"SATAN'S ANGELS" ACE - Tales from a P-38 pilot in the South Pacific

"AS A KID GROWING UP on the bow of my father's tugboat, hauling oil from Seattle to Alaska, I had a lot of time on my hands.

- COL. PERRY J. "PJ" DAHL

I used to read the pulp magazines about the aces of WW I, such as the Red Baron. That's probably how I became interested in flying.

But when I became a fighter pilot, I didn't care about flying straight and level; I was more interested in the fighter aspects of pursuing and attacking an enemy. It was the aggressive instinct of being a fighter pilot in combat, hunting and attacking other airplanes as opposed to being the hunted, that intrigued me the most."

Earning my wings

My initial exposure to the military was in 1939. At the ripe old age of 17 I joined the 41st Infantry Division of the National Guard in Seattle, Washington, because my parents thought that serving a year in the Army would do me some good. I guess it was because trouble always followed me wherever I went-thankfully always two steps behind! As a foot soldier, my mind was always in the clouds, so when the opportunity presented itself for me to go into aviation training, I was at the front of the line signing up. After completing preflight, I was sent to Cal-Aero in Chino, California, and almost washed out.