Freedom Fighters: Arthur Owens - KLTV.com-Tyler, Longview, Jacksonville, Texas | ETX News

By Joan Hallmark

It was seventy years ago that Arthur Owens joined the army air corps.

Because of previous service in the Civil Engineer Corps, he was assigned to aviation engineers, building airstrips for American planes on Pacific islands. Owens first stop was in New Guinea..

Owens says that with the Japanese driven out of New Guinea, the remaining population was primarily primitive headhunters.

Fortunately the headhunters didn't interfere with the building of the airstrip.

But there was plenty of interference when Owens arrived in Ishima, off the coast of Okinawa.