1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:05,080 - It's a special UGA, as our 328th Air Refueling Squadron 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:09,370 celebrates 75 years of its rich legacy, 3 00:00:09,370 --> 00:00:11,650 that dates back to the Lucky Third. 4 00:00:11,650 --> 00:00:13,630 The Third Troop Carrier Squadron, 5 00:00:13,630 --> 00:00:17,560 which started up its operations in 1944. 6 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:20,240 It was led by Colonel John Moriarty, 7 00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:24,910 who commanded over 200 men on the very dangerous mission. 8 00:00:24,910 --> 00:00:26,750 How do we know this? 9 00:00:26,750 --> 00:00:28,610 Because we spoke to him. 10 00:00:28,610 --> 00:00:32,003 Meet 99-year-old Colonel John Moriarty. 11 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:36,710 - At that time you know we, the war was going on 12 00:00:36,710 --> 00:00:40,383 and had been going on and I had, 13 00:00:41,830 --> 00:00:43,640 prior to that in the United States 14 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:45,490 had been, I'm thinking something like 15 00:00:45,490 --> 00:00:47,523 close to 20 different stations, 16 00:00:49,270 --> 00:00:50,870 over a period of a couple years. 17 00:00:52,470 --> 00:00:55,320 So when the time came to go overseas, 18 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:56,693 it was just another order. 19 00:01:01,050 --> 00:01:03,970 Which is to say, it was interesting. 20 00:01:03,970 --> 00:01:06,120 I can remember flying across North Africa 21 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:09,650 and seeing the damaged and destroyed tanks down below 22 00:01:09,650 --> 00:01:12,362 from Rommel and where the other British 23 00:01:12,362 --> 00:01:14,057 had fought in North Africa 24 00:01:14,057 --> 00:01:19,057 and everything still lying out there on the desert. 25 00:01:19,452 --> 00:01:22,329 The scorched it in there. 26 00:01:22,329 --> 00:01:27,043 The men that went up with a bunch of, what I thought, 27 00:01:27,043 --> 00:01:29,293 were awfully good non-coms. 28 00:01:32,352 --> 00:01:35,519 So, the squadron themselves, they was, 29 00:01:38,090 --> 00:01:41,590 I think, unusual in the quality of the of the non-coms 30 00:01:41,590 --> 00:01:44,820 that we had, which I think accounted 31 00:01:44,820 --> 00:01:46,590 for this Lucky Third business 32 00:01:46,590 --> 00:01:49,163 that we had some mighty good people there. 33 00:01:50,590 --> 00:01:54,130 The other squadrons, we were told that they called, 34 00:01:54,130 --> 00:01:55,830 they talked about the Lucky Third. 35 00:01:56,860 --> 00:02:00,830 And when the time came we'd get a Squadron symbol 36 00:02:00,830 --> 00:02:05,540 this Communication Sergeant came up with that emblem 37 00:02:05,540 --> 00:02:07,431 that we've got. 38 00:02:07,431 --> 00:02:11,293 He got a $25 savings bond with it. 39 00:02:12,414 --> 00:02:15,290 And that's been it ever since. 40 00:02:15,290 --> 00:02:17,845 Surprisingly, it's still alive. 41 00:02:17,845 --> 00:02:20,940 But we liberated a lot of people, 42 00:02:20,940 --> 00:02:23,893 we pulled a lot of people all over China. 43 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:30,623 It was just something that we did as best we could. 44 00:02:33,070 --> 00:02:36,290 While we were doing it we lost two, 45 00:02:36,290 --> 00:02:39,770 you know, shot down by the Japanese. 46 00:02:39,770 --> 00:02:42,243 That's where I lost my Operations Officer. 47 00:02:45,029 --> 00:02:50,029 But only two were shot down by the Japanese. 48 00:02:52,632 --> 00:02:54,687 We lost several more. 49 00:02:54,687 --> 00:02:58,923 There were hard landings, some of these, 50 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:02,220 we didn't have any, say, airfields. 51 00:03:02,220 --> 00:03:04,740 We just had these strips that knocked out of 52 00:03:04,740 --> 00:03:07,593 the paddy buns in Burma. 53 00:03:11,220 --> 00:03:13,293 We had some rather young pilots, 54 00:03:14,685 --> 00:03:19,510 they were doing some unusual stuff for pilots 55 00:03:19,510 --> 00:03:20,890 and didn't have any more training 56 00:03:20,890 --> 00:03:24,130 than most of them did and yet, surprisingly, 57 00:03:24,130 --> 00:03:26,963 we did not have a great many accidents. 58 00:03:28,150 --> 00:03:30,683 - [Interviewer] What do you think led to your success? 59 00:03:32,150 --> 00:03:35,880 - My success? I didn't know I had any success. 60 00:03:38,517 --> 00:03:41,350 - [Interviewer] Yes, Sir, you did. 61 00:03:43,810 --> 00:03:45,283 - Yeah, I guess I did get, 62 00:03:46,389 --> 00:03:47,637 I became a Squadron Commander 63 00:03:47,637 --> 00:03:51,030 and I did get to be a Lieutenant Colonel eventually. 64 00:03:51,030 --> 00:03:52,650 - [Interviewer] What skill set that you have, 65 00:03:52,650 --> 00:03:56,043 what's inside you that led to this journey? 66 00:03:57,526 --> 00:03:59,871 - I don't know, I majored in English in college. 67 00:03:59,871 --> 00:04:02,450 (laughs) 68 00:04:02,450 --> 00:04:04,910 I guess I don't have any words of wisdom 69 00:04:04,910 --> 00:04:08,303 or inspiration or anything of that sort. 70 00:04:09,394 --> 00:04:14,394 That I am interested and surprised 71 00:04:16,150 --> 00:04:21,150 to hear that 75 years later, 72 00:04:22,935 --> 00:04:26,890 that you people are that interested in your history. 73 00:04:26,890 --> 00:04:31,080 That the organization is still in existence. 74 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:33,763 I guess it's partly my organization. 75 00:04:35,257 --> 00:04:38,713 Well, I'm almost proud to hear that. 76 00:04:47,064 --> 00:04:49,897 (dramatic music)