WASHINGTON
2 LT
449 AAF FTR SQ
World War I

Ivan attended Grade school at Roseburg and Dillard, Oregon and South Bend, Washington. He graduated from Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane, Washington.

After graduation from High School, Ivan worked for Bill Hatch Sporting Goods Store in Spokane, Washington. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (About 1940), then transferred to the U. S. Air Force after Pearl Harbor was bombed on Dec. 7, 1941. He was graduated from Officers School at Victorville, California as a 2nd Lt. He was then sent to England where he was a Test Pilot for the P-47 fighter plane. He then went through the North African campaign as a P-38 Pilot. It was in North Africa that Ivan met and flew with Tom Harmon. They both volunteered for a special Squadron that was being formed for duty in China. The 449th P-38 Fighter Squadron.

The following is a part of a letter written to his Sister (Maxine) on June 9,1944 by Tom Harmon:
My Dear Mrs. Powers,

I knew Rocky very well in both Africa and China. He was one of the
best Pilots of the Squadron and by far one of the best liked boys.
I hope that you are justly proud of your brother because he was in-
deed one of the finest men that I have ever known. He held the re-
spect and admiration of every man in the squadron from the
Commanding Officer to the lowest Private.

Rocky was a little late in arriving in China due to the fact that
he lost his plane on a takeoff in India. The ship lost an engine
and due to his wonderful ability to fly, he made a crash landing
but ruined his ship. He didn't get a scratch himself but as we
were all flying our own planes to China, it made it necessary for
him to proceed by transport plane that was very slow to our
traveling.

The actual flight that he lost his life in was a freak. The
Squadron had been given the dirtiest job in China. We were running
about three missions a day because of the shortage of pilots and
planes. This was too much of a drag on the men and it was stopped
soon after. Not soon enough to save Rocky tho and we in the
Squadron felt very bad about his loss. The missions that day were
on the Harbor at Canton, China. Rocky had volunteered to take the
place of one of the other pilots who had been injured in an earlier
flight. It was his third mission of the same day. The boys were
dog tired. Rocky was flying as one of the top cover men for a
group of our P-38's as dive bombers. We had about twelve men on
the mission. The boys ran into a fight over Canton and managed to
get back without being hurt too bad. Rocky had one of his engines
shot out. He was returning to our base on one engine and every-
thing seemed under control. He called Lee Gregg, whose wing he was
flying that day, and told Gregg that his good engine was heating
up too much and that he would have to bail out of his ship. Gregg
said O.K. to do it because he was a scant 10 miles from our base.
The ship just wouldn't take it. Gregg told Rocky to go ahead and
get out and that he would follow him down to be sure that he had
his position and would send help from the field to pick him up.
Rocky unloosened his safety belt and then jettisoned his canopy
cover. As he tried to get out, the canopy cover caught in the
wind and smacked back, knocking Rocky out in the plane. The plane
spun in from about 5000 feet. I am sure that he didn't know what
hit him. I was the officer that identified his body and took
charge at his funeral. He was buried with full military honors
in Kunming, China which is the headquarters of the 14th Air Force.

I will always be proud that I knew Rocky. I know that I, along with
the rest of the members of the 449th Fighter Squadron, felt his
loss deeply and, I also know that more than one Jap has paid for
his life.

Sincerely yours,
Tom Harmon

Ivan had been awarded the Distinquished Flying Cross Air Medal and
two Oak Leaf Clusters. He was first buried in The National
Cemetery at Kunming, China. His body was then moved to the
National Cemetery at Honolulu, Hawaii. From there his parents had
his remains moved to the Military Section of the I.O.O.F. Cemetery
in Newport, Washington in 1949.


Ivan Author Rockwell

This information was supplied by family member Gary Boyd.