Evening star., 1943-06-28
CHAPTER xxx.

INtAo"oy Al WIG "a o44ASC L bCedll
to think again about going home
for few weeks. But a telegram
came assigning me to an aircraft
carrier. I was glad that it was
one of the biggest ships afioat. !
had ridden on the smallest of the
Nays ships, the PTS in the Philip
pines. and now hoped to see action
on one of the largest. This carrier
had arrived too late for the battle
of Midway and its flyers and crew
were impatiently waiting to mix it
with the Japs.
Our carrier sailed out of Pearl
Harbor early on July 7 and about
three weeks later we rendezvoused
one sunshiny Sunday afternoon with
q tremendous force of ships I
counted nearly 80 vessels stretched
to the horizon on all sides-two
carriers besides our own. cruisers,
destroyers, a modern battleship,
transports, tankers and fleet aux
iliaries. 1t was the biggest thrill
Of the war Everybody on board
was excited.
A few days later we found out
that our objective was the south
eastern part of the Solomon Islands.
Looking at the map of the Solo
mons and the Jap positions there.
many of the younger officers decided
that our plan of attack was limited
by overconservatism. Hitting that
limited area, We would leave Jap
bases all around us.
"It seems like sending 10 men on
q football team around the left end
and the ball carrier around the
right" one aviator said.
Anyway, there it was. And at
least it was an offensive.
The transports with us were car
ryng marine raiders who had un-
dergone months of special training.
They were to occupy and hold part
of the north shore OF Guadalcanal
Island. where the Japs were COM
pleting an airfleld, and the small
islands of Tulagi, Gavutu and
Tanambogo. which lay 20 miles
north Of Guadalcanal across the
sheltered waters.
The Japs had other bases in the
Solomons, the nearest only l25 miles
from Guadalcanal, but we were not
going to attack them Immediately.
Our offensive had been we'll timed,
as the airf1eld was almost ready
for operation and the area was not
vet strongly defended. We began
iyI ~ fIa
night of August 6.
The planes were already warming
up when reached the fight deck
next morning, the blue flashes of
their exhausts punctuating the roar
OF many motors. A fresh, strong
breeze blew in our faces and a quar-
ter moon cast a warm glow along
the broad deck.
Swiftly the minutes sped by and
soon the horn on the fight bridge
beloved the take-off signal. I
climbed to a 5-inch gun gallery over
looking the deck. Comdr. lie Roy
Simpler. commander of the fighter
squadron. squared his Wildcat away
In the take-off position and sped
down the deck between the twin
rows Of runway lights. As soon as
he was In the air he switched on
his wing-tip lights. Quickly the
other planes climbed aloft after
him and soon the air was filled with
circling lights as the fighter. dive
bomber and torpedo planes felt
their way into position behind their
squadron leaders.
1t was fully light when I climbed
into the seat of a torpedo plane
behind 1t. Bruce Harwood, a big,
easygoing pilot who was itching for
his first action of the war.
Our first dive bombers were al
ready coming back when we took
of. Bruce climbed fast and circled
while our machine gunners test
fired their guns and the other planes
in our squadron got into position on
Our wingtips. Overhead the sky was
clear and in the distance we could
see the mountains of Guadalcanal
through thick layer of white
clouds.
Flying over the sharply sloping
mountains we heard our group
commander giving orders to the
planes attacking Tulagi and Qua
dalcanal We circled down through
the clouds and came out over the
north shore of Guadalcanal. Be-
meath the overcast we saw our in
vasion force OF transports, cruisers
and destroyers punched off Guadal-
canal and off Tulagi, dimly discerni-
bic in the distance.
We quickly located the Jap run
way on Guadalcanal stretching from
behind the coconut groves lining
the channel shore back to the foot
hills of the jungle-covered noun
tains. The brown landing strip ran
from northeast to southwest, with
5000 feet already surfaced and steel
hangers partly completed.
Two miles west of the runway the
island jutted sharply at Lunga Point
and there and at nearby Kukoom
Japanese huts and stores were
blazing from fires set by our dive
bombers. East of the airield open
stretches OF nat, grassy plane OIL
vided the jungle areas which ex-
tended from the coconut trees to
the foothills.
We circled the airfield and
watched one OF our cruisers firing
It's guns splitting blue flame. The
shells hit in trenches near the land
ing field, throwing up sharp clouds
of black dirt.
Out near the transports hundreds
OF marine landing boats circled and
then headed shoreward. We saw
the first one hit the beach at
Tenaru plantation at exactly $40
m. and the first marines jump out
with rifles at the ready. But there
was no opposition. Most OF the
Japanese on Guadalcanal were labor
troops and they took to the hills
when our planes attacked. Our ma
rines came ashore quickly and their
tanks were soon pushing cautiously
inland through clearing leading
to the Tenaru River and the airfield
Bruce circled low over the air
field followed nv orr other nlaneS