The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1942-10-17

- Naf 4&I4 ~ 8A1 70 0flA AHfm
long hours every day while At sea
Young fellowa Most Of them II.
They were all fine.
AFRAID or DEAD MAN
7 remember one boy in par
ticuiar. He was II. but looked
younger. He had . morbid fear
of seeing . dead man. Once his
chief ordered him 10 put the cover
On . coffin containing . dead off,
Ger Who had died at sea. He came
10 me and ! told him he wouldn't
have 10. After the first action !
asked about that boy. I wanted
to know how he reacted during
battle. was told the only changes
In him were grimmer. hard-presaed
lips and tears which ran steadily
down his face. He did his duty
superbly.
"A lot al people have the wrong
idea about go warfare today"
IL Holt said. Not like the old
days Nov you seldom see an
enemy ship. We on the Yorktown
never saw one. You maneuver
around until you get within 400
miles Of the enemy and your planes
try 10 get him before his planes
get you
FEW SEE ACTION
And. another thing: Few men
actually see action. Only the men
who man the guns and . few 9TH
era. What are the others doing ?"
the lieutenant asked. well.
they're doing the same things
they always DO. The action doesn't
mean anything to them. They
keep night on chipping paint. bak-
ing bread. scrubbing decks :.
the same things they'd b doing
n there was no battle going on
1t all.
That's why they are 20 thor
oughly trained. Have . man do
ing precisely thu same thing every
day for . while and pretty soon
hen do II automatically. That's
the way Il works during action;
each man does the Job he's as
signed to do.
STRAIN PRETTY TOUGH
I'VE were at sea = long time
on the Yorktown. Altogether i0<
days. That's . long time without
making port. Strain 10 pretty
tough on the men. but on the
Yorktown spirits actually. rather
wonderfully. seemed TO get bet
ter a. time went on.
That was due TO the very young
and the very old. the old brass
hats you might say. On the Tooth
day the admiral gave . dinner for
everybody aboard ship. He told
" that on the 3ooth day they
would shell the west coast and
make . landing. That sort Of
thing. Morale was fine.
wAYI-AID ZAP SHIPS
You here might think II better
to steam right out and meet the
enemy. The sporting thing. We
didn't: we waylaid the Jap ships
At Midway and we wayiaid them
pretty thoroughly.
Later our skipper turned our
big ship on . dime. podged at
least nine torpedoes.
"A bomb hit w and q couple
Of others were near misses. but
We rot through that al right We
repaired the damage. and then
the Japs came hack. Our fighters
rot most Of the Jap planes. but
. few. enough. got through
SHOES SIDE ~ SIDE
I spoke about what drill win
do for = man. Wen. for weeks we
had been having abandon ship
drills. each man taking off his
shoes and laying them down In
neat orderly rows clear around
the ahip. That made II easier to
find them At the end Of the driil.
When the Yorktown went down.
the mems shoes were side by side
In neat rows"
II. commdr. Arthur answered
questions:
How FIR Do TIE dap dive
bombers and torpedo planes
coue IN. Well n I'll dependn.
n aepeads - whether you're
up against one a. the varsity
or cne Of the SECOND team
II depends On how many Of
| TIE Zap plsnes ere stilI around
Sometimes they came within
l.ooo yards before letting
their terpedees ny. sometimes
$50 yards o. farther.
-one plane. remember. came
right up TO the ship and a. \
swerved around the bow q jar
gunner thumbed his nose. And
ons Of cur gunners. who hadnr