You some flavor of this rather unusual bunch of american veterans. Then i will ask a few of these veterans to join me on the stage, and i will introduce them at that time. I will ask them a few questions to jumpstart the conversation, but at some point, i will just turn it over to you all and let you have a conversation with these pretty incredible guys. , is aok, project 9 result of a lot of research from around the country, and i will not go into that. But i was lucky enough to be able to interview several of the remaining veterans from that campaign of so long ago in burma. Pretty remarkable bunch. They were started by a guy named arnold. Ld happ some of you may have heard of him. A guy namedsted by churchill. Winston, i think, was his first name. Let me take you through some of these photos, and we will see what happens. I think i remember how to operate this. By the way, there were some of these flyers out there. I do not know if you all got any. If you did not, i do not know what to tell you. I dont have anymore. But let me tell you a little bit about this book, project 9 the birth of the air commandos in world war ii. Published by the university of Missouri Press. Let me point out to you that if you call this number or order online from the university of Missouri Press and give them the afs14, you will get 20 discount. So, let us begin. For those of you who have really sharp eyes, you might take a look at that 1. [laughter] what can i say . These guys were young guys a long way from home. [laughter] thats all. Im not going to say anything else. The first was Major General orde wingate. Thats him on the left. Colonel Johnny Alison and colonel phil cochran. Wingate was eccentric, pretty unorthodox. He was the leader of a group known as the british show and its the british chindits. You can look that up. Its not dirty. Then there was phil cochran. The reallife inspiration for the character of colonel flip corgan corkin. There he is. Alison was a little pintsize guy, daring fighter ace. He flew with the 14th air force and was considered a natural pilot, a pretty good stick, as they called him. He was the cocommander of this group. Flight officer jackie coogan, movie star turned fighter pilot. Biggest child actor of the 1920s and 1930s. Start with Charlie Chaplin in the kid, and a whole lot of others starred with Charlie Chaplin. Whoops, i dont know what i just did. We are going to go back. I think i pushed the wrong button. Going backwards, im pretty sure. There it is. There it is. Hats dick hi, there. Yeah, hes here tonight. I think i just went too far. This guy, this handsome young man right there is here tonight. That is patt meara. Looks like he has a pretty good ride going for himself there. This guy, charlie turner, i was with him last weekend. You can kind of see the way this guy is looking at you he called that had his i think i can say this he called that hat. Is go to hell can i say this . Im not any good with this stuff because i just skipped one that i wanted to show you. Some of you baseball fans may remember a guy named john kelly ready lewis, the allstar third baseman for the washington buddy john kelly lewis. There was a guy named dimaggio, another guy named williams, and john kelly buddy lewis in the. Utfield of the allstar game he was pretty good. Im not going to talk about you again, patt. Im going to just skip this. Sorry. And charles. This operation featured a variety of pilots. It is quite an interesting organization. They flew a variety of planes, including 100 stinson l5s. 12 b25 mitchell medium bombers. A little bit different, they had a 75 millimeter cannon in the nose of those. Some of the people who were in the airplane when it fired said it sure felt like it stopped it midair, even if it didnt. [laughter] mustang 30 p51a fighters. Dozen c47 skytrains that they used as glider tugs. Thathad this huge thing looked like a boxcar with big, fat, ugly wings, the cargo gliders. You can get a sense of the size of it. Wallah punca charlie said thats what they called the fighter pilots. It means no fan man. They did not have any engines. These, you could load a small piece of artillery, 12 or 15 fully armed combat troops. Thesee commandos had 4 of yr4 helicopters, the first operational choppers, and they made the first combat rescues during their time in burma. Flyingson l1 ambulances. Uyn, thats an ugly airplane, but i think it did some good. Those of you who served know that 523 is an outrageous number of pilots for those that served. This is a guy named jake. This is a guy named bill, who was the pilot of the aircraft that was flying around the pacific, and they ended up having to ditch, and they floated down for 24 days, but i guess they did not have enough of it because he came back. Thats buddy lewis, the baseball player. Ok, operation stop that. Operation thursday. Im going to try to get it to go back. Operation thursday was launched from india on march 5, 19 44. These c47s towed in doubletow. 100 50 miles behind japanese lines in unmarked jungle clearings in burma. Oh, yeah, it was at night. But 15 minutes before launch, aerial photos show that logs were scuttled across scattered across one of the two landing sites, and they did not think they could land there anymore. Alison was on the left and wingate was on the right. They decided they had gone through a lot of trouble and training, and they should go ahead and do this thing. These are some of the british about. S i was talking they are boarding one of the gliders on march 5, getting ready to go into japanesehelp burma. Japaneseheld they took mules along because, well, wingate kind of liked mules. Mulesalked in, so the carried their heavy equipment, and he thought it would be a good idea, even being taken in by gliders, to have a few of those along as well. They ended up taking something close to 10,000 british troops and about 1200 mules. You can see the two gliders c47. Towed by that into this little clearing, and you wonder how re going to get act out back out. They needed a lot of room to pulling a glider behind bc47, so they worked out a thing called national blinders they needed a lot of room to take off pulling a glider behind a see47. You can imagine, that was kind of a jack rabbit starts for the guys in the glider because they went from zero to about 100 and a couple of seconds ina couple of seconds in a couple of seconds. [laughter] here is one of the gliders being towed over the chin hills. Im not certain, but theres a real possibility that is dick coles airplane. Remember i told you they got there at night . It looked like a really nice field in this clearing called broadway. It turned out to also be full of love than a few of water buffalo, and they wrecked almost andy glider full of logs a few water buffalo. In the end, they were able to take in a small bulldozer, and they made a Landing Strip out of nothing. The next night, they began 47s to bring in the remainder of those british troops and supplies. Despite the loss of the gliders, the troops celebrated the aerial invasion that night. I think they were laughing simply because they survived that one. There was a pretty good chance they might not. If you are interested in this book, it is here. It is also on the flyer that we passed out. Remember about that 20 discount, unless you are just rich and like to throw money away. There are some interesting things. Let me just im going to be just a little bit. I will let you meet these guys i promise you but you have to put up with me for a little while. Im going to introduce you to i told you that wingate was a little bit eccentric. You make up your mind. In 1937. He has been stationed by the british army in palestine, and they are having some problems down there at that time. That scene was an idealistic and heewish activist, had been invited to a discussion of literature with a newly posted British Army Captain named you guessed it orde wingate, who spoke arabic and was a graduate of the school of oriental studies in london. It was a hot day. Epstein knocked on the door of the wingate residence and stood waiting on the doorstep as insects swarmed around. He heard stirring within the small house, and he selfconsciously fingered the knot of his time as the doorbell was released inside. The doorbell swung open, and there stood a short, slight, darkhaired englishman with a welcoming smile and intense, dark eyes. T was orde wingate he was stark naked, and he did not get dressed for the next few hours while they discussed persian literature. [laughter] were tasked by hap arnold to take these british chindits into burma anyway they could and support them. It was the idea that they were going to show off what the u. S. And the air force could do. He said hap arnold did they wanted to get back into the big show, and he said he finally talked him into doing this by saying, to hell with paperwork. Get out there and fight. They did take him at his word. Theres very little in the way of actual paperwork, which made researching this kind of a challenge. As i said, they were kind of young guys. They had all these planes. Anything they wanted, they got. They not only got the planes, but anything else they wanted. Heard ofou may have the old paratrooper game designed for specifically paratroopers. They also demanded that each arson in that unit be issued. 45 sidearm or. 45 caliber thompson machine gun. The old jackets, they got too Little Pockets in front they do not hold much. They thought that they needed something with a lot of pockets because bad things can happen in the jungle, and if they go down, they would like some gear, so they put in a requisition for the paratrooper uniforms, the kind that look like a bush jacket with all the big pockets up front and the big pockets on the pants. The paratroopers were not very happy about that, and they yelled about them, but they still got them. They said, you know what . We are going to be in the jungle. We should have some of those marine combat boots, made out of rubber and canvas. They got them. They said, i hear they are testing that new thing called a helicopter. We could use that out there. Absolutely not. They are not even done testing yet. They said, we do not plan to test them. We plan to use them. They got them. Like that. Ound i need to tell you that these guys who did this you know, they are young. They get a phone call, wherever they are stationed. Hey, how would you like to be part of a topsecret project you cannot talk about . You will get no rewards from it. Its dangerous as can be, and you will probably see heavy combat. You know what those 523 guys did . They said, well, sign us up. I think its the same spirit that brought the two guys up from florida and georgia. Yeah, lets do it. So, one of the guys that they. Ecruited was buddy lewis somewhere i have something about him. There it is. Ok, bill, dick, and jake joined. One of those guys was buddy lewis. He was best known as the third baseman for the washington senators. When the war started, he had gone to basic training as an infantryman and then flight training. , he he was posted overseas had called during a game to say goodbye to his teammates. Luckily, no one thought to get. He tail number of the plane he had buzzed centerfield to say goodbye to his teammates. Luckily, no one thought to get the tail number of the plane. Nobody had done Something Like this before. The project nine combat team would not be able to call upon existing forces in the region because everything from cigarettes to combat aircraft would have to be planned for before they headed out. Cochran said, we had to figure out what aircraft we wanted, what we wanted them for, how many pilots we needed, how many mechanics we needed, and how much ammunition you needed because there was not any animal like this in the air force. We were inventing a whole new animal for the air force zoo. There was no precedent. The mule im not going to read that. It is too long. This is interesting. I did tell you that these guys were fairly young. Some of you may have heard of a who was the Supreme Commander in the southwest asia command, and he came out where these guys were training with british troops prior to going , and he was asked to speak. Said, how about getting up on the hood of this jeep over here . He was addressing the men. Cochran and his usual khakis looked up intently. Next to him stood Johnny Alison, likewise wearing the air force uniform and sporting a cold. 20 22 pistol. He carried that because he could not hit anything with the. 45. A p51. H saw at once they have forgotten smith had taken off in his fighter p51. A. He was a consummate fighter pilot, which meant he could be impetuous and highspirited. He stared down from his cockpit at the crowd of soldiers on the field, and seeing a uniform figure addressing the crowd, he could not resist. He pulled up and came in low and fast, heading straight for the jeep at something more than 400 miles an hour. He pulled up at what must have seemed only an inch over the officers head, causing the commander to grab his cap. Cochran, who was never a stickler for military protocol, was appalled at this egregious breach of protocol, not to mention basic safety and common sense. That dam full just arrived arrived. D fool just cochran wondered what kind of courtmartial he would face in his pilot decapitated a commander. He was furious with his aide for placing him in such a position. Thats all right, the admiral said. Cochrans irish temper was in high gear, and he had an in vehicle vocabulary of pejoratives and expletives he had an individual he had an vocabulary of pejoratives and expletives. Smith was finally able to offer explanation. Im sorry. I thought it was you. [laughter] cochran laid into him a second time. You know, remember, these guys were young. Smith at that time was barely 25 and a major. The war introduced so many young officers that at a field in puerto rico, there was a sign over the bar and the Officers Club that summed up the new reality. It had, no liquor will be served to Lieutenant Colonels between the ages of 18 and 21 unless accompanied by parents. [laughter] im just about to the end of what im going to read you. Well, at the end of this , the monsoon finally came in, and they had to leave. It is an interesting story by far. Eventually, the second air Commando Group would deploy, and the third would be active in the philippines with the highly unorthodox methods of the but the highly unorthodox methods of the original group would not be used again in world war ii. Risky night tell night tow of gliders would never be duplicated, and the world would never again see such a highly equipped group of men. Never again would a commander declare, to hell with paperwork. Get out there and fight. Need detail in triplicate has become the hallmark of warfare neat detail. A new breed of irregular war fighters has replaced the devil may care charm of these commandos. This new breed is no less dedicated or fearless, but far. Ess far more anonymous sophisticated weapons and eyes in the skies removed much of the need for boots in the cockpit or on the ground, and weaponize drones now go anywhere without putting a pilot is harms way in harms way. No doubt, this will prove more lethal to our enemies and more. Rotective of our warriors the sheer daring, audacity, and perseverance in the face of adversity, it is hard to beat the true story of the air commandos in the invasion of night. Y glider at i told you that i had some people i wanted you to meet, and im going to introduce them to you now. Three of these air commandos are with us tonight. Patt meara, bill cartwright, and dick cole. Im going to ask them to come on out. [applause] amazing. Tell them to stop. Thank you. Thank you very much. Guys, have a seat. City. E to kansas i told you that we are the heart of the country, and thats not just because we are in the middle. Its because weve got the biggest heart and a lot of love, and you just experienced some of it. Let me start out by asking how did you guys get hooked into the air commandos in the first place . Anybody want to answer that . Patt . Talk to me. I was not in the original group until after we got to india. I was sent to the home base of the 54th air service group. Kind were three other guys of known as im being a little outlandish thats an understatement they came in volunteers asked for for hazardous duty. Could not talk about it. Did not know what it was. Did not know where we were going. Did not know anything. All four of us jumped up. In airplanes with our rifles and bags across our lap. That was in february of 1944. I was a replacement of a pilot. I have been in the states working different jobs. I just flew over to india and joined. I should have told you that b25was a. B. 25 a gunner. Some of you may have heard of him. There was a little raid on japan a little earlier. Sometimes it is known as the doolittle tokyo raid. Doolittles copilot. If that was not enough, he stayed in india for a year as a hump pilot. He was home for a couple of months, and they said, you want to go to burma and train this Strange Group of air commandos . Up. Id, sign me and that is kind of that. ,id you guys ever see wingate the british general . What were your impressions of him . Him long enough alone to really form an impression, but it looked a little weird. He looked a little weird. He did. I had heard stories of him having briefing sessions sitting stark naked with a helmet on. [laughter] eat raw onionso all the time. I heard stories that he had a large alarm clock that he strung around his wrists, and when a meeting was over when that went off, the meeting was over, and he would run to the next meeting. Dick, did you ever see wingate . . Id you ever see orde wingate yes. What were your impressions . He was a member or invited to the canadian meeting of churchill, roosevelt, and stall in stalin. , if you do not mind, i told these guys a little leading gliders in the clearings, and now they had to get them out. They had this device in knee in the c47. The what was it like to come down and snatch a glider out like that . Can you tell us about that . Well, it took a little handling. It took a little technique. We were flying into bowls with a rope about 12 feet apart we sere flying in two bull with a rope about 12 feet apart. The worst thing was doing it at night. Unfortunately or fortunately, the reason we were able to do what we were supposed to do, and everything came out all right, i guess. Night, they would put flashlights out on top of the polls so they could see them flashlights out on top of the poles. They had to fly down at a given speed and hook that thing. What was it like when you knew you had hoped them hooked th em and you are wondering whether you actually snagged that glider how did you know you had actually snagged it . We had a hook hooked onto the , and the rope potentially began to decrease. All you would fee