CHAPTER 7 - Bob Veazey's Memoirs - Page 4
were absent any visible aircraft and appeared to be deserted. All of this was due to the
standing orders that called for bombing and strafing anything that moved. This order
included ox carts and personnel. There were several instances where a pilot strafed
a person with an "A frame" on his back, which exploded when hit by the bullets. The
North Koreans used any form of transport they could to move war materiel to the front
lines, and our job was to prevent this traffic.
My assignment was to the 36th (red tail stripes) Squadron. The insignia
was a ferocious looking beast, officially the "Flying Fiend", but what we
called "The Pukeing Pup". The 36th Squadron dated from the 1920's and
had a long history of outstanding performance. All of the pilots in the 36th
Squadron wore red scarves with the "Pup" insignia and, in most cases,
the pilot’s name embroidered on it. I had another one made and sent it to
Joanie. We also had another more elaborate squadron insignia that most
of us had sewn over the right side of our jackets. This insignia is shown
below. Our Operations Building had a prominent
sign on the roof.
The 36th Squadron was comprised of four flights; Mike, Uncle, Queen, and Victor. The
move to the squadron landed me into the "Mike" Flight Quonset, which would be my home
for the next eight months or so. The Mike Flight patch featured a
bulldog-like face munching in on railroad tracks. Flight members
wore this patch on our left chest. After a little while, I painted a
round disk with our insignia on it, and posted it on our front door.
Each member of each flight had an area assigned for "living"
quarters within the flight Quonset, which was a space of four feet
by eight feet (one sheet of plywood flooring). In this space each flight
member could place a folding camp cot topped with an air mattress
and several blankets checked out from supply. Sheets --well, you
could buy them from the Base Exchange, along with a foam filled
pillow. A table and chair could be obtained from a Korean worker on the base, who would