Evening star., 1944-09-03

because he few a Hellcat against the
enemy at the old age of 37 He lives
with his wife and two children near
Great Falls on the Virginia side OF
the Potomac.
"Our carrier was in another Of the
task groups that comprised Task Force
SO. We were probably about Is miles
from the flagship from which Comdr.
Snowden took off," Comdr. winston said.
Il thought there would be something
doing on the 10Th so put myself down
for the gravy hop-the second flight.
There isn't much doing on the dawn
patrol.
1--WE took off about 7:30 am. We had
lust come down for refueling when the
japanese attack came. There was what
1 had trained nine years for and l was
on the sidelines. Twelve of my pilots
many of them had not been in COM
bat before-took off and attacked the
enemy without hesitation. In all that
day our pilots accounted for 26 OF the
enemy without loss to themselves.
Il ran back and got into anothe1
plane and had my tail up ready 10
take of when the air officer noticed
me and had me held on deck. I weu3
back into the cockpit OF my own plane
as they continued to fuel it. AL ]
could do was to look aloft and shake
nv fist at the air officer, who still kept
me on deck.
II finally took off and circled back
toward the carrier The carriers were
in the center of the fleet formation.
surrounded by cruisers and destroyers
on the outside Just as came back tho
only two Jap dive bombers to ges
through that protective ring were div
ing on the carrier. They were over
nv head. 1 could see the tracers from
my carriers guns passing me. Then
the two Jap planes came down 40
f1amers right in front of me. l don't
know and I never will know how our
gunners managed to miss me and pick
of those Japs.
Il took off again that day, but the
Japs seemed to be alternating with
me. Their attacks always occurred when
I had come back on deck.
1T was the same about our strike
against the Japs. wasn't scheduled to
fly the evening flight the following day.
That was the day we hit them and
sank or damaged IA of their warships.
We know we sank a couple OF their
carriers I was scheduled to fly the
first fight on the day after that. But
by that time the Jap fleet was too far
away. They were steaming away from
the wind then. You see, we had to
steam into the wind, away from them.
every time we launched or received our
planes. During those operations tho
Jap and the American fleets were sep
arating at the rate of about so miles an
hour-to put it in motoring terms-each
going 25 miles an hour in opposite di-
rections. That's why there was no
chance of meeting up with them for
ship-to-ship combat"
Comdr. Winston turned to the re-
porter. Did they tell you how he
turned on the lights?" he asked.
What 1t Meant to Us
Il don't think anybody here at home
realizes what that meant to U.S. he
said.
You see, We didn't locate the Jap
fleet the next day until about $3.50 in the
afternoon. The task force reversed
it's course to head into the wind and
it was about o'clock before most Of
the planes got off on the strike. The
Japs were over 300 miles away and it
was to be nip and tuck if our planes got
back before dark or if they would have
gas enough to get back at all.
"At sea in the tropics there is very
little twilight and it gets dark quickly.
In the radio room on our carrier
after dark we could hear our boys talk
ing as they came in. We realized there
were some Jap planes following them
in and we knew there were probably
submarines about A thunderstorm be-
low the horizon to the south was show
ing intermittent lightning flashes anc
we realized from their talk that tht
boys were mistaking it for the fash Of
guns and the location OF the task force
Some one in the radio room said
They'll never show a light to guide thu
boys back
I'VE all began to feel pretty bad. Tc
keep radio silence and the protection
of darkness would have been the logica
thing to do. There were over hundret
pilots out there. There probably were
thousands of men on the carriers alon
in Task Force So. With the decks food
lighted a single enemy dive bombe
with a lucky hit might destroy one
Submarines speeding along on the sur
face could see their quarry and &c
within range before having to submerge
1t takes many months and millions o
dollars to build a carrier. There wer
pilots and planes finishing training bacl
home to replace lost pilots.
I'VE heard commotion on deck ant
: we went up. We heard some one aheat
/. of us shout, The lights are on!'
"The lights were on. Not the dir
S lights that reveal the paddles of tn
man signaling the pilots in-but hoo'
\ lights. Men were hugging one anothe
: and dancing around in the glare. No
S only running lights, they were hittin
! the sky with searchlights-they wer
n sending up star shells. Planes wer
e alreAdr coming in.
A "Piloss were told it was OK TO Ian
on the first carrier they came to If the
felt their gas would take them n
farther When one carrier took NOR
S planes than it could hold the deckme
S were ordered to throw planes into tn
A water-anything to get those pilots II
o. owe got away with it. The Ian Clidn