Namhae & Mills crew:
These documents and photos include the following:
1 The eleven-man crew of “Lady Luck II” in July 1945.
2 the still-burning wreckage of the “Lady Luck II
3 The Namhae villagers continued to honor the site of Mills crash
1
The eleven-man crew of Lieutenant Edward Mills photographed in front of the B-24M Liberator night bomber “Lady Luck II” in July 1945. The Mill’s crew would be lost in combat in in this aircraft early August when its midnight search and attack mission brought it to strike at Japanese military shipping in Yosu Bay on the southern coast of Japanese-occupied Korea. The Mills crew served with the 868th Bomb Squadron of the 13th Air Force and had been flying combat missions in the Pacific Theater since May 1945. The “Lady Luck II” was a squadron veteran of some fourth-plus missions and was regarded as a reliable aircraft that had been blooded in battle but always brought its embarked crew home. When the radar of the Mills crew found shipping taking on cargo in Yosu Bay it attacked at low level. Possibly damaged by Japanese anti-aircraft fire, the plane crashed into the top of Namhae Island’s Man-kun-san Mountain. Because the Mills’ crew flew alone, in keeping with the normal mission profile of the 868th, the fate of this crew and their aircraft was not known to their squadron mates for thirty-three years. Lieutenant Ed Mills stands third from right in back row. (See “Nightstalkers” entries on pages 294-295 and the book’s Prologue and Epilogue for additional details.
2
Alerted by explosions emanating from the top the mountain shortly after midnight, the villagers of Namhae Island trekked up the mountain early the next morning to discover the still-burning wreckage of the “Lady Luck II”. They collected the remains of the eleven men of the Mills crew, burying them in shallow graves. A Japanese military party from the Yosu military complex arrived soon after, collected much of the aircraft wreckage, disturbed the hastily-dug graves and departed. This allowed the villagers to return the following day to bury the deceased American airmen, this time with a Christian ceremony. A crude wooded market was erected by the Namhae villagers at the site, reading “That which has been paid for in blood shall be repaid in peace by the next generation.”
3
The Namhae villagers continued to honor the site of Mills crash and the eleven young airmen in the following years, led by the village pharmacist Mr. Kim Duk-hyun. It was decided that this ceremony would occur every September as the citizens of Namhae Island would honor the Mills crew as their ‘liberators” from Japanese colonial rule. In this photo Kim and two companions climb the mountain in 1949 to prepare for the annual event.
4
In the opening weeks of the Korean War in 1950, North Korean soldiers occupied Namhae Island and arrested Kim and other villagers for “anti-communist” behavior, citing the island’s loyalty to the Mills crew as evidence. After the reoccupation of the island by United Nations forces, Kim and his villagers resumed their annual pilgrimage to the site and began a multi-year effort to create a permanent memorial. Here work progresses in 1955 with Pharmacist Kim supervising on the left.
5
Led by Mr. Kim, the village collected donations from Namhae Island to fund the creation of the permanent memorial.
6
The memorial was officially dedicated in September 1956 with the Namhae monument accompanied by a stone tablet sent by the then president of South Korea, Dr. Syngman Rhee. In this photograph a senior U.S. Air Force officer salutes the Mills memorial.
7
The yearly observance continued to gain momentum, and in 1960 the entire island celebrated the 25th anniversary of the sacrifice of the Mills crew. This ceremony took place at Namhae Girls Middle School, with over 16,000 people in attendance.
8
As the yearly ceremony continued, future years saw increased public attention and greater participation from U.S forces in South Korea. In 1977 this U.S.Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) article provides coverage of the 32nd annual event in the newspaper of Kunsan Airbase.
9
The Namhae Island event is highlighted in this article in the December 1976 edition of “Friendship” magazine, a publication of the Korean-American Friendship Association.
10
A 1980 travel brochure highlighting Namhae Island as a tourist destination. The site of the Mills crew crash, Man-gun-san Mountain can be seen in the distance, and the recently constructed bridge connecting the island for the first time to the mainland of South Korea.
11
This map depicts the most likely attack rout taken by Edward Mills crew in striking Japanese shipping in Yosu Bay and impact of Lady Luck II into Namhae Island’s Mangun mountain.
