Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-07-10
II Men Give Lives
To Save Comrades
Neosho Sailors Dive Into Sea
TO Make Room for Wounded
By LEO RARIDAN
IutT News service staff Correspondent


Iut1 News service
SAN FRANCISCO, July TO-
From the lips of two United States
navy enlisted men, heroes OF the
battle of the Coral Sea, today
came a story of heroism unsur-
passed in war or peace-how II
men of the crew of the dive
bombed navy tanker Neosho sacri-
feed their lives so their wounded
shipmates might live.
The two survivors Z. A.
Flaherty, %. electricians mate
from st. Louis, and d. j. Nelson,
y, Signalman third class from
Laurel, Mont, revealed that after
the tanker'S crew took TO whale
boats IS uninjured men volun-
tarily leaped into Shark-infested
waters 10 make room for the
ONLY THREE SAVED
or the Is. only three were res
cued. including Lieut.. Harry h.
naval reserve. who had
set the example of sacrifice.
They told. too. OF a youthful
third class pharmacists mate who
swan from one whaleboat to an
other, from life raft to life raft,
treating burned men with healing
fannie acid He swan on his
errands OF mercy until he became
and sank beneath the
waves without a plea for help.
And against this picture OF calm
heroism. they told OF youthful
Japanese pilot, possibly not more
than Is years old, who crashed his
dive bomber on the Neosho's deck
and was burned to death as the
plane exploded.
PRAISE DESTROYER CREW
And they paid tribute to the
brave crew Of the destroyer Sims,
which circled the Neosho. putting
up a barrage of anti-aircraft fire
to protect the tanker. until the
herself was sunk by
bombers.
Flaherty.. who was severely
told this story beginning
with the opening OF the battle on
May s:
"The japanese planes came
over In four waves. First dive
bombers, then horizontal bomb
ers, then more dive bombers and
last more horizontal bombers.
There were about so or 40 In
each wave.
1.-THE anti aircraft barrage
from the Neosho and the Sims
literally blackened the sky and
turned back the first two waves.
Then three horizontal bombers
got In close and scored near
misses which slowed us down
and the following wave of dive
bombers got to work In earnest.
ABANDON SHIP
I'VE were hit amidship and
aft. One bomb struck the fire.
room and the flames got me but
I managed to crawd out on the
fantail. Somebody gave me a
cigaret and was lighting II for
me when the order to abandon
ship came. I dived overheard
and struck out for q raft.
"A little third class phar-
macist's mate saved my life. He
tied up a shirt and filed II with
fannie acid, swan to the raft
and treated me and three others.
Then ne swan on TO a whaleboat
that was picking up survivors,
treated the wounded In IL and
was swimming toward another
raft when he disappeared be-
meath wave. He didn't come up.
Three whaleboats were put
safely over the side Of the
tanker. One OF them took me
and the other wounded from the
raft and the other two also were
rapidly filling with men.
UNWOUNDED DIVE
when II became apparent
there wouldn't be enough room
for all the men struggling In
the water, Lieutenant Bradford
suddenly stood up and said:
81 guess those Of us not
wounded will have to get off,
Then he dived into the
water.
Several other uninjured men
I'm our boat followed his example
and we later learned Is men I'm
all had voluntarily quit the
whalebosts to make room for
the wounded. Lieutenant Brad
ford and two enlisted men OF the
Is were rescued.
after my burns were treated
watched the Sims as she still
circled around the Neosho. The
Jap bombers swarm I'd like
angry bees. blasting her until
she broke In the middle and
went down.
FIGHTS TO END