They went in as confident young warriors. They came out as battle-
scarred veterans, POW camp survivors . . . or worse. The Army Air
Corps' 27th Bombardment Group arrived in the Philippines in November
1941 with 1,209 men; one year later, only 20 returned to the United
States.
The Japanese attacked the Philippines on the same morning as
Pearl Harbor and invaded soon after. Allied air routes back to the
Philippines were soon cut, forcing pilots to fight their air war from
bases in Java, Australia, and New Guinea. The men on Bataan were
eventually taken prisoner and forced into the infamous Death March.
The 27th and other such units were pivotal in delaying the Japanese
timetable for conquest. If not for these units, some have suggested,
the Allied offensive in the Pacific might have started in Hawaii or even
California instead of New Guinea and the surrounding islands.
Based largely on primary materials, including a fifty-nine-page report
written by the surviving unit members in September 1942, Operation
PLUM (from the code name for the U.S. Army in the Philippines)
gives an account of the 27th Bombardment Group and, through it, the
opening months of the Pacific theater.
Military historians and readers interested in World War II will
appreciate the rich perspective presented in Operation PLUM.
_________________________________________________________
ADRIAN R. MARTIN, a retired high school teacher, is the author of
three books, including Brothers from Bataan: POWs 1942–1945. He
lives in Menasha, Wisconsin. LARRY W. STEPHENSON, the nephew
of Capt. Glenwood Stephenson, a participant in Operation PLUM, is
the Ford-Webber Professor of Surgery at Wayne State University in
Detroit, Michigan. A retired Army colonel, Stephenson also serves as
an associate editor of a major medical journal and has written six
other books and more than 300 articles.
Number 117: Texas A&M University Military History Series
What people are saying about this book
" . . . the most complete and compelling picture of the early Pacific
air war ever likely to appear. . . . a virtual page-turner with its snappy
alterations between broad perspective and telling specifics."—Dr.
Jerome Klinkowitz, University of Northern Iowa
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