The Ely miner., 1943-04-08
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war; and rolled over"
''The message said I was to come
on down to the Commandantia,
continued Bulkeley. 'It's an old
thick-waIled Spanish building, and
when got there, Admiral Rock
well, who was in command at Ca
vite, and Captain Ray, his chief of
staff, were already dressed. Dawn
was just beginning to break over
Manila Bay, and the Admiral was
watching the sky. They ought to
be here any minute he said. And
then he told me to prepare my six
boats for war stations. They were
going to send us over to Bataan at
the naval base in Mariveles Harbor,
just opposite Corregidor."
81 was prepared for the war;" said
Kelly, the squadron's second in COM
mand, a tall blond lieutenant with
quick blue eyes. "Pd heard about
the secret operation orders-what
the fleet would do under any of
three eventualities, so the night be-
fore I'd gone over to the Army and
Navy Club at Manila and put aboard
the thickest charcoal-broiled filet
mignon ! could buy there, plus
French fries and big tomato with
Roquefort dressing, finishing off with
brandy and a cigar. I figured I'd
at least have them to remember.
''We spent that first day fully
manned, anticipating bombing at
tack. Five of the boats were dis
persed along the shore about hum
dred yards apart-the sixth was pa
trolling. ALI day we loaded them
with food-cans of corned beef, Vi
enna sausage, vegetables, and
canned potatoes - don't laugh at
that, it's better than rice-canned
fruit, fruit, coffee.
ST saw the first planes about noon
flying out over the bay. At first ]
thought they were ours, but after
about minute our shore batteries
opened up. They were coming over
at 10000 and of course Immediately
we showed all our boats off and
out into the bay. But we heard MOTH
ing drop. It was probably just a
reconnaissance raid-feeling us out.
''Of course there were all kinds Of
rumors that Zamboanga and
Davao, down in the southern archi-
pelago, had been taken. Also that
our navy patrol planes had gone up
to Northern Luzon to intercept Jap
transports gathering off Aparri
there. We even heard our aircraft
tenders had been surprised and TAX
en-, but that one proved false. Yet
that morning, nothing was sure.
"About three o'clock orders came
from Squadron Commander Bulke-
ley to send three boats, under my
command, over to Mariveles on Ba-
taan and report to the submarine
tender there for food, water, and
torpedoes, and to remain on the
ready-available to go out and at
tack anything he ordered us to. By
five o'clock we cast off. We had
some passengers to deliver at Cor
regidor, so it was eight and plenty
dark before we were outside the
mine fields, feeling our way into
Mariveles. We thought we knew
those mine fields, but in pitch-dark-
ness, with the mine-ield lights
turned off and of course no lights
on our boats now, it was something
else again.
''At this point the army took over.
They heard the roar of our motors
and thought it was Jap planes.
Searchlights began winking on all
over Bataan, feeling up into the sky
for planeS-our motors were echoing
against the mountains on Bataan,
so they couldn't tell where the noise
was coming from. Every artillery
post for twenty-six kilometers around
went on the alert, and for a few
minutes it was question whether
we were going to be blown to hell
by mine or by one of our own
shore batteries.
"But finally we snaked through,
tied up alongside our sub tender,
and then it's skipper delivered a
piece of nasty news. Told us he
had orders to get under way just
before daylight, out to sea-didn't
know just where they were sending
him-maybe south, maybe the Dutch
East Indies, anyway, he wouldn't {
be back.
$50 then the fun began. There
we were-no base, rations for only
ten days, and a big problem in how
we were to live ourselves and what
In hell we would do with the boats
when the planes came over. In ad-
dition to which, we were almost fiat
out of gas, and what would we do
for fuel to fight this war?
Pretty soon we began finding
some of the answers. For instance
just around the coast from Mari
veles in Sisiman Cove was native
village-practically abandoned ex.
cept for. few families TWEEN.
ty nipa huts in all. We moved in
and took over. A nipa hut is Lit.
tie contraption-single room with
thatched roof and sides-up off the
ground four or five feet on bamboo
stills. Under it the natives keep
their pigs and chickens. The floor is
split bamboo, and never very tight,
SO the crumbs and small pieces OF
garbage dropped on it can sift down
into the pigs and chickens. In one
corner of the hut is sandbox, and
on this sand they build a fire for
cooking. There never is a chin.
ney-the smoke just goes out the
windows or through the floor cracks.
ITO BE CONTINUEDJ