VMF-224 Scrap Book
Okinawa
Squadron Notes
Overview of Squadron Activities
April 1945 ~ December 1945
April 07, 1945 Squadron arrived at Okinawa and was based at
Yontan air field.
April 08,1945 Six (6) F4U-1D's shot down three (3) enemy
aircraft (Oscars) attempting a suicide attack against friendly
picket 40 miles NW of Yontan airfield. Capt. F. MICK, 1st Lt. A.C.
SATTERWHITE, and 2nd Lt's R.C. BRAY, R.E. TORGERSON,
J.B. BENDER and R.M. TOUSLEY each were credited with 1/2
aircraft destroyed.
April 16, 1945 Four (4) F4U-1D's shot down three (3) enemy
aircraft (Vals) attempting a suicide attack against friendly ships
65 miles NW of Yontan airfield. 2nd Lt's W.H. DONOVAN Jr.
and H.S. KOVSKY destroyed one enemy aircraft each. 1st Lt
M.J. CRAWFORD and 2nd Lt Guy M. WASHBURN were each
credited with 1/2 aircraft destroyed. A fourth Val was seen to
explode with an F6F on its tail.
April 22, 1945 Five (5) F4U-1D's shot down three (5) enemy
aircraft (Vals) attempting a suicide attack against friendly ships
55 miles NE of Yontan airfield. 1st Lts H.R. MABEY, D.A.
McMILLIAN, E.E. LUTHER and 2nd Lts J.B. BENDER and H.E.
WINNER each shot down one enemy aircraft (VAL).
April 23, 1945 Major R.C. HAMMOND Jr. intercepted and shot
down one enemy aircraft (Val) attempting a suicide attack 65
miles NE of Yontan air field.
April 28, 1945 Four (4) F4U-1D's shot down four (4) enemy aircraft (Vals) attempting suicide attacks 60 miles NE of Yontan air field. 1st Lt. Howard R. MABEY shot down two enemy aircraft (Vals) and 2nd Lts. Edgar L. RAFFERTY and Clifford V. TROLAND each shot down one enemy aircraft (Val).
May 04, 1945 Nine (9) F4U-1d's shot down twelve (12) enemy aircraft attempting suicide attacks. 1st Lt. C.H. RUSHFELDT shot down 3 enemy aircraft, 2nd Lt. C.K. JACKSON shot down 2 enemy aircraft, Major R.C. HAMMOND, Capt. J.H. CARROLL, and 2nd Lts F.P WELDY, M.M. Van SALTER, M.S. BRISTOW, T.A. GRIBBIN and M. WALDMAN shot down 1 enemy aircraft each.
May 06, 1945 Two (2) F4U-1D's shot down two (2) enemy aircraft attempting suicide attacks 40 miles NE of Yonton air field. 2nd Lts. A.C. SATTERWHITE and R.O. HANSEN each shot down one enemy aircraft.
Lt. R.O. HANSEN (Drake18-2) is credited with the splashed Tony and reported that it disintegrated. Lt. A.C. SATTERWHITE (Drake 18-1) downed the Tojo. Enemy altitude was 4,500 feet and approached from the N. Lt. HANSEN stated that he first saw the enemy planes at 6 0'clock abd made a 180 degree wingover to the left. The Tony started a dive on shipping when Lt. HANSEN was 800 feet above and 1,500 feet behind him. The 224 pilot added full throttle and, upon closing to 400 feet, commenced firing. The Tony started to disintergrate, then smoked and splashed 50 feet off the port bow of a DD. Lt. HANSEN was forced to fly through heavy AA from five friendly LCI's and two DD's to score the kill.
Two (2) F4U-1D's shot down one (1) enemy aircraft (Kate) attempting suicide attacks 68 miles SW of Yonton air field. 2nd Lts. G.J. TRAGER and M.S. BRISTOW were each credited with 1/2 enemy aircraft.
May 09, 1945 Two (2) F4U-1D's shot down three (3) enemy aircraft (Willows) attempting suicide attacks. 2nd Lt. J.B. BENDER shot down two enemy aircraft and 2nd Lt. M. WALDMAN shot down one enemy aircraft. Lt. M. WADMAN was reported MIA.
May 13, 1945 Four (4) F4U-1D's shot down four (4) enemy aircraft attempting suicide attacks 65 miles SW of Yontan air field. 2nd Lts. L.J. MICHAELS and E.F. CHASE each shot down one enemy aircraft (Willows). 2nd Lt. H.S. KOVSKY was credited with 1 1/2 aircraft shot down and 2nd Lt. L.R. TUCKER was credited with 1/2 aircraft shot down.
May 15, 1945 Two (2) F4U-1D's shot down one (1) enemy aircraft (Kate) 55 miles SW of Yontan airfield. 2nd Lts. G.R. BROWN and J.E. CROYLE were credited with 1/2 enemy aircraft shot down.
May 17 1945 One (1) F4U-1D shot down one (1) enemy aiarcraft (Dinah) 10 miles W of Pt. Bolo, Okinawa. 2nd Lt. J.O. WARNER shot down one (1) enemy aircraft.
May 25, 1945 2nd Lts. D.E. RUYLE and J.P. McALLISTER were each credted with 1/2 enemy aircraft shot down. 2nd Lt. D.R. MAHLBERG shot down one (1) enemy aircraft. The action took place 20 miles from Yontan air field.
MAY 27, 1945 1st Lt. J.L. Owens shot down one (1) enemy aircraft (Nate) 5 miles E. of Pt. Item, Okinawa. The Nate's pilot was wearing a black robe, diving on a friendly ship in an apparent suicide mission.
May 28, 1945 Four (4) F4U-1D's shot down five (5) enemy aircraft attempting suicide attacks 85 miles N of Yontan air field. 2nd Lt. G.J. TRAEGER shot down two (2) enemy aircraft (Nate & Val). Captain C. GREENE Jr. and 1st. Lts. G.K. JACKSON and R.H. SCHWIGEL each shot down one (1) enemy aircraft (Nates).
June 22, 1945 Four (4) F4U-1D's shot down Three (3) enemy aircraft. 2nd Lt. Harry L. TRIECE shot down one Betty carring a Baka bomb. Capt. John C. MONTAGNE and 2nd Lt. Paul R. REZEN were each credited with 1/2 aircraft destroyed. 2nd Lt. George R. TREGAY was listed MIA.
July 01, 1945 Lt. W.A. ROGERS was killed when his plane spun in over Chimu air field.
July 02, 1945 Squadron aircraft along with VMF-311 aircraft conducted a fighter sweep over Kyushu. Captain Joseph P. LYNCH shot down 2 enemy aircraft (Tonys) and his aircraft was hit by 20mm fire. He fought the controls for 350 miles but finall was forced to bail out. He landed at Chimu air field ant the plane crashed nearby. 2nd Lts. D.W. SMIDDY and L.L. TRUEX each shot down one enemy aircraft (Tonys). 40 enemy aircraft were encountered.
Read "A Dogfight Saga" by J.P. Lynch.
July 07, 1945 Bombing and strafing attacks were conducted against shipping between Kakeroma Shima and Amami O'Shima in overcast conditions. 1st. Lt. N.H. LAWLESS did not join his division after the runs and extensive serch provided futile. Lt. LAWLESS was listed MIA.
July 28, 1945 2nd Lt. L.L. TRUEX made a successful water landing 40 miles from Amami O'Shima when his engine failed. After 20 hours in his life raft he was rescued by DUMBO. The heavy seas and delay in surface craft in reaching the area, and the failure of the controlling agencies receiving this information in time to iniatiate rescue neccessitated the all night trip in a life raft.
July 30, 1945 Squadron aircraft along with VMF-311 and VMF-441 aircraft strafed and bombed targets of opportunity. Two (2) trains and a roundhouse strafed; coastal village and number of junks and two (2) powered craft strafed, the latter in a boat basin at Noma Misaki. Twelve (12) boxcars straffed, a truck and storage warehouse on the W. coast of Kagoshima Wan strafed; Kanoya air field attacked; three (3) small craft, two (2) lighthouses at Tanga Shima strafed. 2nd Lts J.W. Fullerton and K.D. Ward listed as MIA.
Lt. WARD's engine was running rough when he received permission to return to base accompanied by 2nd Lt. T.R. SWAYZE. About 50 miles from the southern tip of Amami O'Shima WARD called SWAYZE and told him that he was going to bail out; he called again and said that he could not jettison the hood. Visibility was restricted due to rain squalls but SWAYZE attempted to follow WARD down through this area but lost contact with him; when he broke through the overcast he could not contact him visually or by radio. All search in the area proved negative and the pilot was listed MIA.
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Celebration Kills 6 Here August 13, 1945
At least six men were killed and thirty were injured by falling anti-aircraft shell fragments and bullets in last
Friday's spectacular display of rockets, ack-ack and flares celebrating Japans surrender offer. The half
hour demonstration by forces on Okinawa was quelled only when the island commander ordered the air raid
alarm sounded and then warned the men over the radio to cease firing because of danger to lives.
From the E. Bruce Heilman Collection
