Laurel outlook., 1944-07-05
Continued from Page One)

of the world and very unimportant
to millions of people. If we dice
Twas it worth the sacrifice? Pure,
ly academic thinking-all thinking
is, once you are committed to action.
But suddenly from it the whole rea-
son for the war was as clear as a
bell stroke. For centuries my part
of the world has dreamed and
thought and worked and fought for
government. owned by the individual
and to some extent has attained
that ideal-and therefore dead or
alive the individual doesn't count ex-
cept insofar as he attempts by all
his acts to maintain that individual
ownership. That's what John Ali
son and the Doc and Magoffin and
all the thousands of men behind us
were doing up here and out here
Notwithstanding individual own
ership-and the thinking stopped as
if a door had closed on it with a
loud crash.
John turned his head and shout
ed, "The Irawaddy river" We
crossed it and passed whiting a few
miles of a Jap airfield and for
minutes afterwards all of us who
could plastered our faces to the
windows, watching for tracers or
pursuit aviation, but they let us
through that bottleneck-they must
have thought us a night bombing
mission in force.
There was a bright fire presently
far off to the right of us on high
ground and somebody passed the
word that we were ahead of scedule
God bless tail winds on nights
like this.
Target in 20 minutes" All of
US in that glider came alive-broke
from u tight-packed, .cramp-lock-
ed huddles. Bolts smoked sharply
as cartridges snapped into chambers;
hangers on pistols crashed back and
slid home again. Men Strengthened
and got their packs adjusted-heavy
jungle packs that would carry us
out the whole way on foot if need
be. The word passed for safety
belts and the catches clicked to.
Ahead the tow ship banked lazily
and suddenly John Alison and the
Doc called out together, Lights
got the smudges lit" The
first glider was already down then.
Half way around in the bank Alison
hit the cutoff at a thousand feet
and we were gliding free, coming
in sharply for a landing in complete
darkness. Seese's glider was free {
beside US and slightly ahead. Here
we go-packed to the guards-with I
no power but gravity to bring US in. {
Here we go into a blind clearing at f
better than a hundred miles an
1our, bowling down the night wind i
in the heart of enemy territory
With a whole Jap army between US b
md u following waves-with little i
Tohn Alison fighting the controls h
Doc Tulloch calling out his alti- h
ude and his flying speed to him. n
Trees-and we're over them. The Il
ights-and the've shot past under p
is. A long flat shadow-land ahead c
md we flatten for it, level off, sink b.
oward it, strike it, and bounce. The Ct
kids tear into it and the dust blots Il
IS out, streaming behind US across
he clearing like the tail of a cl
Then suddenly we have a
wung slightly right and stopped 81
nd the doors fly open and the Sc re
urity party is off on the run, fan hi
ing out on a perimeter of $50 de- w
rees-moving toward the Jungle lie
hat is all around US and that may M
urst into SCATTERING enemy fire at ch
ne next breath. re
Another tow ship is wei US with re
S gliders cut off. You can see pr
lem over the distant trees, losing su
fast, diving towards US, m
to urn back or go on be- 70
Ond their glide-howling down into tn
lie clearing with their heavy loads :
-one of them with death reaching b
n it. 1t banks slightly before it or
lite clears the trees and a split Zig
,cond later there is a splintering pl;
thunderclap echoing across
lie night silences, and the glider is -
1ne. We start a party toward the
lge of the Jungle. running toward
e sound of the crash, passing the
ord back for the doctor. Paddy
rds chirp sleepily in their nests
I'd the moon is still high and white
in there somewhere deep
the tangled growth there is moth
g but silence. We cut in part way
id call-but no answer comes back.
e circle down a fish trail in the
caring and call again-no answer
and not a sound-but the roar of
ore motors overhead and the slic-
sigh of two more gliders cut
again two more-until the
: above seems full of them for a
)ment.
The word is passed that the bull
zers are not down yet-plowed
ound and buffalo wallows and a
: or two have taken wheels off
me of the landed gliders all
nds to manhandle them and clear
: landing space for the elders
ming in. Everybody turns to on
: disabled ships, horseing and
sging frantically to get them out
the way. But a big glider with
2 wheel off is a helpless thing
/ hard to move. "Turn her port
lg to the north and keep her red
1g tip light on. Lay on the next
e Heave! Here comes another
fifty men strain at the wreck,
she doesn't nudge. Skidc duo