The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1944-07-07

must be approaching Jockstrap.
But on what side of the town is the
field? We can't waste precious min
utes uselessly fighting its narrow
streets. N-s~, p.s,y..--.i7~a-. .--s.-
"Then, to one side, I see leaping
flames and a column of smoke.
That's all the marker you need to
find an airdrome at this stage Of
war. l tell the driver to steer for
the smoke and he'll find the field.
"And at first it seems all to
have been for nothing. There are
the hangers, split wide open-six or
seven Forts burning merrily. Also
the water tower is hit. Profession
ally, ] admire it as one Of the best
bomb rurs I've ever seen. The Japs
seem to have made perfect job OF
cutting off our retreat-but mol
There remains single Fortressl
"It seems Lieutenant Vandevan-
ter managed in the nick of time to
get her off the ground, and flew out
to sea until the raid was over. Luck
lily they sent only bombers, and no
| ACAOS WHICH, COulu oiiOOt Hill 0OWhs
Here he is now, perched on the edge
Of the field.
"But at the utmost he can carry
only third of us. I dispatch about
fifty in the trucks to Madiun Field,
hoping it isn't blown up, and that
two Forts the Colonel tells me are
due in from Australia can get them
out.
"And now we have a bonfire Of
everything we couldn't take with us,
but which we don't want the Japs
to have-all our photographs, every
official paper, the entire records Of
the 18th Pursuit Group for the Java
and Philippine wars. It all goes
up in those flames ON Jockstrap
Field forever-except what the few
remaining boys standing around that
fire can remember Of what the 9TH
ers did. We even chuck in few
bomb sights that were kicking
around-for luck, and for kindling.
'But just as the flames were leap
ing highest, the afraid siren start
ed to scream. We dived for drain
age ditch, and / think ! got my
worst scare of the war. Because
up above were two Zeros approach
ing, and down here on the field was
our solitary Fortress - our last
chance to escape-sitting in front Of
God and everybody (including those
Japs) mother-naked and defense
less. How long held my breath,
staring up into the sky, couldn't
say now. But for some reason they
hadn't dived on us yet, and then
when one rolled up to let the other
take a picture I realized it was only
a rocco flight, to take the damage
they'd done few hours before.
81 began loading the boys into
that plane. But I did one final thing.
couldn't forget Captain Anamaet,
standing there on that Gnoro Field
watching us pull out, and if I'd
wanted to, the others wouldn't have
let me. So with the Dutch iaison
officer there at Jockstrap, we made
arrangements that if tomorrow night
we could get any planes through
from Australia, they would circle our
old bomber field at Malang. The
liaison officer was to notify Ana
maet, so that if his Dutch fighter
pilots could get there, and Malang
wasn't by then in Jap hands, they
would light bonfire on it's field as
signal that it was safe for our
Forts to come in and pick them up
and take them out to Australia,
where we'd have another chance to
fight the war together.
eve kept the date. The next night
Captains Bill Bohnaker and Eddie
Green slipped through to Ma1ang.
For forty-five minutes they circled
our old field. But there was no
bonfire. Maybe Anamaet's boys had
died during the day, giving their all
for Java. Maybe they'd got to the
field just ahead of the Japs and
were now prisoners, unable to light
their bonfire but listening in the
darkness as Bill and Eddie circled
and circled above them. What hap
pened we never knew. But I'm
glad we couldn't have foreseen that
darkened field at Malang as we all
climbed into our own Fortress,
turned off the Jockstrap field, and
headed east for Australia, flying into
a rising moon"
Nothing much was going to hap
pen on that fight to Australia" con-
tinued Frank, although we couldn't
know it. All had to cram forward
for the takeoff, of course, for with
that big load in the rear we'd never
have got her tail up. We manned
battle stations, and only after we
were halfway across the ocean did
the gunners leave their turrets. I
: rode up in the pilots compartment,
and there were at least seven of
us there, three sitting on the floor.
"At two o'clock in the morning we
sight the coast in the moonlight,
which gives it a ghostly hue. It's
just fiat desert, but finally we find
the little town of Broome. We cir
Gle it and finally flare path breaks