Evening star., 1943-01-22

am Field, Honolulu. OF the eight
cast adrift, two were with me: 1t.
John De Angels, the navigator,
and Staff Sergt. James w. Rey-
nolds. our radio operator. One of
our company had died on the 18th
day.
We had not seen the other two
RATS, carrying Rickenbacker and
the three remaining survivors, since
the afternoon Of November 9, when
we went separate ways. We had
hoped to be seen by Navy scout
planes which were patroling the
area, but which thus far had over
looked our tiny craft.
just now, however, I was most
concerned with De Angels and Rey-
nolds, both of whom needed imme-
diate medical care. Navy doctors
said later that Reynolds was at
deaths door when they reached
him.
Raft Reached.
AS the raft beached 7 told my
companions to pile out. Jimmy
crswled out and lay prone. Johnny
stepped out, but went down at
once.
Whats the matter with you
guys?" I asked.
TRY it yourself" said De An
gels.
I stood up In the boat and fell
hat on my face. I struggled up
and went down again. I stood and
fell down eight times before it oc-
CURED to me to steady myself with
an oar. Hunger, thirst and the
RATS rolling had affected my equi-
librium. The first thing I saw now
was fresh water. The rain had
filled several pockets in the coral
of the island.
Nothing ever tasted better to me.
Refreshed, I began to take stock of
our new situation. We had not
reached the sandy part of the beach.
Our raft had grounded on coral,
most Of which was just under the
surface. 1t was sharp and we were
without shoes, so we had to pick
our way carefully.
Thanks for Deliverance.
When We finally reached the sand.
we stopped and gave thanks to God
for our deliverance. I previously
had given thanks silently for the
miracle that got us through the
swirling current and past a school
Of man-eating sharks. Our prayers
finished, we began to look for food
and shelter. 1t was now that T fully
realized my own condition was none
too good.
In 81 days adrift I had about
half an orange and half dozen raw
fish. 1 could not walk without the
oar and my mind seemed to work
only with great difficulty. This is
best illustrated by the incident of
Jimmys pants.
The buttons had come off and the
upper wouldn't work. The poor kid
kept losing them as he crawled
along. thought laboriously of what
l could do to remedy the dilemma.
EARLIER, had tied my own pants on
with string and they were so tied
now. But it simply would not occur
to me to fix up Jimmy the same
way. Johnny couldn't think of any,
thing, either.
My shirt was torn along the sleeve,
back, and front and, as l had to
have protection from the sun,
punched holes on either side of the
rents and laced them with a long
piece Of vine I regarded this as
fairly ingenious piece of work. Yet
l couldn't think of what to do for
Jimmy.
Find COconuts.
Somehow Johnny and I got Jimmy
and the raft over to the lee side of
the island, which was only a few
hundred feet wide. On the ground
we found some coconutS. I set
about opening these, but they had
been on the ground long time and
the hulls were iron hard, in my con-
dition it took me 40 minutes to cut
around and through to the eyes of
the nuts. When I missed the eyes
more long minutes of cutting were
required.
The nuts had only little milk,
but the meat was nourishinq. A
little later some rodent-like animals