(Sadamu Komachi. IJN picture in USN archives)

Sadamu Komachi was on the flight as well, and like Lt. Sakai, had been badly wounded but returned to service at the bitter end. He bagged 14 Americans in the course of his career, and he “could not bear to see American bombers flying serenely over a devastated Tokyo.”
 
I cannot entirely blame him. Dominator call-sign Hobo Queen II (tail number 42-108532) was flying at Flight Level 20 when the Japanese swept through. It was undamaged, and claimed three kills on the formation. The other Dominator was flying 10,000 feet below. Sakai was very good at what he did, and managed to put several hundred rounds into the bomber as they swept past on the last mission the Imperial Navy would ever fly.
 
Just after 2 p.m. on August 18, 1945, U.S. Army Sergeant Anthony J. Marchione bled to death in the clear, bright sky above Tokyo. He died like Snowden did in Catch-22, quietly, cradled in the arms of a buddy. He was 19, the last official casualty of the Pacific war.
 
The next day, propellers were removed from all Japanese fighters in accordance with the terms of the cease-fire agreement. There would be no further incidents.
 
The Admiral got a chance to visit Japan the day after the Surrender. The Big Leaguers cleared out and were home in November to prepare for the 1946 season.
 
Bill McCullough spent a month at Northwest Field on Guam, and then boarded an LST for the long slow ride back to America. They were on cots on the tank deck, but no one cared about the quality of the accommodations.

(IJN Heavy Cruiser Atago. USN Archives)

Bill said an Imperial Navy Cruiser pulled up next to them in the night, bristling with weaponry. They were there to surrender, but the sight was unsettling, given the experience of Tony Marchione.

(Duffle Bags being loaded for the trip home. US Army photo.)

The endless Pacific churned under the keel of the landing ship, and they arrived in California on the 15th of December. The Air Corps spent a few days on out-processing, and produced train tickets for San Antonio, where three more days of paperwork awaited.
 
Bill McCullough arrived in Gober, Texas, at the intersection of Farm roads 271 and 68, in southeastern Fannin County on 24 December,1945.
 
He said it was the best damn Christmas present ever.
 

Copyright 2010 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
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