Cupp, James, Col

"With the Betty gone, the full impact of my situation hit home. I still had a Zero behind me, and he was filling my tail with arrows. ... Home was over 200 miles behind me and turning would give the Zero even more of an advantage... I still had a good engine running, so I just stayed in a gradual turn. ... He gained on me at the end of the turn, but our speed was about equal. He finally pulled off in a chandelle. He'd done his best."

- Capt. Jim Cupp, describing an action at Vella Gulf on July 15, 1943


Jim Cupp was decorated during the Chosin Reservoir campaign while serving with the 1st Marine Division. His work calling in air support greatly assisted the men on the ground and their defense against repeated assault from seven Chinese divisions.

In March of 1943, VMF-213 arrived in the Solomons, equipped with Wildcats, but re-equipped with Corsairs before entering combat. With 13 kills, Captain Cupp was one of the highest scoring aces of this outfit.

His squadron suffered some early confusion, in the switch-over to Corsairs but they started to operate from Henderson Field on April 1. Their first job was to learn the geography of the Solomons: the islands, The Slot, the location of enemy troop concentrations, the airstrips, etc. Typical missions involved escorting bombers up to Bougainville, a Japanese stronghold in mid-1943. Their CO, Major Britt, drilled them for months on the importance of sticking together in combat. Sometimes Cupp had to work at this because his plane (its engine overdue for an overhaul) had a disconcerting tendency to flood its carburetor and cut out, usually when right over their objective.

VMF-213 took six weeks of R&R in Australia from mid-May through late June.

June 30, a typical day of that period, saw VMF-213 fly an intercept mission to Rendova in the morning and went out again in the afternoon to cover shipping in the same area. They flew for three and a half hours, but could not locate any enemy planes. Others in the squadron (Maj. Weissenberger and Lt. Wilbur Thomas) were more successful, and shot down a number of Zeros.

On an escort mission to Kahili on July 17, he tangled with some Zeros, and finding himself alone, he fell in with a group of returning bombers for protection. He caught up with them while they were playing cat-and-mouse in the clouds with two Zeros. Cupp took advantage of the situation and flamed one of the Zeros.

While on patrol over Vella Lavella on September 17, Cupp and his section intercepted a large group of Vals and Zeros. They took out a few Zeros before attacking thXevalXs. The dive bombers were old and so slow that it was difficult for the Corsairs to get in a good burst before passing over them. It was a "pathetic" battle, as the Marines disintegrated thXevalXs about as fast as they could line them up. They had brought down several when they were jumped by four Zeros. Cupp was hit by a 20mm shell, and he considered ditching, but happily discovered that his Corsair responded well when he shoved the throttle forward, and he ran for home.

The next day, he took off on dawn patrol, to catch "Washing Machine Charlie," the regular Japanese nighttime nuisance bomber. Taking off at 0500, he spotted a Japanese Betty in the distance. After a long chase, he caught up, and approached the plane from his supposedly unprotected belly. To Cupp's astonishment, the bomb bay doors opened up, to reveal a cannon, which instantly hit him three times. His Corsair caught on fire; Cupp was badly burned, and forced to bail out. He was picked up by Americans, and spent the next 18 months in the hospital, undergoing 14 operations.