The Boy from Poplar

It was like a tour of O.D. duty--not fun, but necessary. Snub-nosed, wavy-haired Lightning Pilot Richard Ira Bong, one of the U.S.'s two top aces./- was on exhibition in Washington, and he took it that way, self-possessed, as a well-bred 23-year-old should be.

The ex-farm boy and choir singer from Poplar,Wis. described his 27th and last kill to newsmen as casually as he met the high-rankers of the Air Forces who shook his hand. That day, he had been fighting so long over the Pacific that the over-heated barrels of his guns had warped. All he could do was blaze away and hope that his wildly flying bullets would hit something.

He put his Lightning on the tail of a Jap fighter, bored in and chased the Jap down to the water. "The guy tried to turn, but his wing dug into the water." He crashed. "I guess he was scared," said Major Bong.

With the air of a man stating a fact familiar to all, Dick Bong said that he had never been "a very hot shooter." He was assigned to go to school now to learn deflection shooting, which he would teach to new pilots. He made it clear that he did not think highly of the Air Forces system of gunnery instruction.

A worried public relations officer broke in, to put more tactful words in the hero's mouth. Bong accepted the amendment, but everyone could see that he was not particularly interested in public relations. His private opinion had been expressed.

Anyhow, he was out of combat now. Lieut. General George Kenney had said so. Why? "I guess he didn't want to see me killed."

/-The other: Captain Robert Johnson, 24, Eighth Air Force Thunderbolt pilot, momenta rily expected home on leave.

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