only 20 returned to the United States. The Japanese attacked the Philippines on the same morning as Pearl Harbor and invaded soon after. Allied air routes back to the Philippines were soon cut, forcing pilots to fight their air war from bases in Java, Australia, and New Guinea. The men on Bataan were eventually taken prisoner and forced into the infamous Death March. The 27th and other such units were pivotal in delaying the Japanese timetable for conquest. If not for these units, some have suggested, the Allied offensive in the Pacific might have started in Hawaii or even California instead of New Guinea and the surrounding islands. Based largely on primary materials, including a fifty-nine-page report written by the surviving unit members in September 1942, Operation PLUM (from the code name for the U.S. Army in the Philippines) gives an account of the 27th Bombardment Group and, through it, the opening months of the Pacific theater. Military historians and readers interested in World War II will appreciate the rich perspective presented in Operation PLUM

Author Biography

Adrian R. Martin, a retired high school teacher, is the author of three books, including Brothers from Bataan: POWs 1942-1945. He lives in Menasha, Wisconsin. Larry W. Stephenson is the Ford-Webber Professor of Surgery and chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. A retired Army colonel, Stephenson also serves as an associate editor of a major medical journal and has written seven other books and more than 300 articles.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Nearing the Brink of World Conflict	p. 1
"This Rumor Has Gone Too Far!"	p. 24
War Begins	p. 51
Fighting on Bataan	p. 79
Escape to Java	p. 110
March and Command Changes	p. 145
Royce's Raid-Overshadowed by Doolittle	p. 174
"No Mama, No Papa, No Uncle Sam"	p. 196
Air Missions over the Coral Sea and Beyond	p. 210
The Changing Tides of War	p. 231
POW Camps and Hell Ships	p. 265
"When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again"	p. 287
Epilogue: Lesson Learned	p. 294
Twenty-seventh Bomb Group Pilots Flown from the Philippines to Australia, December 17-18, 1941	p. 297
Royce's Raid Crews	p. 298
Commentary on the Mission of B-25#41-12455 by Two Former 27th/3rd Pilots	p. 302
Followup of 27th Bomb Group Pilots	p. 304
The 27th's Wartime Legacy	p. 311
Notes	p. 317
Bibliography	p. 337
Index	p. 349
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