Foil: 6 Panel: Distinguished Flying Cross Society Column: 3 Line: 24

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

Airman Thomas Buford Mitchell was a gunner on a B-2 Invader aircraft. Arthur Bernard Colwell was the pilot. Ralph Putman was the navigator. We flew out of K-9 Pusan, Korea. These missions were bombing and strafing the main supply routes over North Korea. Through intense flak and small arm fire, we completed 55 missions over the course of the summer of 1952. I understand the Russians were flying some of the MIG 15s. We were at low altitude at night so they wouldn't come that low for us. We were heading North on a mission and I spotted lights in the distance at 2 o'clock. I directed the aircraft to where I thought the lights were. We raked it with machine gun fire and 500 pound bombs. With the acrid smell of guns, the concussion of the bombs, and the excitement of the moment, my heart was in my throat. Thousand one, thousand two, and we rolled over to sea. It was flash flash. Instantaneous blue-white secondaries all in a row. It was hell on earth. We cleaned that valley one time. We took a few hits, but no one was hurt. The real blast plus the reflection on the canopy produced a kaleidoscope effect.
We flew 55 combat missions over communist held main supply routes in North Korea. There were night interdiction sorties on the highway junctions and rail heads that had very high concentrations of anti-aircraft guns. Our aircraft was a Douglas built B-26 Invader, perfectly suited for this type of warfare. One of the missions was with a Bird Colonel named Kemp from Montana and a West Pointer. He went straight to the target. It was probably the best defended place in North Korea with guns everywhere firing at us but we were so low and so fast they couldn't react fast enough. It was totally terrifying. I thought he was going into a mountain or going straight into the target. He was so determined to get maximum ordinance. I knew we were all dead. I was "volunteered" to fly with Kemp.
We were ordered to Kimpo near Seoul for a quick 3 turn around mission which took place on August 10,1952. I remember this date because it was the only day which we had three missions. The first target was Hoeyang. One of the sorties was a bomb-bay full of leaflets informing the people in certain towns where there was military activity that we were going to destroy those towns and get the hell out of them. Another mission, target Pyongyang, was casing two North Korean boys about 10-12 years old, barely taller than their Chinese rifles they were carrying. There were just children never having shaved. I'm sure it was like an exciting game to them. They also traded North Korean money and cigarettes, being careful not to take anything of American origin. One pack of cigarettes or a US coin or M.P.C could spell death. A young lieutenant from intelligence spoke with them in their dialect and they seemed to like him a lot. About sundown we took off so as to reach the drop zone after dark. I cautioned the lieutenant not to let them pull him out of the bomb-bay with them. He said they were probably double agents, telling them everything and then infiltrating back to our lines again but it was worth the effort. The third mission, target Sinanju, was a load of bombs that did not detonate and was a mystery to us. These were 3 quick missions and we only had seven more missions to reach our quota of 55 and return to the land of white Jo-sansin USA Jima.
Awarded DFC, Air Medal with tow clusters, Korean Service medal, UN Service Medal and 50th Anniversary Korean War Service Medal.