The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1943-07-08
CHAPTER XIV

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he'd left Cebu that morning. He
said he'd talked to a Catholic priest
who had said burial mass over you
and another sailor, killed in an en-
gagement."
"And was very glad to hear it,
said Kelly. Because then / knew
that Harris and Reynolds had got
ten decent burial at the American
cemetery in Cebu before the Japs
arrived. But then l asked, Where's
Bulkeley?' You see, the last saw
of him he was tearing around the
other side of that Japanese cruiser,
trying to draw its fire away from
me, so I could get in to polish it off.
I thought they'd probably got him.
heard he'd turned up later in Min
danao, but it was just rumor."
"What actually happened was
this" said Buckley. "They didn't
get me, but three destroyers chased
me until dawn, when pulled away
into shallow water, and we tied up
under a pier to get some sleep-as
I think said.
"When night came 1 went on up
to Iligan, where intended to get
gas and go on up to Cebu to see
what had happened to Kelly, al
though I was pretty sure he hadn't
got out alive. But at Iligan I was
met by radioed order from VAIN
wright; there were no more torpe-
does for the MTB's, so he couldn't
let us have any gas. They were
needing it all for the planes out to
Australia.
$50 there we were-stuck at lii
gan. I went on over to headquar-
tiers at Del Monte to report the bat
tie with the cruiser to General Sharp
certain that the end was before us
on the island. We'd be fighting here
on Mindanao with rifles to the end.
But that morning-it was April ID
General Sharp called me in to say
he'd just got orders from Melbourne
that l was ordered to report to Mac
Arthur Immediately on the plane
leaving Del Monte that night. For
a while l felt rotten. It would look
like / was walking out on the squad
ron. 1t was an order, of course,
but you could tell them to go to
hell, and there would be nothing
they could do about it, because pref
ty soon we we're going to be killed
or captured by the japanese.
''Then 1 figured it another way.
If l could get to Australia, l might
be able to persuade Macarthur to
bring out the rest of the squadron.
It looked like it was their only
chance. I'm going to try to get out
all your officers and key men, he
had said. I'm not going to let you
die in fox hole with a rifle knew
he had believed the MTB's had a
great future in the war.
$50 I sent word to the rest I
would get them flown out if posi-
BILE, and got aboard the bomber that
night. AS we left the field, the Japs
divebombed it and put one motor
out, but we got through"
''He left me in CHARGE" said Ak
ers, land presently General Sharp
sent me up to Lake Lanao in the
/ middle of Mindanao Island on Pc
culiar mission. They were afraid
the Japs might land seaplanes on
| it and I was to set up defenses there.
I was to teach the army how to run
the. machine guns. The lake is about
twenty miles long and fifteen wide
| in the middle of the Moro country
| They were planning to take the Al
! boat up there when l left. All her
torpedoes were gone, but her ma
chine guns were intact, and they
wanted to use her as lake gun
boat to keep the place clear of Jap
seaplanes so that our flying boats in
/ from Australia would have place
to set down as long as they dared
come in. They defended Lake La
mao to the last, and I wouldn't be
surprised to learn that the old Al
boat, the flagship of the squadron,
/ fired the last shot of the war out
on that lake, protecting the life line
to home"
''Cox told me Bulkeley had gone
home" said Kelly, "and, thinking I
was dead, had made him squadron
commander. And l didn't know
what to do. There ] was-no crew,
no boat, no job, while they were
busy dismantling the Al boat, to
take it up to Lake Lanao and end
the war fighting with the Moros. So
I decided I'd better get up to Del
Monte and report to Sharp so he
could tell Buckley was alive, and
send in my report by radio to the
States on the scrap with the cruiser
and what happened to my boat.
"'The General was amazed to see
me. Buckley said you'd been killed
in action he said. He listened to
my report on the battle. I'll send
you to Kalasungay,' he said, near
the airfield where the planes come
in. But / warn you, there's not too
much hope of getting out. There's
almost no more gas to refuel the
planes at this end, so I doubt that
they'll send any more ! said / was
sure we were getting out-MacAr-
thur had told Buckley he would dc
it if it was humanity possible.
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