Subject: Swastika, Texas The swastika or 'sun wheel' is a sacred symbol among American Indians. That's why the 45th Infantry--the Oklahoma National Guard--used it as their patch. It was replaced by a stylized thurnderbird. It was featured on the rosette of the warbonnet of the 'Screaming Sioux,' which was the squadron emblem for the Lafayette Escadrille, made up of volunteer Americans who flew for the French (it was actually the air arm of the French Foreign Legion) during WW I. It was also, prior to WW II, used widely by the Boy Scouts in the US, but not overseas. Today it is illegal to display a swastika in most of Europe.



During WW II, fighter pilots in Europe painted small swastikas on their planes--one for each German plane shot down. Bomber pilots often painted small swastikas on their planes for each mission flown. Scale models of those aircraft, today, are marketed all over the world. Instead of swastikas, the decal 'score marks' are usually small yellow crosses on those models. However, on models of planes from the Pacific the decals are accurate--representations of Japan's 'rising sun' flag.



Captain Bong's P-38 had 50 rising suns on it. He was the highest-scoring ace in US history. He was brought back to the States to train pilots and was killed when a P-80 Shooting Star, the first US operational jet fighter, flamed out on takeoff. He was testing the new aircraft.

- C. F. Eckhardt , May 05, 2010