[InMemoriam]

Here is an account of the Ie Jima Green Cross flight transfers, including some memorable pictures and letters home.

[colorado tanker]

Wow, I have never seen those photos before. Thanks!

[EternalVigilance]

Thanks for that link.

[EternalVigilance]

Some more really good photos of the event, including the last one from December that shows the final fate of the two Green Cross Bettys.

http://www.combatairmuseum.org/ieshima/ieshima.html

http://www.combatairmuseum.org/ieshima/ieshimaphotos.html

[EternalVigilance]

http://www.trumanlibrary.org/photographs/view.php?id=48256

Title: Nichols Field, Manila as Members of the Japanese Delegation Arrive
Date: August 19, 1945

The sixteen members of the Japanese delegation disembarking from a C-54 transport plan after a flight from Ie Shima to Nichols Field, Manila, Philippines. They are greeted by Major General Charles A. Willoughby from General Douglas MacArthur's staff. They came to Manila to negotiate the Japanese Surrender Agreement. This photograph was given to Colonel Westray B. Boyce during her tour of the Pacific Theatre during the Fall of 1945.

[EternalVigilance]

Looks like at least one of the aircraft that escorted the Green Cross Bettys is still flying:

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http://www.texasflyinglegends.org/bettys-dream-b-25j

Betty's Dream | B-25J Mitchell

Named in honor of General Billy Mitchell, pioneer of American military aviation, the B-25 Mitchell was manufactured by North American Aviation and saw service in every theater of WWII.

Just when the B-25 bomber was considered the most modern aviation technology, Maj. Paul I. "Pappy" Gunn, an engineer in Australia, removed the bombardier-navigator from his greenhouse compartment in the nose of a B-25 and found he could install eight forward-firing .50-caliber machine guns in the aircraft. Thus was born the low-level B-25 strafer.

Capt. Charles E. “Pop” Rice, Jr. became Operations Officer of the 499th Squadron and was assigned to Betty’s Dream in June of 1945. Co-piloted by Victor Tatelman, it escorted two “Betty” bombers carrying the Japanese peace envoys to Ie Shima on August 19, 1945, and again on the return mission from the conference in Manila with General MacArthur’s staff. By the time these talks ended World War II, Betty’s Dream carried 22 mission symbols and two silhouettes representing sunken Japanese ships.

[AlaskaErik]

Recently there was an article in our local paper profiling the pilot of the C-54 that flew the mission to Manila. You might be able to find it in the Green Valley News.