Second Aero Squadron Corregidor Philippines

The overnight in Honolulu, Hawaii Territory. Picture below was taken from the pier in this picture above.

No high rise hotels on Waikki Beach with Diamond Head in the distance.

Written on back: This is a picture of my friend and another fellow. Harold W. Beach. This kind of a flare is very often seen over here for the Spanish sure like walls.

We still have this show ticket he kept

James on the transport ship SHERMAN

Transport ship SHERMAN sail dates

Location of Corregidor Island protecting the city of Manila, Philippines. I have not confirmed yet which base he first served at in Manila.

I confirmed that this image is from the 2nd Aero Squadron on Corregidor Island. A guy online has the exact picture with some letters from the island. Below is a second picture at the same airplane and the guy online had a third image from that day.

James Leo Willhite on right

James is second from left

James on the right pouring the drink.

James Leo Willhite on left, possibly with broken wrist.

James Leo Willhite is on back row, third from left.

I can't find the original picture but my notes say that James brought this picture home too. Don't see him in the group.

Crash site. This image and the 2 below are the same crash.

This crash was in shallow water.

It was after all an instructional flying squadron.

He took a picture of the SHERMAN Army transport

Written on the back: A good overview of our quarters, this is the front porch.

His pictures below are are a mix of shots from his time around Manila and his service on Corregidor Island. There is a chance a Panama image could be included but I tried to seperate them as best as I could.

At age 22, James is in the Army, a private in the 8th Infantry. On Dec. 6, 1915, exactly 16 months prior to the start of WWI, James was leaving from San Francisco on a U.S. transport ship called SHERMAN to the city of Manila in the Philippines. Along the way, they stopped for a night in Honolulu where he took (or purchased) a couple of pictures of Waikiki Beach. The ship also stopped for a day in Guam. Once reaching Manila, he was placed on a base near Manila.

Sometime during this time in the Philippines, James was re-assigned to the Second Aero Squadron. This instructional flying squadron had just been created and was only the second created so far for the United States military. The small squadron was doing pre-war service and their ship arrived one month after James arrived. The Second Aero Squadron was located at Fort Mills on the island of Corregidor. This large island was part of the Manila Bay harbor defenses. James spent nearly 2 years in the Philippines, including when the war broke out. The officers in his Squad were highly skilled pilots and each enlisted man was an expert mechanic. Unique to his squadron was that of the enlisted personnel, 36 of the 39 men had previously been enlisted in the Regular Army, and every man had two years service, so James was among some experienced men that were “selected with great care largely from other branches of the service”. His squadron consisted of six officers that did the flying and the 39 enlisted personnel mentioned above. It is very possible that James switched rank from Private to Chauffeur due to his war injury. It is recorded that an airplane fell on his wrist, breaking and crushing it.

The Squadron was ordered back to the States, several months after war was declared against Germany, and on October 15, 1917, the boys of the 2nd Aero sailed from Manila, arriving at San Francisco on Nov. 17, 1917. Immediately they set out for Kelly Field, Texas, reaching it five days later.

James Leo Willhite at Corregidor, Philippines