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Home My WebLink AboutArden, Daniel D. "Dan", Brazos Valley Heroes 7 Ta n E ,. , �� $ i l! to a r t f tr bu ttoq° wFta st d rt r amtr t r 9 j:iisr(d YVar l( , y 1 g? , ¢ 8 1 Daniel D. " Dan " Arden . iliggibiggRZZA'45UARMirtlir. NN „ ::„,1„....:.,.:,...,„4.„,:::,..:,::::::::.„0001.„:::,,i:::„,:,, rt :::tiosesset.::::::::„::::;:ammtlyi , .„,.::;,,.,;„1:011w,,,,:::,:sormott,„::::.::„ ,s. agootean11:,:::::::::0..•::„:„.::„,.„„,„,:„„,„..„„,„:.::„,,,...„,,,, . • • By Bill Youngkin missions typically lasted from 15 to 30 hours. We flew II Special to The Eagle an average of two missions per week, with almost all 1 missions to the Japanese main islands. Some missions , Part One were more memorable than others. One that all of our Daniel D. "Dan" Arden of Bryan was involved in the crew remembered was one to bomb the bridge that last of the bombing campaigns conducted during World connected Honshu Island to Hokkaido Island. To do this War II, the bombing of Japan. we had to re -fuel at Iwo Jima and fly the length of Honshu According to Arden, "I was born in September 24, to the target. What we learned after we were airborne 1922, in Bainbridge, Georgia, and will celebrate my was that General LeMay, our commanding general, had 87th birthday very soon. I grew up in North Carolina boasted to the Japanese about our bombing missions and enrolled at North Carolina State University in 1938, and the locations of the targets we had been assigned. where I majored in geological engineering. 1 dropped "That caused a lot of unpleasant statements about out of school to go to work at USGS, the United States General LeMay from our crew and made for a very Geological Survey, in the field- mapping department and dangerous run. We ran through flak the entire way, as was located in Virginia. well as Japanese fighter harassment. When a flak burst "After Pearl Harbor I knew the war would involve occurred close to the skin of a B 29, the concussion would ripple the skin of the plane. I sat on my flak jacket that me, so I volunteered for the army flight program in 1942 and I began training as a cadet in early 1943. With my wholetrip. General LeMay ran forCongressafterthewar. background in mapping, I thought that being a navigator Fortunately, he lost that election. would be a good fit for me. I finished the cadet training "One mission was to western Honshu to a city named at Selman Field outside of Monroe, Louisiana, and was Fukui for a fire = bombing mission, and we were the last commissioned as a second lieutenant in October 1943.1 wave over the target. Although we were at 12,000 feet, married that same weekend. the flames were so intense we were receiving turbulence. "I had been successful in my training and was It was an amazing fire. Our fire bombs were very requested to stay and serve as navigation instructor for successful in the Japanese cities because of construction other cadets early in the program. I was a navigation employed, as most were wood structures. On some instructor until 1944, when the B 29 program was being targets, like the Japanese Military Academy, we used developed. Several instructors, including me, were demolition bombs. selected to be in the program. The B -29 was a brand new "One time, when we were back on Tinian resting bomber and was the first pressurized long -range bomber between missions, the guys in the crew decided to get ever produced. a jeep and some rope and explore the caves that existed "I was sent to California and then McDill Field at in the cliffs at the end of the runway that we flewover Tampa, Florida, for training. At McDill, the crews were on all our missions in and out of Tinian. We drove to the assembled and we were assigned a plane which we e e and dropped some ropes over for us to go down an investigate. When we reached the entrance of the I picked up in Kearney, Nebraska, in March 1945. I've got first cave, we were met by five Japanese soldiers with to brag on our crew, which w comprised of persons who ' rifles. We had no weapons, but fortunately for us, all they had served as instructors and who really were skilled at wanted to do was surrender. We called in the MP's, who whattheydid. took them into custody. That was the end of our cave "From Kearney, Nebraska, we flew directly to Tinian exploring." Island in the Marianas. Once on Tinian we stayed together TherestofDanArden 'sstorywillbenextweek. lfyou as a crew on our plane the rest of the war. We were the want to have a name added to the Veterans Memorial, only crew to our plane and we helped service our plane. for moreinformation, to make a contribution, or if you 1A We even had crew members sleep on the plane each know a World War 11 veteran whose story needs to be SE night to avoid problems of any kind. told, contact the BVVM at www.veteransmemorial.org 1, "The missions for our 12 man crew were long. The or Bill Youngkin at (979)776 The Eagle r -. -• -- - - -- i r, ,z �_ a e • ,....:::::::: ,...•••,•,..,:,:::::,, F. r ."""""" w : ;r o xs "xF, ne ini a seli"es Of tr e k dtembert� Willie Greatest Generation who serve ! ear count dunng War I _;_ World r a 2 f .e yam. 'Yy .... . 4 ': iF:::: P � 5 A. Dan D. "Dan" Arden � F t 1 w i X i 1 By Bill Youngkin end the war and stop us flying any more missions, we were ° Special to the Eagle all for it. I "The day the Japanese surrender was signed in Tokyo 1 Second of Two Parts Bay on the USS Missouri, every plane America could muster ' For Daniel D. "Dan" Arden of Bryan, the missions- of his flew over the ceremony. It was wave after wave of American B -29 bomber and crew did not end with the surrender of Japan. Although no bombing mission occurred after the aircraft. The sky over Tokyo Bay and Japan was literally full of American planes, and we were one of them. y war ended, vital missions did continue and his personal 1 time of service was extended to complete some important "With the Japanese surrender our most important t additional assignments. missions began. During the war the Japanese shipped U.S. POWs to Japan to work as slave laborers. With the surrender, Arden was the navigator aboard a 12 man B-29 bomber those prisoners of war were abandoned by the guards. crew flying off Tinian Island. The B-29 was a pressurized Without food and other supplies, those POWs that weren't long-range bomber and used radar navigation as well as already dead would be soon. On these missions, I navigated c f radar target location. Arden was trained to handle both and acted as the bombardier to drop supplies, because those i i roles, and quite often did. On one mission the entire crew supplies were essential for the survival of our guys. took turns helping fly the plane. It was not a training exercise but a total team effort to keep the plane in the air. "We found every camp we were assigned and made $ successful drops. In addition to food, clothing and medicine, As recalled by Arden, "One mission our crew will never we dropped messages telling them to stay where they were forget was one where we almost lost our plane. We had as American troops were on the way and would be there I successfully completed our bombing run and were heading shortly. There was one camp we were having difficulty home when we were attacked by Japanese fighter planes. locating and we were flying very low. We came over a hill , They shot us up pretty badly, enough that we lost two engines on our right side" and just passed between two guard towers of the camp. Had we been a little more left or a little more right that a "With those two engines out, they only way we could would have been the end of our plane. But we knew we had fly the plane was constantly working the rudders on the co- located the POW camp." pilot's side. That is a very strenuous thing to do, so the entire crew took turns sitting in the co- pilot's seat, working those Arden would be asked to continue his service, even rudders. We would work the rudders with our legs until though he was eligible for discharge. He was allowed becoming exhausted and then another member of the crew leave to come home to visit his family but then he returned would take over. to conduct photo mapping of everything that our military could map in that part of the world. According to Arden, "We "We were low enough that we could open the bomb -bay knew that area of the world would change after the war, so doors and function without oxygen. We tossed everything we flew and mapped every day until we had orders in hand we could toss out of the plane, but we kept getting lower and to stop. Those topographic maps we produced proved to be lower. I really thought we were going to ditch in the ocean. very valuable. + If that happened, our only hope was to be picked up by a ` submarine. We had been told the procedure to follow and "After the war I finished school, eventually receiving had been assured that American subs circled Japan and they my PhD from Cal Berkley. I worked for several major would rescue us if we ditched in the ocean. I thought we • oil companies all over the world preparing oil and gas were about to put that to the test. Somehow we managed geological maps. I ended my working career as a professor to continue flying until we reached Tinian Island, but it truly at Birmingham Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama." was a total team effort. When asked what his time of service to his country "On Tinian Island was another B -29 named the Enola meant to him, Arden responded, "I enlisted because I felt the Gay that was undergoing some refitting at a hanger separate need to serve my country, and I am proud of having served." from the rest of us. The rumors were it was being refitted If you want to have a name added to the Veterans to drop a much larger bomb. We thought it was probably Memorial, for more information, to make a contribution, a huge demolition bomb. We were on a mission the day or if you know a World War II veteran whose story needs to 4 the Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. We be told, contact the BWM at www.veteransmemoriaLorg '' didn't know what an atomic bomb was, but we felt if it could or Bill Youngkin at (979) 776 -1325. I The Eagle -�: x .., 1 l