18th Fighter-Bomber Wing in Korea

DISTAFF SUPPORT - A Very Special Form of Heroism

Itazuke, Japan - Summer, 1950

A special form of 'Valor', was demonstrated by the wives of the 8th Fighter Group, whose husbands were pilots flying combat missions over Korea in F-80s, from their home base at Itazuke, on the southern island of Kyushu, Japan, and other combat outfits operating in a similar manner.

The performance of their F-80 airplanes, under the specific combat circumstances, was not in the least impressive because their lack of range made the jets an ineffective weapon until they could be physically based in Korea ...but these thoughts are not intended to deal with the men's inadequate equipment ...here we are talking about the pilot's wives who remained at Itazuke; those ladies, they must have been 'something else!

Imagine, if you can, what each day must have been like for those young pretties ...fighting a war from home!

"...Wake the husband in the morning, fix his breakfast while he showers and shaves...

...then send him off to let people shoot at him, trying to kill him, all day long, while she tidies up the house and takes care of the kids. Then, after a very long day, the young officer drives home, and is met at the door with a drink, and is asked:

'Well, honey, how was your day?"

Many, many of them did not return home and, instead, the Base Chaplain would drive up in the evening, to tell the fretful wife that her husband had just been shot down behind the lines in Korea.

No, thank you! I’d have to say.

Despite the sadness of parting and another long separation I, for one, was ever so grateful that my wife and little daughter had returned to the 'States just prior to my going into the combat area ...completely away from the daily worry and crazy killing frenzy of that stupid little war in far away Korea.

The Air Force should have a special award to commemorate the worry and the tears of wives, girl friends and families in special circumstances such as those of the families who stayed in Japan to be with their husbands as long as they possibly could.

Theirs, too, was a bravery 'above and beyond the call of duty described in any marriage vows..

They, too, were true "heroines"

Duane E. 'Bud' Biteman,
Lt. Col, USAF, Ret
‘...One of those Old, Bold Fighter Pilots’
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