Evening star., 1942-11-10


Star Staff Photo.
Down they came, time after time,
They tried glide bombing at an angle
instead of the vertical plunge.
Action Above and Below Water.
1 tried to count the planes shot
down in this attack, but it was
impossible to see everything for
there was action close by on all four
sides as well as above, not to men
ton in the waters below, where SUBJ
marine periscopes were sighted sew
eral times.
Their torpedo plane runs were
long and extremely low The first
one approached not more than Is
feet above the water toward the
carrier. Before he could release his
torpedo he was hit. His plane Tipped
over on its back and flew along for
a second out of control, then nosed
into the water and burned.
Another came in between this
! ship and the carrier and it too was
blasted. We had to turn. sharply
to evade the flaming mass. Another
Jap also plunged in flames to our
left. We were surrounded by bon
fires of enemy planes. Our AA
guns, like invisible f1y-swatters,
seemed to reach out and smack
them down.
Then this ship had its narrowest
escape Some one shouted tor
pedoes!" and we saw three Of them
coming directly toward us.
We swerved, and somehow those
three fish, fired by a submarine,
missed us. Our ship was not
damaged. Whenever men talk about
this they run to the nearest piece
of wood, rap twice, and say, "it
doesn't seem possible that there are
that many horseshoes."
Meanwhile the Jap torpedo planes
continued their attack. A number
dropped torpedoes and you would
see long objects streaking toward the
carrier, which would turn smartly
and let the fish sail by. Not a single
torpedo from these planes found it's
mark. We shot down about half the
torpedo planes in this attack.
Plane Falls on Destroyer.
One Of them, wings burning,
death-dived onto the bow of a de-
stroyer near us, but failed to put the
mighty little tin can out of action.
The fire was extinguished and the
destroyer fought on. 'r.-.
GA report from the flagship
later said, with for'c's'le af1ame,
that gallant ship maintained ac-
tion in the screen and continued
to give protection to the carrier
against attacking enemy planes.
Well Done.')
Then another group of the enemy
was reported on the way and the
orders said, "All planes in the air
prepare to repel attack"
They were dive bombers again.
Some Jack, evidently impressed by
our ack-ack fire, dropped their
bombs from high altitude and
they went wide of their mark.
Others glide-bombed again, swoop-
ing low. One came down to 5000
feet, wavered and then began a slow
drop. It hit the water nose down
and burst into flame.
Our guns kept chattering and
more Japs bit the ocean. There
were some near misses by their
bombs but the anti aircraft defense
destroyed their accuracy and there
were no hits on our ships during
this round.
Japs Have Enough.
There was lull of about minute
and then came another wave of
dive bombers. But our ack-ack was
as good as ever. The sky seemed
to open up and rain Japanese
planes. After two hours the order
to cease firing was given. The 81
lence seemed unnatural.
Soon our planes began returning
from their attacks on the Jap fleet.
Not for another hour and q half
was there the slightest relaxation at
battle stations, more ammunition
was broken out and preparations
were made to repel another attack.
But the Japs apparently had enough.
They haven't appeared since. The
J men at their stations now are TAX
!; ing long drinks Of water and having
| smokes. saw one gunner pull out
of his belt q copy of pride and
Prejudice" and resume reading at
the place where he had been inter-
rupted by the call to battle.
To cite q few of today's heroes
would be unfair to hundreds of
others who fought just as gallantly,
but I'll never forget a duel between
young naval gunner and a Jap
diver bomber which was coming
close and straf1ng him all the while.
, The lad never wavered. He kept
his gun on the oncoming plane and
gradually sawed off one Of the wings.
The plane fell into the water almost