Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

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Fred Bahlau

WWII | 101st Airborne Division, 506th PIR

Fred talks about his visit to Hitler's mountain top retreat, Berchtesgaden (Eagles Nest). (Caution: Potentially innapropriate material for children) (2:14)
Fred talks about having to kill cows for food while in Holland. (Caution: Potentially inappropriate material for children) (1:30)
Fred jumps on the eve of D-Day, encounters German soldiers, and hears about a fellow soldier who is captured and killed. (4:49)
Fred Chiao

WWII | 29th Squadron , 5th Fighter Group, Chinese American Composite Wing

As Japan overran much of China, Fred Chiao and other young Chinese airmen had to keep moving to stay ahead of the occupation. They finished their training despite the national crisis. (4:36)
There were two lucky breaks in the Chinese air war, the arrival of Claire Chenault and the availability of surplus P-40’s. Fred Chiao recognized the genius of Chenault, but he says that flying the P-40 was like driving a truck. (8:50)
Fighter Pilot Fred Chiao says the Chinese pilots were not impressed with the P-40 aircraft. The promise they heard was that the coming P-46 and P-66 would be improved. After all, the model number was higher, right? (4:18)
Chinese pilot Fred Chiao remembers how homesick the young Americans were, sent to the Chinese front from their farms back home. But they got to rotate out after 24 missions while the Chinese got no reprieve from the fight for their homeland. (5:50)
Fred Chiao’s 29th Squadron never lost any of the young American pilots flying for him. But he had to venture toward enemy territory in a small trainer to rescue one who had bailed out. (9:45)
Chinese fighter pilot Fred Chiao was credited with shooting down 4½ Japanese planes. The first was after an emergency scramble when his base was attacked. He shrugs off the rest as “nothing” since the best enemy pilots had been sent to the Pacific front. (7:45)
Memories of the air war against the Japanese, for Fred Chiao, include a non-pursuit policy, the use of horses for transportation by the enemy, the difference between a good leader and a good pilot and the art of signaling by aircraft movement. (7:02)