The Man

Move to Refugio

Unlike his mother, Mildred Mae Rainey, Lloyd H. “Pete” Hughes, Jr. was not born in Texas.  After a brief marriage to Lloyd H. Hughes Sr., Pete was born in Louisiana.  After his parents divorced, two-year-old Pete and his mother, Mildred, moved to Onalaska, Polk County, Texas, where she was employed as a postmaster.  Mildred married John Raymond Jordan in 1924, and they lived in various East Texas communities adding four sons to their household before moving to Refugio, Texas in coastal south Texas in 1931.

The Jordan family arrived in Refugio with Pete and his four Jordan brothers: James, John, Jr., William and Paul.  In his excellent biography of Hughes in “Texas Aggie Medals of Honor,” Col. James R. Woodall writes that the family made the trek from East Texas to Refugio in a canvas-topped Model T.  Pete considered the Jordan boys to be his blood brothers and had been known to use his fists to reinforce the point from time to time.

Living on Plasuela Street in Refugio, Pete and his brothers grew up with many friends, including several who would serve in World War II and never return to their beloved hometown of Refugio.   

Refugio High School

The local Refugio newspapers recorded Pete’s journey through school.  He earned distinctions in academics and athletics.  He was frequently listed on the honor roll and was the valedictorian of his seventh-grade class and winner of the American Legion award.  Over his remaining middle school and high school years Pete was leading one of several Bobcat athletic teams excelling in tennis, track, basketball, and football. 

The 6 foot 2” 185-pound teen earned varsity letters for the Bobcats in all four sports.  He was captain of both the Refugio High School basketball and football teams during high school and was an all-district tight end as a senior and president of the glee club.  Besides being a hardworking and outstanding student, Pete held jobs after school and summers like most teenagers living in Refugio.  When, as a high school senior, he was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, Pete replied, “professional boxer.”   

Texas A&M University

After graduating from Refugio High School in 1939, Pete went on to attend Texas A&M University and majored in Petroleum Engineering.  As a member of the Corps of Cadets, Pete was assigned to Company G, Infantry, during his freshman year at A&M.  He left A&M briefly to attend Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, where his family had moved prior to his high school graduation.

He returned to Texas A&M before leaving school in early December 1941 to assist his family in Corpus Christi.  Pete was living in Corpus Christi when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in January 1942.  

Military Enlistment & Marriage

Pete Hughes became an aviation cadet at the age of 20, receiving primary flight training in Oklahoma and more advanced aviation training at various Texas bases.  He finished his flight training in Fort Worth at the Four Engine Transition School, where he earned his wings and was commissioned a 2^nd Lieutenant on November 10, 1942.  He had married Hazel Dean Ewing in San Antonio two days before receiving his commission.

Like Pete, his best friends from Refugio High School also enlisted and joined the war effort.  His buddies Benny Jones and Reginal “Rex” Pitzer became fighter pilots.  Will Borglund joined the Marines.  Dick Bartow became a paratrooper.  Only Will Borglund returned to Refugio, having been seriously wounded in the South Pacific theater and receiving a Purple Heart.

Sky Scorpions

Pete and his new B-24 Liberator crew were assigned to the 564th Heavy Bombardment Squadron, 389th Heavy Bombardment Group, the “Sky Scorpions.”  The squadrons typically consisted of 12 bombers organized into four flights of three bombers and crews.  Each B-24 was manned by a combat crew of ten, consisting of a pilot, co-pilot, navigator and bombardier, all officers, an engineer, assistant engineer, radio operator, radio operator, assistant radio operator, belly gunner and waist gunner, all sergeants.  When not needed in the forward bay, the assistant engineer and assistant radio operators were available as additional waist gunners.   

In early February 1943, the newly organized heavy bomber group was sent to Biggs Field in El Paso under the Group command of Maj. David Lancaster.  The Commanding Officer of the 564th Heavy Bombardment Squadron was Capt. Phil Ardery.  In his book, “Bomber Pilot: A Memoir of World War II,” Capt. Ardery described Pete Hughes as “a laughing, youngish, handsome lad and a much better than average pilot.”

While at Biggs, the aircrews developed experience in day and night flying, formation flying, and bombing and gunnery practice at ranges in West Texas and New Mexico.  When not flying, the crews received ground training in an array of subjects such as emergency procedures, map reading, and visual identification of enemy aircraft.  Gradually the duration of training flights was extended to up to eight hours.

Final training before the Group deployed overseas occurred at Lowry Field, Denver, Colorado.  While there, the Group command was reassigned to Col. Jack Wood after Maj. Lancaster suffered an extended illness. By early June 1943, the Group air and ground crews started staging aircraft and supplies for deployment overseas.  

The 564^th Heavy Bombardment Squadron, under Capt. Phil Ardery was one of the last to the staging area.  However, Maj. Ardery managed to get his squadron organized faster than others, and Ardery’s “C” Flight of three B-24 bombers departed Lowry Field on June 13, 1943, for Lincoln, Nebraska.  The C Flight bombers were commanded by Edward L. Fowble, Robert Lee Wright of Austin, and Wright’s best friend and roommate, Pete Hughes of Refugio.  

Overseas Deployment at Hethel, England

Capt. Ardery chose to fly with Pete Hughes and his crew.  From Lincoln, Nebraska, the bombers flew across North America to Montreal, Quebec, Bangor, Maine, to Goose Bay, Newfoundland.  From Newfoundland, the flight progressed to Iceland for refueling and then to Prestwick, Scotland.  The Group’s final stop was the heavily camouflaged Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Hethel near Norfolk, England.  Capt. Ardery, a Kentucky lawyer and Harvard Law graduate shares his insight about Pete the pilot and the person:

I picked an excellent crew with the ship I was flying, that of Second Lieutenant Lloyd H. Hughes of Corpus Christi, Texas.  Hughes was a laughing, youngish, handsome lad and a much-better-than-average pilot.  I had taken [Ed] Fowble out of his assistant operations job and made him a flight commander of C Flight.  This flight consisted of his own crew, Hughes’ crew, and the crew of Lieutenant Robert Lee Wright of Austin, Texas.  As a patriotic Kentuckian, I was a little jealous of the ascendancy of Texans, but I had to admit that next to Kentuckians, they were about the toughest competitors of all.

I felt that perhaps Hughes somewhat resented my taking over as pilot of his ship for the long hop across the ocean.  He probably was a better pilot than I since administrative duties had recently kept me from flying as much as he did.  But I wanted to sit in the pilot’s seat and “fly my own ship” across, although it was really Hughes’ ship.  He took it with good nature.

– Capt. Phil Ardery

Once at Hethel, the bombers resumed training, conducting formation flights and extremely low-level flying.  Designed to be a high-altitude bomber, it was very unusual for B-24s to fly at tree-top level.  Now assigned to the U.S. Eighth Air Force, the flight crews were instructed to train at extremely low level, setting off protests from English farmers who believed the Yanks were just goofing off in their four-engine bombers.  

The Move to North Africa

In late June 1943, the Sky Scorpions received orders to begin staging for departure from Hethel.  All the aircrews were told was that they would be deployed to an existing airfield.  They had no idea where the mystery airfield was located.  Pete Hughes and his fellow Sky Scorpions had no idea that the low-level flying they had been doing in England was in preparation for a secret mission to raid the Nazi refineries in and around Ploesti, Romania.  That mission had already been authorized by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill in January 1943 at the Casablanca Conference.

On July 1, the Sky Scorpions abruptly left England, flew south along the English east coast and dodged flak to Gibraltar. They then flew east along the North African coast, making the necessary fuel and rest stops.  Eventually, the Group reached Benghazi, Libya, where several airfields had been laid out in the desert.  Describing their hunt for the secret airfield to which the 564^th Squadron had been assigned, Capt. Ardery explains:

There were numerous airdromes in the area, and by flying over and calling the radio tower of each, we finally surmised which one must be our new home.  There was no radio at the field where we decided to land, but it fit the description, so we put it down.  Two ships of our group had beat me into the field, which dealt another faint blow to my pride.

– Capt. Phil Ardery

The Sky Scorpions had found their new, virtually inhospitable home in the Libyan desert just a couple of days into July and before Pete’s 22^nd birthday on July 12, 1943.