Evening star., 1942-09-12
By CLARK LEE,

WI n LIE MhlblNEIo "A I1EN-
DERSON FIELD, Guadalcanal Is
land, Solomons, Aug % Delayed -
1t begins to look like We may get
some news on this trip. after all.
Things are starting to happen.
After many uneventful days at
sea, an air group from our carrier
prepared to take off and bomb and
torpedo a large Japanese force
which is en- route to attempt to
recapture this area from our
Marines, who seized 1t August Z
and s.
Instead of finding the enemy, we
ran into storm which covered
thousands of square miles of the
ocean and which our veteran pilots
said was the worst they had ever
experienced.
For three hours we flew mostly
on instruments, through a storm
front so thick that our wing tips
were. frequently obscured and the
sea- was invisible evens from a few
hundred feet altitude. Y
Occasionally the weather lifted
for a few minutes, enabling me to
catch sight of the pilot of tor
pedo plane flying close beside us. ]
envied him his tin helmet. I forgot
mine.
Clear Spots Over Japs.
We needed lucky breaks to get
through the storm, and we had
them. One break was a relatively
clear area over the spot where the
JapS were reported. That per-
mitted our planes to rendezvous
safely and set their courses toward
Guadalcanal, as 1t was out OF the
question to find our own carrier In
the storm.
The other break was the fact
that we reached Guadalcanal be-
tween two heavy transforms which
enabled us to sight the islands and
land after dark at the Guadalcanal
field, which we captured from the
Japs.
Our pilots were glad to reach
land that they sloshed around hap
PLY in the mud and congratulated
each other on being alive.
The commander of one of our
squadrons said II thought the
whole attack was lost, but every one
of our planes made It,"
| Coming out I had written in my
notebook Foul weather" But l
didn't know it was that serious.
The airfield looked very familiar
| to us as we had spent several hours
bombing it August 7 and 8, during
the Marine landings. The Marines
have named 1t Henderson Field In
honor of Maj Lotion r. Henderson,
leader of a Marine dive bomber
squadron who was killed at Midway
when his flaming plane crash-dived
at sea alongside a Jap cruiser.
The Marines told us that although
we did not see any Japs during the
August attack our bombs had 10
Gated plenty of them One place
was In the woods alongside the air.
port, where had told the pilot Of
our plane that I had seen what ap-
peared to be antiaircraft fire. We
went back and bombed the area.
The Marines said they found an
anti-aircraft gun there and more
than 10 Jap bodies.
Pilot Rescued by Native.
The marines told us the natives
were friendly to the Americans and
hated the Japs who had taken their
rice and fish and forced them to
use bayonet-backed printed money.
They said one native constable had
rescued a fighter pilot from our
carrier, who was shot down the
afternoon of August by Zeros and
was wounded.
The constabularyman brought the
| flyer to the marines camp. How
ever the Good Samaritan was later
captured by small group of Japs
and tortured and left for dead
But he survived the treatment and
is now in our hospital.
Our pilots were happy at the
news the fighter pilot was. saved
He was one of the most popular
officers aboard the carrier, and was
besides, the father of two small
daughters, whom he'll live to see
again.
I met one British officer of the
insular constabulary who had beer
hiding in the woods since the Japs
seized the islands last May.
The greatest day of my life was
August 7 when you chappies drop
ped from the air and started pop
ping those Jappies," the officer said
Il had about abandoned hope.
, was i'll and had an injured leg anc
! was hungry. Then you came. II
! was really glorious show" he said
Some Of Marines Young.
The marines here aren't all a.
rough and tough individuals as w
had been led to believe. A great
! many of them live up. to advanc,
notices, but some are just youngsters