Hero of “The Rover Boys Express”

Rover Boys Express - Monograph

At 0600 on Nov. 24 1944 more than 100 B-29’s from the 497th, 498th and 5500th Bomb Group of the 73rd Bombardment Wing, rolled down the runway at Isley Field in Saipan for a flight that would last more than 15 hours and cover over 3,000 miles. Their target was Tokyo.

After the successful invasion of Saipan by American troops in 1944, the United States had a secure position from which to begin the final assault on Mainland Japan. On this particular bombing mission over Japan, the crew of one of these American aircraft (nicknamed “The Rover Boys Express”) was shot down over Tokyo. Here is the story of one of the survivors, Raymond “Hap” Halloran” :

Hap fell free from 27,000 ft. to approximately 3,000 ft. before opening his chute and landing in N.E. Tokyo. He was set upon immediately by civilians; and severe beatings followed. Mr. Halloran was near death when Japanese soldiers seized him from civilians and took him to [a] prison in Tokyo adjacent the moat at the north edge of the Imperial Palace grounds. Hap spent 67 days in solitary confinement in a cold, dark cage. Beatings and brutal interrogations followed. Hap lived through the March 10, 1945 fire raid on Tokyo were over 100,000 were killed by B-29s bombing from 0100 to 0400 a.m. The heat, smoke and firestorm were absolutely terrifying.

Then Hap was moved to Ueno Zoo in Tokyo where he was a prisoner in animal cage and tied to the front bars in his lion cage so civilians could march by and view a B-29 flyer. He was naked and black from non-washing and hair all over his face. Hap lost 90 lbs. and was covered with open running sores from flea-bed bug bites. He spent April 1, 1945 to August 1945 in Omori POW Camp [next to] SW Tokyo. Pappy Boyington a friend of Hap’s was also in his barracks. Bombings and strafings by American B-29s and navy/marine fighters were constant on their unmarked prison barracks. ‘Hap’ wrote and delivered the eulogy for Boyington 1-15-88 at Arlington National Cemetery.

On 8-29-45 Hap and others were liberated by marine/navy landing forces and taken aboard the hospital ship Benevolence in Tokyo Bay. Hap spent about a year in a hospital at Ashford General Hospital, in White Sulphur Springs, W.VA. Mr. Holloran left the service in September of 1946. ‘Hap’ was near the Battleship Missouri when the Peace Treaty was signed on September 2nd, 1945.

Crew of the World War II B-29 bomber "The Rover Boys Express" ("Hap" is in the middle of the back row).

If you would like to learn more about the heroes that served in the Pacific Campaign during World War II, be sure to visit the Virtual Museum of the American Memorial Park.