Day by day, night after night, it was five or six Marines in a twin-engine bomber who pounded away at the Japanese. These were the men who served in United States Marine Corps medium bomber squadrons outfitted with the B-25 Mitchell bomber.

This site is dedicated to the history of USMC PBJ Mitchell operations of World War II.

Their story was summed up in a short summary written in the pictorial history of VMB-413.

I HAVE BEEN BORN FOR GREATER THINGS

The mills of evaluation in war grind slow. History, an exacting mistress, will in her own good time assess what VMB-413 accomplished. We of the squadron cannot say. We can produce no heroes. We can sing of no glories. The nature of our mission did not lend itself to the spectacular. It was difficult, dangerous, disheartening-and routine.

The bulk of our attacks against the enemy were at night. Occasionally a fire was started in Rabaul Town; an ammunition dump touched off, a bullseye scored on a cluster of searchlights. Infrequently an enemy night fighter gave chase. What could not be observed was the effectiveness of that constant heckling over enemy territory. What percentage did we contribute toward the final neutralization of Rabaul in hours of sleep lost, in personnel killed or wounded, in repair and maintenance work interrupted? Some day a line in a history book may give the answer.