Last post we read the May 29 entry in the Team Log: At 0530 the trainer and six fighters arrived.
The flight in this trainer plane took several hours. So indeed it was at night, and therefore was tricky in itself. A fighter escort of six indicates awareness that additional trouble could arise from the ground en route. MMB78 has a photo of the pilot, Captain "1-B" Riley, sitting in the cockpit of that trainer plane with a pretty dark-looking sky all around. Col. Mills writes on MMB77: The air landing and pickup operation was risky. Chennault didn't say whether his Fighter/Bomber group had done it before but I gathered that it was the first time for them. I remember the pilot well who volunteered and flew our mission. He was a brave man to fly and navigate at night, even with an escort of six fighter planes. As soon as it was light enough for the pilots to see, he would fly 400 miles into Japanese territory, locate and land on a hastily prepared dirt airstrip that he had never seen, load the injured man, fill his tanks with gasoline in cans brought along for the return trip, avoid attack by the Japanese, and then fly back to the base at Hsian!
The May 29 Team Log entry continues the tale: The trainer made a beautiful landing and within a half hour the trainer unloaded its cargo of carbines, 45s, and Tommy Guns with ammunition, took Jerry Welo on board with letters and information and was up in the air and on its way back to Hsian.
(Again, note that this entry, penned by EJZ, was his transcription of notes by Zarembo and others.)
With the exfiltration of Welo done, the next day, May 30, is the day of infiltration of the rest of Team Jackal along with "44 bundles" of supplies and of arms to replace and augment those lost in the initial drop. Two C-47 transport planes made their passes over drop field AFFIX. The map symbol for AFFIX is the numeral 5 and a triangle.
"Eugene Zdrojewski, the replacement for Jerry Welo, was Field Photo trained and, as it developed, he became a writer of sorts, keeping the day-by-day Team Log all the time JACKAL was in the field. Zdrojewski was young, about twenty I guess, but at least he had been parachute-trained in Kunming and I believe this was his first combat assignment. He was impressionable and his language in the Team Log reveals thoughts that most of us had but never expressed: fear, excitement, pride in the job and in JACKAL, his team. And the same spirit of adventure that I believe motivated all of us out there.
The Team Log was always guarded and placed in a separate container with incendiary grenades that could be ignited immediately if capture was imminent and it was reasonably secure with those precautions. I didn't know that JACKAL had kept a Team Log until Paul gave it to me after the war. If I had known, I would have stopped it because, as you will see, it is revealing and would have endangered our entire operation in North China if in Japanese hands, not to mention the lives of the team members and the hundreds of Chinese guerrillas who were working directly with them and protecting Team JACKAL.
But the Log is important to this story and brings you closer to the attitudes and feelings of the team in the field. I don't know of any other operational teams in China that kept a log with this detail. The standard issue blue-lined paper from letter-size writing pads is now getting yellow and ragged with age, but Zdrojewski's handwritten entries in pencil script are clear.
I can picture him, sitting in one of the mud huts or in the rooms they had later in the walled compounds, writing down the day's events as they unfolded during the months to follow, probably just before climbing into his sleeping bag to grab a little sleep with his .45 pistol and grenades by his side and a lantern or candle or an Army issue flashlight lighting up the scene."
May 31 is the first day of EJZ authorship of the Team Log. That day will see them repairing and packing, and that night will see them disappear to a new location.
1 comment:
Had AI OCR it
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MAY 30
After the planes departed the remainder of the group went to WEI CHIU DZE were [sic] they began making preparations for the drop of the second part of the team and supplies.
Throughout the day the group worked hard with HER LAN TING and his guerillas preparing the drop field AFFIX (A) and drop signals. Good radio communication enabled last minute details to be arranged with Hsian.
The second part of Team JACKAL used two C-47’s to drop men and equipment. The first C-47 carried live and cargo drops; the second carried just cargo drops. The target area was marked with large fires which were arranged in the shape of the letter T. The two C-47’s made their runs up the T thus:
[Drawing of a flight path diagram over a "T" shaped formation of dots representing fires]
Log Page 9
The first C-47 on its first pass received a flash light signal—letter A (• —) which meant "drop". The letter S (• • •) was to have meant "do not drop—turn back" if there would have been any trouble in the area with Japs. But there was no trouble and the letter S (• • •) was not received. Immediately upon receiving the signal A (• —) the first C-47 completed its dry pass, circled to the left as shown on the diagram and made its second pass, dropping all of its live cargo (6 men). These six men were:
CAPT. EDWARD ZAREMBO
2nd Lt. ALBERT ROBICHAUD
Pfc. EUGENE ZDROJEWSKI
CAPT. SOONG JO CHING
CAPT. HSU TEH CHUNG
1st Lt. TIEN SEN SHANG
The first 3 men were the remainder of Team JACKAL. I came in as Jerry Melo's replacement. The three Chinese officers were from the First War Area and were to work with Team Jackal.
Log Page 10
The two planes then made about seven passes apiece and dropped 48 containers of weapons, ammunition and supply. On the ground there was a reception committee consisting of Maj. Cyr, Sgt. Friele and Lt. Chiu. The area was well protected by about 2000 armed guerillas under WANG GO SHANG. They were spread out in a radius of about 5 miles around the drop area.
Nevertheless we were all convinced that the 2 C-47s remained over the area too long (approximately 1 1/2 hour) and that every Jap for miles around knew something was up. The planes undoubtedly drew a lot of attention from them and JACKAL was expecting trouble soon. (We were not very far from wrong.) After the drop JACKAL retired to WEI CHIU DZE for the night while WANG GO SHANG'S guerillas gathered the containers and brought them to WEI CHIU DZE.
Log Page 11
One exciting thing about the drop was the way the containers came down after the personnel dropped. We heard a few hit the ground not far away from where we were standing in a group. Their chutes failed to open and they hit with a shattering blow. Some came very close and for a while the area was hotter than if the Japs were there. Nevertheless no one was hurt, but everyone was plenty scared.
MAY 31
We spent this entire first day at WEI CHIU DZE repairing and repacking containers that were smashed in the drop. All day long we expected reports on approaching Japs or even the Japs themselves. JACKAL knew that the planes would bring them nosing around soon. Our expectations were realized when in the afternoon reports came that the Japs were sending investigators to all nearby towns around the area where the planes...
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