Evening star., 1942-09-07
Jap Trickey in Solomon Islands No Match
For Cold-Blooded Bravery Of Marine Raiders

the ship "all is we'll" Then hell
broke loose.
Over to the west, toward the chan
mel. there was a sudden rumble of
gunfire. Instantly three ships were
burning, great blazes of light against
the black night.
3 Surface Ships in Fight.
One ship seemed to explode and
looked as If it was lifted right out
of the water by the explosion. I saw
searchlights briefly Illuminating a
ship. Then there were big gun
flashes both from the ships with the
searchlights and from the ship that
was being Illuminated. We knew it
was fight between Jap and Ameri-
can surface vessels.
1t was impossible to tell whether
we were winning or losing or what
was happening. We heard conflict
ing reports and three times before
sunrise we were lifted aboard the
transport, which prepared to leave
the area.
At $50 am. the transport pulled
out and we thought we were aban-
doned. We went over 10 another
transport nearby where we were told
the landings would continue as
scheduled
We took supplies board and headed
inShore. BY mistake we landed on
Gavutu instead of Tulagi. Marines
were walking along the beach only
few feet from US. Frequently one
would kneel and fire at some target
We couldn't see.
Five Raiders came along the beach
and suddenly opened fire with TOM
mygunS at a coconut tree. We
thought they'd gone crazy A few
coconuts dropped from the tree.
Then dead Jap fell down. and we
decided the Raiders weren't crazy.
Just after daylight one Jap swan
over from Tanambogo and climbed
ashore about so feet from us. He
was dressed in pants, underShirt and
leggings, carrying two grenades.
He was walking unconcernedlv,
and we thought he must be marine.
AS he neared a hillside where some
other JapS were holed in a cave he
started to run. Some marines nearby
opened up and killed him.
Jap Shot Trying to Flee.
The marine commanding officer
told US we were on the wrong beach
and we had just started to shove off
for Tulagi when two big marines,
each well over 6 feet tall, appeared
with diminutive Jap. They were
carrying him easily by the arms.
They set him down in front of the
commanding officer and he suddenly
squirmed and ran away. The
marines shot him.
We went over to Tulagi, getting
shot at from Tanambogo en- route,
but the shots fell short. AS l had
no duties, walked along the beach
while the boat was unloading. Fires
were burning everywhere. Tin and
wooden buildings were wrecked by
our bombs and shells. I went into
the government Office building on
the water front. There were Jap
anese supplies and uniforms lying
around and a sign American Air
lines" hanging from the ceiling.
Already the marines were clearing
out debris and patching the roof
One nearby building had been used
as a rice storehouse by the Japs.
Evidently a bomb had hit it
squarely. Rice was scattered every
where, with a few sacks still intact
We saw plenty of evidence that
our attack had been complete
surprise Some places bowls par
TALLY filled with rice and other
food were standing on the tables,
with chopsticks scattered about. We
found some Japanese saki and beer
snd champagne cider and tried
them all.
We made 10 trips to the beach
during daylight Sunday, and sew
eral times I wandered considerable
distances around Tulagi. From the
beach a path led through ravine
leading from the north to the south