Evening star., 1942-06-17

(ThtS Is the nun OF nine SLOTIeS
supplied to the Associated Press
by the Chicago Tribune, tDhoSe
correspondent, Stanley Johnston,
tDaS the only American reporter
aboard the aircraft carrier Ler-
inqton in the Coral Sea bdttle.)
By STANLEY JOHNSTON,
Foreign Correspondent Of the Chicago
Tribune.
CHICAGO, June 17.-In the ear
licr two phases of the historic Cora
Sea battle, our American air squad
rons had surprised, trapped and an
initiated japanese ocean flotillas
end fleets with a swiftneSs and ef-
ficiency that was horrible to con-
template-even by the victorious all
fighters and bombers themselves.
But in the third and last stage
of this five day campaign-the first
in history in which sea-borne all
armadas fought out pitched battles
far from land, and the first in mod
ern times in which japanese feet
sustained a crushing defeat-we
found out how American sailors
gunners and airmen could take il
on the receiving end of an air as
sault.
Our men exacted grim and heavy
toll. American gun crews fought
absolutely unShaken through the
worst blitzing the Japanese could
deliver. Words can hardly describe
the universal heroism of our men in
this great test of the American Navy
in the Coral Sea. From the keel to
the admiral's bridge on the $4,000
ton aircraft carrier Lexington there
was no man who failed to rise far
above normal human courage.
Jap Challenge Accepted.
This final day of battle was May
8. On the evening of May Z our
scouts reported that big japanese
air and sea force was only 80 miles
away from us, lurking in the dense
rain squalls, fog and low scudding
clouds of the miserable weather
that surrounded the area.
We were we'll out into the Coral
Sea, and Rear Admiral Frank j
Fletcher, commanding our task
force, instantly decided to accept
the japanese challenge and give
battle.
Every man in our flotilla knew,
of course, that a big action was
impending. On the Lexington, Of
ficers gathered in wardrooms and
talked calmly of what the posi-
bilities for the day might be. They
were able, because of some quirk of
military mentality that casts a
lulling spell over mans normal hu-
man fears, to discuss with objec-
tivity the chance that the Japanese
might find and sink us even before
our scouts, bombers and torpedo
planes could reach them.
Plans tentative because they
had to be flexible enough to suit
any conditions that might arise
and uncertain because no definite
line of action could be fixed until
our scout reports were in-were dis
cussed. Then every one went to
bed and, to my surprise, slept
soundly. BY this I mean that the
airmen rested. The rest of the
ships personnel were on the watch
system that prevails every hour a
ship is at sea.
Scout Pilots Wing Away.
An hour before dawn the dong
dong" and trumpet call of general
quarters awakened all. Our scout
pilots, always the first away in the
morning and last in at dusk, Slid
into their Mae West" life jackets,
took a thermos flask of coffee, and
then winged away into the pre-
dawn darkness. Dawn in those liti-
tudes comes about am.
All the other pilots stood by their
planes, prepared to get into the air
at once. Our gunners stood by
their weapons, the heavy 5-inch
dual-purpose high-velocity guns,
the clusters of one Founders and
smaller 20 nm. machine-gun can
non.
The whole fleet crouched, like a
runner on his mark, awaiting the
first enemy contact" report. The
day was clear, but with the huge
fluffy cumulus clouds that forever
seem to float over these waters, all
around us. Visibility, however, was
excellent.
When the primary search-an
area of so miles around the Lex
ington-had been finished we re-
laxed somewhat. Engines were
stopped and pilots and off-duty Of
f1cers had breakfast. Meanwhile,
the scout flyers began, a systematic
hunt over the sea surface in a
circle with 250-mile radius around
us.
Enemy Spotted.
At $40 am. Ensign Smith, who
had gone out on segment of the
hunt that took him to the north
east, reported contact" He re-
ported the enemy, was about 100
miles northeast of us and roughly
40 to so miles southeast OF Tagula
Island in the Louisiade Archipela-
on