Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1943-07-09
CHAPTER VII

"She was empty except for three
Japs-must have discharged her
Landing party and been headed
home. One was dead, two were
wounded, and one of these two was
a Jap officer.
Buckley had his As in his hand
when he jumped aboard, and i'm
mediately this Jap officer went to
his knees and began to call, Me
surrender!-Me surrender
HE was talking fast" said Bulke-
ley little grimly, land he had
his hands stuck up very high and
stiff, and that ought to stop the
myth about how Japs are too noble
ever to surrender. I put a line
around his shoulders and we hoisted
him aboard the "a boat.
"Then l began rummaging around
in that sludge for papers, brief cases
and knapsacks. I collected, among
other things, the muster list of the
Landing party and their operations
plan, before the boat sank beneath
me-Kelly pulled me into his boat
as the barge sank.
THE ambulance doctor, glancing
at them, said he thought the Jap
officer would pull through, but that
there wasn't much chance for the
little private.
You never know when you're 60
ing to run into something" said
Buckley. "a couple of nights lat
er, was riding the Al boat on
routine patrol off the west coast of
Bataan. When we began to get near
to Biniptican Point, the entrance to
Subic, we cut it down to one en-
CINE, to make the least possible
noise. Just before ten o'clock, 1
spotted Jap ship which seemed to
be lying to, near shore. We called
general quarters and began sneak
ing up on her-still using only one
engine until we got within about
twenty-five hundred yards. Then we
gave everything the gun and roared
in-but almost into trap. Because
the Japs had prepared a little well
come for us, and this ship was
seemingly the bait to a trap-they
had floating entanglements and
wires in the water which might foul
our propellers and leave US dead
target for their batteries. We saw
them just in time, and now we saw
they we're trying to unbait the trap
because that big ship was showing
a wake, trying to get under way.
cat thousand yards we fired our
first torpedo, and it had hardly hit
the water before the Jap ship opened
up on us with a pom-pom. They'd
been playing possum, waiting for
US. But what the hell-We wanted
to be sure we'd stolen the bait from
the trap, so we went right on in,
ahead of our own torpedo, and let
her have another at four hundred
yards. Then 1 gave hard rudder
and as we turned abeam of her, we
sprayed her decks with the SOS,
and every man on board picked up a
rifle and began pumping at her
just for the hell of it-and the Japs
were dishing it right back, but not
for many seconds. Because all of
a sudden-Bam! 1t was our first tor
pedo striking home, and pieces of
wreckage fell in the water all around
US. The explosion gave US our first
clear look at her. She Was-or had
been until then-a modern, stream
lined 6,0O0-ton auxiliary aircraft car
rier.
But the Japs weren't through
with us. A battery of about half
dozen 3-inch guns opened up on US
from the shore-by the flashes we
could see they were pumping it to us
as fast as they could load, and they
certainly took our minds off our
other troubles. So with big splashes
all around us, we executed that ma
val maneuver technically known as
getting the hell out of there, swerv-
ing, weaving, avoiding those damned
wire nets, and trying to figure out
where the Japs would place their
next artillery shots, to make sure we
wouldn't be under them-giving her
every ounce of gas we could stuff
into those six thousand horses, until
we we're out of range. l think the
Japs were getting tired of us MTB's,
and risked exposing that ship to rid
themselves of a nuisance"
EARLY in February they started
sending submarines up from Aus
tralia, and our boats would always
meet them outside the mine fields
and bring them in-Bulkeley getting
aboard to ride as pilot. The subs
had news. They said America was
building big Australian base-that
supplies were rolling down there.
The submarine Trout would bring
in ammunition for army's 3-inch
guns on Bataan and take out gold
which had been brought over to Cor
regidor from Manila before it fell.
The unloading, of course, would all
be at night, and then Buckley would
take them out and show them deep
water, where they could submerge
and hide from Jap bombers during
the day. Quezon went out on one
submarine to Cebu, and a week