Evening star., 1943-05-25
Officer Had 'Grondstond Seat
For Jap Transport 7orpedoings
Maj. n. 0. Smith, Jr.,
Is Commended for
GuuduIcunuI Work
BY GEORGE KENNEDY.


greatest grandstand ever provided
to witness naval warfare" Maj.
Harry O. Smith. jr, seated in his
fathers home at ll0 Taylor street,
Chevy Chase. Md. yesterday told of
some OF the things he had seen.
The grandstand seat looked out
upon the anchorage bounded by
Florida Island across the water and
Savo Island to the left. For the
possession of the flying field on
Guadalcanal again and again large
units of the japanese and American
fleets met in the anchorage at point
blank range and blasted one another
out of the water.
The super Fourth-o July bril-
lance of japanese aerial pyrotech-
MICS had his admiration. He spoke
of the night the enemy fleet, in
Guiding at least one battleship,
shelled Henderson Field with To-
inch projectiles. An incendiary
shell burst overhead, a skyrocket
Shat would have delighted any Amer
ican boy, making a fountain of fire
in the sky that radiated blazing
magnesium 100 yards from its
center.
Il yelled in admiration, he said,
but just then they let go with every
thing"
Brilliant Parachute Flares.
Asked if the parachute flares
dropped from planes at the same
time were Illuminating, he said.
You feel caught naked with some
one peering down your throat
The 16-inch shells. designed to
blow up the biggest ships afloat at
Is miles, fell about the field. They
had the range. all right" Mai. Smith
said. "All you could do was to hang
on to the earth so you wouldn't fall
of.
1T was inspiring and terrifying.
After you had recovered from the
shock you would find yourself think
ing more clearly than ever before.
You would sense the shock of their
striking the earth and the later ex-
ploslon before you heard the crack
they made in their passage through
the air, and that before YOU heard
the gun firing the shell from the
ship. The shell travelled faster than
sound and it got you all mixed up
Witnesses Torpedoing.
The major is 80. and with his head
shorn creW-style and his slight
figure, he looks %. His father. Col
Harry o. Smith, is retired from the
Marine Corps. Another Harry O.
Smith, four months old, resting on
MS stomach, raised himself on his
elbcW VS. and watched his father talk.
L heard about him a month and
half after his arrival when I was
IN New Zealand the major said.
"Of all the things we saw" the
major said, land others agree with
me, the most exciting was Capt.
Jack r. Cramm's torpedoing the
Japanese transports landing troops
at Cape Esperance. 10 miles away
across the long arc of bay.
The Navy had been unable to
prevent the landing of reinforce
ments and although it was right in
sight, there was nothing we could
do about it as it was beyond our
lines at that time When Capt.
Cramm volunteered to torpedo them.
some one thought it would be good
for morale for the men to watch,
and it sure was.
Takes Off With 2 Torpedoes.
Capt. Cramm took Gen. Roy F.
Geigers plane, Consolidated ply
5A amphibian, certainly not the
plane for torpedoing the enemy in
broad daylight.
He got off the field with tor
pedo under each wing. We lost
him as he circled away from his
target and then we saw him going
across the bay straight for his tar
gets"
Maj. Smith, in charge of auto
matte anti-aircraft fire, was wearing
a headphone at the time.
Il could hear over the interphone.
He is going into his dive and we
could see him start diving. They
were letting everything go at him,
but he blew up the ships-they
still there-and then we lost him
for a moment behind the treetops
of the cape.
Chased by Three Zeros.
Then we saw him coming back,
just above the tops of the palms
with three Zeros after him. He was
cranking on everything to make the
field. He made it.
Il was there when he reported to
Gen. Geiger, who was sitting on a
bunk.
The general said. Captain, hows
that plane of mine?'
"Cramm said. Why. it's in pretty
bad shape, general. It's pretty
badly shot up and the right wheel
went when 1 landed
Nov that's a hell of a way to
treat mans plane said the gen.
eral, gruff as could be. Then he
swung around with a smile and
outstretched hand and said, Con-
gratulations.'
with that, Cramm went to pieces.
He burst into tears and erupted all
over the place"
Saw Start at Pearl HarbOr.
Maj. Smith saw the start Of the
whole business. One Sunday morn
ing he heard an airplane noise that
sounded different and looked out
the big living room window of his
home at Pearl City Point, Hawaii.
He saw an airplane launching
bomb at the Utah, moored in the