The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-09-22

enemy-infeSted territory witl A Marine, of Lawrence, Kansas 1s Marine fighting plane pilot. He had been missing since August ol' when his plane failed to return rom natrol. Having been treated TOT ln- sect bites that covered every men Inf his body and eaten his first meal = with the exception of ants, snails and coconuts - in week, ne Volo of his adventures.
 q was on my first patrol 1ngnt when the thing began, ne Salu, "something evidently went wrong with the oxygen system and l began 4o feel voozy. l lost consciousness and when came to the plane was m . shin and losing altitude fast. EtilI couldn't see, but did manage "a nush the hood back, bail out ana null the rip cord before passing out again.
 "When I regained consciousness Npain I was in the clouds floatlng earthwards again beneath th t opened chute"
 Fell into Sea
 Amerine fell into the sea about three miles offshore and 70 mics from marine-occupied territory or T,nadalcanal. He got ashore late that afternoon, but fell eXhauSteo pn the beach. "Why the Japanese didn't spot me then I'll never know" he said' Efor I must have laid right out III xhe open for nearly an hour. when S awoke, I could see group oI atout 10 men less than 100 yaros flown the beach. I was just anout fo we'll. thinking they were Amer scan marines, when one of them called out in Japanese 10 solile AeA- lows in the coconut grove.
 q found good trail i'll the coco. mt grove and hadn't followed II more than 15 minutes when l came across a Jap lying asleep under free. I sneaked past him at mrs, and then came back again. He nae . nair of shoes that needed oaoi! as | was barefoot and practlcaAlS naked.
 Steals Jap's Shoes
 "r nicked up rock half as ole ms my chest and bashed in hls neae with one blow. I had to have those Ehoes. -, on1 s+ranning on his pistol, went or down the trail and stopped oy ' creek to get a drink. While oeno 4no over drinking, was spotted D! a group of Japs. They opened ni' and hit for the woods and mlgnV' fast" or+ o the next night he spent GrylIie find his way through the 1uneie the coast. ,,,,,ao q came close to native Vlllag deep in the interior, but avoided IL he related. "A dog came out Wae ginr his tail and tried to catc him as I was hungry enough to es anything, but he eluded me.
 "Finally made my way oacK the coast by following a stream all snent then ight in coconut grow "The next day I spotted a lor Ian coming along the trail. He Ws a little fellow and unarmed ne l,red I could hit him over the hea when he passed, as needed n canteen. =, "Just as I was about to lunge o' and crown him spotted bunch 10 to 12 following him. some them had rifles, so got the nell o' of there fast" .,, The rest of that day he craWle along the coast, keping under COW and working his way toward f' \ town of Kukum. He dodged sever groups of Japanese and several el campments. His way to the coa was blocked by a point, which tried to go around inland. Eat time he ended up where he ni started.
 sThat night it rained hard and was back trying to make my wi around the point for the third tin when I found big trail through u jungle, but it was evidently u main thoroughfare for the Japs they passed by all night long al practically surrounded me. watch about 75 or 80 of them go pa None seemed to have rifles but sor had pistols and sabers and ma were carrying sides of beef and wh appeared to be sweet potatoes waited for lull in the traffic al then ducked into the jungle.
 Laid Low in Jungle
 "On the fifth day I laid low Ahe jungle, awaiting night betc sauturing out again. l got lit r-arTied then as found was tai fnR to myself, cautioning myself he careful and watch your ste saw about 100 Japs as lay the brush and could easily distl guish their features. Some wt the typical horn trimmed glas' and had the buck teeth that cartoonists picture
 Amerine had his narroWeSt cape during the fifth night.
 q was still trying to get arou NsAhe point and finally decided to around the beach," he said. "Af waiting until it was late and all Japs were asleep, l made a try 1t. I crawled along the beach, son times swimming and sometln ducking in among palms U fringed the beach. ca <o strip of beach about
 wards wide that was barren or CO and was moving along cautiou when somebody hollered out equivalent of Halt in Japanese
 Fooled Sentry
 q froze to the spot. The sen vnIled again and I knew darn W he was challenging me. He was Q mhoak loo yards away and co 1es him ln the moonlight siihouet aeaiust the ocean. There was O one thing to do. That was 70 lo bIuff hlm. so yelled rlent ?, nk him like . Jap with . mousnlul hot potatoes and cussed hen ous