Personnel of the 3^rd Bomb Squadron stationed at Peishiyi (Baishiyi) ended 1944 with three consecutive nights of Chinese opera. Afterward, all American officers and enlisted men of the Chinese-American Composite Wing stationed at Peishiyi were invited to attend New Year's celebrations hosted by several Chinese civic organizations that banded together to honor the men who came from far away to aid in their war against the Japanese aggressors. They held separate dinner-dances―for officers on Saturday evening, December 30, and for enlisted men on Sunday evening, New Year's Eve. Both parties took place in Chungking (Chongqing) and included buffets and music, and "many girls of all nationalities were present and available for dancing.” My father, then Sgt. James H. (“Hank”) Mills., remembered attending with TSgts. Ewell F. Wilkerson and John P. Barge.

Thanksgiving on November 23, 1944, was not a memorable occasion for the men stationed at Peishiyi (Baishiyi).  Because some of the extra supplies ordered for the holiday feast had not arrived, the menu included duck and not turkey, which was promised later. It was finally on the menu a week later.  At about the same time, six of the 3^rd Bomb Squadron's B-25s were moved farther back to Wenkiang (Wenjiang) in the western suburbs of Chengtu (Chengdu). “Brass” considered them to be safer there from night attack now that the moon was waxing full, and the shortage of gas prevented them from flying missions, regardless of their location. The detachment that accompanied them went to Kwan-Sien Rest Camp north of the city. Meanwhile, in Chihkiang (Zhijiang), detachments from the 3^rd and 4^th Bomb Squadrons that made up Task Force 34 conducted business as usual. They took a one-day break on Thanksgiving Day before resuming operations. Another night mission to support heavy bomb operations by interdicting use of enemy searchlights at Hankow-Wuchang was off on the twenty-fourth. The bomber was pursued by enemy night fighters, but its pilot, 1Lt. Leo C. Baker, took cover in a patch of overcast encountered near Tungting Lake and lost them.

Carrying frag clusters fused instantaneous, the 4^th Bomb Squadron’s Capt. Moncure N. (“Monte”) Lyon, in command of Task Force 34 that flew out of Chihkiang (Zhijiang), took off in the 3^rd Bomb Squadron’s A/C #722 at 1805 on November 22, 1944. With him were the 68^th Composite Wing’s Maj. A. T. House as observer and copilot and a crew that included the 3^rd Squadron’s Sgt. Eril W. Peters and Cpl. Andrew R. Allegretto as waist and tail gunners, as well as the 4^th Squadron’s Capt. Wei H. S. as navigator and SSgt. Oswald Weinert as top turret gunner. They had volunteered for this hazardous mission without knowing what it entailed until the briefing just before takeoff. It was a joint mission with the 68^th Composite Wing that included twenty-two B-24s of the 308^th Bomb Group (H) and two P-51s of the 75^th Fighter Squadron, 23^rd Fighter Group. The “heavies” approached the target and made their runs singly or in small groups, dropping their 500-pounders. Each time the searchlights were illuminated in an attempt to pick them up, Lyon attacked the lights again. This mission against Wuhan was the first of many completed successfully by Task Force 34, as well as by its two bomb squadrons later operating independently.

In late 1944, it became clear to observers that Japanese forces coming from the north were moving toward a junction with troops advancing westward toward Nanning from Canton.  Col. John A. Dunning, in command of the 5^th Fighter Group at Chihkiang (Zhijiang), put in a request for four B-25s with crews to run missions in close conjunction with his "Flying Hatchet" fighters to resist the enemy drive. His pilots had found that daytime targets were scarce and scattered because the enemy was moving troops and supplies primarily at night, so that was when he intended to strike. Called "Task Force 34," its participants were detached from the 3^rd and 4^th Bomb Squadrons, and the majority of their missions were night single-plane strikes at river, rail, and road traffic in the Hsiang Valley and from Hankow to Kweilin. Many of them were accomplished without moonlight. So successful were these “moonless-night missions” that they became a specialty of Task Force 34.

On August 22, 1945, Maj. Gen. Takeo Imai, Vice-Chief of the General Staff of China Expeditionary Army, and his interpreter took part in the surrender of Japanese military forces in China. It took place in Chihkiang (now Zhijiang). This was the most easterly of the 14th Air Force bases at the time the Japanese attempted to capture it, but revitalized Chinese ground troops, supported by the 3rd and 4th Bomb Squadrons and the 5th Fighter Group, stopped the advance and turned the tide of war.