Evening star., 1943-12-07
BY WILLIAM l.. WORDEN,

hSeOtld leu fTeSS w at IOTTeSpOnQtnI.
HEADQUARTERS, PACIFIC
FLEET, Dec. 2 Delayed) Five
foot siXinch Frank Filan says he
didn't do much at TaraWa. He just
went in and stayed 10 days. helped
carry out wounded, went 36 hours
without food or water, and stayed
until the island was secured. He
was still there when the admirals
and generals came to see what the
action had been like.
Just now, in what few clothes he
managed to salvage from marine
stockpiles and dead Japs, he looks
terrible. But he swears he actually
increased his 1876 pounds under the
nightmare conditions of the Tarawa
attack
Il went on a boat in the third
wave at Betio,' he says. We started
in long before dawn on a Saturday
THAT was November 20.) That's
the only day I am really sure about
any more because the rest of the
days all sort of ran together.
Big Jap Gun Silenced.
The boats had to 60 a long way
from our transport to the rendez-
vous point. There wasn't much
sound ashore except one big Jap
gun which banged away until one
OF our battleships knocked it out
with heavy shells.
When the order to attack came
We caught hell. The Japs had lines
OF machine-gun positions barricaded
behind coconut logs above the high
tide line on the beach. Piers on
either side of us crawled with snip
ers and machine gunners. Machine
guns and mortars on the beach got
our range.
Il was wearing the same clothes
I have on now This is an oddly
camouf1aged marine attack outfit
which he has lived in for 13 DAYS }
l also had pack over my shoulder
With some rations and camera
equipment in it. I was carrying it
over my shoulder because I wanted
to drop it quickly when we got to
the beach. But we never got there
I'm not sure whether our boat
was actually hit by shell, or wheth-
er something else caused it to sink
l had two cameras One I was using
to get long-shot pictures of smoke
columns and firing on the beach
The other I was going to use for
close-ups when we hit shore.
Shell Holes Under Water.
When the boat went down I held
the cameras above my head. The
water was up to my neck. I might
have made shore, if it hadn't been
for shell holes in the coral. I would
step into shell hole and go down
clear over my head-it doesn't take
much to sink me- My helmet and
pack filled with water and held me
down, and just couldn't keep the
cameras dry.
"Once I came up with a wounded
marine. He asked me to help him
back to the boats because he was
bleeding badly and thought he would
die II he didn't get somewhere so he
could stanch the blood. I don't know
whether he actually was that badly
hurt, but I can see how he would
think he was going to die. AS a
matter Of fact, I figured my own
chances Of getting ashore were
pretty slim.
Il started to help him back to the
boats. We went about a hundred
yards and saw we couldn't make it.
because the Japs really had the
range OF those boats by then. I told
him:
1--WE can't go out there. You'll
just get killed out there. Well have
to try to make it to the beach,
He said all right and asked me to
help him, SO I did. I guess it was
about 900 yards. You'd be going
along and seeing men fall on each
side of you. There were lots OF
bodies in the water.
Il kept hanging on to my cameras