Oral History Interview with James Yawn, May 1, 2001
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Oral History Interview with James Yawn, May 1, 2001 (Sound)
Transcript of an oral interview with Jim Yawn. Mr Yawn was born in 1918 and had two years of college by the time he was 20 which was the minimum age to get into the Navy flight program. He was sent to Miami, Florida for primary flight training; they had to fly thirty three hours before they were appointed as a cadet. They were transferred to Jacksonville for basic training and then to California after they got their wings. He asked for and received a transfer to the Marine Corps. After getting some time in PBYs, F-4Fs, SB-2Cs and a few other aircraft he had some crew training at El Centro and finished it up in Mojave, in the B-24. They were assigned an aircraft and left San Francisco at night so they could reach Hawaii in the daytime. Yawn talks about walking aboard the Arizona and it was still smoking; he said it was an eerie feeling. Yawn flew across the Pacific and ended up landing on Guadalcanal but most of the squadron was at Espiritu Santo; he was part of VMB-254. They did reconnaissance work over the New Georgia group, Rabaul and Bougainville. Then, they went to Bougainville where they lived in tents. Adm Finch told his commanding officer that they needed to find the Japanese Fleet. He said, "we think they are at Truk Island and you guys have to make a run to Truk". They found the Japanese there and took photographs; the first ones taken of the Truk area in over 20 years. The plane had three cameras in the bomb bay area facing downward and some in the waist hatch which took shots out the sides. Yawn was the mission commander for this mission and received the Distinguished Flying Cross. They went to Eniwetok after that and took off for Guam where they got hit pretty bad by Zeros. Photographs of the terrain of Guam was needed for the upcoming invasion. Yawn continued on to other islands and had R&R in Australia. After coming back to the States, he was ordered to the Grumman plant in New York to pick up a twin engine fighter plane, the F-7F. After some time in Philadelphia, he took the aircraft to Van Nuys, California. He was a test pilot for a new reconnaissance photographic plane. Yawn stayed in the Marines Corps Reserves after the war and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel; he had 22 years total. There's an appendage to the interview which contains a copy of Yawn's citations for his decorations, a picture, and an excerpt from Hal Buell's book, 'Dauntless Helldivers', which describes Yawn's mission over Truk.
Oral History Interview with James Yawn, May 1, 2001 - ark:/67531/metapth1607405
Oral History Interview with James Yawn, May 1, 2001, text, May 1, 2001; Fredericksburg, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1603437/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting National Museum of the Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Foundation.