DELAWARE WING

Issue #2 February 1, 2009

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HONORED BY THE
PRESIDENT BATTERY 223 ----OUR
HISTORY
It looks like something from the set of a
science fiction movie or a building
washed up from the mythical city of
Atlantis. But whatever it looks like, it is
right there on the beach of Cape May
New Jersey and it is part of our heritage
and history. Battery 223 is
approximately 200 feet wide and 100
feet deep. The walls inside and out are
made of 6 foot thick reinforced concrete.
On January 19th, 2009 I was given the
privilege of representing Hanby Middle • Besides
School by laying a wreath at the Tomb being big
of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington what is it In This Issue
National Cemetery. In October of 2008, I and why is
wrote an essay explaining why I wanted it part of our
to go to the inauguration of the 44th history?
President of the United States. My essay • PRESIDENTIAL
Shortly after HONOR page 1
was ranked in the top four out of all the Pearl
essays written, allowing me to lay a Harbor the • OUR HISTORY
wreath. It was an amazing honor to page 1 & 2
military
stand at the steps of the tomb and lay believed • STORIES OF A
the wreath in front of it and to know that the WWII HERO page 4
that I was paying tribute to those who attack in the • DRILL TEAM
fought and died for our country. Pacific was WINS PRIZE page 5
By Neallie C Payne only part
• IF NOT WHY NOT
one of a like Our Challenge Coin
Neallie is a Cadet basic in the New Castle Cadet attack on the page 5
Squadron East Coast.
• WING CALENDAR

1
With only a few Military bases
protecting the East Coast, the Defense
Department came up with the idea of
building these enormous structures as
sub stations to the main Military fort.
• That is fine, but what is it and why is
it part of our history?
In front of this structure are two
concrete pads about 60 feet in diameter
and 10 to 15 feet thick. On those pads
stood a carousel On top of each carousel
stood a 6” canon that could fire a 2200
lb shell 25 miles into the ocean. That is
sort of like throwing a VW Beetle from
Wilmington to Philadelphia.
Battery 223 at Cape May, NJ
• That is clever. Put a canon on the
beach that can fire a projectile 25 miles
into the ocean. But if you stand on the
beach you can only see to the horizon
and that is about 15 miles off. So by the
time we see the enemy, they are already
firing at us with their 6” canons. After
all, it is a lot easier to hit a continent
than it is to hit a ship moving around in
the ocean.
You still don’t get it, do you? The Army
Corp. of Engineers built other structures
to help out. But the real targeting
reliability could only come from
airborne reconnaissance. That is where
we came in. Pilots were being trained
and planes were being built as fast as
possible. But they were all going to the
front lines in Europe and the Far-east. It
was the Civil Air Patrol that did a
substantial amount of that targeting for
places like Battery 223. 'It was because
of those damned little red and yellow
planes!'[1] that the Army and Coast
Guard were able to spot the enemy U-
Boats far enough out at sea to be
effective in protecting American ships
leaving the harbors of New Jersey and
Delaware.
The Federal Government has
determined that it is not going to
preserve Battery 223. By the way it
was built, Battery 223 will be around
for quit some time. At the same time it
will never be in better condition than it
is now. The bank vault doors that
protected the openings have already
rusted into the sea. All that remains of
them is the 300lbs hinges. It really is
 worth the trip to see Battery 223. With
a little imagination you can hear our
planes overhead and see the canons
swinging into position marked by the
those little red and yellow planes.
Sergeant Raymond Russo (retired) WWII hero with the Squadron of North
Chesapeake Squadron
[1] p. 45, Flying Minute Men, Revised edition, 1988.
BEFORE IT IS GONE
Sgt. Raymond (Ray) Russo (retired) a B-29
Engine Specialist, was the guest speaker of
our North Chesapeake Squadron.
Amazingly, Sgt. Russo stood in front of the
Cadets and spoke for over two hours.
What was incredible was the fact that he is
over 90 years old and not a single Cadet
seemed to mind listening to him, just the
opposite. They were all enthralled.
He spoke of his life in the Army Air
Corp. As part of a B-29 flight crew, they
were his engines that made the plane fly.
• In the words of a country and western
song, “now that’s something you can be
proud of”.
****
What is now public information is that
he flew a secret mission after the
bombing of Nagasaki. After Emperor
Hirohito agreed to surrender, the
Imperial Officers under his command
planned to assassinate him. These
renegade warriors “The Tigers” vowed to
continue the war with a secret attack.
Reminiscent of the events of December 7,
1941, while the peace treaty was being
signed the Imperial Officers would be
attacking U.S. troops.
The plan was uncovered only days before
the coup was to be carried out.
In that short time, the Army Air Corp. had to
find usable B-29’s and enough fuel and
ammunition to mount “The Last Mission”.
The Mission was simple enough hide the
Emperor of Japan away until the formal
signing of the Peace treaty. Prevent the very
well equipped and armed “Tigers” from
attaching the American forces, and do it all
in the dark of night. The only problems with
the plan were, as Sgt. Russo tells it, the
planes were pretty battle weary and
ammunition was scarce. He also mentioned
there wasn’t a lot of fuel. With a smile on
his face, he tells of his B-29 that held 8600
gallons of fuel. On this trip he could only
get 7700 gallons, 900 gallons less than the
most missions needed. Then he was told his
target. It was Akita Japan. That was a round
trip of 3800 miles. Sgt. Russo freely
admitted he was only barber before he
entered the Army He was trained as an
Engine Specialist. Even with that education,
He knew the B-29 has a maximum range of
3,500+/- mile. I did some quick math and
even with full tanks He was shy about 300
miles give or take a little. “Oh! Hell, I was
young”, he says, “We can do it… I
think.” “At speeds and altitudes lower than I
thought we could fly a combat mission, we
flew 17 hours to Akita. I knew that if the
Flack didn’t get us, the after shock of our
own bombs would. Oh! Hell, I was young.
We hit our target an oil refinery and the
after shock from the bombs at the low
altitude nearly tore the plane apart.”
“Okay! We were successful. But now was
the trip home. Each of us got our turn to ask
the flight engineer, “You sure we got
enough fuel to get back?” Each time he
would say, “Sure I got yah this far didn’t I”
We could see the base and as we approached
the field we lost one of the engines. “Don’t
worry bout it we’re fine”. But nobody asked
I guess we were too scarred. “Oh! Hell, I was
young”.
“We finally landed. My engines made it. As
we turned off the runway the engines
backfired and all four stopped. We were out
of fuel.”
“A jeep had to tow us off the taxiway there
were 140 planes behind me and they were
all just about out of gas. At our debriefing,
the C.O. offered us all a shot of whiskey then
told us we ended the war. “Oh! Hell, I was
young”.
*****
Sgt Russo and all the Members of his 315th
Wing received a Distinguished Unit Citation for
flying the longest mission in history and
destroying the Akita target. A note from the Unit
history microfilm reads: "This target was of
extreme importance to the enemy as it processed
crude oil from the fields around Akita, the largest
natural source in Japan proper. The damage
assessment on all structures averaged 86%."
STAFF AND CONTRIBUTORS
Pietro A. Barbieri Capt. CAP (PAO)
Cap32@PennLAW.us
610 280 7078
Your stories make this letter
possible. With your help the Wing
can get out to the public the good
work we do. So please send them in
leads for articles.
Special help from
Neallie C. Payne is a Cadet basic in
the New Castle Cadet Squadron
4
 formed flying squadrons. Some were
wealthy young men who left colleges such
as Yale and Harvard in order to enlist in the
military.

In one squadron, a wealthy lieutenant

ordered solid bronze medallions embossed
with the squadron emblem for every
member of his squadron. He carried his
medallion in a small leather sack about his
neck.

North Chesapeake Squadron at the Shortly after acquiring the medallions, the
Christmas Parade lieutenant's aircraft was severely damaged
by ground fire during a mission. He was
The Chesapeake Cadet Squadron is again to forced to land behind enemy lines where he
be congratulated. The Drill and Parade team was captured by a German patrol.
captured second Prize in the Cecil County
Christmas Parade. The team dressed in their In order to discourage his escape, the
BDU’s proudly carried their squadron colors Germans took all of his personal
along the parade route. There is no doubt the identification except for the small leather
Cadets were cold but not a single Cadet pouch around his neck.
showed even the slightest discomfort. The
only thing you can see on their faces is the He was eventually taken to a small French
pride of representing this nation's very best town near the front lines where he managed
and Northern Chesapeake Cadet Squadron. to escape during a night bombardment.
They performed their drills near flawlessly During the attack, he donned civilian clothes
and for that they were awarded Second and fled without personal identification.
Place in the Youth Marching Category.
Along with Second Place came a small cash
prize that we hope they will use it to have
some fun. From the Wing, well done. From
all of us we are proud of you. We hope next
year you will be the first place winner. We
will be rooting for you.
****

THE CHALLENGE COIN THIS IS YOUR CHALLENGE....

During World War I, American volunteers

from all parts of the country filled the newly

5
After escaping, the brave pilot succeeded in
avoiding German patrols until he reached
the front lines. With great difficulty, he
crossed no-man's land and stumbled into a
French outpost.
Unfortunately, the French in this sector had
been plagued by German saboteurs, who
sometimes masqueraded as civilians and
wore civilian clothes. Not recognizing the
young pilot's American accent, the French
thought him to be a saboteur and made
ready to execute him.
Just in time, the American remembered his
leather pouch containing the bronze
medallion. He showed the medallion to his
would-be executioners. When the French
captors recognized the squadron insignia on
the medallion, they gave the pilot enough
time to confirm his identity. Instead of
shooting him, they gave him a bottle of
wine.
Eventually the pilot made it back to his
squadron, where it became a tradition to
ensure all members carried their medallion
or coin at all times as a symbol of pride.
In or out of uniform, on or off duty we carry
our coin. If you begin to talk about your
unit/squadron/wing a fellow service
member has ask to see the coin to test your
loyalty. If the challenged can not produce
his coin it is usually a moment of great
embarrassment, but atonement can be had
by purchasing a drink of choice for the
member who had challenged him.
If the challenged member produced his coin,
then the challenging member was required
to pay for the drink.
This proud tradition continues today. In
some cases a coin can be earned
meritoriously for a job well done. In any
event it is the reminder that we as Civil Air
Patrolmen have a code that we live by "We
will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate
among us anyone who does."
Regardless of how they are acquired, the
history of the challenge coin remains a part
of Army Air Corp, Civil Air Patrol and Air
Force tradition, and I will continue to
display mine proudly for years to come. By
the way my drink is Coke Zero.