Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1943-08-20
CHAPTER XIII

"They didn't get us them" said
Kelly. "At midnight our escape be-
gan. The destroyer lost me with
its light temporarily, so I did a
ninety-degree turn so as to pass
astern of her and lose her. con-
tinued on that course five minutes,
heading directly away from her,
then to the left in another ninety
degree turn, and I started looking
around the ship.
II found Reynolds, my port gun
shot through the throat and Shout
der. 1 got him down below and
had the chief torpedoman and the
radioman give him first aid.
Il found our mast had been shot
off foot over my head, so we
couldn't use our radio for sending.
The port turret had been hit and
its guns were out of action.
Lieutenant Kelly continued:
Our objective now was to get
Reynolds to doctor. We were 60
ing like bat out of hell. I couldn't
see the Al boat-it was so dark 1
couldn't even see the shore. l just
had to look at the compass and
make mental estimates as to how
far we had gone in various direc-
tons since last had seen land
recognized, and then guess where
we now were. I thought we were
near the narrow channel between the
islands; would another Jap destroy
er be laying for me there?
Suddenly, directly ahead, a
searchlight came on, less than a
mile away-a Jap steaming full
speed at me. I barely had time to
give hard left and a hard right
and we went scooting past each 9TH
er at relative speed of sixty knots
before he had chance to fire a
shot. He turned, holding me down
with his light like a bug under a
pin, and started chasing, blaz-
ing away with big guns-two
splashes four hundred feet away, two
more fifty feet away. l started zig
ging to squirm out of that light
wouldn't let my gunners fire shot;
it would help him keep our position.
was getting away, all right, but he
kept firing for ten minutes, although
his accuracy was going to hell. By
1870 I could barely see his light,
which was waving around, search
ing the water back of us.
II kept on, wide-open, wondering
how we'd ever get in, since we had
no charts, it was black as pitch,
and I knew coral reefs must be all
around us. At four o'clock I slowed
down and headed into where hoped
the beach was, taking soundings.
The water suddenly shoaled off and
bump! we were aground-a pima
Gle of coral under her belly. Look
ing down with flashlights we could
see the water was twenty feet deep
with coral pinnacles all around us
about every twenty feet, like a petri-
fed forest, rising to within five feet
of the surface.
Studying the shore line, I real
lied we were about ten miles too far
up the coast. sent Ensign Richard
son ashore in a roWboat to send an
army doctor and ambulance out
from Cebu for Reynolds, and also
a tug for us.
For the next hour we sailed ship
rocking it, trying to jiggle it off the
pinnacle, backing with the engines
and finally managed to roll it off
reynolds was feeling fine now.
I'd suddenly remembered a little
present Peggy had given me on the
Rock, went down to my locker and
brought it up for him-a couple of
codein tablets and a sedative pill.
Now he was sitting topside smoking,
although he couldn't drink because
the water would leak out the hole
in his throat They'd been short of
drugs on the Rock, but she sneaked
these out for me Just in case l got
wounded out on patrol. A hell of a
thoughtful present, and much more
valuable and useful than a gold Gig
arctic case.
Dawn came with low fog which
shut out the coastal contours, and
because of all the coral we had to
stand well off the coast. The sun
was we'll up but that didn't worry
me; with air superiority we didn't
need to stalk in the dark any more.
BY 7:3O the sun had burned the fog
away and we started out on two
engines-one screw had banged up
on the coral but that didn't matter
we were crippled now, but Dad
Cleland would quickly fix us. At
eight o'clock we spotted the en-
trance to the long channel and
turned in.
$50 there we were, fat, dumb,
and happy, heading up the narrow
channel at fifteen knots, when all
of a -Wham! 1t was hun
dred-pound bomb which landed about
ten feet off our bow.
"Then looked up, and here a
second plane was peeling off, COM
ing out of a cloud. But instead of
the big white stars nf the American