JAMES K. MADDOX

Interview by Johnnie Faye Taylor

U.S. Army Air Corps,

5th Bomb Group,

31st Bomb Squadron

James K. Maddox is the son of Kelly B. and Jimmie Lee Tyre Maddox the Brewton Community of Laurens County, Georgia. J.K. joined the Georgia National Guards when he was approximately 19 years old.. He was put into the 21st Infantry, K Company.

After J.K.'s Georgia National Guard enlistment was over, he decided to join the Army Air Corps. At that time there was only one position to be filled from Laurens County. J.K. and another applicant both wanted the position. A test was given to determine which applicant to accept. It was determined that J.K. was the most qualified applicant.

He was inducted into the Army Air Corps in 1939 at Ft. Screven, Georgia. He was processed there and sent to Ft. Moultrie, South Carolina to await further orders. The former National Guard members did not have to take further training at Ft. Moultrie so he performed mostly guard duty for approximately 2 months.

When J.K.'s orders came through, he went to Charleston, South Carolina to board the Transport Ship USAT LEONARD WOOD. They sailed to the Panama Canal Zone where they made the canal transit and spent 3 days in Panama en route to San Francisco, California. They made a stop there for a few days before sailing to their destination of Oahu, Hawaii. It took 5 days for the ship to travel from San Francisco to Oahu.

J.K.'s assignment was for 2 years at Hickam Field on the island of Oahu. Hickam Field is located adjacent to the Pearl Harbor Naval Base.

Once he had arrived at Hickam, he was given more aptitude tests to determine what job he could do best in the Army Air Corps. The test results showed J.K. was best suited for doing communications duty. He was sent to the Army Air Corps trade school at Wheeler Army Air Field which is located about the center of Oahu and next to Scoffield Barracks.

J.K. went back to Hickam Field after the school. He was then assigned to the 5th Bomb Group. J.K. was radio operator on the B-18 bombers which were the planes being used at that time on Oahu.

In December, 1941, J.K.'s tour of duty at Hickam Field was up. It had been interesting and uneventful. It had been really good duty for a young single man. J.K. was just waiting for transportation back to the States.

J.K. had a 4 door Buick for sale. He really wanted to sell the car before returning to the States. He had made his last car payment on the car the first day of December. It was free and clear. The sale of the car would allow him to more easily purchase another car back home.

At 7:55 AM on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, everything changed for all the military personnel stationed on Oahu. The 25 year old J.K. Maddox was still in his bunk enjoying the day off and thinking about getting up and going to the Mess Hall for breakfast.

The Army Air Corps was expecting the arrival of 13 new B-17 airplanes. When J.K. first heard the airplanes overhead, he and the other personnel at Hickam thought it was the new airplanes arriving at the air field. They soon discovered it was not American planes.

J.K. got out of bed quickly and put on his flight coveralls. Then he went to Hangar # 7 which was where they kept the plane he was assigned to as radio operator. Soon after leaving his barracks, the Japanese bombs hit the barracks and destroyed them. Planes were all over the sky. Bombs were dropping everywhere. J.K. decided to leave Hangar # 7 and go back to the barracks. He left the hangar just in time. It was bombed shortly after he left.

When J.K. arrived back at the barracks, he discovered the destruction there. In addition to his barracks and his personal items being demolished, he found his car had been it also. He later sold the car to a junk dealer for $100.00.

Some of the planes at Hickam Field not damaged in the first bombing raid took off as soon as the pilots could get them up in the air. Most were later shot down by the Japanese. Hickam Field had 231 aircraft at the beginning of the day on Dec. 7, 1941. 64 of those were destroyed, 93 damaged and 74 left in repairable condition.

Prior to the raid on Hawaii, rumors came in that there could be problems soon. It was assumed that the Japanese would commit some kind of sabotage. On December 6, 1941, General Short who was Commander of the Hawaii Dept. had the airplanes moved on the ground to a wing to wing position. This just made it easier for them to be destroyed. When one was hit, fuel tanks exploded and started a chain reaction.

While the 1st of the 2 Japanese raids was going on, those new B-17's that were being delivered to Hickam from the States, arrived in Hawaiian air space. Some of those were shot down that day. The ones left managed to find alternate places to land and were saved.

The Japanese had done so much property damage and destroyed so many airplanes that the Americans had no equipment left to pursue them.

Amidst the mayhem on that day, J.K. was standing in front of the destroyed barracks with other men when he heard an airplane mechanic comment on the Japanese planes. The mechanic was listening to the engines as the Japanese planes flew low overhead. The mechanic said that the Jap Bastards couldn't even tune up an engine right.

Whether the Japanese plane engines were tuned up properly or not, they were flying that day and did extensive destruction. The Japanese bombing and straffing lasted about 2 hours. Damage was heavy at all the American Bases but much worse at Pearl Harbor and the adjacent Hickam Field.

There were 75,000 American Military Service personnel in Hawaii on Dec. 7th, 1941. At the end of the bombing and straffing, the death total was 2403 Americans. Of those 121 were at Hickam Field. Hickam also had 37 people missing and 274 wounded.

The first order of business for those still alive was the locating and removing of the dead and injured personnel.

The Mess Hall had been bombed. The cooks killed. There were no meals served that day.

Tents were set up for sleeping since there were no barracks left. A radio station was set up in a tent for communication with the Mainland. There were no services available. The water main had been hit so there was no water available. The electricity had also been eliminated. Tank trucks brought in water for use until the water main could be repaired. It didn't take long to get water running again but the electrical repairs took awhile.

At the end of the day, American service men had managed to shoot down 29 Japanese airplanes, sink 5 midget submarines and 1 full size submarine. These are amazing statistics when you think about all the American equipment that had been destroyed that day.

J.K.'s departure for the Mainland was immediately cancelled. He was kept in Hawaii for a total of 5 years.

Women and children dependants were evacuatted to the Mainland as soon as transportation could be arranged for them. After they left Hawaii, the houses where families had lived were made available to some of the service men. The first 3 grade NCO's moved from the tents into those available houses.

Christmas of 1941 was not a holiday on Oahu. J.K. and the other personnel were continuing to work cleaning up damage. Hangar crew, combat crew and everybody were assigned to clean up duty. Carpenters were sent from the States and they worked daily to replace buildings at Hickam Field.

J.K. was assigned to a B-17 later in Dec. 1941. He pulled long days on patrol duty.

After the Battle of Midway, J.K. was assigned to the 1503rd Air Transport Group, 39th Ferrying Squadron. He continued in the radio operator position on a flight crew. His crew ferried people, planes and cargo wherever it was needed in the Pacific.

In December of 1943, J.K. was assigned as Communications Chief of the West Coast Wing, Army Air Corps at Hamilton Army Air Field near San Rafael, California. J.K. came home for a visit before beginning his duties at Hamilton Field. While at home on leave, J.K. married Joyce Marchman. The same month he received another stripe and became a Master Sgt.

From Hamilton Field, he continued with his prior work of supplying the Pacific Islands with necessary goods. The nearest J.K. got to Japan was the island of Okinawa. He never encountered enemy fire. He did, however, fly from the top of the world to the bottom of the world.

On the flight layovers in the islands and in other countries, J.K. and the other crew usually stayed in hotels in the nearest city to the airport. Sometimes these layovers were 2-3 days.

Of all the cargo carried on his transport plane, the ones that stand out the most are the times they carried torpedoes. Torpedoes are very heavy. They were strapped down in the cargo bay. Loading of the cargo was done by a load master and crew.

Joyce moved to San Rafael, California near Hamilton Field where J.K. was stationed. She and J.K. lived there until the end of the war and for some time afterwards.

At the end of World War II, J.K.'s crew helped transport POW's from Japan. They were a "bad looking bunch of men". Signs of abuse were obvious. The POW's did not talk much. They were mostly quiet on the flights home. Planes used to transport the POW's were C-54's. They were equipped with fold down litters on the sides of the planes for people unable to sit. The planes carried 2 flight nurses to care for the sick and wounded.

For his service during World War II, J.K. received a total of 7 medals. Among them were the American Defense Medal with Battle Star, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign with Battle Star, and the Victory Medal.

J.K.'s enlistment this time was up in 1946. He had accumulated a considerable amount of furlough time. He decided to use it for a visit back to Laurens County. During this time in Laurens County, J.K. and Joyce became the parents of their first child. Their son Kelly was born.

In 1946, he re-enlisted at McDill Army Air Corps Base in Tampa, Florida. J.K. arrived at McDill at a very good time. They needed a communications chief for the boat squadron. J.K. was given the job. He stayed at McDill for 15 months. The boat squadron provided him the opportunity to be on the water some and he enjoyed it.

His next assignment was at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska. J.K. was back on a plane crew again as radio operator. This position was his best and easiest of his career. He was on the crew of General Frank Armstrong's airplane. J.K. along with the other crew members reported to the plane every morning. They played cards and entertained themselves until the general needed to make a flight. They had a galley and a cook on board as part of the crew. The cook prepared their meals. The general's airplane was a C-54 that had been made plush for his use.

While living in Alaska, another child was born to Joyce and J.K. This time the baby was a girl. J.K. continued to work in Alaska until 1950 when he returned to the States and got a discharge.

When J.K. came home, the local V.F.W. needed a manager. J.K. took that job and worked there for 2 years.

He then took a job with the old MD&S Railroad as a telegraph operator. The MD&S was owned by Seaboard Airline Railroad Company. Railroad employees went on strike some time later. The strike lasted 2 months.

After the strike, Seaboard took over the MD&S. Atlantic Coastline merged with Seaboard and the company became known as Seaboard Coastline. Later this same railroad became part of the CSX System. J.K. continued working at his same job with the railroad through all the mergers and name changes. In 1967 the telegraph was eliminated and more modern communications were used.

J.K. retired in 1977. He owned homes in Jeffersonville and Brewton. He also had a camp house on Maddox Road in the eastern part of Laurens County off Highway 80. Over the years since 1977, the camp house became the permanent home for J.K. and Joyce. It's located in a very pretty area and next to his fish pond.

Joyce died in 1994 after several years of poor health.

J.K. is an active member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. He has traveled back to Hawaii every 5 years since the association was formed to visit with other survivors who are also members of the association. Pearl Harbor Survivors Association was started on December 7, 1958 by 11 men who met in Los Angeles, California to remember and honor their friends who died in the Japanese attack on the military installations on Oahu, Hawaii, December 7, 1941. Their mission also was to locate their friends who were still alive to unite them into one association with a common bond " WE WERE THERE". From 1991-1994, J.K. served as Georgia State Chairman of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. There motto is: REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR KEEP AMERICA ALERT.

J.K. has been a deacon in the Baptist church since 1945. He is now a deacon at Brewton Baptist Church where he has held many positions including teaching the Men's Sunday School Class over the years. He has been an active Lions Club member for 32 years. He first became a member in Jeffersonville, where he lived while working for the railroad, and later as a member of the Dublin Lions Club. He was president of the Jeffersonville club and has held several different offices in the Dublin Lions Club. For several years in Dublin he was the Secretary-Treasurer.