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332nd Pilot. Once ShotDown, Eager for CombotBy ART CARTER.'-NnLmany-Amy^ilycrs. hold'4he-anxiety-ior-Captain James (Jimmy) A.'Walker does!With fifteen months of over- I......seas duty and 70 minions. overst• renemy territory, Including in ex17, tciting death-defying experience behind Gerrain lines, to hii credit. Captain Walker still harbors a fond desire to get back into the thick of things “over there.”I reminded Captain Walker that with war over in Italy, whereence.How he made it back is still a militaiy secret, but to him it was all in a flyer’s work. “The main thing,” he emphasizes “is that I got plenty of food and didn’t lose any weight”Captain Walker was off flying status for five weeks after his return to the 332nd base, but flew one-third of his combat missions since going back Into the air. He was decorated with an Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters and four Battle Stars before leaving Italy for. reassignment in the States on March 19.CAPT. JAMES A. WALKERthe members of his outfit, the 332nd Fighter Group, have been flying protective cover for 15th Air Force bombers, his fellow pilots probably would ba heading for CBI (China, Burma, India) Theatre, or the Pacific, but the eager, veteran insisted:I know, but I’d just like to be with the gang. The pilots there now are so young and inexperienced, and they need experiencedklv ”men to get it over, quickly On Polesti RaidI know Jimmy, as his fellow flyers' call him, in Italy during the rough and tough escort days to. the Polesti oil refineries last summer. I well remember' the sultry July day when Capt Walker was missing on one of the missions to Polesti.Returning pilots in his flight were unable to give much information about his whereabouts. Some opined that he may have landed in the hands of the Russians who were smacking hard at Rumania at the time; others just didn’t know what to think or say.Thirty days passed and no trace of Jimmy; no reliable report, and no evidence of how or where he was. The operational report carried only the horrible, simple statement: “Missing in Action.”Pilots and crewmen alike had “sweated out Jimmy’s absence until their hopes were about gone, then like a bolt out of the sky, Capt. Walker walked into the dust-laden airfield, hard by the side of the Adriatic Sea.Lost No WeightHe had been shot down by enemy anti-aircraft fire as the re-Has 101 MissionsActually Jimmy has had 101 bperational missions in Italy, but the early part of his duty involved coastal patrol work, not rated as combat missions by the 15th Air Force. Thus, he was credited with only seventy combat missions, or sorties, as the air officials define flights that carry the pilots over the enemy lines.Although the behlnd-the-enemy-lines experience is still fresh in his mind, Captain Walker feels the mission that was his most difficult was a bad weather mission to Germany.“The weather was so bad we had to fly back as low as ten feet off the water most of the trip, and hardly higher than 200 feet,” he recalled.I was leading the flight on that particular day, and felt the responsibility more than usual because all the men in my flight were new pilots. But my only loss was a couple of pounds of weight, and you can really lose weight in air duels with Old Man Weather.”To Stay In ArmyCaptain Walker, who had 90 hours as a civilian pilot before entering the Army, likes it so well that he plans to stay in the air corps after the war—provided Uncle Sam keeps Tuskegee intact or integrates our flyers into the regular Army Air Corps without discrimination.Like dozens of other colored pilots, he would prefer commercial flying but is dubious about the opportunities available in the commercial field.In Baltimore, Capt. Walker was visiting relatives, Mr. and Mrs. Elias Singleton, and daughter, Louise, who is an AFRO employee. He will report to Tuskegee after visiting his mother in Manning, S.C., his hometown.opent 25. A aate Univlt; ber cW01BailMl: Fran $250 in ( day.room for 1lt;MiAve., bail to m as* £ Miss Ave.RHEUMATISMACHES and PAINSturning flight flew over northernYugoslavia, and had landed behind enemy lines. For days he hid in the hills, battling against unbelievable odds to reach Allied territory safely, but he looked none the worse from his experi-QUICKLY VANISH WITHRHEUMA-NOX. Thanks to 1 Doctor's Prescription, you' can now relieve those pains and. aches that cause you- so much discomfort RHEUMA-NOX drives tha uric acid out of the blood. Try Rheuma-Nox Now, under the money-back guarantee from ROBINSON’S CUT-RATE DRUG STORE, 2139 Penn-lylvania Ave., Baltimore, Md.4ITbIt
Newspaper Details
Baltimore Afro American
Baltimore, Maryland, US
Sat, May 05, 1945
Page 13
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous A.
WI, USA 15 Nov 2021
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