Evening star., 1943-04-29
Ry IRA WOLEERT.

Squadron flies into jaWs OF
death to halt Jap attack on Mid
t0dy Island, only one plane sur
piuing. Reorganised by 1t.
Suede" Larsen, they clip the
ioinss OF 80-ship assault on
Guadalcanal and all get back
to carrier base. Toxic Express
feels their revenge, but not much
luck in those flights.
CHAPTER 18.
Torpedo went hustling up the
groove the morning of September
Is. 1t was a very bright morning
with feel of midday languor
already in its air at $3.50 and some
of the fellows, as they walked to
work down the slope from the ready
tent over the soft, black, chuf1ed-up
earth of Guadalcanal couldn't help
thinking of football going on back
home and of practice in the warm
afternoons of September, and of
how soft the earth felt and steamy
and aromatic.
Barnum TAXED right into a shell
hole at the start so he was out of
the attack, cracked right out of it
There were plenty of shell holes
and bomb craters all around
Guadslcanal by then. The planes
ran lightly among them and ran
past the amputated, mangled
carcasses of wrecked planes left
where they had fallen-Some Jap
planes, but mostly American-and
numbered heavily in the sausage
like way of torpedo planes into the
crisp crackle of blue from the sky.
Then the planes circled AS the
tunnel gunners got ready guns stuck
out and waggled like thin feelers
from the plump bellies. The planes
circled over Bloody Ridge and over
the Tenaru River where tanks, artil-
lery, mOrtarS and machine guns had
been heaving at each other for days
now, right on the edge of Henderson
Field, so close to the edge that if
you TAXED too far on a landing you
had the feeling you'd run smack into
Jap guns. The marines lay on their
backs and looked at them and the
Japs threw angry, futile sputters OF
machine gun and rifle fire at them
Our artillery was working with the
loud whopping whooms Of artillery
and the shells went one at a time
right through or under Or over the
planes.
This always seemed something in
the nature OF miracle to me when
I was there. Planes, going to work,
were always crossing in the path of
shells going to work elsewhere-Jap
shells and our shells, Jap planes
and our planes And there the
planes and shells were, rocking
along through the same air to diff
ferent destinations, but never did
they bother each other. There were
no traffic lights. The traffic was
all whichway in six different ways
north, south, east, west and up and
down-and Jap shells didn't mind
really, il by accident they clipped
one Of our planes and our shells
didn't mind if they clipped one Of
their planes. But that never hap
pened. The planes and the shells
went only where they were going.
Torpedo 8 ground slowly up to a
fairish amount of altitude and then
lit out up the groove, going like a
bee which had suddenly found out
where the honey was.
Going After Jap Warships.
There were dive -bombers along
this time, and this time it figured to
be the picnic Torpedo 8 had been
waiting for. Not really picnic
just the regulation line of work
But regulation job of work, the
kind OF job a man expected to get
and was trained for, always seemed
a picnic in those wild, early days In
the Pacific. where everybody had
to do what had to be done. not what
he was supposed to do. And when
anybody got to do what he was sup
posed to do he had that picnic feel
ing or that riding -on-plush feeling
The honey our fellows were look
Ing for was made up of three Jap
light cruisers and four destroyers
The feeling among veterans of COM
bat Is that the second time Is the
worst. The first time you don t
know what to expect and always i'm
agine worse than you get, or If you
don't you're too keyed up to pay
attention, anyway. But the second
time you know just what's ahead of
you, you've got the cold dope on
that, and carry into action not only
the facts OF the situation but the
memory of your previous shocks
BY the third action you were be-
ginning to get used to the business
you were in.
However, it didn't work out that
way with Torpedo 8. They were all
raspy from lack of sleep. Nobody
slept we'll on Guadalcanal. The Jap
land forces there were night work
ers, making their attacks at night
and We were day workers, punching
the clock at dawn and keeping on
punching until dusk. Neither side
ever considered changing its hab-
Its to allow for sleep, and, in addi-
tion, further complicating the Sleep
Ing arrangements was the fact that
the Japs were sure to bomb us some
where between 9 in the morning
and in the afternoon and sure to
shell us from the sea between II
at night and 4 the following morn
ing.
Besides being raspy from lack of
sleep, the fellows had the trouble
OF a great glitter of sunlight on
the blue water below, making ships
as difficult to spot as pins in tray
of diamonds. and anyway had that
picnicky feeling from Bullet Lou
Kirn's dive-bombers being along