First Lieutenant Thomas H. Mann, Jr.

Guadalcanal Marine Ace

Grumman F4F Wildcat

Thomas H. Mann, Jr. was born February 6, 1919 in Sullivan, Indiana. I do not have any information on the conditions of his youth. Where he went to high school or what his father did. I only interviewed him once before he passed away. He did attend very good collages before he joined the military. Mann attended Purdue and Indiana State Teachers Collage.

He joined the Navy in May of 1941 six months before the United States entered the war. Mann did tell me that he joined because he was the typical young American man watching the events in Europe and the continent tearing itself apart. It would be impossible not to be moved if you too lived during the Battle of Britton.

After Mann completed flight training he chose a commission with the Marines in March of 1942. His first assignment was with VMF-122 at Kearney Mesa, California. He was reassigned to VMF-121in New Calendonia.

On September 25, 1942 Mann with four other officers were reassigned to VMF 224 on Guadalcanal as replacement pilots. He flew with VMF 224 until VMF 121 arrived on October 12, 1942. Mann watched as the niceties of civilization disappeared as he went from California to Calendonia to Guadalcanal . The air base was freshly cut out of the jungle. The Japanese had started the airstrip and the Marines took it from them sending the Japanese into the surrounding jungle. All maintenance on the aircraft and vehicles were done in the open. There were no hangers and a dirt runway.

Tents were the accommodations of which you had an air raid hole dug next to your tent for midnight attacks by the Japanese.

The conditions were much the same for the Roman Legions I suggested, except the Marines had a radar station and canned food, other than that the Marines still had to poop in a freshly dug hole like the Romans and ate around a fire. Not all that of the south sea romantic atmosphere I had in mind Mann told me.

Once Mann arrived on Guadalcanal his training began. They were led by the best representing a high ranking list of fighting commanders. A few of the group leaders were John Smith with 19 kills and Bob Galer with 14 kills, both men were Major’s. Add Joe Foss with 26 kills and all three were Medal of Honor recipients.

Only three days after he arrived on September 28^th Mann experienced his first fighter scramble. On his first mission he shared a twin-engine Betty bomber with another Marine. Mann told me “it was immediate combat, all he had to do was take off and here came the Japanese!”

Mann also explained to me for the first time that he and the other Wildcat pilots had to hand crank their landing gear up as they were taking off. I was taken back. As he sat in his wheel chair he showed me how he held the flight stick with one hand and then reached down and showed how he had to crank on the lever. I told him I was impressed in that I was under the impression that they would have had power gear equipment.

No doubt that made a quick take off even more stressful. Mann agreed. He told me that if you lost your grip on the handle it would spin back on you under great force and if it hit your leg it would break your bone, I said “No way,” but he said yes, it could be deadly. He told me of a pilot that during take off he lost control of his fighter and every one watched him crash at the end of the run way. When they recovered the pilot they found that the handle of the landing gear had in fact broken his leg and apparently he lost control because the pain was so great. It was a sad ending.

During another scramble on October 11^th Mann intercepted a flight of twin engine bombers and shot down two of them. He added a Zero fighter two days later on the 13^th. Mann shared a twin-engine bomber on October 18^th. He joined the growing ranks of Marine Aces on October 23, 1942 when he shot down a bomber during a mid day attack on the airfield.

Mann’s best combat story was on November 11when he and VMF-121 was alerted to an incoming flight of Val dive bombers. The stubbly medium blue and gray Wildcats whipped up a cloud of dust as they took off from the famous Cactus Air Force airstrip. From this field many aces were made and many men never returned. He said they never had briefing or debriefing. They just sat around waiting for the coast watchers to call in a sighting. I talked to Bob Galer once and he told me that they only had a few pencils.

Mann told me that they were flying at eighteen thousand feet waiting for the incoming Val’s that were going to attack re-supply ships in the harbor. His flight spotted the group of Japanese Achi 99 “Val” dive bombers. There were twelve at approximately twelve thousand feet making their turn to attack the ships. Pulling away from his flight of eight he followed behind a flight of bombers. Mann fired a short burst into the closest enemy as he was diving at about thirty degrees. Fire erupted along the side the rear gunner had also been injured. The Val dropped clearing the way for the next. Mann closed on the Val firing into the fuselage sending his machine gun bullets down the side from the tail to the cockpit. He stayed a little below the bomber to keep the rear gunner from bring his gun to bear on him. The rear gunner was firing back on Mann as best he could but the damage to the Val was critical as the airplane turned into a fireball.

The Val’s began their dive on the ships and Mann fell in behind them. He came into machine gun range of the closest Val and as he was pressing the button to fire he watched the bomb release from the Val. His bullets chased the dropping Val. His bullets found their mark as Mann watched the enemy’s bomb hit the water on one side of the ship as the bomber Mann was firing into hit the water on the other side of the ship before. Mann pulled back on his control stick with all his might in order to pull out of the dive.

All this time Mann was openly exposing himself to anti-aircraft fire from the American ships. As he came out of his dive Mann found himself skating across the top of the water at high speed. Before him was a Val that was barreling out of the area after dropping his bombs. Mann pushed his fighter harder and fired into the Val causing an explosion sending it cart wheeling across the blue green bay.

As Mann looked around he saw that there were several other Val’s low on the water so he chose one in front of him. As he was closing on his fifth Val, he was just about to fire when he looked over and saw another Val came to the rescue of his fellow pilot. The Val came in on his left side and instantly Mann kicked left rudder to ruin the enemy’s fire. The Japanese bullets cut a path from the oil cooler along the side of the cockpit and the left wing. Mann was injured and his controls were damaged.

He was already low on the water with no throttle. He pulled back on the stick a little and kept the nose of his fighter a little high in order to slide in on the belly of the round bodied fighter.

Even with his best efforts the landing was ungraceful. Upon impact his fighter nosed forward with the prop of the aircraft digging into the sea bringing the fighter to a stop with its tail in the air. Mann was thrown forward and smashed his face on his gun sights smashing out seven teeth. In the attack from the Val, Mann had been wounded with shrapnel up and down the left side of his body. Racked with pain he had to force his way out of the cockpit fighting a jammed canopy.

His raft would not work so all he had was his May West. Alone in his life vest he swam for many hours until at dusk he reached a small island. He was so tired that once he drug himself onto the shore he just gave up for a moment and laid half in and half out of the water. Fortunately he was found right away by two Melanesian natives who had been watching him from the beach. They immediately put him into a canoe and paddled to a larger island which was part of the Tulagi group. Here they treated his wounds with native herbs.

After seven days the natives felt that he was well enough to travel again and they then gave him a Japanese uniform in trade for his Marine uniform. They told him that they had killed the Japanese office the uniform belonged to. The natives then paddled Mann in a larger canoe for eight hours to deliver him back to Guadalcanal and his squadron. The local medicines worked because Mann arrived back with no infections and had six to eight pieces of shrapnel from his hand, arm and leg removed.

For a while the action in the area cooled down and Mann helped train the new aviators that arrived. Malaria was the nemeses that sent Mann back to the States and out of combat. He served as an instructor in Florida. Mann was finally sent back to the Pacific with VMF-223 to Okinawa. He then served as part of the Japanese Occupation Forces until the end of 1946. He remained in the Marines and retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1961.

Mann was decorated with the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star with Combat “V” for Valor, The Purple Heart, Air Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, the Navy Unit Commendation Medal and finally ten confirmed aerial victories.

Tom would have been the first aviator in my series of “Famous American Aviators” but I met him at the end of his life. He was suffering form cancer and had diabetic problems. I saw an article about him in the Jacksonville Times Union newspaper on November 11, 1992. The paper had done a feature on him and I called the paper for the opportunity to meet him. I found out that he was living across the river form me in Mandarin. I called and made an appointment.

I met with Tom and briefly interviewed him. This was all new to me. Tom was my first interview. I had been planning a series of famous American aviators for a year and this was perfect timing. I got the information from him about what his Wildcat looked like. He agreed to work with me on my new project and I spent the next week or so painting his fighter. I called again and he was not doing well but he was kind enough to see me. He liked my painting and autographed it for me. I was working on the financials for the publication of a print of his F4F Wildcat accompanied with his story when Tom passed away. He was a great guy and a wonderful introduction to my new career.

Thanks Tom.

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5-29-07