The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1943-07-08

ed-all young technicians, most of
them aviators, for this last chance
to get out, so they could fight again.
General Sharp had told me he had
telephoned Cox and Akers that they
were on tonight's list; why weren't
they here?
Suddenly saw familiar face
it was Ohio, the fighter pilot who
had been next to my cot in Corregi-
dor. When he left the hospital, of
course there was no plane fer him,
so he'd been infantry soldier on Ba-
taan. He'd missed this plane here
once-his name had been called and
he wasn't there. He was hoping it
would be called again tonight. After
Bataan fell he'd flown twice to Cor
regidor in that ramshackle old
Beechcraft which was about all the
air force we had left in the islands
now-with medical supplies for our
hospital down under the Rock. l
asked him about Peggy, and of
course he remembered her-the
pretty one with green eyes? Sure.
But he hadn't seen any of the
nurses. He'd had to come in at
night while they marked the four
corners of the landing field for him
with flashlights, and get away as
fast as he could. On the last trip
he'd bent his propeller landing, and
sweated blood while they straight
ened it for him in the machine shop
d0uyn 1IpdnT fba Rooly
He stopped here, and silence
of death fell over everybody, for we
could now hear motors far above.
How many planes? We peered up
through the moonlight now we
could see her, and there was only
one, circling the field. Lower she
came-My God, would she. crack up
on landing? None Of us breathed as
her searchlight stabbed for the
ground. She was down now, but
suppose there was some mistake,
and our names weren't on her list?
Or suppose while she sat there, gas
sing, the Japs came over and blew
her wings off? And where, l won
dered, were Cox and Akers? It was
a forty-mile trip for them; had they
caught ride?
AT 1920 the list was called
thirty names, mine and theirs
among them, but only l answered
present. So they put an army tank
major and an air-corps captain in as
substitutes, if they failed to arrive.
But at 1926 here they came on the
run, so the captain and the major
were turned aside. They were to
go on the next plane-if there was
a next.
"Just before we got aboard, Gen
eral Sharp came over to tell me
good-by. He is a grand old man, all
six feet of him, a commanding per-
son and every inch soldier, as his
father and grandfather were before
him. He'd served two years in the
ranks, was a colonel in the last
war, and was now major general.
''He said this was probably the
last plane out, and he wanted me
to take message to Macarthur.
Tell him the end here is drawing
near, and if help can't be sent, in a
few days Mindanao will fall. Of
course, probably he understands
this, and maybe nothing can be
done. But he said, IF he asks
what we need to hold out, tell him
if we had a navy tank force-bring-
ing up a tanker loaded with gaso-
line and hundred thousand men,
tell him to give me only that and
we can hold here, and start taking
back the islands.
Il know probably he hasn't got
them, but tell him that if he asks.
He was grand old gent. He knew
what he was saying was useless,
but he couldn't quite down the hope
that maybe they would get chance
to fight on.
"Then he talked about us. 'Ev-
erybody left here in the islands
should realize he said, that those
who are called to Australia are the
ones who will be most useful for
the work ahead. Those who leave
are the men for the job, regard
less of rank and years of service.
The rest of us, he said, consider
ourselves as being dependable,
which is something that may come
to any soldier. We are ready for
it, and I think they will see that we
will meet it squarely when it comes
''Then they called my name, we
shook hands, and l climbed aboard.
Each of us who were leaving I'M
strapped our ASS and handed them
out through the planes windows to
the fellows who were staying be-
hind. They'd be needing them bad
ly and we wouldn't"
Sand Peggy" someone asked.
''There were three seaplanes sent
out from Australia to Corregidor at
the very last" said Kelly, (which,
among other people, were to bring
out the nurses. One of them was
shot down off Corregidor, but the
other two loaded and got back to
Lake Lanao, where they gassed up
for the big homeward hop while
Sharp held the Japs back from the