The Coolidge examiner., 1944-03-03

manded by Major Gregory Boving-
ton, who was reported missing in
action after he bagged his 26th Jap
plane,
The Coolidge marine was cor
poral when he left the U. S. in
October, 1912, as a radio technician
and radio operator following train
ing in Washington, d. c. He was
assigned to a scout bomber squad
ron.
Soon after arriving in New Cal
edonia he was assigned to squad
ron based on Guadalcanal and do
ing 24-hour duty attacking Jap
shipping barges and troop carriers
which were attempting to reinforce
and provision Jap troops.
Nearly all of his squadron's
planes were from the Carrier Hor-
net which had been sunk follow
ing damage by enemy action in the
Coral Sea battle. The planes had
seen so much action that most of
them were bullet pocked even be-
fore his squadron received them.
1--WE boarded ship for Guadal-
canal only to be held in port sew
eral days until the end of the bat
tie of Savao island which ragged
for three tumultuous days" Ser
geant Vest said. when we finally
were permitted to depart we
learned that our squadron com
mander. Major Joe Salier. had been
one of the leaders in an aerial as
sault on and sinking of an 'un-
sinkaDle' Jap battleship of the
Congo class. This, we learned, had
been a joint action of our bomber
squadron and a torpedo squadron.
Major Sailer was killed Decem-
Der Z, 1912, while leading his squad
ron in an attack on a Japanese
task force off Munda, New Georgia
island.
while on Guadalcanal | was on
standby duty at night at Hender
son field, servicing planes as they
came in from day missions late
each evening and checking ships
scheduled to take off at or before
dawn the next day.
During my two months of duty
there we were shelled and bombed
almost daily by the Nips and dur
ing the first week a Jap field gun
in the hills a mile and half away
gave us considerable trouble. A
couple of enlisted pilots finally
knocked the artillery emplacement
out of commission.
"We lost 10 pilots and eight gun
ners as a result of enemy action
during the two months l was on
Guadalcanal.
Our squadron was transferred
about mid-January to New He
brides where we found a much bet
ter airfield had been prepared by
marines, army engineers and Sea-
bees.
Stationed there during the bal
ance of my duty in the South Pa
cific, l met Lieutenant Virgil
Chandler of the navy; Sergeant
Jim Maxwell and Corporal Earl
Newcomb, Jr., of the marines, and
we really had a big time talking
of Coolidge and our mutual friends
in the service.
81 believe the best exhibition of
flying I ever saw occurred on
Guadalcanal when a staff sergeant
named Herrick, later commissioned,
came in off a raid with a shrapnel
wound in one leg so severe he
could not apply the brakes on the
plane.
"He seemed to be coming in
about twice as fast as usual, prob
ably because of his wounded leg
and it looked like he hardly could
avoid crashing. Then he deliberate
ly jammed his brakes on landing
to avoid crashing into other ships
of his flight.
"By a stroke of miraculous lucb
and masterful handling of the ship
he brought it to a stop we'll out OF
TIE path of the other planes"
Arriving in Coolidge at the time
a war-loan campaign was at ite
height, Sergeant Vest commented:
'I'd like the folks here at home
to know what marines fighting fn]