Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:05 | Bill Garrison was standing in a chow line when a man up the line suddenly dropped, shot dead by a sniper. That was only one hazard at the air fields in China; the others being Japanese air raids and infiltrators. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.)
Keywords : Bill Garrison China sniper Japanese air raid Chinese Charge of Quarters (CQ) Liangshan Laohokow Kweilin Liuchow Manchuria Communist
He went to school for aircraft mechanics, but when they shipped Georgia boy Bill Garrison up north to work, he couldn't take the cold weather and went back home, even though it meant he would be eligible for the draft. In the Air Corps, they put his job skills to work and his first destination overseas was Oran in North Africa. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.)
Aircraft mechanic Bill Garrison was astounded at the strangeness of India when he landed there. He made his way up to Burma by way of uncomfortable trains and flew over the Hump to China. There, he was a member of the Chinese American Composite Wing, where his job was to maintain P-40's in the air war against the Japanese. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.)
Bill Garrison was in China wishing he had some good American food. The aircraft mechanic at least came up with a way to get some whiskey. He worked at a long list of air fields repairing P-40's, moving frequently to stay near the front. The Japanese bombed these fields, but the Chinese had good intelligence and used a traditional method for the warning system. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.)
Awakened by gunfire and shelling, Bill Garrison was told that the Japanese were going to overrun the base and that there was a plane evacuating personnel. Unfortunately, the plane was overloaded. What was he supposed to do now? Someone pointed down a road and said, "Go that way." (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.)
Bill Garrison worked out of many air fields in China repairing aircraft, mostly P-40's. When he was based at Liangshan, he flew out all over China, pulling downed planes out of rice paddies and repairing them on the spot. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.)
He was sleeping on the flight line at a far flung air field in China when he was awakened by a big commotion. The war was over and Bill Garrison was elated. He had been away from home for three years and he'd never had a furlough. Why? The old Army run around. (This interview made possible with the support of COL ROBERT W. RUST, USMCR (ret.) in honor of LtGen Lawrence Snowden & LtGen George Christmas.)
