December 23rd - Perth, Australia
The Navy puts us up in a hotel in Perth. We are issued Navy uniforms. They're brown, like the Army uniforms I'm used to, but of a different material; and they have a black belt and black shoes instead of brown ones. All the normal things of life - food, bed, just the freedom to move around - makes my head spin. The first thing I'm going to do is get a milk shake. How long have I dreamed of a milk shake! The next thing I'm going to do is send telegrams to my wife and my mother. After we get settled into our rooms we head over to the Red Cross Canteen. I order my milk shake. "Sorry", she says, "We only serve military". "Well, I am military", I say. "Who are you with?" she asks. "With the Army" I say. "There's no army around here. Let me see your ID". "Umm, I don't have one" We get on the phone to the base and get a couple of Shore Patrol to accompany and vouch for us. A short time later I am enjoying my milk shake.

I then go to send my telegrams. Because of the security, we don't get to make them up. Instead we have to pick from among several standard messages. I pick mine and send them, happy in the knowledge that, after the missing in action message they got from the Army, their minds will be at peace for Christmas. Only later do I find out that my telegrams were never sent. The Navy did not want to risk compromising the "underground railroad".

We are treated royally during our stay in Perth, and really don't want to leave, but all good things must come to an end. On December 22nd we are advised that the following day we will be put aboard a Gooney Bird with a naval Captain and flown back to our unit in Hollandia. This is not what we expected. We put up a fuss and manage to delay the flight one more day, but you can't keep a naval Captain waiting forever, so the next day finds us boarding the aircraft for our flight north.

December 24th - En route to Hollandia
As we climb aboard the aircraft the first thing we see, fastened to the floor in the middle of the plane, is a big plush green leather easy chair. In these humble surroundings it looks like a throne. Each of us takes turns sitting in it. "Oh how grand; how glorious" I think. I forgot how it feels like to sit in something like this. -Then we all take our places in the little depressions carved out in the side of the aircraft for seats, strap ourselves in, and wonder who is going to sit in the big green chair. We don't have long to wait. A naval Captain (the one we made wait a day) steps on board and sits down in that big green chair. He later tells Wylder that he survived the sinking of both the Hornet and the Yorktown and was now assigned to the largest transport ship in the Navy, at Hollandia. Probably loading for the invasion of Japan.

We fly across the middle of Australia - some of the most desolate desert I've ever seen - and land at Darwin for lunch. The food is excellent. This Captain is sitting across from me and is grousing about the food. "Where did they get these eggs?" he exclaims. "Out of a chicken's a--", I deadpan. He irks me. If he had to basically eat rice for a month he would appreciate something like this. Anyway, I don't care. They can't do anything to us. We've escaped from enemy territory. That puts us in the same category as the submariners. For 30 days after a combat tour they can't be court-martialed. Tossed in the tank, maybe, but it won't be on their record!

After lunch we cross the Owen Stanley Mountains and begin our descent to Hollandia. These mountains are about 18,000 feet high and the passengers on this plane don't have oxygen. We are only at maximum altitude for a few minutes to crest the highest point of the range, and anyway we're used to this. In training they would put us in rarefied atmosphere in barometric chambers and make us do sit-ups until we passed out. The Captain, however, apparently didn't get this training and is beginning to panic and gasp for breath. He makes it.

December 25th to December 29th - Hollandia
We are assigned to the 51st General Hospital where we receive some medical treatment and in general are "handled" well. We are billeted in the officers' section, apparently because the Army feels that there will be less chance that any compromising information will get out that way. Soon I receive my orders for the trip home aboard the Lurlene, an ocean liner converted to a troop ship for a 33-day string-bean course home. Our first stop is Sydney but we can't get off. Many days later we dock in Pearl Harbor and still can't get off. Many long days later we arrive at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay next to Alcatraz.

February 2nd to February 7th – Processing
I am quarantined for 3 days at Angel Island. I have easily accumulated enough combat points to be discharged, but things have happened so fast, the paperwork has not caught up with events, so instead of being discharged, I am sent to a redistribution center. Here I am given a choice of convalescent hospitals. I pick Ft. George Wright, near Spokane, Washington, my home state.

And that is the end of the story of the last flight of Li'l Jo Toddy.

Epilogue
Of the seven planes on the bombing run over Alicante on November 1, 1944, four were shot down. One plane, piloted by Lt. Pink, went down with no survivors.  Six others survived the crash of a plane piloted by Lt. Emig. Only two survived the Kamikaze strike on Lt. Sanders' plane in which Mix and Whitling flew. Five survived the crash of Li'I Jo. Altogether, of the 70 men on this mission, twenty-seven died and forty-three survived.

The men lost from "Li'l Jo" are:
Pilot: Lieutenant Marty Roth
Copilot: Lieutenant Harry Elgee
Navigator: Lieutenant Al Kline
Waist Gunner: Staff Sergeant Brad Galbraith
First Engineer and Top Turret Gunner: Technical Sergeant Don Kabisch

About Dennis "Casey" Jones
Sgt. Jones stayed in the Reserve and during the Korean buildup was recalled to active duty. Convinced that he was destined for the military he became Regular (Air Force) and served a tour in Vietnam.  He retired as a Master Sergeant in 1968.  He lives in Arizona with his wife, Ann.

Route of Li'l Jo Toddy and Nose Art

5th BG website designer Jeff Johnson, Dennis "Casey" Jones, and Ken Simensen at the 23rd BS Reunion held in New Mexico, September 2000