A True Secret Story of Historical Significance (WWII, war, bomb)
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I have come here to tell a true story. A secret story. A Top Secret
story of historical significance. My fathers story. SSGT Alvin R.
Howard USAF. It needs to be told. He held on to this secret all his
life. It was only in the last few years of his life when he was
diagnosed with dementia, that he opened up to me and told me his
secret that he was sworn to keep all these many years since the early
1950's. My father was interred in the Northern California Veterans
Memorial Cemetery last month.
My father was an U.S. Air Force Korean War Veteran. Here is the
historical secret that he confided to me near the end of his life.
This is a true story. This story needs to be told because it almost
changed the course of world history. It was so important that it was
classified Top Secret at the time, during the Korean War.
My father was assigned to a special squadron of B-50's stationed at
Kadena AFB in Okinawa Japan during the Korean war. This squadron was
under the direct control & command of General Curtis LeMay.
Gen. LeMay was known behind his back as "the Mad Bomber" by the
squadron. The personnel in this squadron were also called "LeMay's Golden
Boys", by everyone else stationed at the base. Because every time the
general showed up to check the progress of the squadron, he brought
along promotions. My father was a SSGT when he was discharged after 5
years.
The squadron of 6 B-50's were modified to carry 2 nuclear bombs each.
Twelve in total. My father was a crewman of one of the B-50's. It was
his job to tend the bombs. He was the "Bomb Honcho". They would have
been Hydrogen bombs.
It was Gen LeMays plan to drop them on the Chinese mainland. I was
shocked when my father confided this to me. It was classified Top
Secret. You will not find a hint of any information about this
operation anywhere. The Internet is blank. But the historical
significance of this story demands it be told. Everyone who was
involved Top to Bottom is gone now. It can be told.
Okinawa is the southern most island of Japan. The squadron would take
practice runs up the west coast of Japan and land at an airstrip near
the very northern part of Japan. This operation was nearing the final
phase of training. The crews did not even know the name of the
operation. It was kept totally secret. The plan was to carry out the
mission starting with targets in the southern most part of China, and
continue to targets north. They would refuel back at the airstrip in
north Japan then divert to the Aleutian Islands.
It does not take much imagination to understand how significant world
history might have been changed should this operation be carried out.
If 12 targets on the Chinese mainland had been nuked. What would have
happened after that? It never happened of course. Either Gen.
MacArthur or President Eisenhower cancelled the operation.
If it had been left up to the Mad Bomber Gen LeMay, well... This is a
true story. It had to be told.
LCpl S.R.Howard USMC Hill 381, LZ Ross, Da Nang, Viet Nam 1970.
Interesting story but I am not sure it's all that secret. It's well known that D. MacArthur and LeMay wanted to bomb the Chinese mainland after Chinese "volunteers" flooded over the Yalu, and we do know that atomic bombs were transported to Okinawa for that contingency. Truman finally decided no and that was that. That's all part of history.
The only surprise is they tasked B-50s for that mission. As I understand it, the older B-29's superforts served the main combat role in Korea, B-50 delegated to recon roles. I salute his service, my father flew 50 missions into the north in a B-26 back in the Korean War.
Regarding Lemay and the "mad bomber". I don't think that's really fair. He designed the method of strategic bombing in WWII, which was controversial, and with mixed results. But really, that was his job, as brutal as it was, to destroy the enemy. He otherwise had a major role in successfully modernized the U.S. Air Force from the era of biplanes to jets, from minor tactical usage to a major force on the battlefield, no simple feat.
Interesting story but I am not sure it's all that secret. It's well known that D. MacArthur and LeMay wanted to bomb the Chinese mainland after Chinese "volunteers" flooded over the Yalu, and we do know that atomic bombs were transported to Okinawa for that contingency. Truman finally decided no and that was that. That's all part of history.
The only surprise is they tasked B-50s for that mission. As I understand it, the older B-29's superforts served the main combat role in Korea, B-50 delegated to recon roles..
My father was quite certain. He described the B-50's as being refitted with more powerful engines. The undercarriage beefed up and the bombay being reworked to fit the 2 nukes. It was the flight from Japan to the Aleutians that the B29 would have trouble completing.
Yes, it was common knowledge that LeMay wanted to carry this mission out. But it was kept secret that the planning had gone so far as to be ready to complete the task.
Curtis LeMay is in the spotlight now thanks to a book: "The Bomber Mafia" by Malcolm Gladwell. It is best "read" as an audio book because of the audio interview clips from the actual people in the narrative. LeMay was more than willing to bomb civilians and was the brains behind the fire bombing of Japanese cities. Napalm was invented for just that purpose and a plane could drop many more cannisters of napalm than it could large bombs that often missed their targets. That fire-bombing campaign was probably the result of frustration with failed precision target bombing on industrial sites. There were some bombers refitted to carry huge bomb payloads similar to the a-bombs dropped in August '45 but they were dropping mega-sized conventional explosive bombs.
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