Evening star., 1942-12-04
BY WILLIAM NIPPLE,

SOMEWHERE IN THE SOL
ONION ISLANDS, Nov. Is Delayed. i.
The Japs have fed.
They made another desperate at
tempt last night and early today
to land troops and equipment on
American-held Guadalcanal Island.
Again our naval forces threw them
back.
AS I write this, four large Jap
anese transports lie beached and
burning on the northwest coast of
Guadalcanal. We understand. our
naval forces, including battleships
and aircraft, have been pursuing
the remainder of the Japanese
transports and supporting warships,
which are retiring to the northwest,
and that many of the enemy ships
Aave been sunk.
4. During last night I again saw
the tremendous flames and flashes
of guns in the channel in the
Guadalcanal, Savo and Tulagi Is
lands area as the United States
forces blasted at japanese trying
TO bring in transports.
AS dawn came this third day of
almost continuous naval and air
battle over wide area of the Sol
onions, I saw two japanese trans
ports burning and two others i'm
modified near the beach. Then our
ships were dispatched with orders
to polish them off. They did their
work we'll and all soon were burn
ing iercely.
Water Uttered With Debris.
& Today I hoped into the second
seat of seaplane piloted by 1t.
Hubert CPatches) Perry of Phoenix,
Ariz,. who flies as expertly as he used
to break broncos on Arizona ranches.
We had orders to pick up survivors.
Over the battle area, the water was
q, mass of oil Uttered with boxes,
cans, shell cases, life RATS, life
Jackets, pieces of lumber and other
debris.
S<We covered the outer area between
the northwest tip of Guadalcanal
and Savo Island. Many landing
beats and whale boats picked up
Survivors while they were thicker
to the east.
,S-We travelled low over the water,
peering closely at the debris. We
saw several bodies with the arms
and legs outstretched grotesquely;
bat we had to pick UP the living first.
@sThe first live man we saw was
Jap elinging to raft. We went
low and waved we would pick him
Ifp. The Jap sailor hid behind the
raft, probably thinking we were
going to shoot him. We circled
again and once more he hid.
Pilot Perry then gave up trying
m save the Jap and continued look
mg for our own men. An unwilling
Jap is dangerous in situation Like
shat. On another trip 1t. Perry had
stopped to pick up Jap. The Jap
tsied unsuccessfully to smash a wing
vSth a club. So now Perry is wary.
IS First II. S. Sailor Sighted.
SSNe soon saw our first American
sailor in the water. He was waving
weakly. We waved back. then cir
cled. landed and TAXED to him. I
oSawled from the rear seat, got on
tie pontoon under the fuselage and
held my leg out as far as possible.
He caught hold and swung onto the
pantoon. He was covered with oil.
Black oil in his eyes made it i'm
possible for him to see much. He
lay gasping for breath on the pom
toon a few minutes, then managed
to, crawl onto the wing.
ILt. Perry TAXED the plane forward
snd spotted another man. We re-
plated the procedure. He, too,
grabbed my leg and managed to
crawl onto the pontoon.
He was in bad shape from exhaus-
ton, heat exposure and consumption
Of too much oil and salt water. but
kept trying to tell me something
through cracked lips. I put my ear
close to his mouth and heard him
rtunble! Get my buddy over there
--Sget my buddy over there"
He managed to raise an oil-cov-
cred arm to point to the right. I
climbed on the wing and shouted to
Perry but this sharp-eyed pilot al
ready had seen the other man. We
TAXED to the spot and took aboard
Buddy"
Next, Perry TAXED several hun
dred yards to four men in the
water. Luckily they were spread out.
and we managed to get them onto
the pontoon one by one We now
had seven men aboard. We man
aaed to get two of the stronger men
onto the wings, where they spread
ont on both sides to distribute the
weight.
s 10 Men Taken Aboard.
Zone man on the pontoon was
naurnuring for water, so I got out
acanteen and held it to his mouth.
Then I passed it back to another
man. He tried to drink but was
too weak to hold the canteen. 1t
dropped overheard,
$We took aboard three more in
The next hour--making total Of 10.
st. Perry kept taxing the plane to-
ward a destroyer in the distance.
Five of the rescued men were too
weak to get onto the wing and re-
manned on the pontoon, holding onto
the wires. One man at the stern of
the pontoon rolled off several times
although he retained his hand grip.
We rolled him back on the pom
toon each time.
RAll these men had been in the
waite from 10 to Is hours and were
off two sunken destroyers. All were
wearing lifejackets. They made a
grim sight with oil smeared thick
u in hair. eyes and ears.
SThe only parts of the body not
covered with oil were the hands
and, bare feet. which we're bleached
pure white and were tightly drawn
arld wrinkled from long underwater
exposure. Most of them had on the
futl suits of sailors or wore dun
garees but no shoes. Others were
jhst in underwear.
FThey were too weak to tell the
Story Of the battle. but I managed
To- get the names of some, which
wrote on various parts of the fuse
Iage, wing and pontoon. Several
hours later, after landing, i ex-
ASS6ined {bo y,lope opd found ithaca