Evening star., 1943-01-19
BY 1T. JAMES c. WHITAKER,
As Told TO CHARLES LEAVELL.

BY 1T. JAMES C. WHITAKER,
U. 8. Army Air Force Transport Command.
As Told to CHARLES LEAVELL.
Beginning with the 14th day
adrift, we went into the worst period
of the entire three weeks. About
me was suffering such as never
had seen before.
OF the seven survivors I was the
only one whose lower body was not
a mass of salt water ulcers. We
had water, but the tiny daily dole
seemed only to intensity our ag-
oniZing thirst. Hunger had so
weakened us that the slightest ef-
fort was exhausting.
| Our bodies were raw and singing
from the salt deposited upon them
| by spray. And now Our clothing
was disintegrating. The violent sun
rays were beginning to burn us Sc
verely. My socks had gone to pieces
and my shirt was splitting down
| the back, sleeves and front.
This was our situation when the
doldrums got us, bringing periods
! of delirium to all. It was while 60
ing through one Of these balmy
spells that I had the fantastic
meeting with Davy Jones and his
assistant, Jim Blood. Strangely
! enough, this is one of my most vivid
memories. But more about that
! later.
Eyes Ache from Light.
| In the doldrums there was no
breath OF wind to refresh us. And
| the ocean was CLASSY and glaring
as far as we could see Our eyes
ached from the merciless, binding
| light. One or two stanzas from
Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient
Mariner" came back to me and I
thought it fitted our situation.
I have reread it Since and except
| that we had no mast or deck boards,
there are four stsnzas that might
have been written about U.S. They
tell 1t so graphically that it puts me
back out on that raft to read them.
/ These are the verses:
DotDn dropt the breeze, the sails
dropt doaon,
'Tt0ds sad oS sad could be:
And De did speak only to break
The silence OF the sea!
All in hot and copper sky
The bloody sun, at noon,
Right up abooe the mast did
stand,
No bigger than the moon.
Day after day, day otter daV.
We stuck, nor breath nor mo-
ton;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon painted ocean.
water, tooter eUery1Ohere,
And all the boards did shrink:
| Water, t0dter everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.
1t was during this period that
Capt, Rickenbacker worked hardest
at keeping up morale How he
would light into those who sagged!
Plain and Fancy Cussinx.
He kept the boys so furious at
him that they vowed they'd live to
spite him. Rick was secretly de-
lighted. 1t was Just what he wanted.
Capt. Rickenbacker's keen ears
seemed to catch every remark. II
it was discouraging one he'd Jump
right down the throat of the man
who had uttered it.
What's that? What's that?" he
would yell
so you're off again. are you?
And you call yourself man! Why
you blankety blank blank quitter.
when we get out of this you'd better
crawl home to the women where
you belong"
In those four days Rick slung such
plain and fancy cussing as even 1
had never heard before. And I've
been around some. But 1t helped
pass the time, which went SO slowly
I thought my watch had stopped.
Mine was the only one still running.
Most of the others had been knocked
out in our crashlanding-two of
them with broken mainsprings.
Pray for Wind.
/ Our prayer service ended the day.
1t also marked the end of fortnight
adrift on the equatorial Pacific.
This night we had a new request
to present to the Lord: prayer for
wind to blow us out of the doldrums,
which were holding us in one spot
while our strength ebhed
On the fifteenth morning Pilot
Bill Cherry announced he was cut
ting loose. the the hope the three
RATS would spread out and some of
us would get into the wind. But it
didn't work. The RATS stayed to-
gether. We tied up again.
1t was that afternoon that Capt.
Cherry had his bout with 10-foot
Shark-and lost the decision. The
big fellow was nosing around, scoot-
ing under the raft. Every now and
then he smacked the bottom of 1t
with his tail, jolting Staff Sergt.
' James w. Reynolds, our radio opera
tor, who lay there.
Capt. Cherry started telling him
off. He told that shark what he
thought of him, his relatives, and
sharks In general. He finally tired