Vegas
05-31-2010, 01:20 PM
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20100531tiger_recalls_flying_high_in_wwii/
Joe Poshefko would not meet his own criteria of a war hero.
That distinction belongs to those buried under foreign pastures or brought home with broken bodies and Purple Hearts. Poshefko, 95, is a World War II “survivor,” he says, and Memorial Day celebrations are not meant for him.
Poshefko came of age during the Great Depression in the hard coal township of Nesquehoning, Pa. John and Mary Poshefko sent five of their 10 children to the war effort. Three came home.
George Poshefko was a Marine stationed at Hickam Air Field in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese carrier planes attacked Pearl Harbor. He survived a strafing run by hiding behind a tree. He was later killed by a sniper’s bullet while attacking a machine gun post on Guadalcanal on Jan. 10, 1943. He lies in Punchbowl Cemetery on the island of Oahu.
Tracy Poshefko was a crewmember on a B-17 bomber conducting a daylight raid on Nazi Germany. His Flying Fortress was blown out of the sky by a German fighter. His remains are interred at the American Cemetery in Luxembourg.
“Memorial Day is a sad day for me because I saw the destruction of our youth in World War II,” said Joe Poshefko, a retired General Motors executive.
Joe Poshefko was the most adventurous of the five sibling warriors. A siren call from the other side of the world in the summer of 1941 caused Poshefko to resign his service in the Army Air Corps. He signed on as an armaments chief with the American Volunteer Group fighting the Japanese in China. They were better known as Cmdr. Claire Chennault’s Flying Tigers.
“I wanted adventure and it was an adventure,” Poshefko said. “I was single, I was interested in seeing China, and the war and combat was something that came on in an instant.
“We had good discipline, good friendship and (were) very family-oriented.”
Poshefko spent 30 days crossing the Pacific aboard the Dutch freighter Jaegersfontein. He landed in Singapore, trained at a British base in Rangoon and went into combat at Kunming Air Field in China. He was assigned to Hells Angels of the third squadron.
The P-40 fighters flown by the Flying Tigers became universally recognized by the shark face painted on the cone. Poshefko doesn’t know who produced the first shark plane, but it was adopted by the Flying Tigers’ three squadrons; Adam & Eves, Panda Bears and Hells Angels.
“Some guy came up with the idea to paint one and the old man kind of liked it, so he had them all painted,” Poshefko said, referring to Chennault. “I thought they looked great, it was the right look for the combination of Army, Navy and Marine pilots we had.”
While American and British forces were on the run throughout the Pacific after Pearl Harbor, the Flying Tigers were winning in China. Poshefko armed the P-40s that prevailed against the Mitsubishi Zero in dogfights over Kunming and Kweilin.
Through desperate innovation, Poshefko converted the P-40s into dive-bombers during the battle of the Salween River Gorge, America’s first land victory in the Pacific.
Chennault’s air tactics were the key to the Flying Tigers’ success. Chennault was the darling of the newsreels who became bigger than life when he was portrayed by John Wayne in the movie “Flying Tigers.”
“Chennault was a great man and he lived up to his word,” Poshefko said. “His tactics were far beyond what the military had at that time.
“Our military did not care for him, but we did.”
By Poshefko’s count, there are five Flying Tigers still alive. The rest are in the historical hangar containing the fallen of Verdun and Shiloh and Breed’s Hill. Poshefko was part of a unique group that did good things during bad times in a distant place.
They were the Flying Tigers.
Joe Poshefko would not meet his own criteria of a war hero.
That distinction belongs to those buried under foreign pastures or brought home with broken bodies and Purple Hearts. Poshefko, 95, is a World War II “survivor,” he says, and Memorial Day celebrations are not meant for him.
Poshefko came of age during the Great Depression in the hard coal township of Nesquehoning, Pa. John and Mary Poshefko sent five of their 10 children to the war effort. Three came home.
George Poshefko was a Marine stationed at Hickam Air Field in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese carrier planes attacked Pearl Harbor. He survived a strafing run by hiding behind a tree. He was later killed by a sniper’s bullet while attacking a machine gun post on Guadalcanal on Jan. 10, 1943. He lies in Punchbowl Cemetery on the island of Oahu.
Tracy Poshefko was a crewmember on a B-17 bomber conducting a daylight raid on Nazi Germany. His Flying Fortress was blown out of the sky by a German fighter. His remains are interred at the American Cemetery in Luxembourg.
“Memorial Day is a sad day for me because I saw the destruction of our youth in World War II,” said Joe Poshefko, a retired General Motors executive.
Joe Poshefko was the most adventurous of the five sibling warriors. A siren call from the other side of the world in the summer of 1941 caused Poshefko to resign his service in the Army Air Corps. He signed on as an armaments chief with the American Volunteer Group fighting the Japanese in China. They were better known as Cmdr. Claire Chennault’s Flying Tigers.
“I wanted adventure and it was an adventure,” Poshefko said. “I was single, I was interested in seeing China, and the war and combat was something that came on in an instant.
“We had good discipline, good friendship and (were) very family-oriented.”
Poshefko spent 30 days crossing the Pacific aboard the Dutch freighter Jaegersfontein. He landed in Singapore, trained at a British base in Rangoon and went into combat at Kunming Air Field in China. He was assigned to Hells Angels of the third squadron.
The P-40 fighters flown by the Flying Tigers became universally recognized by the shark face painted on the cone. Poshefko doesn’t know who produced the first shark plane, but it was adopted by the Flying Tigers’ three squadrons; Adam & Eves, Panda Bears and Hells Angels.
“Some guy came up with the idea to paint one and the old man kind of liked it, so he had them all painted,” Poshefko said, referring to Chennault. “I thought they looked great, it was the right look for the combination of Army, Navy and Marine pilots we had.”
While American and British forces were on the run throughout the Pacific after Pearl Harbor, the Flying Tigers were winning in China. Poshefko armed the P-40s that prevailed against the Mitsubishi Zero in dogfights over Kunming and Kweilin.
Through desperate innovation, Poshefko converted the P-40s into dive-bombers during the battle of the Salween River Gorge, America’s first land victory in the Pacific.
Chennault’s air tactics were the key to the Flying Tigers’ success. Chennault was the darling of the newsreels who became bigger than life when he was portrayed by John Wayne in the movie “Flying Tigers.”
“Chennault was a great man and he lived up to his word,” Poshefko said. “His tactics were far beyond what the military had at that time.
“Our military did not care for him, but we did.”
By Poshefko’s count, there are five Flying Tigers still alive. The rest are in the historical hangar containing the fallen of Verdun and Shiloh and Breed’s Hill. Poshefko was part of a unique group that did good things during bad times in a distant place.
They were the Flying Tigers.