Evening star., 1942-07-12

Photo by MANA.
surfaced. We swing for a bow
attack. 1t is long range
I speak into the phones:
Fire one! Fire two!" ..
There is a jar as the torpedoes
leave
There they go down the road!"
i say into the phones.
Death Passes BY.
We wait, counting the seconds.
The freighter goes on her way. She
never knew that sudden death
passed astern of her.
I do some fancy cussing into the
phones.
Then one day we leave the snow
capped mountains of Japan behind
us. We have had good fishing.
There are more sunk Rising Sun
flags on our bulkhead. The crew is
in good spirits.
Then through the periscope we
sight Jap combatant ship. / ring
the bell for battle stations and we
swing the ship quickly and let three
fish 60. They miss and the Jap
comes charging down on us like an
express train.
I press the siren button for gen.
eral alarm. The siren shieks
through the ship as the diving
officer takes her down. The crew
moves to quarters for a depth
charge attack 1t is our first and
feel like rat when the cat has
him cornered.
The first "can" bangs down with
| the crack of a f1veinch gun.
am tight as watch-sprlng
! waiting for the next. Another
depth charge bangs down. There
is a quick jar, followed by another
| bang.
The water rolls through our
superstructure with the most eerie
swishing sound in the world. That's
bad because 1t means that one was
close. I jerk inside with every
| crack.
| We can hear the Jap overhead
! rushing back and forth as the
"cans" bang down around us. We
| are quiet. I look around to see how
the crew is taking 1t.
Crew Unconcerned.
A recent recruit in the engine
room with the telephone watch is
chewing gum and reading Western
story magazine. I can't believe 1t.
Another big farmer boy passes and
says to me, grinning, boy, wish
the guys back home could see me
now"
It reminds me of another sub
marine skipper who told me about
his first hellish time under depth
charging. He had colored mess
boy aboard who took 1t better thar
any one else. He was happy as coule
be every time one Of those charges
banged close aboard.
The skipper didn't know why unit
one landed close aboard and thu
boy said happily:
"Cap'n, we sure giv'n' him hell
amt we? We musta got him with
that last one"
Those things are funny-after.
wards.
The Jap lets us alone after two
hours of depth charging-the worst
two hours / ever expect to spend.
We surface into roaring ty-
phoon. We ride it out for severa
days, hanging on with both hands
Dat
again and as we enter more or les
friendly water we watch out. Fol
we have no friends. remember. Th'
submarine is everybody's enemy.
We maintain submerged patrol
Suddenly the officer of the deck re
ports, Enemy submarine!"
sound the bell for battle sta
, tions. The word is passed on tn
phones, "All hands man battle sta
= tions submerged"
Line Up Enemy Sub.
The phonograph is playing, "Lool
! for the Silver Lining" The teno
squawks to a stop on when TIL
, Dark Clouds Come Your Way"
2 The Jap is boiling along, unsus
a pecting, on the surface. This ma
e be the Jap that shelled Midway tn
= day before and here he is in from
of my tubes!
S We line him up delicately in tn
periscope. The only noise is m
v breathing and muffied sounds fron
It the torpedo room.
e Get one and ready" is sal
IS into the phones.
"One and two ready, sir!"
o reach for the firing button. T.
. plant the fish inside this fello'
$ myself.
o I fire.
"One and two fired, sir!"
yell over the phones, "Ther
Is they go, hot, straight and normal
n They're in there for bulls-eye!"
IS The ship jars three times and W
IS lose depth as the torpedoes go dow
v the track. The seas are high and
' can't see the Jap.
The diving officer is working hi
), controls frantically to bring her t
is proper depth again. The periscop
clears. There is nothing on the sur
W face. We are alone in the big Pacifi
rs again.
a But he's gone. We hit him. Gu
instruments tell us that. He's gon
a and we've got Jap sub damagin
l. to our credit. Boy!
# The crew is paying off on pools
IS on the day that we'd pot our fir.
t enemy sub. Even the boys who pa
id up are happy.
IN We're on our way home to (cer
+ soredJ rest And we've got big gam
er in the bag.
"A released Through N.A.N.A)
III