Taken from a B-25 as it makes its pass high above Btty Wheeler, this picture shows paratroopers sprinkled  throughout the photograph gathering together in small groups. Some can be seen in the crater (left foreground). A single figure can be seen walking across the athletic ground, as if out for a Sunday stroll.  One of the most amazing things about this photograph is the almost casual way the groups are appearing to form up.  I keep meaning to ask Don Abbott where his chute is. Fortunately for the paratroopers the Japanese defenders did not make themselves obvious on Topside in any significant manner until after the first wave were well assembled. Had they simply been sitting around in the bomb proof areas of Topside, instead of anticipating a sea-borne invasion,  catastrophic casualties would have been inevitable.

Catalog #4

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