Joe McPhail

Joe McPhail
Born	10 October 1921 Grand Saline, Texas

Joe McPhail was a US Marine Corps Aviation pilot during WWII and the Korean war. He first went overseas into VMF-441 in Wildcats, not doing much during that time. He then participated in VFMA-323, the Death Rattlers. After WWII ended he was called up into VMFA-214, the Black Sheep Squadron, during the Korean War.

Video link to the interview here: https://archive.org/details/img-2527_202310

https://americanwarriors.com/project/joe-mcphail/

https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.94714/

https://ww2fighters.blogspot.com/2016/04/profile-118-finishedyessir-as-flown-by.html

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1955564824516896

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4SL-5P3

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4L4C-GCMM

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4LLM-YKZM

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XGB-MGWT

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K43F-XH6

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HFX7-9PZ

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15566052/claydie-mae-phelps

Before birth

1910 - Birth of sister

In 1910 Joe's sister was born.

1917 - Second older brother born

In 1917 Joe's other future brother was born.

Childhood

10 October 1921 Birth in Grand Saline

Joe McPhail was born to his parents Homer and Fanny McPhail on 10 October 1921 in the small town of Grand Saline, a place in Van Zandt County in East Texas, which sat on Highway 80 between Dallas and Freeport, and had a population of around 1200. Joe was named without a middle name, so his full name was just Joe McPhail.

At that time, Joe's sister, who had been born in 1910, was already 11 at the time. Their mother worked in the house, no external job. His father was a Railroad Commissioner, and so had to travel a lot.

1921 to 1937 - Living in Grand Saline

Between when Joe was born and in 1937 him and his family lived in Grand Saline. In school he wasn't a very good student, not very good in the way that he didn't do well on grades, assignments, and such. He always had trouble remembering things in High School as well, was a bad test taker that sort of thing. It was because of these experiences that he personally wasn't very fond of school. Despite this he didn't get into much trouble in school, tried to be honest and doing what he thought was the right thing. He did have some friends at school however.

His dad on the other hand was a groceryman, and worked for a company in Grand Saline. At the time he also ran for the Van Zandt County Tax Assessor-Collector. He then was elected as Tax Assessor-Collector for four years. After that he had a grocery store and stayed in it for a while. This would have been within the time that they were in both Grand Saline and Tyler.

Even though his father was involved in political business, Joe himself then and going forward didn't have any particular political opinions.

Christmases and other holidays for the McPhails

At the time of festivities the McPhails celebrated Christmas. For them the holiday was a pretty big deal for them. They got their tree from places that grew pine trees, and always got presents for the tree. Joe wished for guns, fishing equipment, things like that.

For the Fourth of July they didn't do much. They used some fireworks but that was just about it.

1929 - Great Depression begins

In 1929 the Great Depression began. It hit the McPhails making things pretty tough for them. They didn't have a lot of money and would from now on make the ends meet. While their father was Tax Assessor-Collector, he owned a Chevrolet which had wheels on the fenders, kind of two extras of them. Him and his family wouldn't travel far in them, never went outside of Texas given the size of the state.

1930 - Younger brother born

In 1930 Joe's younger brother Gale (?) was born, 20 years since their older brother was born. This made a total of four children, one girl, and three boys.

When Joe was 9 years of age, he wasn't very much involved in any of the New Deal Programs initiated by FDR. He didn't really think about the war that was going on outside of the country either.

1937 - Moving to Tyler

In the year 1937, since Homer had a cousin who was pretty big into county politics, he decided to get into county business and go work for his cousin. Therefore that year the McPhails moved to Tyler in Texas. There Joe stayed and would remain there for the remainder of his time in high school and graduated from there.

Moving from Grand Saline Joe did miss some friends that he had there

Joe had a brother and a sister, Hugh McPhail and Claydmine McPhail.

Joe remembers that his father was a hard worker, and how he would kill the hog (that they presumably had) in the fall, to Joe it was good seeing the hog meat you got out of it. As for his mother, she was a home body, didn't do much else, cooked good food though. His siblings though were quite a bit older than he was and so Joe always looked up to them. Despite them being siblings they never bothered each other, never getting in any particular fights.

In Tyler at school Joe had some friends. One of which that it seemed he counted was his cousin Lloyd Ray who was also living in Tyler and a little younger than Joe was.

While in Tyler Joe liked to play sports, in particular or at least one of them being Baseball. He played as First Baseman and him and his team didn't really get far in competing against other ones, mainly just playing locally. He wasn't really good at it, but still enjoyed it. One of the main reasons that he played was because there wasn't much else to do around.

Another source of entertainment that they had there was fishing which Joe liked to do. The biggest thing he ever caught was an 11 lbs Black Bass in Tyler.

Joe never was someone to get into mischevious things and get in trouble.

Outside of school Joe had some neighbors and friends that he and his family would hang out with. There were these neighbors they were good friends with that they would play Baseball, fished and all that with, known by their name the Sheppards.

As for other entertainment, from Joe's perspective they didn't have a radio. The local newspaper that they had was the Tyler Morning Telegraph, and Joe at some point picked up the job of delivering this newspaper around to people, and he wasn't paid too much since it was during the times of the Great Depression. Joe even had the job (and maybe this was before in Grand Saline as well) to mow lawns.

Important to Joe's future, there was an airfield nearby where he lived, Tyler Pounds Field. There he started his experience watching planes and beginning his interest in them.

Adulthood

10 October 1939 - Becoming 18 years old

On 10 October 1939, Joe would have turned 18 years old, becoming an adult.

Before June 1939 - Graduating from High School and moving to Corpus Christi

Before summer 1941, Joe graduated from High School, or Junior College, in 1939 in Tyler. His father had gone to work by this time as being a worker of the state, specifically a Railroad Commissioner, and so he was sent to be at Corpus Christi. After graduating High School therefore the family began moving to Corpus After he graduated Joe went into Junior College. While in Junior College Joe, because Naval Air Station Corpus Christi was nearby, he saw many different guys in uniform in and around town. It was that and probably some other reasons that convinced him that he wanted to be a pilot.

Between June 1939 and June 1941 - Completing sixty hours of college

Between graduating from High School in 1939 and Summer 1941, Joe would have completed sixty hours worth of college.

1940 - Death of Joe's father

In the year 1940, at the age of 53 years, Joe's father passed away. He had cancer but Joe and others think that they had Tuberculosis (TB), but then they didn't really know much about Cancer.

June to July 1941 - Spending time in Civilian Pilot Training

The summer after Joe graduated from junior college, Joe decided to enroll into Civilian Pilot Training, called and abbreviated as CPT by Joe. He specifically enrolled into the one in Tyler. CPT was a government program that Joe enjoyed because he got exposed to planes for the first time and got to fly for about thirty to fourty hours that summer. He would fly Piper J-3 Cubs, which were tail draggers. The plane was pretty primitive, you had to spin the prop to start it, like an old automobile. It didn't have any breaks, and so Joe and the other pilots would taxi back up and park up kind of on a hill. At CPT Joe had an instructor named Frinefruk (which was his last name). He also had a friend he either knew or met there at CPT named John Ralphus.

During that time he really got hooked into flying and so wanting to continue, knew that he wanted to be an aviator and liked to fly. It was after he was done with CPT in Tyler he went down to Corpus.

At first decided to go into the Navy at the time to be a Navy pilot, because Naval Air Station Corpus Christi (NAS Corpus Christi) was nearby. Having seen all the guys in uniform back since high school also contributed to his thinking that joining the Navy would be for him. He had also asked if he could be a fighter pilot. However he discovered that in 1941 the Navy required that you be 20 years of age as well as have sixty hours of college. He did indeed have already the sixty hours of college, but wasn't 20 yet. That would require him to wait for his birthday that year of 10 October 1941.

10 October 1941 - Turning 20 years old

On 10 October Joe finally turned 20 years old and so was now able to join the Navy. Because he volunteered to join up, Joe never received a draft number. Joe's mother didn't resist when he enlisted, wasn't upset about it. It wasn't because he was the oldest brother .

18 October 1941 - Official join date of the US Military

On 18 October 1941, eight days after turning 20, Joe was sworn into the Navy in downtown Dallas, at Naval Air Station Dallas. There he became a Weekend Warrior. John Ralphus and some other guys would also follow Joe from CPT into NAS Dallas. At this time Joe and John were together quite a bit and good friends. It is assumed that after some time he left Dallas and went back home.

Before or during 4 December 1941 - Being called up to NAS Dallas again

Sometime before or during 4 December, Joe was called up to come back up to NAS Dallas. The language used in the sources here aren't totally clear, was he called up on exactly 4 December or was he called to be at NAS Dallas by 4 December?

4 December 1941 - Arriving to NAS Dallas

On Thursday 4 December 1941 Joe would have arrived to NAS Dallas to start Flight School. It is presumed that John Ralphus also joined NAS Dallas on this date or around this date. When he was there he was a Seaman Second Class. His pay at this time in Dallas was $36 a month.

But then as Aviation cadet he would make 75 dollars, he had money he couldn't really buy or even spend on much around, no place to spend it.

At this time there was no indication or sign that could be seen of an imminent war with the United States. Neither Joe nor anyone else believed something was going to happen.

7 December 1941 - News of the attack on Pearl Harbor

Around 1200

Around noon on Sunday 7 December 1941, three days after Joe had just arrived to NAS Dallas, Joe and the other people at the base heard the news about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Upon hearing the news Joe thought to himself:

Well, got myself in a mess here

Specifically he was thinking about getting in in time for war. Most people didn't even know where Pearl Harbor was. In any case, Joe and the others were ordered to start patrolling the perimeter from then on around the Air Station. Despite being given this role, they weren't given any bullets. All they were doing were walking the fence line patrolling, without a mean to defend themselves.

After 7 December 1941

After Pear Harbor, Joe remained at NAS Dallas for only a short period of time. In any case, the base continued to maintain security, as they were afraid that the Japanese Americans would rise up against them. As such they stayed busy at the base. There were two Marine Sergeants who had an influence on McPhail, who thought that they were taking care of the aviation cadets.

NAS Dallas, for the men that were there along with Joe, called it "E Base" or "Elimination Base", due to the fact that the people above them wanted to see if you could fly before sending them to NAS Corpus Christi. During this time they were testing the cadets' capabilities as a pilot. Unlike Joe, there weren't many cadets that participated in CPT, and so Joe had a rung up there above almost everyone else, so it was pretty easy for him.

For the flying part, Joe and the others weren't flying Piper Cubs like at CPT, but instead N3Ns which were built by the Naval Aircraft Factory, which didn't make too many planes. N3Ns were older models that were steel fabric biplanes with open twin cockpit trainer biplanes as well as tail draggers. Joe thought that they were good planes and pretty easy to fly. He could do acrobatics with it, loops, rolls, things like that. They had big wings, and a stick instead of a wheel for control. They were apparently not actually using it for training. .

The most complicated maneuver that Joe had ever done was such: You would wheel the plane up to the top in the air, then roll over at the top of the loop, and pull a lot of G's in the process.

During this time of training there weren't really any incidents, Joe himself didn't have any accidents. Others did have accidents. There were some guys that had ground loop.

As for life there, to Joe it was pretty regular. As a reaction to the attack on Pearl Harbor everyone was anxious to get overseas, including Joe. They did have a dislike for the Japanese people, they kind of thought that they did Pearl Harbor and that it was wrong for them to have done it. During the war the Japanese-Americans were interned. For Joe and others it wasn't really a big deal, they had them in camps and so him and others never did get involved with them .

After he started flying, getting his four hours in, Joe got a $18 raise from his $36 a month, to $54, a 50% increase in salary.

Going to Corpus Christi

When Joe was transferred to Corpus for more training, he was made an Aviation Cadet from a Seaman Second Class. He started flying Stearman planes, which he thought were big and strong. He flew a lot of different kinds of planes then. A flying day for the generally consisted of first going to grad school for half a day, and then fly half a day. But they had a syllabus they would go through, start out elementary things, then do more complicated things. Joe liked doing Acrobatics, seeing it as fun for him. He thought the experience at Corpus was pretty interesting in of itself. As an Aviation Cadet at Corpus he would now make $75, and despite now having money, he couldn't really buy much of anything as there wasn't much stuff or places around to spend it.

He would fly the Stearmans at Broadfield, then move on to flying Cabinets. Eventually he got to fly a Vought OS2U Kingfisher, a first line observational plane, which the Navy even had on cruisers, in which they would catapult them off and recover them with a sled like thing to then reel it in. In the OS2U he even got to do some water landings. They also had landing planks too, fixed landing gear, but Joe thought it was pretty neat. One time Joe in the Kingfisher climbed all the way to 9,000ft in altitude. He thought to himself:

Boy is this something!

After being in the Kingfisher he went through instruments school. At that time he decided that he wanted to fly fighters. Unfortunately, everyone wanted to fly fighters. He was told that the Marine Corps was the best place to go for that, and believed it, especially of the fact that the Marine Corps didn't have as many scout planes as the Navy did. He figured that that was the cheapest way to get into fighters, let them pay for it. That is why he chose to switch over into the Marine Corps.

October 1942 - Getting his wings

In October 1942, after ten months of training, Joe finished his training and got his wings afterwards. This was the time that he officially transferred from the Navy to the Marine Corps, all it being was a paper transfer, no formality of anything like that. As such he went to Opa-Lacka Air Station in Miami, Florida for what they called Pre-operationals training. There they flew what the Navy called SNJs and what the USAAF called AT-6s. He had, however, flown these in Kingsville during fighter training.

At Opa-Locka they conducted Field Carrier Landing Practice, abbreviated as FCLP, as if going aboard carriers. It was a different kind of landing than they were used to. They did fly other planes, the N2. Joe got to fly what they were calling the F2A, known as the Brewster Buffalo. He thought it was kind of a weird plane. It didn't have a hydraulic system, and as such there were six to seven ways to get the landing gear down. One of such ways was to use the pair of dykes on board to cut the cable, which was the last resort, if the crank wasn't working.

December 1942 - Going to San Diego, California

In December, Joe and John were transferred to NAS North Island, San Diego, California to wait to go overseas. There John, being his good friend, was Joe's roommate at the place they were staying. The whole West Coast was locked down. Joe and others would go into town, be tourists, and to Joe it was pretty. To him he thought that everybody was ready to be behind the war effort, especially in the West Coast. In San Diego there were blackouts, as well as guards posted around the city. Joe and others (within his unit) had to have ID cards to get in and out of the base. At the time they never heard of the Battle of Los Angeles.

While there at North Island they were training to get in some time in planes. There there were even some Piper Cubs that they got to fly.

- 4:00 They had problems with the first the "oly O's" had aall air ratio and it hit bounce and the british solved that problem thats the reason the Marine Corps got them the Navy didn't want to they were having trouble.

I was at North Island in San Diego in December 42, and they were bouncing the Corsair there field carrier landing, they were having so much trouble they were saying we don't want them. And they got the Hellcat the Navy did and so but the guy, friend of mine guy in the Navy and he flew both of them and he said you know the Corsair was abetter flying airplane, but if I was going to be shot at I rather be in a hellcat.

January 1943 - Going overseas

Finally Joe and John were able to go overseas in January 1943, the first destination, the town of Pago Pago, American Samoa, deep in the Pacific, where they would join Marine Fighter Squadron 441 (VMF-441), which was operating Grumman F4F Wildcats in which Joe would fly in. The Wildcat was a plane which had only about a 1000 Horsepower with its Pratt Whitney 1830 Engine. The plane also didn't have a hydraulic system, you had to crank the gear up and crank it to get it down. You had to charge the guns with a cable that ran out to the guns in the wings. As such he thought it was a pretty primitive plane. Joe really thought that the Wildcat, despite its problems, could be tough on the ground, especially if you were caught in a crosswind. On Samoa, there was one time that Joe grounded a Wildcat on takeoff.

January 1943 to March 1944 - Being overseas

For the next 13 to 14 months, the job of 441 then and from then on forward was to help keep Japanese off of different islands in the area in the Pacific, to keep them from penetrating further south. They had already gone to the Marshall and Gilbert Islands, the Philippines, among others. Despite this, they didn't get in any action, and so Joe and the job of others was to continue training, this time in the Wildcats. Joe had gone overseas with one of his friends, John Ralphus, who was also part of 441.

Joe and the other members of the squadron formed a good bond, were good friends with one another, all doing the same thing. One of the officers that was in 441 Squadron was a guy by the name of Rared Shaeffer, who was a Texan. There were some pictures that had been taken of the squadron during their time overseas.

Eventually Joe and the squadron were transferred to the island of Funafuti. The island was 700 miles south of Tarawa which was being currently occupied by the Japan. Because of the distance they realized that the Wildcats couldn't really reach Tarawa and come back, and so in the air at that time Joe didn't see any Japanese planes. It would have been a one way mission attempting to do so, and so they never tried, and so never encountered or got entagled with a Japanese plane. Despite this they were technically still in combat. With all this they were kind of disappointed they weren't getting into any action, as meanwhile everyone else was out in engagements. In August 1943 the Guadalcanal Campaign began and they were sending planes over there.

The Japanese sometimes bombed them at night on Funafuti. The first time for Joe it was kind of scary, as there wasn't much they could do, other than getting into a foxhole and just had to tolerate it until it was over. The squadron didn't have any anti-air guns and so weren't able to compete with the Japanese who would come down to bomb them at night. Fortunately no one was harmed as far as Joe knew. His plane however did get destroyed and so they had to send in a new one, he never would really try to have any personal connection or relationship to his planes.

The 441 eventually went up to Nanumea, only 500 miles from Tarawa. It was a pretty primitive island. At first when they landed there they didn't have any accomodations, everything being pretty open, and so they'd eat outside with the lack of a mess hall. Eventually though they got to building some stuff.

Even from there there was no way for the Wildcat to go to Tarawa and back, it would be essentially a one-way mission. Therefore their mission remained to keep the Japanese from getting it.

At some point Joe had asked someone what the depth of the ocean was, thinking that he could maybe just walk on it.

Joe blacked out from pulling too many G's at one point during this time overseas. It happened during flight in mid air, but thankfully he was high enough to regain consciousness.

There was one memorable time that Joe had in the Wildcat in 441. One of the things that they practiced on was by having someone towing a banner for someone to fire upon. In order to get the sleet in the air, the reserve fuel tanks were dropped to lighten the load. One day Joe was towing the banner for someone else and the person fired on it. Having done this Joe missed the island (assuming because he didn't have the extra fuel to get back). Funafuti wasn't a big island, but they were finally able to get in touch with radar when he was 80 miles past, so they knew he was coming in and so started sending out planes to look for him. Joe knew they weren't going to make it back, turned around to head in that direction, and were able to get within 20 miles of the island. After running out of fuel he had to land in the water. The water was terrible and rought, probably 15 ft waves, although it wasn't, cold, but was warm. His plane stalled out and hit a wave. He had that shoulder harness on so tight that he couldn't breathe and his nose hit the Wildcat's gunsight right in front of it. He then unhooked everything, jumped into the water and inflated his Mae West. As soon as the plane hit the water there was an automatic one man life raft, which was about the full length of his arms, that came out behind the pilot and inflated. It had a lanyard/string on it connected to the plane, and when the plane sank after 45 seconds of hitting the water, it flipped the raft upside down. He lost his fishhooks, paddles, and everything, but was able to ride it get it. For an hour and a half the planes came by but weren't able to see him. He finally put dye marker in the water every time that a plane passed by, unfortunately the big waves not helping, creating a current that would turn it into a little green string or thin line in the big Pacific. It didn't help either how small his raft was compared to the vast area around. Going back to his question he pondered to someone if he could walk on the ocean floor, it was in reality about 1,200 feet away from him.

For three long hours he was in the Pacific ocean. Eventually a PT boat was sent out to pick him up. They found Joe, and he tried to get himself onto the boat, but had a hard time doing it, as Joe was down and they were up.

February to March 1944 - End of first tour overseas

After staying with 441 for thirteen to fourteen months, with around 40 combat missions, Joe went back to the mainland United States. He came back with John and the two began instructing in a fighter training unit (squadron) in El Toro, California, and then Jacksonville, Florida. At the time Joe was a Captain. One day, they and assuming others were in the ready room, and they were told that they needed two Captains to go overseas. Joe said:

Well, we're ready

He was indicating that him and John were both ready to go overseas. John felt the same way as Joe did and was ready to go too.

March 1944 - Becoming a Captain and going back home

In March 1944 Joe was promoted to the rank of Captain. At that time the squadron was scheduled for being rotated out of overseas service, and so he also was able to go back home after about a year. WHen they got back to California the squadron dispersed.

March 1944 to January 1945 - Instructing and training in the Corsair

Between the time that he came back and the time that he went back overseas, Joe went to go instructing in a training squadron in El Toro. For him it was good duty right there on the coast, always there being plenty of liberty action, freedom to do some stuff, by that time the restrictions in California having been alleviated. This was probably training of new pilots and such given his job.

In any case at this time was when Joe first got into the F4U Corsair. Instead of training in Wildcats they began training in the Corsairs. He thought it was a good plane. Not as breakable as the Wildcat. While training in the plane they conducted live ordinance trainings. They practiced with Rockets, Napalm, .50 calibre guns, 1000lbs bombs, all what seemed to be pretty destructive.

January 1945 - Going overseas a second time

In January 1945, Joe and John went overseas for the second time. Unfortunately for the two good friends of Joe and John, they went into two separate squadrons. Despite this they would keep in touch with each other. Joe now went to a new Marine Fighter Squadron in the New Hebrides, specifically an island called Espiritu Santo. This squadron, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323, known as the "Death Rattlers", which had 51 pilots, had been overseas already for six months, since around July to August 1944. They all knew that they were going to Okinawa.

Since John and Joe were new to the squadron, they would not be able to fly the planes to Okinawa, or on the way there, unlike the more veteran members of the squadron. They had to take an LST to get there. They departed from Espiritu Santo, 500 miles east of Guadalcanal, en route to Okinawa.

For the Okinawa Joe and the rest of the squadron got Corsairs to fly. Compared to the Wildcat's Pratty Whitney R-1830 engine with only 1000 horsepower, the Corsair had 2000 Horsepower with its Pratt Whitney R-2800 engine, a lot more powerful, making a good flying plane in Joe's opinion. Unlike the Wildcat the Corsair had a hydraulic system, where you charged the guns, raised the wings, and even raised the gear hydraulically.

March to April 1945 - Trip overseas

The trip took 38 days, about a month and a half. He must have thought what a heck of a way it was for an aviator to get into the war, as for him it was a long ride. Had he flown there, he would have only taken a couple days.

1 April 1945 - The invasion of Okinawa

On 1 April, the US invasion of Okinawa began. The US forces didn't have much opposition. At this point the US was down to opposing a bunch of little islands in the Pacific. Joe was there while the invasion was happening. He thought that he saw the most amount of ships ever seen his his life. Other than that, they weren't able to get up to the beach, and so had to sit out there waiting to be able to land on the island.

7 April 1945 - Joe lands on Okinawa

After waiting for six days to get onto the island, on 7 April Joe was finally able to get on the beach. Everything that was set up there by the US military was seen by him as pretty primitive. There were still men working on the runways, the airplanes still hadn't shown up yet, and they were living in tents and ate out of their mess kits as there was no mess hall, just had to do it outside. The flies and everything were so bad. The airfield that their squadron squadron was based out of and flew out of was Kadena Air Base.

12 April 1945 - Joe's first flight out of Okinawa

On 12 April Joe finally got to fly out of Okinawa. He was three out of three divisions with 12 planes in his squadron.

Him and other planes climbed to an altitude of 20,000 to 22,000 to feet. They were up there looking for planes. Finally the Fighter Director vectored the group North. There were some veteran members of the squadron that were saying that there were some Bogeys. Joe could only see some clouds and didn't see anything else. He then proceeded to look down real low below him and saw a blue colored airplane chasing some brown airplane. He said:

Well, I'm gonna go check him out.

Joe took his plane down 2,000 feet, in which he now had four Zeros in front of his eyes. He picked the Tail end Charlie and shot at him. He wasn't thinking of hurting anyone in that plane, but pieces started coming off from the rear plane and the zero blew up, while Joe passed him. He put his stick at full throtle. He now thinks that there's three Japanese planes behind him and thinks:

Well gosh there's three zeros behind me I better get out of here.

He rolled his Corsair over and started down, reaching compressibility, in which his airframe couldn't take going faster down, but stayed resulting in his stick starting to jump around. He finally pulled out at about 9,000 feet. He then said:

I was going home

He then proceeded back to base. For Joe it was an exciting experience. He thought to himself:

Well this is what I have been looking for a long time.

13 April 1945 - Second Flight out of Okinawa

The day after his first flight, on Joe's second flight out of Okinawa, they took off and there were a bunch of Japanese planes letting down from their altitude, therefore were coming down at a faster speed than Joe and the others were. He tried shooting them but didn't get any hits. He managed to get in behind one and tried to shoot him, however the pilot evaded him. Despite this most of the Japanese pilots at this time were inexperienced.

April to June 1945

May 1945 - Shooting down a Nate

On another mission at Okinawa Joe had another encounter. He spotted a lone Ki-27 Nate, a fix geared Japanese plane, which was flying at about 1,000 feet from the water, and was acting as a Kamikaze (which were coming from Japan and they were always on the lookout for them), for set course somewhere to never go back, and so Joe was going to make sure that he stayed down. Joe came in, the Nate completely oblivious it seemed to Joe's presence, and was shot down. The Nate, not going up in flames but exploding, just rolled over and went down into the ocean, there was no dogfight. That was Joe's second kill..

The squadron's kills

During the April, May, and June months, the squadron shot down a total of 124 planes. In total throughout the Okinawa campaign Joe had 100 combat missions, adding to his already 40 the first time. In total Joe shot down two planes during those missions, one a Zero, the other one a Nate. Joe had a lot of friends that were aces with five kills, but the chance was never given to him. Back then it wasn't easy to get a kill for a pilot. Joe thinks that the highest victory count in the squadron was 12 kills. He remembers a guy named "O'Kief", Irish name, who shot down around 7 planes. There was always the guarantee that once you came back to base from a mission and reported your kills that they would add another marking on the side of your plane indicating a kill. For Joe there wasn't any kind of personal celebration that he got a kill each time.

The Squadron itself did loose some of its members (from being killed). For Joe and others they were sad to see them go.

During the time at Okinawa they had Forward Air Controllers on the ground, who were aviators directing artillery and airplanes. As such Joe was providing Close Air Support for the troops on the ground. While conducting these missions Joe and the other members of his squadron carried, 500 lbs bombs, Napalm, Rockets, .50 Calibre guns, 650 Caliber guns, 2400 rounds. As such they were each able to do a lot of damage. They did so by talking to a Fighter Director on the ground instructing the pilot where to hit. If Joe scored a hit the Fighter Director would tell him that he did something good. He scored a hit probably about 3 times. It wasn't an easy task as you had to know where it was going. The Japanese on the ground did ever try to shoot him, what seemed to be a 20mm from generally open areas, however not once did he get hit. They did a lot of CAS on Okinawa, and Joe was happy to do it as he was able to help the guys on the ground, and thinks that that's what the Marine Corps needed, some support from the air.

In Joe's and others' mind, there was no doubt who was going to win the war. They knew that they were going to win and had confidence in themselves that they would achieve victory.

Joe did write letters home, however there wasn't anything special in their contents. It was mostly just the average "How were you doing" sort of thing. He didn't know how long it took to get the letter home.

15 June 1945 - Leaving Okinawa

On 15 June Joe and presumably the other Death Rattlers left Okinawa. They were transferred to the island of Peleliu from then on. At Peleliu they had Joe and the other members of the squadron flying on missions not with bombs or other ordinance but as patrols. They didn't know whether or not the Japanese were ever going to quit.

6 August 1945 - First use of the atomic bomb

On 6 August 1945, the United States dropped their first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima in Japan. While on Peleliu, Joe heard about the news and they all knew about it. Up until this point there was no kind of indication that the United States was building the atomic bomb. At the time they were stopping any ordinance from being dropped by the planes on Japan, but kept on flying some. Despite this, Joe knew that something was up. Despite the bomb there was no kind of residue or anything coming their way. Hearing about the atomic bomb made him realize the enormity of it. Everyone was happy that it happened, maybe this would end the war they thought.

2 September 1945 - Surrender of Japan

On 2 September, the news spread out of that the Surrender of Japan was being signed, and so the war was ending. The people reacted by celebrating some on Peleliu. They claimed that on Okinawa that even some guys were injured celebrating firing guns, bullets going up they gotta go down.

In total throughout the course of the war, Joe flew 140 missions.

During or after September - Getting back home

After the war was over Joe was trying to get back home in the United States. He went from Peleliu to Guam, naturally wanting to fly home but wasn't able to. Therefore they waited around for about two weeks, put the group on a ship, this time not an LST, but instead a troop transport. He felt that it was a pretty nice trip, not too bad.

12 October 1945 - Arriving back to San Diego

On 12 October, on Columbus Day, Joe arrived back to San Diego, California. When they arrived there, Joe saw that there was a big airship that said:

Welcome

on it. He thought it was neat that they had that. Other than that there wasn't much of a welcome home, the people there had settled down by then.

October 1945 and after - Going back home to see family, and going Cherry Point, NC

After that Joe and the others went back home to see family. The local people reacted to people like Joe by wanting to know what was happening overseas. Joe got to talk to the Boy Scouts and at Church. Despite going back home and such, Joe was actually still in the military.

Before August 1946 - Being stationed in Puerto Rico and coming back

After that Joe went to the East Coast, specifically to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point at Havelock, North Carolina. From there Joe got into an Infantry outfit that was bound to San Juan, Puerto Rico. In this outfit Joe was assigned as a Forward Air Controller, specifically because he was an aviator, and they wanted aviators to direct planes and artillery. Having heard they wanted aviators on the ground, he didn't want to go, as he wanted to be flying, but was made as a Forward Air Controller anyways.

Before getting there, they wanted Joe and others to take salt tablets due to it being hot and sweaty. He took a couple of them, and proceeded to throw up. He thought that maybe it was too much salt or something like that. They made landing in Puerto Rico and Joe had to go down the rope ladders and that kind of business.

They stayed in Puerto Rico for about a month, then went back to Cherry Point.

1 August 1946 - Getting off of Cherry Point

On 1 August 1946 Joe was able to finally get off of the base at Cherry Point. That day he encountered the Dispersing Officer (also known as the paymaster), who told Joe:

You know if you go fly four hours, I'll give you flight pay

Joe, obviously wanting this flight pay, responded:

I'll be back

He went to get the four hours done, and came back to get his pay, around $120. Then he left Cherry Point.

September 1946 - Enrollment into SMU

After getting of Cherry Point, Joe enrolled into Southern Methodist University in September 1946. Whilst being in school he received some correspondances from the Marine Corps about flight pay. It seemed to him that they really wanted him back, as they put that he wasn't entitled to it. He decided to not give it back to them, thinking that he was gonna show them.

Sometime 1948 - Marriage

Sometime in 1948 Joe became married.

August 1948 - Finishing studies at SMU

In August 1948, Joe finished getting his Business BBA degree at SMU. Although he was still in the reserve at the time, he wasn't going back into the Marines full time at the time. Therefore he had to find a job, and had a tough time at that, but was able to find a drilling company in Northwest Colorado. Being there, it was terribly cold, not a job really suited for his degree he had.

Fortunately Joe's family somehow knew this partner that owned one of the 32:32 partners?, and he said:

Well this accountant that was going to leave, and maybe you can go up there and everything work out.

Afterwards Joe went to work in Tyler, his mother still living there. At the Ford Dealership, a guy John Young Ford. There, Joe did accounting, credit work, among other things.

May 1950 - Getting into reserve squadron in Dallas

In May 1950 Joe got into a reserve squadron in Dallas (probably NAS Dallas), and so got to fly at this time.

June 1950 - Beginning of the Korean War

In June 1950, the Korean War began.

1 August 1950 - Called up to join the conflict

On 1 August 1950 Joe and his squadron were called up. Joe was ready to finally get back into the cockpit. Him and other people, in Joe's mind, were honorable people. They wanted to win and protect the country.

August to October 1950 - Training for the war

For two or three weeks they stayed in Dallas and then went to El Toro, California. There he stayed at Laguna Beach Hotel, which he thought was a nice place. It was 12 miles from the base and so they had a bus to go from there and back. At the hotel they had a pool and other kinds of things like that, nice stuff for the time. There they did even more training, specifically some instruments training. At El Toro he became friends with a guy named Bowland, who was from California, and who was training with him. They even went down to El Centro, which was kind of in the Imperial Valley of California. There they did some training in some Wildcats. They didn't have any Corsairs as they were overseas, the thing that they were really going to fly for the war.

This whole time Joe's wife went along with him to these places. She was also expecting to deliver a child, so went back and stayed with Joe's mother, assumingly in Tyler, driving back by herself.

October 1950 - Going to Korea

In October 1950 Joe and his squadron went overseas to Korea. That month he reported to Wonasn, North Korea. Joe was part of VFMA-214, the Black Sheep Squadron.A typical flying there was about two and a half to three hours, sometimes longer. During these missions they were bombers, taking ordinance and bombing something. They would go on what was called an Armored Reconnaissance Mission, flying up over roads looking for anything they had. Him and the members of his squadron were told that everything north is free game. Joe was fired upon, not many times hit though, as he was too fast. He could see the orange balls coming up at him. The goal, at least for Joe, was to have 100 missions. During those missions not once was he ever shot down, felt blessed about it.

What gave him satisfaction was conducting CAS, as he felt it was helping the guys on the ground. Like at Okinawa, in Korea they also had Forward Air Controllers.

During his time there Bob Hope, part of the USO, flew into Wonsan, and the Marines landed at Incheon on the West Coast of the Korean Penninsula and had to come around to land at Wonsan. They hadn't cleared the harbor of the mines and so they set out there for about two weeks. Bob Hope flew in and so kids the Marines saying:

I had to get Wonsan ready for them.

Joe had never actually gotten to see Bob Hope during his time in Korea.

Most memorable day in Korea, 150 planes attacking Sinuiju North Korea

Joe's most memorable day in Korea was when he was involved on a mission with 150 planes going up to attack Sinuiju, North Korea. Sinuiju was on the Yalu River, and it was thought that the enemy was building an airstrip there. The Airforce, Marines, and Navy were all involed in different altitudes. Joe and others went up to 15,000 feet with a 1000 lb bomb which had a Variable Time Fuse (VT fuse), in which anything would set it off. Once it was armed it would arm, fall 1000 feet for example, and anything such as an airplane would set it off.

They went in at 15,000 feet and dropped the bomb. Joe thought it was pretty exciting, as he could also see the MiGs take off at Anton Airport in Manchuria at the Yalu River coming after Joe and the other planes. There was no concussion from the bomb as it exploded too far away. Seeing all the MiGs take off that day along with the 150 planes, a lot of manpower he thought, he was among made it a memorable day.

November to December 1950 - At Yonpo

During the Battle of the Chosin Resevoir, Joe and his squadron went to be stationed at Yonpo Air Base, nearby Hamhung. Because of where they were at, which was at 5,000 ft in altitude the planes didn't do quite as well on the ground, the higher you went the worse it got. The guys had it a tough time at the Resevoir, all disabled in some way, just mauled from the weather and freeze. They didn't have the right equipment either.

Joe and his squadron didn't have air to air, but they did a lot of Close Air Support.

After December 1950 - Aboard the carrier Sicily

Afterwards, 214 was assigned to being aboard the USS Sicily. Unfortunately they were told that the squadron wasn't carrier qualified, and so were sent to Japan to get carrier qualified. He was still flying a Corsair when they were flying off of the Sicily.

For a while they flew out of Japan when they got run out of North Korea. When he was in Japan on R and R, and he would go withdraw my money and they had taken that flight pay out of my pay.

July 1951 - Ten months over

After ten months, and 102 missions being completed, Joe got out of 214. He was put into what was called a Group and Joe was a Briefing Officer briefing flights before they went. He did that until it was time for him to go back home.

In total, Joe had around 242 missions with Korea and WWII combined, got two planes shot down, a zero and a Nate. He had a total of 1025 hours of flight in the Corsair, never had an accident or anything. He also had flown a total of 4000 hours during the wars. As such Joe was pretty well impressed with it and its power. He at some point before or after got wind of the fact that the Japanese called the Corsair "the Whistling Death".

Out of all that experience he was most proud of the two planes that he had shot down.

It was also at this time that he probably had his two Distinguished Flying Crosses. He had the highest ribbon of the Distinguished Flying Cross.

August 1951 - Coming back home

In August 1951 Joe got home. Unfortunately he wasn't able to find a job. At the time he was still a Captain, now in the reserve. He didn't do much to get recognition at the time, but finally was able to make major at some point during the year 1951.

1952 to 1955 - Stationed at NAS Dallas

After Korea, from 1952 to 1955 Joe was stationed at NAS Dallas. He was the Executive Officer of the Marine Training Detachment, where they were training Weekend Warriors like Joe was when he was called up to service originally at NAS Dallas around 11 years before. Earl Growind, a real good friend of Joe's, was stationed there as the CO, who got Joe stationed there.

During this time Joe went to work for a Trunkline Gas Company in Houston where he would fly executives, people, among others as a corporate pilot. His boss was also a Marine aviator from the war. Since Joe was still in the reserve, he had to go to NAS Dallas on the weekends. His boss didn't like it when Joe went on the weekends because it meant that he had to fly in his place.

After he had gotten out, Joe decided to stay in the reserve until he was able to receive 20 years satisfactory service to get paid. He already had 9 years of active duty under his belt, and so did the rest as a weekend warrior type. He had to get 50 points per year to get satisfactory service. Since his boss didn't like him being out, he got out but stayed in what was called a volunteer training unit until he got his 20 years.

1955 - Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and then Colonel

In 1955 Joe was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, at the time at NAS Dallas. That year, Joe wrote a letter to Marine Corps Headquarters. A guy who was called up to serve in Korea alongside Joe, named , wrote Joe back a letter saying:

You know, if its not imperative you get out, you're in a zone for bird colonel

Joe responded back enthousiaticly:

Cancel my request!

Joining the Chosin Few

Some time maybe even decades after the Korean War, the men at the Chosin Few organization's chapter in Houston allowed Joe to join the organization because him and the rest of his squadron had supported the men in the pocket at Chosin.

Ba Ba Black Sheep TV Show

When the Ba Ba Black Sheep TV show aired, which everyone knew about, it was about Joe's 214 squadron that he was in. People ask Joe when they hear he was in 214 if he knew Gregory Boyington, which of course Joe did not as he joined too late.

1955 to 1975 - Vietnam War

During the Vietnam War, Joe remained Houston. He had no activity during that time. Joe was glad to miss that war, really was, really felt for those men that had to go through it, as it was tough.

10 October 1981 - Officially out of the USMC

On 10 October 1981 Joe was officially out of the United States Marine Corps. He got out at this time because he was 60, and that was when you get your pay 20 years satisfactory service. By this time and with his service in the company, Joe had around 17,000 flight hours (4000 of which was from the wars).

20 January 2014 - Interview in Dickinson, Texas

On 20 January 2014, Joe conducted an approximately 50 minute long interview with Alice Braud Jones who was from the Sam Houston chapter of the DAR and the Fort Virginia Point Chapter of the UDC, as well as Anne Smith and Hellen Stein who were also from both chapters. Joe talked about his early life and experiences during WWII and the Korean War.

During the interview he explained that not a lot of people know what the Piper Cubs are.

He tells everybody that the war was fun for Joe.

At the moment of this interview he is reading a book called "Aviators", and its about Rickenbacher, Doolittle, and Lindberg, and Rickenbacher, they wanted him to go overseas as a kind of consultant and they shipped and got lost in the Atlantic, was int he raft for 26 days, well the little Island called Funafutti, they found him from OS2Us, found him in the rafts, they hada tough time, no food no water, they called a seagull and ate it, and used the insides for baits, they had some fishhooks. He finds it interesting to read about those guys. He thinks they were tough.

They heard that they dropped the atomic bomb, they were all happy that it happened, maybe this would end it. He was in peleliu when he heard the war was ending. The people reacted by celebrating some on the island. They claimed that on Okinawa that even some guys were injured celebrating firing guns, bullets going up they gotta go down. Alice Jones the interviewer had talked to one of the Navajo Code talkers doing an interview and he was on Iwo Jima, and he said when they heard the news, the Americans started jumping up and down, but the Japanese hadn't heard the news, and so they were still firing at that point. And so it took some time for the Japanese to stop firing, and some of them that did were so embarrassed that they just hid out for a long time. Joe says that in the Phillippines there was a Japanese guy in 1948 taht resisted for three years.

The book that Joe is currently reading tells about Richenbacher and him in that raft and he felt for him because he said it was a five man raft but I want to see the man who designed it for five men aint no way five men could stand in it. It reminds Joe of the one man raft he was in while he was in 441.

- 22:35 Did he have any indications at all of the atomic weapons that the united states was building at that time? No, it was a well kept secret, probably a good thing too since the Germans were working on it, trying to develop a bomb as well, and so they needed to keep a secret.

Joe stayed overseas for 13 months didn't really do anything. They moved up to another island called Nanamia, and they were, Funafuti was about 700 miles below Tarawa, Nanamia was about 500 miles, no way for a Wildcat to fly there and back, but they were just there to keep the Japanese from getting it. it was the same reason to take Iwo Jima start flying the planes, they started flying the P-51s to escort the B29s to Japan. But nwo the Japanese had already that was home land for them and they had two airfields on Iwo, they had thousands of miles of trenches dug under the volcanic soil, one of the bloodiest battles of the war, so was Guadalcanal. A battle that nobody had heard about was Peleliu, they told the marines, the marine general said it would only take them two or three days, but took a month, and then they went some place else and the army came in and took over and heck they lost people too. Those tunnels and stuff, bloody nose ridge they talked about, they just couldn't get them out, burn them out mostly. The airfield was real close to the bloodynose ridge, the guys would come in, drop their bombs, go back, rearm, it wouldn't take them fifteen minutes. It was that close. It was tough at Peleliu.

Joe says that if the Marines had one squadron it was the 214

Joe doesn't trust himself to fly anymore. Joe believes that all kids should have mandatory military service. How did service affect rest of your life, lessons, etc? I think its puntual, dependable, never did feel that I was patriotic. I am nowadays.

23 March 2018 - Interview with KIII 3 News at Kingsville Airshow in Texas

At the time that he was 96, Joe went to the Kingsville Airshow in Kingsville, Texas, the same place where he had trained the one time before. He did a short interview in which he described his service with KIII 3 News.

Near the end of the news segment interview he commented that:

We were honorable people, we wanted to win and protect the country. Im kind of sorry Im not still involved, I'd like to help them even today.

27 June 2018 - Interview with Erik Johnston at airshow

On 27 June 2018 a video was posted onto YouTube of an interview with Erik Johnston of Colonel Joe McPhail and his experiences during the war.

" I tell everyone I wrecked three American Airplanes and shot down two Japanese airplanes, so I consider myself a generic ace. "

27 July 2023 - American Warriors Project documentary interview

On 27 July 2023 a documentary interview of Joe McPhail was posted to the American Warriors YouTube Channel and their website.

At the time he was 101 years old, and that October would be 102.

Joe at the end of the interview said that he felt blessed to have done all of it, and would do it all over again.

Bibliography

• McPhail, Joe (20 January 2014). "Joe McPhail collection" (Interview). Interviewed by Alice Braud Jones, as well as Anne Smith and Hellen Stein.
• McPhail, Joe (27 June 2018). "WWII Marine Pilot Col Joe McPhail Veteran Tales" (Interview). Interviewed by Erik Johnston.
• McPhail, Joe (23 March 2018). "98-year-old WWII veteran attending air show" (Interview). Interviewed by Michael Gibson.
• "Joe McPhail | WWII Corsair Pilot and USMC Veteran - American Warriors". American Warriors. 27 July 2023. Archived from the original on 15 November 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
• McPhail, Joe (27 July 2023). "Joe McPhail | Part 1 | WWII Corsair Pilot and USMC Veteran" (Interview). Interviewed by Cody Rheault.
• McPhail, Joe (3 August 2023). "Joe McPhail | PART 2 | Oldest Living F4U Corsair Pilot" (Interview). Interviewed by Cody Rheault.
• McPhail, Joe (19 October 2023). "Joe McPhail Interview 19 October 2023" (Interview). Interviewed by Paul Sidle.

15:12

- 44:05 The Corsair he never did break one.

- 1:00:35 Did you ever come into contact with any of the natives on any of these islands? Well yeah we did there was even on Funafutti there was some Natives, they were friendly, not hostile in any way. Every island we were on encountered some. Which islands were you stationed on in total in 441? THere was Funafutti, Nanmia first time, then Okinawa and Peleliu the second time.

- 1:01:55 Flying into Okinawa where were you based out of? Kadina airfield. Not flying off of a carrier. Flew off a carrier during Korea thing, only time I did, land based all the other times. Before going onto Okinawa they had to wait before they secured an airfield before they went on. The invasion of Okinawa was 1 April 1945, I rode up on an LST, Landing Shipp Tank from 02:50 Sprino Sanes to Okinawa took about two weeks. But they wouldnt let us go ashore until they had the islands airfields secure. On 7 April I went ashore on Okinawa, so seven days after initial landing.

- 1:03:30 Why not just fly in with the Corsair? Well we didn't ghave any Corsairs, you know LST the, we were based in 03:45 Sprido Sanes which is east of Okinawa and so they decided for us to go to Okinawaw, but they didn't have any airplanes for us to fly so we rode on an LST. So they first got into Corsairs in California, then went to Sprido Sanes, and then got into their Corsairs on Okinawa. Well when I first went overseas the second time, I went to Sprido Sanes, in the New Heberdies group, its way east, and we trained there for three or four months, then they decided we were going to Okinawa, so they put us on this LST, stopped on this Guadalcanal then New Lithey, and on Okinawa. But we set out there 7 days waiting to go ashore. On Sprido Sanes is when he first met his new squadron 323.

- 05:45 What was like on LST? Well it wasn't all that good the chow was kind of lousy and heavy seas pitching. We were glad to get off. What kind of chow was served? Baked potatoes, black eyed peas. Not anything particularly spectacular. Tghe yhad plenty of coffee on there. Joe did smoke at the time. Everyone else was smoking at that time too. They did drink alcohol too, beer, and alcohol yeah.

- 07:25 Get off LST and getting onto Okinawa, what is the sight you see. Joe has read E B Sledge's memoir, great memoir. The landscape on Okinawa was baren , pretty much the same as Sledge described it.

- 08:15 When did you go to Peleliu? After Okinawa, landed in Okinawa in April and probably went to Peleliu in June. 08:45 We flew Corsairs out of there, and finally went up, in the Palau group there was Babelthop was a big island and so we always had to patroll up there see they weren't trying to p[ut together an invasion of a smaller island we were on Peleliu. Despite going up the island chain towards the home islands there was still kind of a fear that the Japanese would attack from one of the still occupied islands. They were a bunch of Japanese still on Peleliu. Babelthop and several of the islands. There were still islands around that had been bypassed that still had Japanese forces on them. Angor was one of them. Island off of Peleliu that they never did go ashore and land there.

- 10:15 ever participate in any reconnaissance mission or anything like that? Oh yeah. What kinds of things looking for. We were looking for Japanese ships but heck enever did find any. In the 441 we did some, we had trips that we were looking for them, but never did see any. They didn't anything down that far 700 miles from Tarawa. Didn't have many. Wasn't their focus. The Marines did take Tarawa eventually, was while he was in 323.

- 11:35 Ever participate on any night missions? Yes we did, we lot of times they were bombing us at night and so we had put airplanes in the air just to get them off the ground, jkeeep from being destroyed. How did you see way through, didn't get night equipment, just had to know how to fly at night. Int raining ever give you advice for sort? They would tell you where to go like Funafutti was a group of islands in kind of a volcano like thing and they say go to this island and circle over there unitl the raid is over and come back home.

- 13:10 Peleliu was last island he was on until end of war. What did yall do mostly for remainder of that time. Was mostly just patrolls, fly around the big island of Babelthop and looking to see if they had any kind of invasion of ships so. Big fear they were gonna go to Babelthop and reinforce it and such. Any ships that actually tried. No neever did just left them there.

- 14:10 Joe did hear about some of the atrocities the Japanese army and navy committed. DId ever fear of getting POW, sure never did want to get captured. Never heard any stories from anyone he knew during that time. No one he knew became a POW. Joe was never a POW.

- 14:50 Obviously Atomic bomb was kept secret. Everyone including Joe was expecting in participating in the invasion of the home islands. Was there a particular fear? Knew it was gonna be tough trying to take any islands of Japan.

- 15:40 Reaction to first hearing news about the bomb? Well we were glad hear about it you know we thought maybe one drop would be enough, turned out it wasn't. How was explained? It was explained kind of a weird deal, it covered so much ground. Was there shock we could build such a big bomb? No, we were happy.

- 16:45 How did yall celebrate at the announcement war was over? Oh we just drinking. Drinking on Peleliu. So yal ldrank and partied kind of stuff? Yeah. What was expectations of what was gonna happen to yall? Well we just deidn't know what was gonna happen, didn't realize that they were gonna drop another bomba dn that would end it. What did you think when the Soviets invaded Manchuria? We were happy to see them enter the thing the russians and in any way to support us.

- 18:25 Did you ever come to like some of the generals above you like the marines admiring MacCarthur. No we never did see any generals at all. Any performers ever come in to see yall? Well bob hope on Wansan in NK, Joe liked him. What were some of the music and propaganda saw during that time? On bases they had films and some of that sort of things they did yeah. What kidns of things saw? Well music and just entertainment peopl;e telling jokes and all that. Any movies? Yeah had a lot of movies? Not a particular song he liked, Joe went to a few on Peleliu, not peleliu, but funafutti, quite a few.

- 20:35 How did return home after that? Well I was on peleliu and they moved us up to Guam, and we war was over then, and we set up there for about two weeks waiting for a ship gto go back to the states, finally they had one, so we sent back two week trip. What happened to the Corsairs? Well they stayed there, they finally brought them home on the carriers. They stayed on Peleliu when they left. Did you ever name or anything like that of your Corsair? Never did fly the same airplane hardly? Miss flying after that? Definitely sure did, liked to fly. You went to Guam, were on an LST again coming back to the states? We went to San Diego again. People were yeah celebrating when they got back. How much had it changed since then? Well it changed a lot, there wasn't any thought of any war, and so they were pretty happy Joe thinks that it ended.

- 23:00 What were you doing in San Diego when you got back? Just hanging out and I went on home got a ride with a guy in a car and drove all the way back. ALl the way from San Diego to Corpus or Tyler. His mother was in Tyler. His father had died in early part of the war. He never got to know the thing that Joe got to doing. What did your siblingsdo during that time? They neither one went into the service. My sister was born in 1910 or something like that, and my brother was born idk when. DId she ever go into the factories and stuff like that? I don't think so. What did some of other brothers do? I don't know anything. He mainly corresponded with his mom not his siblings.

- 25:15 What was it like finally returning to your mother and neighbors and whatnot. It was I enjoyed it. It was emotional yeah. Did she fear you were gonna get shot down? Yeah, I didn't tell her about being landed in the water. What was Tyler like when went back? It was just an old country town. First time been back since Corpus? Yeah. Hadn't seen his mother since years. Never got any kind of leave or anmuthign like that.

- 26:30 When did you start going back to train and stuff like that? I dont remember much after the war. Did you have any kinds of jobs picked up after that? I went to work for gas transmission company, and I stayed with them for 32 years, they were based out of Houston, and Kansas city. At that company in 55 I guess it was,

- 28:10 Reaction to FDR passing away? Well it was sad timne yeah, he was well thought of, on fourth term.

- 28:40 You were eventually colonel, did you get promoted during the war? Yeah I did, first Lt early in the war, and then made captain, then Major then Lt major then Colonel. Why were you promoted? Just clinged to the service, not any action. But you were reliable respectable pilot, yeah. DId you receive any medals, I received two distinguished flying crosses, eleven air medals.

- 29:45 Talked to me being called back up for service up to the Korean war. I was in the reserve and knew that I was subject to being called up and so they August 50 they called me up. I went to El Toro CA again. Yeah got a nice hotel again, it was the same one, was nearby the same airfield, 30:43 Guna Beach Hotel. What was reaction to being caleld up? Excited to fly again? Was kind of excited yeah. While in the reserve did you ever think of taking up flying comercially or civilian kind. He flew for the gas transmission company, 32 years. What did you specifically fly? A lot of different planes, Cesna 310, Twin Beach, Lone star, Howard 500, jet star, and a J2. What was the cargo, well carrying people for the company. Our pipeline started in the Rio Grande in Texas, and went to michigan border in Indiana, right through the heart of the country, about Memphis and that about of way. He was flying some of the high officials of the company, so personally got to know some of them. What ewre they like? THey were nice, appreciated the transportation? Some of them were from the war? yeah. remember which ones? A guy named cant hink of his name, the president of the company, what did he serve in? 33:10 He was the washerman I think the whole time? I had other guys that , I cant think of their names.

- 33:45 Joined the company and called up for the reserve, and went to El Toro, what were you being informed of the war, and what was about to be coming haead? We were gonna be sent to Wansan Korea island, and heck I was sent to wansan and its in NK, so I flew out of there and then we moved up to a place called Yanpo near up tot a reseveoir, flew out of there until we came home.

- 35:35 You were in a place now under a country that restricts mostly access to go there, whats your perspetive on that? Well I think they gave them a tough time I think, the Korean people yeah.

- 35:55 Didi you fly Corsairs during Korea? Yeah. You never got the chance to fly the F84 or F86? Yeah never did. Never flew jets at all. DId you ever want to fly jets? Well yeah I did, but I was happy to fly the Corsair again. Yall probably did CAS. yeah we did a lot of CAS. Did you almost get shot down. Well some of them did, I never was hit. Was the lucky one yeah. Did you change into a different squadron? Yeah 214, blacksheep squadron. THere was a bunch of veterans already in there? Yeah all of them yeah. Any from 323? Not there wasn't? Yeah was new to the new group. Since he never went into jets, he never went down into MiG alley. DId you ever encounter any MiG-15? No never did. What did they tell you to do if you ever encountered one? Well they wanted air force to take care of the MiGs, they had F86s and that kind of stuff. What did they tell you to do if encountered on in Corsair? They didn't tell us to do anything. You could probably outturn them.

- 38:25 Did you ever go into the North Korean South Korean citie or towns while there. Well yeah Wansan is in Nk, went into town there. It was a regular town it was like. ANy particular incidents or stories during that time. All just day job for Joe there. Did ever lose friends there? Yeah I did yeah.

- 39:20 What was mother's reaction to when she got the news she got back into service. Well I don't know, she wasn't al that happy that I was going back but it wasn't nothing she could do about it.

- 40:00 You told me you flew off of a carrier? Yeah I did. Could you tell me a little more about that experience? Wel lyeah it was neat, they did what they call field carrier practice and you know they have a landing LSO Landing Signal Officer, and he waves you in and gives you cut, land and take off and come around and do it again. I got my training and Sicily was a Jeep carrier, it was only 600 feet long. Yeah it was a little harder to learn. Story is that they taxied me onto the catapult the first time, and soon as they got me hooked up the gave me the offbreak signal, and we sat there and watched them shoot a guy off on the right side, and we saluted and pulled the cord to it and took off and came back to the ready room and there was a sign up on the wall and chalkboard said McPhail reluctant warrior,a nd I said whats wrong and they said you took off with your breaks on. And I know when I poured the cold all to it, my feet automatic went on the break, didn't intend to do it, but they did. And they could see the blue smoke, bit wasn't any damage done to the plane. SO there was smoke coming out. Why did yo uhave to land on the carrier. Wel lthey wanted the squadron to operate off the carrier. Wasn't stationed on the carrier for very long, probably about two months.

- 42:55 WHen was that you were stationed? It was 1951, the war started in 1950, that summer of 50. What was your developing opinoin about Communism and its like takeover of the world and whatnot. We were opposed to communists of all types, those Chinese and all of them. It seemed like the UN was gonna win at the time, then the Chineses were gonna win. Did you go all the way up to where the near the border where the UN forces had pushed up to. Well I don't think I went that far, you know we went up to Yongpo which is south of resevoir, as far north as wel went up to. DId you ever meet any members of the UN forces? No enever did, mostly just Americans and such. We were in Marine bases. Did ever meet SK soldiers? No enever did, you know they were pretty good fighters the SKs.

- 45:10 Take me through the ending stages of the war in Korea. Well heck I was overseas for only 10 months, flew 100 missions during that time. BUt then was stationed in Dallas for 2 years and the war ended. Why were you, were you discharged after 10 months? No I was still in the reserve, and thats how I got to make Bird Colonel. Why did they make you a colonel? Well time, length of time. When you went back, did you ever do training or anything like that? No I did not, went to another squadron, well a training squadron. Don't remember what that one was called, it was stationed out of Dallas. End of training anyone? Yeah just went home. Well went out of CA again, but I didn't ever go overseas again. And so after did you ever hope to go back, did you stay in the reserve? Yeah. DId you hope you might go back someday? Wel lI wanted to get my time in. Heck I went in probably as a captain, then I made major, then Lt Colonel, and then Colonel. I was in what they called a weekend warrior, a reserve training, and go to CA drive to CA and for two weeks active dutym, and then drive back. Did training, CAS all that kind of business, training for that.

- 49:00 Even while I was a weekend warrior I stayed in with the Oil company, you know. After that what did you do after the war? Stayed with the company, until about 19, cant even reemember, spent 32 years with the company.

- 49:45 ANything else you would like to say? No I think thats about it. How did you meet your wife? Well I was at North Carolina Marine base Cherry point NC, and I met her, she was a tower operator, was a master sergeant, and we went on a trip with her and a couple other girls, up to Washington, and we got ot be good friends, and so I got out went back to Dallas and she got out and went to Dallas too, and went to work for Delta airlines in the reservation system. She was a tower operator at Sharepoint, but anyway we finally got married starting having kids. When did you initially meet in NC? Heck lets see, these times are running together, I don't remember. No it was during the Korean thing. Her name was Naomi, the named grandchild Naomi. Seems like she had a pretty good career, yeah right.

- 52:00 Thats all you want to say? Yeah What advice to future generations? Well I wanted to fly fighters, and chose the Marine Corps, and they didn't have any patrol planes, or transports or anything like that, so I think anyone that wanted to fly fighters they should choose the Marine Corps. Do you think the Marine Air Corps was superior? Well I don't think Superior, but its his personal preference, it was good duty. DId you stay in touch with friends after the war? Well not too much. I was busy with my company.

History of the 323

https://archive.org/details/AHistoryOfMarineFighterAttackSquadron323/mode/2up?q=McPhail

Pacific War Museum Fredricksberg plaque commemoration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RadHDs3uEk

https://www.pacificwarmuseum.org/join-give/tributes/mcphail-col-joe

https://www.fredericksburgstandard.com/2021/03/10/honoring-a-hero/

Joe's younger brother was there, the golden raisin story.

His brother followed in his footsteps and joined in the Marine Corps as a pilot, was an admirer of Joe: 11:50

His wife was a Marine at Cherrypoint, she was actually from Cherrypoint NC.

Vintage aircraft and a 101-year-old Marine Corps 'hero' invite you to the next East Texas air show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gbtAhzwtB0

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/vintage-aircraft-101-year-old-marine-corps-hero-invite-you-next-east-texas-air-show/287-afb0f9f2-90a4-43a6-8bed-005a7d1a10eb

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/vintage-aircraft-and-a-101-year-old-marine-corps-hero-invite-you-to-the-next-east-texas-air-show/ar-AA1cEVPP

https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/vintage-aircraft-101-year-old-marine-corps-hero-invite-you-next-east-texas-air-show/287-afb0f9f2-90a4-43a6-8bed-005a7d1a10eb

https://headtopics.com/us/less-boo-for-your-buck-for-the-second-halloween-in-a-row-47972420

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1620639128344507

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/vintage-aircraft-and-a-101-year-old-marine-corps-hero-invite-you-to-the-next-east-texas-air-show/ar-AA1cEVPP

Joe doesn't believe he's a hero. I like to fly and thats all that counts. This interview was conducted by Kevin Reese from Dallas at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison in front of a WIldcat, one of the planes he used to fly, WWII Korea, Are you really 101, yessir, really, I'm nearly 102 on 10 October. He will be the guest of honor at the Rose City Airfest in Tyler on 30 June, and thunder over Cedar Creek Lake Air Show on July 1st. The Colonel says he's too old to fly himself now.

Joe doesn't consider himself to be a celebrity.

25th Anual Wings Over Houston Airshow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njwlL_WDmTQ

Captain A.J. High and Joe McPhail were interviewed. High was in a B25, B17, and B29 in the Aleutian Islands for 6 months. High hs a book "Meant to Fly" of his total carrer.

Colonel McPhail, He was in the Marine Corps, didn't have Air forces, went to Flight school in Corpus, went overseas in January 1943, joined Fighter squadron on Samoa. Went back overseas in January 1945, joined Fighter squadron, went to Okinawa, then went to Peleliu and stayed there until the war ended. Was called back in to the Korean thing August 1st 1950, ended up in NK in October 1950. Flew 102 missions in Korea and came home and went to work for a corporation from flying for a gas company in houston for 33 years, that was it.

Death Rattlers Article

https://www.pressreader.com/usa/flight-journal/20190601/281685436253407

News Articles and such:

https://www.thenorthwestern.com/story/money/2023/05/18/eaa-airventure-oshkosh-commemorative-beer-offered-for-70th-anniversary/70229106007/

https://www.kltv.com/2021/07/01/webxtra-east-texas-world-war-ii-veterans-be-honored-air-show/

https://tylerpaper.com/news/feel_good_features/history-made-world-war-ii-veterans-cap-off-rose-city-airfest/article_7e259956-dc5c-11eb-a20c-739df82a025b.html

https://tylerpaper.com/news/campv-recognizes-three-veteran-honorees-during-third-annual-rose-city-airfest/article_01992d00-1533-11ee-b851-5762b9f7e473.html

https://www.chron.com/houston/article/Choir-sings-Battle-Hymn-of-the-Republic-for-8520939.php

https://tylerpaper.com/news/feel_good_features/east-texas-world-war-ii-veterans-share-their-stories-of-service-ahead-of-rose-city/article_ba9f2998-da8a-11eb-aa4b-f744893cc1c7.html

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2019/11/10/photos-saluting-texans-of-the-greatest-generation/

https://tylerpaper.com/news/campv-hosts-special-reception-to-recognize-pilots-honorees-of-rose-city-airfest/article_bb4cba1a-1762-11ee-a54e-570a33fb9419.html

https://wingsoverhouston.com/legends/col-joe-mcphail/

https://www.cbs19.tv/article/news/local/vintage-aircraft-101-year-old-marine-corps-hero-invite-you-next-east-texas-air-show/287-afb0f9f2-90a4-43a6-8bed-005a7d1a10eb

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/slideshow/WW-II-vets-witness-historic-flight-from-Houston-105386.php

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1637309666367589

https://airshowstuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4175&start=50

https://wingsoverdallas.org/veteran-voices/

https://www.startiger.com/l?i=590349

https://www.eaa.org/eaa/about-eaa/eaa-media-room/airventure-news-releases/warbirds-in-review-2023

https://www.khou.com/video/news/local/world-war-ii-veteran-turns-102/285-830e0b49-201c-4016-abfa-8d3ca0e38342

https://www.11alive.com/video/news/local/world-war-ii-veteran-turns-102/285-830e0b49-201c-4016-abfa-8d3ca0e38342

https://www.mylife.com/joe-mcphail/e527149862112

https://the110club.com/oldest-living-men-in-the-usa-by-state-t29884-s90.html

https://wingsoverhouston.com/show-info/legends-heroes/

https://www.tiktok.com/@kiplinggg92/video/7299848741333306670

Houston Veterans Day ceremony held after parade canceled

https://news.yahoo.com/live-houston-veterans-day-ceremony-155341162.html

The Mayor’s Office announced two special honorees at this year’s ceremony:

Colonel Joe McPhail, United States Marine Corps Retired, World War II and Korea – Corsair Fighter: Colonel McPhail, 102, has lived in Houston for more than six and a half decades. He is the oldest surviving Fighter Pilot in the United States and served in over 240 combat missions and two Air to Air victories. His awards include a Distinguished Flying Crosses – 2nd Award and Air Medal – 11th Award.

US Marines:

https://www.keeping-history-alive.com/WWII-Preservation/Marines-1/

Flying legend Colonel Joe McPhail joined the US Marines in 1941 immediately before the attack on Pearl Harbor. McPhail served in the Marine Fighter Squadron VMF441 flying the Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat. He would later be assigned to the "Death Rattlers" VMF-323 as a F-4U Corsair pilot. The Death Rattlers were the most successful Marine Fighting Squadron in 1945 with 124 victories. During WWII Joe would fly 140 combat missions and is credited for shooting down a Nate and a Zero. He would later serve in the VMFA-214 "Black Sheep" fighter squadron during the Korean conflict. He would fly a total of 102 combat missions with two air-to-air victories later being awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses and 11 air medals and the Navy Commendation medal.

2015 - WWII vets witness historic flight from Houston in their honor

https://www.chron.com/life/article/WW-II-vets-witness-historic-flight-from-Houston-6135410.php