The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1943-04-29
g WHITE


been trapped by the Japs on jun
gle trail, Lieutenant Kelly asked the
lad:
What happened to your tank?"
We were lying on our side in
that paddy, and the Japs would
come over and look at us. We played
possum in there all day. They tried
to open our door with bayonets, but
we had it locked. In the afternoon
a Jap officer looked at us through
the slots-au of us lying still, hold
ing breath, and then he said, IN
English, They're all dead"
But we figured it was trick
kept right on playing possum and,
sure enough, in about an hour they
came back for another look. But
we were lying in exactly the same
positions. This time they gave a
few disguised grunts and walked off.
About an hour after dark we lis
tened carefully, and then unlocked
our door. Sure enough, they'd gone,
so we beat it for the road
Tell me what became of your
Shoes I asked him. couldn't fig
ure how an experienced soldier
would ever let himself get separat-
ed from his shoes. The kid grinned
sheepishly. I guess that was a
dan1n-fool trick he said. You see
it had been hotter than hell In that
tank, and we were all dirty and
tired and sweaty, so we decided to
take bath in a creek just across
the rice paddy. But we had to go
through mud to get there, so, keep
ing our clothes on until we got to
the water hole, we took off our
shoes and hid them in the tall grass.
But when we got back we hunted
for several hours, and we couldn't
find that grass clump. Finally we
started on, barefooted.'
But where were the Japs?'
" They'd gone on ahead toward
Manila. The next night we were
resting by the roadside. We heard
a noise behind us, so we Scooted low
in the bushes by the side of the
road, and saw more of them go by
on bicycles-al headed toward Ma
Mia. It seemed to be Jap recon-
Nuisance patrol, because behind
them came trucks and guns and in
fantry, going by in the dark-so close
we could have reached out and
touched them. If we'd had a ma
chine gun, we could have wiped out
several hundred, but we only had
our ASS. They kept up most of that
night-one group stopped and ate
chow on the road bank opposite us;
we were scared stiff they'd come
over and find us. It was hard for
the wounded to lie quiet. Our tank
| driver had a rivet stuck in his
throat-every time he took drink,
the water would come leaking out
and the radio operators arm was
full of shrapnel from an exploding
bullet. The rest of us were okay,
but our feet were getting damned
sore.
"'A At dawn we stopped by a native
village to collect some shoes, but
their feet were all too small
How'd they treat you?'
'Fine-gave US all the food we
could eat, but you could see they
didn't want us around. Afraid the
Japs would find us hiding there and
shoot them too. You couldn't blame
the natives. So we got out, and
spent the other six days of the trip
sleeping in bitches or brush ,clumps,
walking nights
| Were the wounded weak?'
Sure, and so were we. The tank
driver with the hole in his throat
wanted to stop-said for us to leave
him behind. We were afraid the
Japs would get him and we couldn't
spare him gun-we had only three
ASS for the six of u.s.
What did you do, carry hirn?'
Hell, no. We gave him a As,
told him he'd better use it now if
he wasn't coming with us. So he
changed his mind, and decided to
come on. He made it, too. But it
took plenty of CUTS
None of them lacked that. Here
Kelly shook his head. Sometimes
training, often equipment, but never
guts-and that went for the air force
too. Up to then everybody had been
cussing out the air corps for letting
us down. But after I talked to those
pilots I knew they hadn't. They'd
done the best job they could with
the experience and equipment and
leadership they had. Yet how slow
everybody learns in war. No
body knows anything about a war
until it begins. Just two years be-
fore, the Polish air force had been
blown to hell on the ground. The
French caught it the following
Spring. In spite of that, the same
thing happened to our planes at
Pearl Harbor. And yet two days
later, in spite of all of it, the Japs
catch our air corps on Luzon with
its pants down. Only that wasn't
the end. Months later, on my way
out through Australia, passed big
American field, and there they are,
bombers and fighters parked in or
DERBY rows, wing tip to wing tip.
Hell, they told me, the Japs are
hundreds of miles away Except
that's where they're always sup
posed to be when they catch you
with your pants down, and l thought
to myself, Jesus Christ, won't these
guys ever learn?
but getting back to that hos
pital. went back to my bunk.
Peggy helped me get my arm set
tied, and we talked little bit. She
was a smart girl. Having been
with the Regular Army, she knew
real soldiers when she saw them.
and you didn't have to talk long
with these poor brave kids who were
so green they forgot their shoes to
know what the score was. Here we
were, trying to hold off the Japs
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