Disappointed, I waited for the draft. I wanted to go in to the service and I wanted to fly. Did I mention or even confess to any broken bones ? Absolutely not. At that age of 18 any recklessness I thought could be accountable because I wanted to serve. Worth the effort ? More on that later as anybody knows that flying with a weakened bone structure in the head is a ticket to an early death if pressure at altitude would fail. After all I wasn't 21 years old so my rationale was due to youth

I let it be known that I wanted to fly. After basic training I was assigned to Radio school and subsequently to a B29 crew member status location for crew member training at Pratt Air Force base in Kansas. A young boy falls in love with a beautiful airplane. At that age falling in love should have been with girls.

A radio operator a board a B29 was also the medic. This took some more training but at the time I thought this only took time away from the flying time I had looked forward to ,but it did prove to be worth the effort. More on that later.

Our B29 group arrived in the CBI( China, Burma, India) theater in April 1944. We were based in India. Our primary consideration was to ferry gasoline for store at a base in China. This meant trips over the Himalayas otherwise known as the "Hump" When the supply of gasoline was adequate we would fly missions from our China Base. Target Japan.

1st. Mission-A munitions  manufacturing plant in Yawata Japan. I felt fortunate  to be part of the crew assigned to this first B29 display of our might. A night mission no formation at 10,000 ft. Do you think I thought we were the top gun to show the Japanese who we really were. You Bet!. Little did i realize that the people on the ground would be shooting back at us? Not a chance. It never occured to me that would happen. At that tender age I thought that action was totally unfair since I thought we were sitting ducks for their anti-aircraft fire. My thinking changed rapidly after that first mission. That tender age became a hardened age from that day forward. We continued our missions from the India -China bases until the early part of 1945

Our 20th Bomb Group was deployed to the Marianas ( Guam Saipan and Tinian ) in the Pacific. New 10,000 ft runways on these beautiful Pacific islands. How lucky can you be except that these were now 14 hour flights. But that was Ok .What else did we have to do!. More flights ,More raids, More Japanese fighter attacks and More anti aircraft fire.

Kamikazes Come alive. Who would have thought the Japanese would resort to suicide missions against those sitting ducks B29s even though we were on a mission to destroy their homeland. Enter again youthful thinking. Even God Iwas sure agreed this was totally uncalled for and unfair. I was hoping that on these missions I would hear from him But I never did !

A 12 ship formation having just entered the Japanese mainland. We were not flying lead that day. I was not the only one who sighted this Single fighter, Twelve Oclock High. No one thought this was anything but an attack head on with a peal off. He came straight in, missed the lead plane but took out four planes. Explosions beyond belief. Forty four of our guys were gone within seonds, every ship spread out. No more formations from that day forward. Drop your bombs and you were on your way home if you were lucky to get out of there. The interrogation after the flight revealed just how speachless young people can become after an experience like that. Who would have thought .How can this be?

A Kamikaze Failure. Our Target .A Japanese City (Tokyo). Drop your Bombs, Go in single, No Formations, I am kneeling between the pilot and co-pilot, looking for bandits. Here comes this Kamikaze infidel. I didn't take long to spot him. It didn't take long for me to bless myself ,  Say goodbye in my silent way of doing things ( You see I had finally grown up to realize what a serious business we were in). My eyes were now on the pilot, Captain Clayton Gray With the deftness of an Olympics Weight Lifter, he lifted the nose of the ship at precisely the right time. The fighter must have missed by no more than a foot. Certainly, the fighter pilot closed his eyes, too scared to face death in a head on collision. What do we know is in the heads of a suicide bomber ( see Iraq)

Time to reflect, By this time, to fly or not to fly became the question in the minds of many crew members. I had never seen so many people come down with head colds, stomach flu, bad backs, inoperative bowels sure the advent of the Kamakases. This was my opportunity to volunteer for missions when our crew wasn't flying that day. After all I wanted my 35 missions and a chance to go home and tell my story of my love affair with the B29. I would find out that others had stories to tell so mine didn't seem as important as I thought. But I am not home yet and there is still more to do.

Save a Mans Life. So I became the medic aboard ship. It never occured to me that I would be called upon to do something ( youth) It had to happen. On a mission we were hit by a 20 millimeter,  impact shell, that penetrated the right side of the fuselage. The flight engineer sat right where the shell penetrated.I felt the impact but couldn't see forward  because of the gun turret. The Captains voice over the intercom told me the "medic" was needed " Moulton, Bartletts been hit !" . When I first looked at him I thought he didn't need any help. I thought he was dead. Shrapnel had entered his left side and he was bleeding profusely. Stop the bleeding. It was 7 hours back to base. I needed help as there was more holes in his side than I could count. Every tome I would look up heads would turn away. Have at it young man ,your the medic.It was along 7 hours back. An ambulance was waiting and Bartlett made it to the Hospital. Alive!. It was 50 years later when I talked to him again. He was on vacation in California. He found me and had these words to say. "Moulton, if you done a better job, I wouldn't be carrying this bag today. I remembered Bartlett was a humorist and I was glad to hear his voice no matter what the humor.

Enter General Curtis Lemay-1945-. The 20th Command now became the home for General Lemay.Atough cigar smoking commander but true  to his word and brave following comments at his first breifing. At that first meeting with all crew members an evening before the next 6 am take off. He let it be known he wasn't satisfied with the bomb load the ships were carrying.  "Gentlemen , tommorrow morning we will be flying our ships with more bomb load. The weight will go from  13800 lbs to 144000 lbs" More bomb load like said.. The room rocked with uproar, the pilots and engineers determined to inform the general that it would be impossible to lift that plane at that weight. The general's cigar was lit. He took a puff, exhaled and said " that plane will get off the ground and to prove it I'll the first one off in the morning. How do you tell a general he is wrong. One of the best ways to sever your connection is to tell him so. The next morning the ships lined up ready for take off. We were numbered twelve in line. We could easily see the lead ship.. The engine's roared and the ship moved but very slowly. Those 10000 ft were surely not going be enough. Wrong. Remember this was General Lemay and he could do anything. Even God would be afraid to doubt him.. It took every foot of runway . He flew the ship off the end of the island. Others wished they could do it. They were not as fortunate. We lost a few ships on take off that day. This writing is evidence that we made it,although Captain Gray lost a few pounds that day.From that day forward,allships weighed in at 144,000 lbs.

Returnibg Home:  Remember I  volunteered to fly when my crew wasn't destined for heroics that day. I completed my 35 missions and was set to fly home July 9th 1945. Many were to fly home that day but I was the only radio operator aboard which meant i had to stay awake the whole trip from taiwan via Hawaii and san Fransisco I was told I would be flying back with CapTain Brailly knowm as " crash Brailly". he had crashed 2 B29s on Tinian and was destined to return crew members who escaped death only to be invited to experience a not so certain adventure with a pilot who dared to challenge a possibly pleasant journey home. Over San Fransisco how chose to embellish the trip with a tourist's view of the golden gate bridge by circling more than once instead of heading for Peane Air Force Base and deliver these "happy to be alive" prospects. This writing should also tell you we made it.

I guided my career in the Insurance Business with some good companies, Primarily in sales. I concluded my Business opportunities with the Transamerica Insurance Company  as the Western Sales Manager. and finally as Branch Manager in Sacramento California.