 The U.S. Marine and Army Air Force pilots who served with Lindbergh praised his courage and defended his patriotism.On , 1944, during a P-38 bomber escort mission with the [[433d Weapons Squadron|433rd Fighter Squadron]] in the [[Seram Island|Ceram]] area, Lindbergh shot down a [[Mitsubishi Ki-51]] "Sonia" observation plane, piloted by Captain Saburo Shimada, commanding officer of the 73rd Independent Chutai.Lindbergh's participation in combat was revealed in a story in the "[[Herald News|Passaic Herald-News]]" on October 22, 1944.