Evening star., 1943-05-07

maze a SUICIDE torpedo run IN a
ply on two transports. The ply,
a dignif1ed, portly and leisurely
plane, linked like an old lady in
corsets trying to do highland fling.
Be we were using everything we had
that day and the next, including
unarned CUTS, and Maj. Cram got
away with it. He delivered his tor
pedoes and came home He still
doesn't know how or why he got
away with it.
A dive-bomber went rattling and
groaning up to the tee, then paused
A major came running to find out
what was the matter MY hy-
draulics and hand crank both have
been shot up" the pilot said. Il
can't get the landing gear up or the
flaps"
The major had to scream to make
himself heard above the motor
pointed over the hill to the beach.
They're coming here to kill you and
me. It's a question of killing them
first
II know" the pilot said II wasn't
complaining. was just telling you"
Another Impossible"
Then the dive bomber took off.
With the landing flaps down, he
couldn't get up any speed. His plane
went a few yards down the runway
and then swooped up into the air
like a badminton bird. Everybody
ran to the hill to see how he made
out against the transports. He
dropped on them like feather. He
couldn't dive at all, nor power dive
with his landing gear and landing
flaps sticking out into the air and
holding him back But he came
down vertically just the same, twist
Ing slowly and gently like falling
feather, and he dropped square and
came home, too, without knowing
Just how or why.
Swede thought it looked like
Bataan, too. He had orders to
evacuate all the Torpedo 8 crews
he could not use. He'll" he said
I'VE don't need planes to get Japs.
The Japs are coming to us now. We
don't have to fly after them. All we
have to do is stay where we are and
shoot them down."
Some Of the fellows left on the
destroyer MacFarland. The Japs
dive bombed it before it started to
move and knocked off most of its
stern. Bert Edmonds got killed that
way, making Torpedo 8's ninth
fatality since Midway. The rest of
the men on the destroyer helped in
the saga of its homewarding voyage.
But that's another story, remark
able one, but not tale of torpedo
bombers.
well, fellows" said Swede wryly
TO those who were left, you are
going to have something to tell to
your grandchildren after all He
had been given tommy guns, rifles
and hand grenades by the Marines
and he distributed them to his men.
Then he moved them up to the
line where Maj. Mahoney, Capt.
Aaronson and 1t. Wallace welcomed
them hastily.
1t Was Very ABC.
They were given secondary posi-
Swede space his men and told him
what to watch out for. Its very
ABC around here" he said Just
wait until you see Jap. Then kill
him"
That was 3 o'clock in the after
noon There wasn't much to do
until nightfall. With the night
would come the malarial mosquitoes
and the Japs. After the foXholes
fire. Swede lay down and wrote a
letter to Missy, summing up with
mastery brevity needs of the mo-
ment
when I get home please buy
brewery and some cows. I'm going
to drink the brewery dry and eat
the COWS raw"
Fighting on land always seems
little unnecessary to aviators. But
It's better for morale than not
fighting at all, decided Swede.
When the Jap planes came over low
AS they did now. almost with i'm
punity-all the fellows shot at them
with their rifles and tommy guns
They didn't seem to hit anything or
Go damage, but they made lot of
noise and cheered themselves up.
Peterkin and Hammond and 18
men were back on the field work.
ing on the three planes they hoped
would fly again. They dug foxholes
for themselves right alongside the
planes so that they wouldn't have
to waste too much time going to
and from cover during air raids and
they never dropped their monkey
wrenches until the bombs actually
started to fall.
The rest of the squadron helped
hold the line until reinforcements
could come. The jungle where they
were was very thick: The light that
managed to get through to it was
green colored and the ground on
which they lay was squashy and
steamed with the rotted vegetation
of centuries.
AS long as there was daylight, the
jungle was as quiet as we were
willing to allow it to be. Our gum
shots went through it like snores
through dormitory, leaving silence
in their wake. But at night the