Speaker 1: And we continue with our American stories. Up next comes
Speaker 1: a man who's simply known as the History Guy. His
Speaker 1: videos are watched by hundreds of thousands of people of
Speaker 1: all ages over on YouTube. The History Guy has also
Speaker 1: heard here regularly at our American Stories. Richard Bong was
Speaker 1: a hero in an era of heroes. Here's the History
Speaker 1: Guy with the story.
Speaker 2: It has often been said that war is the most
Speaker 2: dramatic of human endeavors. Of the millions of people who
Speaker 2: served throughout the globe in the Second World War, they're
Speaker 2: countless stories of those who went above and beyond to
Speaker 2: serve their country, to protect their comrades, and to do
Speaker 2: their part to try to bring an end to the
Speaker 2: most destructive war in human history. And among those stories
Speaker 2: is the story of Richard Ira Bong, a US Army
Speaker 2: fighter pilot and the Pacific who was so success that
Speaker 2: he became America's Ace of Aces. Richard Ira Bong was
Speaker 2: born September twenty fourth, nineteen twenty in Superior, Wisconsin, the
Speaker 2: oldest of nine children born to Carl Bong, a Swedish
Speaker 2: immigrant and American door bryce. He had an interest in
Speaker 2: planes from a young age and saw air mail planes
Speaker 2: fly over the farm. When President Calvin Coolidge was at
Speaker 2: his summer white house in Superior, he recalled that the
Speaker 2: mail plane flew right over our house, and I knew
Speaker 2: that I wanted to be a pilot. He attended the
Speaker 2: Superior State Teachers College beginning in nineteen thirty eight, where
Speaker 2: he enrolled in the civilian pilot training program started just
Speaker 2: that year to train pilots both for civilian roles and
Speaker 2: the possibility of war. On May twenty ninth, nineteen forty one,
Speaker 2: Bong enlisted in the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet program.
Speaker 2: His gunnery instructor in Arizona was Barry Goldwater, later a
Speaker 2: Senator in presidential nominee, who said that Bong was a
Speaker 2: very bright student and was already showing his talent as
Speaker 2: a pilot. Earned his pilot wings and was commissioned a
Speaker 2: second lieutenant in the Army Air Force Reserves on January ninth,
Speaker 2: nineteen forty two, just a month after the Japanese attack
Speaker 2: on Pearl Harbor. Bong was kept at Luke Field for
Speaker 2: several months, where he worked as a gunnery instructor until
Speaker 2: he was transferred to Hamilton Field near San Francisco. Where
Speaker 2: he trained to fly the Lockheed P thirty eight lightning.
Speaker 2: A number of stories have come out of Bong's time
Speaker 2: at Hamilton. On June twelfth, nineteen forty two, we cited
Speaker 2: for buzzing the house of a pilot who had just
Speaker 2: gotten married. The same day, several other pilots were cited
Speaker 2: for a flying a loop around the center span of
Speaker 2: the Golden Gate Bridge. Bong has awesome been accused of
Speaker 2: looping the bridge, though he always denied it. Later, however,
Speaker 2: he did apparently fly low down Market Street in San Francisco,
Speaker 2: so low that he knocked some laundry off a line
Speaker 2: and waved at people in the lower floors of some
Speaker 2: of the buildings. General George Kinney, commander of the Fourth
Speaker 2: Air Force, remembers dressing Bong down for the stunts, saying, now,
Speaker 2: I don't need to tell you again how serious this
Speaker 2: matter is. If you didn't want to fly down Market Street,
Speaker 2: wouldn't want to in my Air Force. But you're not
Speaker 2: to do it anymore. And I mean what I say.
Speaker 2: Kenny made Bong help the woman with her laundry. Douglas MacArthur,
Speaker 2: Supreme Alleyed Commander of the Southwest Pacific Area chose Kenny
Speaker 2: over General James Doolittle to command the Fifth Air Force
Speaker 2: who were flying out of Australia. Bong was hand picked
Speaker 2: by Kenny as one of fifty P thirty eight pilots
Speaker 2: brought to Australia in September, Bong was assigned to the
Speaker 2: ninth Fighter Squadron of the forty ninth Fighter Group, nicknamed
Speaker 2: the Flying Knights. In a P thirty eight, he and
Speaker 2: several others engaged a larger force of Japanese planes near Buna,
Speaker 2: New Guinea on December twenty seventh, nineteen forty two. Bank
Speaker 2: scored his first aerial victory here, shooting down two Japanese
Speaker 2: planes himself. He was awarded the Silber Star for the action.
Speaker 2: On January seventh, he squadron attacked to convoy bringing reinforcements
Speaker 2: to New Guinea and he shot down two more planes.
Speaker 2: The very next day, he was escorting a bomber formation
Speaker 2: when he and seven accompanying pilots attacked approximately twenty enemy fighters.
Speaker 2: The citation for his distinguished Flying Crows said that Lieutenant
Speaker 2: Bong shot down at enemy aircraft with a long burst
Speaker 2: at a distance of two hundred yards. A difficult shot
Speaker 2: and already his fifth confirmed kill, Lieutenant Dick Bong had
Speaker 2: become a fighter ace. Not two weeks after his first engagement,
Speaker 2: Bong participated in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, where
Speaker 2: American planes attacked transports and destroyers carrying nearly seven thousand
Speaker 2: reinforcements to New Guinea. He shot down a Mitsubishi A
Speaker 2: six M zero, known as a formidable fighter aircraft in
Speaker 2: the combat, and eight transports were destroyed in a significant
Speaker 2: defeat for the Japanese and a major propaganda victory for
Speaker 2: the Army Air Force. By April, he shot down five
Speaker 2: more planes, becoming a double ace and was promoted to
Speaker 2: first lieutenant. On July twenty sixth, leading a flight of
Speaker 2: ten P thirty eighth over New Guinea, he spotted a
Speaker 2: formation of twenty Japanese planes. He led three attacks on
Speaker 2: the formation, shooting down two of the aircraft himself. When
Speaker 2: fifteen more Japanese planes arrived, Bong, disregarding the greatly superior
Speaker 2: numbers of the enemy, attacked the new planes, taking down
Speaker 2: another to himself. In all, outnumbered three to one, Bong's
Speaker 2: team shot down eleven planes without a loss. Bong himself
Speaker 2: taking four. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for
Speaker 2: the action. In August, he was promoted again to captain.
Speaker 2: An engagement later that year nearly cost him his life.
Speaker 2: According to General Kenney, Bong saw a Japanese fighter chasing
Speaker 2: down an injured P thirty eight, which was flying towards
Speaker 2: a nearby cloud bank. For cover, Bong turned off one
Speaker 2: of his engines and drew the attention of the enemy.
Speaker 2: Once the other plane was clear, he flipped his engine
Speaker 2: back on and outraced the Japanese pilot back to base. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: on his return he noticed that the plane was damaged
Speaker 2: worse than he thought. Half of his tail was gone,
Speaker 2: and as he prepared to land, he found that his
Speaker 2: ailerons were also damaged. When he finally touched down, he
Speaker 2: discovered that he had no brakes and one of the
Speaker 2: wheels was punctured. He ended up in a ditch alive,
Speaker 2: but his plane was a total loss. The plate behind
Speaker 2: his head was pitted with dance, and the plane had
Speaker 2: fifty bullet holes in it. Both fuel tanks were punctured,
Speaker 2: but a self sealing rubber system that kept them from leaking.
Speaker 2: In another engagement, he was circling above the jungle, where
Speaker 2: a pilot had ditched below him. Soldiers had gotten in
Speaker 2: a rubber boat across a lake to get to the pilot,
Speaker 2: and Bong sided a crocodile following them. He dipped load
Speaker 2: to the water, sided and blasted the encroaching crocodile with
Speaker 2: twenty millimeters a round. Captain Bong was granted leaf stateside
Speaker 2: when he reached twenty one confirmed kills. He was able
Speaker 2: to spend the holidays nineteen forty three at home in Wisconsin,
Speaker 2: where he met Marjorie Vtendahl and began dating her. He
Speaker 2: also participated in a ship launching where the Welderettes named
Speaker 2: him their number one pinnock boy. When asked how he
Speaker 2: was so good at what he did, he modestly answered, Oh,
Speaker 2: I'm just lucky. I guess a lot of Japanese happened
Speaker 2: to get in my way. I keep shooting plenty of
Speaker 2: lead and finally some of them get hit. When he
Speaker 2: returned to the Pacific in nineteen forty four, he christened
Speaker 2: his plane March and had his girl's face painted on
Speaker 2: the nose. He was reassigned to the Fifth Air Force HQ,
Speaker 2: but allowed to freelance Bong had on April twelfth, been
Speaker 2: credited with three more victories, which brought his total to
Speaker 2: twenty eight, officially beating Eddie Rickenbacker's twenty six. During World
Speaker 2: War One, Kenny made Bong a major and took the
Speaker 2: chance to send him home. Rickenbacker and Kenny had earlier
Speaker 2: promise cases of Scotts to ever beat Rickenbacker's record first,
Speaker 2: and both of them sent along a case. For three months,
Speaker 2: he was on leave in the United States, doing publicity tours,
Speaker 2: surging civilians to buy bonds and generally supporting the war effort.
Speaker 2: When he got back, he was put in charge of
Speaker 2: gunnery training and told not to engage except in self defense.
Speaker 2: On October tenth, he accompanied his trainees shotdown two more
Speaker 2: planes solely in self defense. Of course, Bong, still officially
Speaker 2: gunnery instructor and not required to fly combat missions, continued
Speaker 2: to find ways to do so, and between October tenth
Speaker 2: and November fifteenth, he engaged in unusually hazardous orties and
Speaker 2: shot down eight more planes. He was recommended for and
Speaker 2: received the Medal of Honor. MacArthur gave it to him
Speaker 2: personally with a short congratulations. Major Richard Ira Baung, who
Speaker 2: has ruled the heir from New Guinea to the Philippines.
Speaker 2: I now inducted you into the Society of the Bravest
Speaker 2: of the Brave, the wearers of the Congressional Medal of
Speaker 2: Honor of the United States. But December seventeenth, Bong got
Speaker 2: his fortieth victory and Kenny ordered him home. In fact,
Speaker 2: Kenny was convinced that Bong actually had many more victories
Speaker 2: than that. Stories abounded that he had given away kills
Speaker 2: to wing men when he had really done the shooting.
Speaker 2: He had flown one hundred and forty six combat missions
Speaker 2: and had four hundred hours of combat time. Richard Ira
Speaker 2: Bong married Marjorie Battendahl on February tenth, nineteen forty five,
Speaker 2: having already given so much in the services country, to
Speaker 2: come one of the most dangerous jobs a nation could ask,
Speaker 2: becoming a test pilot for Lockheed testing their new P
Speaker 2: eighty Shooting star jet. On August sixth, nineteen forty five,
Speaker 2: Bong took off and his twelve flight in the plane.
Speaker 2: A Lockheed service mechanic later reported, we knew something was
Speaker 2: wrong when we saw puff of black smoke come out
Speaker 2: just as he level off in flight. Within four minutes
Speaker 2: of takeoff, the plane exploded just some fifty feet off
Speaker 2: the ground over North Hollywood. A witness quoted in the
Speaker 2: Los Angeles Times saw Bong eject from the plane, but
Speaker 2: he was too low for his parachute to open and
Speaker 2: it was caught in the explosion. America's Ace of Aces
Speaker 2: died the same day the first atomic bomb was detonated
Speaker 2: over Hiroshima. His death shared front page news with the
Speaker 2: first reports. Among American fighter pilots in the Second World War,
Speaker 2: only five percent became aces, and yet those five percent
Speaker 2: accounted for half of all enemy aircraft claimed in air
Speaker 2: to air combat. And simply put that means that a
Speaker 2: huge burden was placed on the shoulders of a very few.
Speaker 2: When Major Dick Bong died, he was just twenty four.
Speaker 2: In his brief life, he became one of the most
Speaker 2: decorated pilots in American history, having earned the Medal of Honor,
Speaker 2: the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, seven Distinguished Flying Crosses,
Speaker 2: and fifteen Air Medals.
Speaker 1: And a special thanks to Greg Hangler for the terrific
Speaker 1: production into The History Guy, who you can find at
Speaker 1: his YouTube channel, The History Guy. History deserves to be remembered.
Speaker 1: And my goodness, what a story. One hundred and forty
Speaker 1: six missions. That's crazy. The story of Richard Dick boung
Speaker 1: Here on our American Stories