Combat Memoirs
Salerno to the Rapido
Me-109 over Italy
From Inchon to the Yalu
Laision Pilot in Korea
T-Patch Pilot
Staff Sgt. James Stegall arrived in North Africa in 1943 with the 878th Heavy Maintenance Company. He decided that he'd rather to be in a combat outfit and by luck and hard work managed to enroll and pass flight school. He proudly became a "Grasshopper Pilot", flying an L-4 as an artillery observer for the 36th Division. His first combat experience began on the beaches of Salerno, Italy and continued into the Liri Valley, where an encounter with a German Me-109 won him his first Silver Star.
North Korea, November, 1950
“To get to Koto-ri you have to climb to almost six thousand feet to clear the mountain pass. I took off and climbed all the way up and was just clearing the pass when my engine iced up and just flat quit. I wasn't close enough to glide on into Koto-ri and the road below me was still held by the Chinese. I glided back down the mountain and got back to where I could see our troops. I turned back into the wind and made a crash landing into some trees. It was a real easy landing. My left wing hit a tree, swung me around and dropped me in easy. Didn't hardly jar me.”
frfrom "Grasshopper Pilot"
L-4 Cub meets a German Me-109
"The 36th Division was making the initial assault on Mt. Maggiore. I was flying an observation plane, an L-4, along with an observer and directing artillery fire on German positions. There were plenty of targets to fire upon as the assault by the 36th created a lot of activity on the German side. Their artillery was firing at our troops which allowed us to fire on their positions. We were so engrossed in our adjusting and firing that we were lax on watching for enemy aircraft. Suddenly, something slammed into the side of the plane. I looked to the left and saw white tracers flying by close to the plane and red tracers out toward the end of the wing.”
rfrom "Grasshopper Pilot"
South Korea, Summer, 1951
Flying for the 7th Infantry Division
Shortly after the Korean War began Lt. Stegall joined the 49th FA Bn, 7th ID as a Laision Pilot. He landed at Pusan in September, 1950. A few days later he landed at Inchon and began his second combat tour.
He served with the 7th from Inchon to Iwon and participated in the push to the Yalu River. The 7th then “pulled back to a more strategic location” near Hamhung where he flew missions in and out of the Chosin Reservoir encirclement before crash landing near Koto-ri. He marched out with the 92nd AFA Bn to Hungnam Harbor for the sea evacuation to Pusan. He continued flying for the 7th as they fought the Chinese and North Koreans back to the 38th Parallel.
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