[Vision2020] He saw the mushroom cloud from a P-47

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (August 4, 2016) Moscow-Pullman Daily News with a special thanks to Nick Gier.

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His View: He saw the mushroom cloud from a P-47

By Nick Gier

After being honorably discharged from the Army Air Corps in 1945, my dear friend Howard Riggs held various construction management positions and worked abroad in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Peru. In 2007 he moved to Spokane to be close to his son and daughter.

Riggs started taking flying lessons at 18, having been inspired by Charles Lindbergh's historic trans-Atlantic flight in 1927. In 1942 Riggs joined the Army Air Corps and was sent to Thomasville Air Base in Georgia.

Riggs, born in Panama, spoke fluent Spanish. So, in 1944 he and six other officers were put in charge of the Esquadron 201 of the 300-man Mexican Expeditionary Air Force, which shipped out to the Philippines in January 1945.

Riggs' most memorable mission was to the Ipo Dam, Manila's water source, 25 miles north of the capital city. In May 1945, the 43rd Infantry Division was sent to dislodge the Japanese from their positions.

On May 16-17, 405 warplanes from the Fifth Air Force, of which the Esquadron 201 was a part, dropped 113,130 gallons of napalm, which allowed isolated U.S. Army units that were pinned down to reunite. On May 19, troops reached the dam and disarmed the explosives set to blow it up.

Later on a Manila sidewalk, Riggs was approached by a soldier who recognized him as a pilot. He asked Riggs: "Do you fly a Fat Cat"? - a nickname of the P-47 and its huge radial 18-cylinder engine.

Riggs answered "Yes."

"Did you fly missions up near the Ipo Dam?"

Riggs again said "Yes."

"You saved our lives!"

On a much lighter side, Riggs loves to tell about the time he and a buddy brought back two P-47s from Zamboanga on the Philippine island of Mindanao. This city is famous for the song "The Monkeys Have No Tails in Zamboanga," a favorite of the 27th Infantry Division during the Pacific Campaign. These monkeys had no tails because "they were bitten off by whales."

After the aircraft were fueled, they headed to Manila on what they expected to be a routine flight. Riggs noticed that his friend's plane was flying "all over the sky" as he puts it. He got on the radio and asked what the problem was. His friend said that a foot-long centipede had crawled up his leg, and he was cutting it off in pieces. This centipede from Zamboanga also had no tail.

In July 1945, after the Battle of Okinawa, Riggs and his men were stationed on that strategic island, and flew daily missions to the island of Kyushu to practice a ground invasion of Japan.

On Aug. 7, 71 years ago this week, flying over Kyushu, Riggs saw the mushroom cloud of the Hiroshima bomb still billowing up to 60,000 feet. Riggs says that he firmly supported President Truman's decision, knowing full well that the ground war that he and other airmen would support would result in millions of casualties.

During all his flying, Riggs is proud to say he never got hit nor did he have any accidents. He did, however, fly through a tree one day. After pulling up quickly after a strafing run on Kyushu, he looked up to see a tree in front of him. He simply pulled back on the stick, busted through the branches, and returned safely to base. That tree obviously needed a trimming.

Every time Riggs tells the story about saving those men at the Ipo Dam he tears up, and I join him in sharing those heartfelt emotions. He considers that the high point of his military career, so let us honor him and all those of the Greatest Generation for their courage and perseverance.

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For a version with pictures, go to:

www.NickGier.com/RiggsMushroomCloud.pdf

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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares"
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
  
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