Evening star., 1944-11-15
Wrecked Flyer Sells
FiIipinos Bonds, Then
Makes De Luxe Trip
~ STANTON DEIAPLANE.

North American NswspaDer Alliance.
LEYTE. Nov. (Delaysd) .-En-
sign Radley e. Clemens OF Hartford,
Conn.,, arrived aboard the i1asship
here yesterday with one Of the most
amazing de luxe escape stories Of
the war.
The 22-year-old Navy Hellcat
pilot was shot down over one Of
the major Jap-held islands Of the
Philippines on October 18. Instead
of leading him to . prison camp,
his parachute launched him on q
career Of one-man Victory Bond
salesman and general morale build
or among hundreds of Filipino
guerrillas.
This is the way he told 1t to me !:
Il was flying in a large bombing
and straf1ng group, cleaning up air
fields in the Philippines. We made
one pass at this field near . large
city and saw that they had six
planes there camouflaged. On the
second time around I had reached
about 1000 feet In my dive when q
40-mm. hit me in the engine.
Parachute Unfastened.
II always fly with my parachute
leg straps undone, so I couldn't
Jump. I thought I was . gone
cookie, but jerked up to about
1000, buckling my straps, and since
it wasn't too hot yet, I dropped my
belly tanks and the fire blew out
The motor was gone, though. II
sounded like coffee grinder.
II was losing altitude as headed
out to sea and so I went over the
side, hit the water and inflated my
raft.
"Guerrillas put out from shore
and 20 minutes after I hit the water
they had me on my way to q small
island nearby and from there on in
I lived high. It was chicken and
rice and tuba beer and dances and
speeches every night.
There were Jap barges around,
but the JapS never bothered me.
Every night the guerrillas threw as
many as a hundred scouts around
the house where slept. I was in
troduced to the Mayor and city
of1cials and I made several speeches
You know, I told them the Ameri-
cans would come soon and al that.
Then everybody would sing God
Bless America and the Philippine
anthem and they taught me a
guerrilla song that had tune like
a college football song.
Acted As Godfather.
Some of the stuff was pretty
embarrassing, especially when q
little boy kissed my feet and when
an old lady prayed for my safety.
The guerrilla captain had me act
as godfather when his child was
christened and a couple of kids in
the village were named after me.
The most embarrassing thing,
though, was one evening after din
ner when about 30 women came in
and sat on the floor and stared at
me for about two hours.
I asked one of the men about 1t
and he said that they believe if .
woman stares ut something during
the first three months of pregnancy
the child will look like that.
Il didn't know whether to stare
back or what.
During the day I had Send Sea-
plane spelled out in coconut shells
on the beach and an American nag
ready to raise on f1agpole. But
the only plane other than Japs
that came over was a Liberator that
blew up some barges and was dam
aged by the blast. The crew Drop
ped in the water and We pulled
them out. Some were pretty badly
injured and knew I had to get out
and get help, 50 I sent scouts out
for sailboats and within "a hours
they had me in a boat.
II came right through the Jap
lines on Leyte in a 1887 Ford, run
ming on Jap gasoline, and here I
am There was nothing to it,