Evening star., 1937-12-31

neckS at moments like this, stock-stil
you see the plane, very small, very ha
sunllght-and it was bright sunlight
when they bombed the Panay-and
there's a CLINT on the metal wings.
like silver. 1t is impossible to conceive
that this little thing could do any one
the slightest harm.
Then, from under the plane, black
dot appears. 1t is infinitesimally small.
You just about see it. You can't take
your eyes of it. AS it is darting to-
ward you it becomes larger, bit by bit.
Then there is a shape to it. A second
later. as you watch with baited breath,
it becomes pear-shaped plummet,
streamlined for speed, trailing off in
fishtail. He'll from heaven, this
plummet is a roaring bomb, for some
OF us it was a hundred pounds of
frightful death. Then it is almost
upon you. You realize you have been
hearing a moaning whistle getting
louder and louder-now it is q terrify-
ing Shrek. It is then that you are
assailed by frightful fear that wants
its murderous destruction.
Grinds Camera Unconsciously.
You run, or you don't. You scream
OF you are struck dumb. You Just
do one or the other, and either one
lnvoluntarily. You, yourself. have
little control about it. 1t is something
to be remembered by every American
that under this inhuman strain there
action on the sailors aboard the
Panay was to scramble to their guns
and fire. I have brought back pic
lures that prove must have shot my
scenes during the terrible 10 minutes
the pelting bombs fell upon us. And
I need these pictures to prove it to
myself, if not to any one else Because
I don't remember my minutes of film
ing under fire half so vividly as I do
the gripping fear of imminent death
that squeezed my heart till it panied
all during the attack. Those sailor
boys must have had all the fortitude
a human being can possibly muster,
because they did things they did not
have to, in their efforts to defend the
boat.
They shot their machine guns right
in the face of planes so close they
must have felt the blast of wind from
the propellers as they roared by. It
is almost inconceivable that man will
do this when bombs come hurting
down. And do it repeatedly after
experiencing what happens when the
bombs hit. When they hit the effect
IS like a volcano blasting into your
face. The whole world seems to turn
into one binding curtain of scream
ing flame and suffocating smoke. The
air is whipped by the whizzing spat-
ter of the fragments of the bomb.
Everything seems to collapse In that
thunderous shock, and if you're on
a ship the chances are that most
everything does collapse. And while
you're trying to pull yourself together
after that, you look up to the sound
like the snarling of whole ZOO full
OF tigers and panthers and see that
plane. a moment ago a tiny dragon
fly no bigger than q mans hand In
the sky, diving at you again as big
as full-grown dragon, splitting pei
lets OF lead whose touch is death.
First Bomb Hits.
Well, that gives faint idea of
what happend to us that afternoon
aboard the Panay. It was 1:4O pm.
Sunday, December IL, q day and hour
I'll never forget. when the first bomb
hit us. had been In the officers
mess room, right of the deck, stow
ing away good load of nourishing
Navy grub, very badly needed, can
tell you, after my days in Marking,
where square meal was as hard to
find as peaceful scene. About the
only restful sight I had witnessed
since going to China from our Los
Angeles ofi1ce was right there on that
little gunboat.
Before that first bomb hit was q
bright, sunshiny day. Visibility was
perfect II you didn't happen to look
downstream toward the smoke pail
over Markings burning fires. The
whole vista was peaceful and soothing,
not beautiful picture, perhaps. be-
cause the muddy, lazy Yangtze never
was a decorative river.
The Panay looked more like q
yacht than q gunboat, with its white
paint, shining brass and polished
woodwork. The little craft was Of
shallow draft, drawing only feet
Of water, so she could chase pirates
into low water il necessary and in
spect them, or to create Q respect for
/C>. AYyU R.- N ~