Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-11-27
Bomber
Continued From First Page

not as bad as some I've seen-com-
ing from shore batteries and some
attacks and they were plenty good
better than any I'd seen before.
They came at us in a string.
The co-pilot was wounded in the
right leg and went back to get the
first aid kit. I'd just got back with
it and was standing behind the
cockpit when a machinegun bullet
went through the pilots heart 1t
killed him instantly. At the same
time, the co-pilot was wounded In
the stomach. The cockpit was all
shot up.
The pilot fell back. I got the CO.
pilot out and took over the controls
from his seat on the right side.
Both engines on the left side were
out and wing was on fire. The
only thing right on the instrument
panel was the clock I couldn't stay
In formation, so I told another plane
to take the lead"
tOther pilots said Col. Saun-
ders' plane at that time was
Hopping around" so crafty they
couldn't see how he continued
to fly it,
Flew for 20 Minutes.
Col Saunders continued:
From the co-pilot's seat.
couldn't trim the tabs and handle
the plane with those two dead en-
glnes on the left, so I got the pilot.
body out and moved into the pilots
seat. l decided to make for some
overcast and so we dived down. The
lett wing was red hot. The bank
and turn indicator showed we were
IN spin. l could tell from the air
speed indicator We weren't bit II
was pretty tough business flying on
instruments under the circumstan-
ces.
we came out of the overcast at
ABOUT 500 feet and l saw I'd have to
put her down. This was about 20
minutes after the pilot and co-pilot
mad been hit. Other planes STAYED
around to protect us, but the Zeros
oldnt follow us that far. I told the
other planes to take our position
ana then headed for a little island in
order to come down as close to land
as possible.
we were about mile and a half
out. The navigator was up with me
ana the rest of the crew was in the
navigator compartment. all set for
the water landing. I brought her
ooWn dragging the tail on the water
at 30 miles an hour. The wings hit
ana there was really a sudden stop.
The navigator and I went out.
sliding through the window in the
cockplt-the smallest hole I ever
went through in my life. The tail
broke off and the rest of the crew
went out through the break.
We thought the co-pilot was dead
put ne SAID, Hey, get me out and we
old We had on life vests but had
peen too busy to initiate them. The
nose went down and the fuselage
Tipped over and crowned me. We
got two rubber boats inflated and
put the co-pilot into one of them
and started padding for shore. He
died on the way in.
Natives Helpful.
When we reached the island. not
knowing whether Japs were around.
we pulled everything back into the
jungle and made bed for Levi. the
bombardler, on one of the boats and
made him as comfortable as we
could. That was about the middle
Of the morning.
Two boats full of black natives
came over to us. One of them spoke
little English and they helped us
build shelters. In the afternoon.
some others came over in lOO-foot
canoe that would make any crew at
Poughkeepsie look sick. They had
a beautiful even swing.
The natives were clean and civil.
They liked Americans. They took
us to their native village and put us
TO bed in a well-built wooden hut.
That saved Lewis life. 1t rained
hard all night, but We had a good
sleep The next afternoon, Navy
pane plotted by 1t. q. g. Charles
r. Willies of Alabama picked us up.
It's good to be back"
! Col. Saunders is called "Blondy"
because what hair he has left is
coal black. He coached at West
Point from 1882 through 1899. As
an Army tackle, he was reputed to
have the best pair of hands in
football"
AT Hickman Field Honolulu, on
last December Z, he flew one of the
few planes that got into the air.
| His wife is at Aberdeen. He said:
Send her my love. Tell her the
old Irish luck's holding up and will
until we drive the Japs out Of
I Tnkion