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0069-W2M-08/2003
Edward F. Callaway
Sergeant
U. S. Army Air Corps
WWII US Military
Dates of Service: 02/09/1943 - 01/10/1946
Fighter Controller, 317th Fighter control Squadron
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"It wasn't hard duty but you just had to sit there," Edward recalls of his work in flight control in China. Born in Mira, Louisiana, he worked on the family farm where he picked cotton, a task he calls "hot" and "back breaking." He received his draft notice in "the latter part of '42" and entered the U.S. Army Air Forces. At Camp Pinedale near Fresno, California he was placed into the 317th Fighter Control. He left Newport News, Virginia, on the USS Moses, a liberty ship, sailing to North Africa. From there he journeyed to Calcutta, and then to a camp "out in the boondocks," where he remained "until it came our turn to go to China," he says. "We went over the hump," he recalls in flying over the Himalayas. They landed at Kunming and went by truck to his base at Shintu. Several fighter aircraft flew out of Shintu, including P-38, P-40, P-51, and P-61 fighter planes, and cargo transports including the C-46 and C-47. Ed worked with a microphone, radio, and plotting board in directing flights. He says when American fighters engaged enemy bombers, they'd shout out, "Tallyho." "When they said, `Tallyho,' I'd throw my earphones down and out the door I'd go and watch the tracer bullets fly," he recalls. Ed came home on the USS President Hayes (AP-39) and was mustered out at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio as a sergeant. He worked for Red Ball Motor Freight for thirty-five years, mainly as assistant terminal manager in Shreveport.