The arrival of July saw the rainy season still in full swing. In spite of additional drainage ditches the road through the squadron area was more a lake than a highway. After much maneuvering for dump trucks and coral "chits" we were finally able to build a log road covered with coral which helped matters considerably. While it wasn't a paved highway, at least it was possible to keep your head above water while driving through the area in a jeep. Most of the tents were becoming rather worn after sixteen months service consequently had a tendency to leak. This had partially been taken care of by the procurement of some tent emulsion from Quartermaster.

      The publishing of orders sending both enlisted men and Officers home on the point system caused quite a bit of "sweating" and hilarity when the names of those lucky ones were made public. The squadron had thirteen enlisted men with 113 points or above and two officers that came within the scores allotted for them. The orders were received in the late afternoon of 15 July and naturally all of them wanted to get away as quickly as possible. The orderly room cooperated with them and the whole staff worked until 2130 processing personnel records in accordance with existing regulations and checking and rechecking them to eliminate any delay at the Replacement Battalion due to erroneous or incomplete entries. The main topic of conversation was how low in the scores will the next quote go. Those who didn't qualify under the 12 May minimums were sweating out the new Adjusted Service Rating Score that was to be announced by the War Department around August. During the month four officers and five enlisted men, members of combat crews, returned to the States. Gradually the original members of the Flight Echelon of the Squadron were pulling out and at the end of the month only five officers and three enlisted men of the original Flight Echelon are left.

      Crews for the B-17's continued to be assigned and during the month twenty-one officers and forty-two enlisted men, comprising seven complete crews joined, the organization. The lack of interest in the Enlisted Men's Club had its advantages in that we were able to convert the Quonset hut into additional barracks. There were no tents available for issue from Quartermaster and every tent was loaded to capacity, and if it hadn't been for the hut, there is no telling what would have happened to the men. The squadron area is quite crowded due to the fact that the area was originally assigned to accommodate two flights and headquarters under the old T/O & E, which did not include the B-17 crews. Although the housing is a little crowded, the morale of the troops is still high because the "Fat Cat" continues to run regularly to Australia and good food is always a help.

[Aircraft OA-10A Serno 44-34047 (photo2) was damaged by a Navy ship while being towed and written off 10 July 1945, per INDIVIDUAL AIRCRAFT RECORD CARD³]

      Members of the Squadron were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Air Medal, (and OLC) and Battle Participation Credit in the following orders:

GENERAL ORDERS No. 421, HQ, Far East Air Forces (01 July 1945)
GENERAL ORDERS No. 14401, HQ, Far East Air Forces, (12 July 1945)
GENERAL ORDERS No. 14761, HQ, Far East Air Forces, (13 July 1945)
GENERAL ORDERS No. 14811, HQ, Far East Air Forces, (14 July 1945)
GENERAL ORDERS No. 541, US Army Air Forces Pacific (15 July 1945)
GENERAL ORDERS No. 15381, HQ, Far East Air Forces, (18 July 1945)
GENERAL ORDERS No. 691, US Army Air Forces Pacific, (23 July 1945)
GENERAL ORDERS No. 17061, HQ, Far East Air Forces, (30 July 1945)

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Text in gray is not official and is used to clarify or add additional information.

¹ Official Squadron rosters, orders, or documents obtained from the microfilm - Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
² APO numbers from "Numbered Army & Air Force Post Office Locations" - 7th Edition - by Russ Carter
³ From Individual Aircraft Record Cards - Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama