The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1943-06-24

bunk. They hit me in the belly
while l was lying there. I'm done
for, sir. I'll be all right here. You
get out the others
''Well, the hell with that. So in
spite of his protests, MARITIME and /
carried him ashore. Then we went
back for last trip. Only Harris
was left, lying where he had tum-
bled into the tank compartment. But
the radioman and l carried his body
ashore because we hoped to give
him a decent burial.
After reaching shore at Cebu Is
land, Lieutenant Kelly turned his
attention to his casualties.
Il rounded up some native sol
diers, who got stretchers, and in
these we carried the wounded to the
other side of the island where they
could be loaded into a launch, put
ting them in charge of Sheppard, a
first-class machinist's mate, to get
them to the hospital.
"At this point a banca showed UP,
and it was native doctor, the one
we had sent Ensign Richardson
ashore for, before dawn, for Rey-
nolds, who by now was en- route to
the hospital. So l loaded the ship S
papers, binoculars, and stuff into
this banca, and with them showed
off for Cebu.
Hallway over the three planes
came back and we tried to hide be-
hind a fish trap-a net with bamboo
poles sticking up out of the water.
But they weren't strafng now. They
were looking for the fourth plane
we'd shot down. They secured the
area for twenty minutes. After they
left we went on in, and of course
went straight to army headquarters,
and met the colonel in charge-the
No. 2 officer of the island. No, he
hadn't heard from Buckley, but
he'd send out a radio message to
hunt for him if he was still alive.
And maybe I'd better give my re-
port direct to the general. l wanted
to, and also / wanted to find out
what had happened to our big
American Offensive we had been
asked to be part of, and that air
umbrella which should have pro-
tected us this morning.
"The general had been having a
conference at the bar of the Ameri-
can Club, sitting with some other
officers and some civilians who we're
now all having drink. Now a gen
eral is pretty important, and you
don't just go barging into his con-
ferences-not if you're a mere ma
val lieutenant in command of a lit
tie seventy-foot boat. So, following
the lead of this conducting colonel,
we stood off bit and waited until
the general gave us the signal to
come on in and tie up at his table.
He saw us all right, but he didn't
give US the signal-just went on talk
ing to the other officers and civil
ians.
''Now, thinking back, l realize it
was most important conference.
But at the time l was excited, be-
cause l had just come from my boat
in which I'd fought all through the
war and with which we'd just helped
to sink Jap cruiser-my boat
which was now lying beached across
the bay, with one man dead, an
other dying, and all the rest but
three wounded. I suppose was un-
strung. l wanted to have him make
my report by radio about the cruis-
er. And then, although maybe it
wasn't my business, I'd have liked
to find out about that American Of
fensive he'd invited us to join the
night before.
''We kept standing there, the two
of us, while l got madder and mad
der. l see now it was unreason-
able, but l couldn't help it then.
Finally it embarrassed even the
colonel and he invited me to step
over by the bar and have a drink
with him. l said no, thanks, I had
work to do, but I'd have a Coca
Cola. stuck around ten more min
utes drinking it and then, since the
general gave us no signal, l showed
off.
81 arranged to have the boat
guarded Because l wouldn't yet
admit that maybe both it and we
were expended now. High tide was
at four o'clock. Couldn't we maybe
patch her up, float her over to Dad
Cleland's, get torpedes and crew
from somewhere, and maybe fight
her just once again?
81 went over there to where Brant-
ingham and the 35 boat were, taking
the stuff I'd salvaged from the boat,
and they gave me some lunch as /
talked about the fight and what had
happened to us, and during it En-
sign Richardson telephoned. He said
Reynolds had died, and they were
burying him and Harris in the
American cemetery with military
escort and priest, at four o'clock.
said of course l would go, and
would meet Richardson at the bar
of the American Club, from which
we'd go over together.
81 got there but Richardson didn't
show up. l stood around. l was
tired and mad and lonesome as hell.
Finally a civilian came up-and I