The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1944-08-10
BEGINNING NEXT WEEK

%#.[ NH/ZE

ana taxed her up 10 nigh ground
hard enough to hold her up.
'sWe got out. Pretty soon Aus
trahan ranchers begin crawling out
of holes in the ground-T don't know
where else they came from-and
right away Lieutenant Commander
johnson gets busy. He begins to
get acquainted. They tell him where
we are and some of them go off to
get truck to take us into town
where we can telephone, and more
keep coming, and Johnson is shak-
ing hands all around, and he comes
back and tells us these are real
folks-the best darn folks in the
world, except maybe the folks in his
own Texas. Pretty soon he knows
all their first names, and they're
telling him why there ought to be a
high tariff on wool, and there's no
question he swung that county for
johnson before we left. He was in
his element. know he sure swung
the Swoose crew. He can carry
that precinct any day."
Listening to him made us all
homesick," said Frank, $50 | sup
pose 1t was a good thing we got
suddenly ordered back to the States
at the end of the month. In a curl
Gus way was ready now to come.
I'd turned it down before, because
after we were thrown out of Java
we all had that sick feeling-trying
to hold onto something that was
slipping away in spite of everything
you did. You couldn't walk out
feeling things might suddenly cave
in again.
"But now 1t was different. In
Australia and that island chain
above we were getting firmly set,
the way we should have been in the
Philippines and Java, and didn't
have time.
"But we'd had it now, and knew
how to use it. Best of all, we were
finally getting some fighting equip
ment, not just production figures.
So even though we were soaking up
plenty of heavy punches in the IS
land chain, we were sure now we
could at least hold them. But as
yet I hadn't dared hope for much
more.
"Only now / come to the thing
which at last changed that, because
I had to see it before could believe
it.
"It happened out on that long
trans-Pacific trail where we've al
most worn ruts in the sky between
the States and Australia. 1t was
like this. We were letting down for
one of the island steppingstones
which, according to Harry's naviga-
ton, should be somewhere ahead of
us. 1t was very early in the morn
ing. Harry's the best navigator in
the business, and he had said we
should be in there six hours from
the time we left the last island.
But of course his figures could be
little out, or maybe the wind drift
would change-you never know. The
Pacific is too big a place to take
chances in, as Eddie Rickenbacker' S
party found out. So after we'd been
out five hours we got the island on
the radio, and asked them to give
us searchlights, just so we wouldn't
miss their little pinpoint in the
dawn.
"We'd flown without change of
course for five hours. Now Harry
took his final shots and we started
down the line to that island. Harry
had said six hours-it took us just
five hours and fifty-seven minutes.
The island was an atoll around
shallow basin where Navy Ply fly
Ing boats could light. The atoll is
two feet above high tide at its high
point. On one side are labor con-
struction tents, a cantonment build
ing for the tiny garrison, ack-ack,
searchlights, and even tiny movie
theater. On the other side is the
landing strip. I'll swear Harry must
have navigated not for the island,
but for that landing strip itself. For
without change of course, all we
have TO do is let our wheels down.
Some day I want Eddie Fickenback-
er to meet Harry.
.As we climbed out of the Swoose,
the island garrison asked us, very
excited, Did you see anything?'
When we said we hadn't, they went
off by themselves, whispering. I
wanted to know what was up, so I
asked their Colonel. Told him We