SL-64, SL-65 - Chase J. Nielsen, 11 July 2000

Item — cassette: 64-65

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Nielsen (b. 1917) recalls growing up on a farm near Hyrum, Utah. He was a senior at Utah Agricultural College when the army air force medical team came to campus conducting physicals for their expanding pilot training program. He signed up for a physical and was called up for training in August 1939. He discusses training at length, including his experience in PT-13s, B-10s, B-12s, B-18s, and B-23s. He was flying B-25s when he was selected by Jimmy Doolittle for the raid on Tokyo. His airplane ran out of gas and crashed off the coast of Japan. He made it to shore and hooked up with a group of Chinese guerillas. He describes being captured and tortured by the Japanese, being tried as a war criminal by a military tribunal, and his imprisonment in Nanking and Peking. Other topics covered include his liberation by American forces, recovering in military hospitals, testifying in the war crimes trial of his former captors, serving in the Strategic Air Command, and his retirement as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1961.

Dates

11 July 2000

Language of Materials

From the Collection: Collection material in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials must be used on-site; no use of original material, access copies will be made available for viewing. All items have been digitized and are available. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law, condition of the material, or by donor.