John P. Burns

(September 22, 1917 — April 13, 1942). Lieutenant, serving in the 21st Pursuit Squadron, USAFFE.

January 1, 1942

January 1, 1941

Reported that a few Japs had been in Manila and left. Don’t know, though. Quiet day. Still with 3rd up in Mts. I’ll bet folks

January 3, 1942

January 3, 1941

Back with Sqd’n again, good feeling. Drove to Pilar, someone going to do some flying. Not much bombing today. Rumor has it that it won’t

January 8, 1942

January 8, 1941

Organized the 3d Plat. of the 21st A.C. Co. today. No bombers for two days now. Wonder what is up. Sure a swell bunch of

January 9, 1942

January 9, 1941

Third day no enemy planes, must be something in the air. Walked down to coast on Vigia Point. Nice country, walked a good 20 km,

January 12, 1942

January 12, 1941

Mapped about 5 klm of coast. Mighty rough, out from 10:15 to 2:30. Whole bunch dead tired. R.C.A. from Jean today, best news since the

November 1, 1941

Left San Francisco at noon on the S.S. President Coolidge. An awful day to be starting to go someplace and not know where. Under the

November 2, 1941

Water, water, everywhere and God how it does heave. Not sick, but I’ve felt better plenty of times. Boat O.D. today, Sunday, but you wouldn’t

November 3, 1941

Finally caught up on my sleep. Now to read and catch up on my letter writing. The food is mighty fine. I wonder, are they

November 4, 1941

Good thing Clark and Parcher are easy to get along with. I fear that before we get to Manila that lots of nerves will be

November 5, 1941

Tomorrow we get to Honolulu. Thank God for that, never thought I’d get tired of having nothing to do, be unable to sleep, and that

November 6, 1941

Woke up this morning and there was Oahu. Spent 9 hours on shore, some place. Clark and I decided it would be a swell place

November 7, 1941

Blackout last night and from now on. Rather annoying to say the least. At this point I’d sure like to get inside an airplane and

November 8, 1941

Today, approximately 3000 miles from San Francisco, about 5000 from Manila. We still wonder where PLUM is. Poker not bad today. Evidently the pilots had

November 9, 1941

We crossed the international dateline today. Now I don’t know what day this is or tomorrow will be. Poker good today. Time to start writing

November 11, 1941

Lost a day, maybe sometime I’ll make it up. Weather hot, feel sticky all the time. Hear we are going to Guam so the Pierce

November 12, 1941

Wrote letters and drank scotch today, got a mighty fine buzz on. Getting hotter, must be getting close to the equator.

November 13, 1941

Noon today–half way from Honolulu to Manila. Wrote four letters today. Scott had some trouble so the distance covered was pretty small, 337 miles. Makes

November 14, 1941

Same old stuff, not making much headway. Getting hotter and hotter.

November 15, 1941

Today we were supposed to reach Guam but won’t be there until tomorrow morning. Today starts the third week of this.

November 16, 1941

Sunday again, you wouldn’t know it, no church services or nothing. Woke up outside Guam. Navy planes patrolling all the time. We lay off harbor.

November 17, 1941

Moving at a pretty good clip again. Will be in Manila Thursday. Find out where PLUM is then. Sky cloudy, frequent rains, air sultry.

November 18, 1941

Only 750 miles to go–tomorrow we’ll be among the islands. Went to amature [sic] show, very good, one kid sang “Does your heart beat for

November 19, 1941

In San Bernardino Straits today–Islands on all sides. Good to see land again. Swell day but cloudy in spots. Everyone feeling fine.

November 20, 1941

Disembarked at about 9:00 a.m. Very hot on boat and not much cooler off, Seems like everyone has classmates here but me. Thanksgiving Day. The

November 21, 1941

Reported to Nichols Field this morning and N.F. is PLUM for the present. We are to be someplace in the P.I.’s. We are not happy

November 22, 1941

Today we rented an Apt. Darn nice, hope we are here long enough to get some good out of it. Manila is an awful dirty

November 23, 1941

Looked town over and loafed. I can’t see what the US. sees in this place that is worth fighting for. It sure is a bee

November 24, 1941

Squadron got a couple P-35s today to fly until 40’s ready. Tomorrow we fly, been over a month. Field looks awful small on ground. The

November 25, 1941

Flew a P-35A for first time today. Not a bad plane but could be much better. Will be glad when the P-40Es are fixed. Shouldn’t

November 26, 1941

Enough time for flight pay now. Tomorrow we start formation again. Things getting settled down fine. Must be about time for them to move us