The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-10-16
Continued from Page One)

CONTINUED from rage Onej
There were a few close calls
shared by my aides, Johnny Pug
and Tom Dooley, my orderly, Sgt
Carroll, and Frank Hewlett. the
correspondent, who often was with
me.
Once a Jap cruiser fired from
extreme range at sea upon coast
al battery I was visiting, and
which 1 had ordered to open lire
on the warship.
But a closer scrape came our-
ing the time l was up with the
troops trying to extricate the
trapped First Philippine Division
1 was personally commanding the
detachments at the time, ana
standing partly under the cover
afforded by a bank on the right
side of the road. The road was
dug into the side Of high hill.
Sgt. Carroll was right behind me-
Either he saw some Japs on the
hill above us or sensed they were
there. Anyway, I was in the midst
of an order to a junior officer
when 1 felt Sgt. Carroll grab two
fistfuls of the seat of my pants
and he Nanked me down to my
launches while he shouted in his
loudest Texas twang:
"God damn it, General, get
down or you'll get your damn head
shot off,
Immediately a burst Of rather
heavy rifle fire came right over
the top Of the bank, where my
head had been. One of the bullets
splattered into a tree just across
the road, inches behind Tom Doc
ley's head. A Philippine Army Of
ficer and soldier were killed
few feet from me.
I had two close calls from STRAIT
ing planes. The first one came one
dav while still had the Packard
I was given when I commanded
the old Philippine Division. BY
this time it was on its last legs,
victim of a number Of collisions
with trucks, a few sideswipes by
tanks, and the ruts Of Philippine
roads.
1t had been a target for almost
everything except lightning, on
the day something akin to light
ming hit it. We were driving along
- Hewlett and 1, with Sgt. Car
roll keeping his eye peeled Tor
planes - when suddenly Car
roll let out Texas yell. The Fill
pino driver brought the car to a
shrieking stop in the middle Of
the road and we threw open the
doors.
A Zero fighter was coming
straight down the road at us, very
low and tremendously fast.
HIT bitches
There were two little bitches a
the side Of the road. The drive
hit the dirt on the opposite side
of the road. Carroll dived into ont
of the bitches. Hewlett took a dry
dive into the other ditch and
went right in there on his back a
the Zero's wing guns opened up
The stream of bullets raced Vi
the road at perhaps 300 m.p.h
and bit right through the top o
the Packard.
I got up off Hewlett's back feel
ing foolish. I hate to be ground
hog.
l used a jeep after that. Pugh
Dooley, Hewlett and l were bump
ing along IN it one day when anoth
er Zero nailed us from behind.
But this time there were nj
bitches to hit, no sense even tx
throw ourselves on the ground -
which makes a soldier feel bae
and, in a situation like this, at
fords him no more protection thar
if he just stands and watches.
We had time only to get out O.
the jeep and reach the side of thu
narrow road. The bullets hammer
ed down the road and somehow
missed the jeep, but cut furrov
whiting ten feet of where we stood
It was a bad feeling. But Ba
tam was a hopeless Hell where
everything was bad except the will
to live, the memories of hom'
Gas tortuous as they sometime
could be- and the ever-dimminl
hope that the great country we rer
resented would somehow find
way to help us.
About midway in the fight t.
push back into the water the Jap
who were attacking my rear flank
the enemy began to hit US on tn
main line to the north.
One strong Jap prong cam
down a trail leading into the cente
of the Eleventh Division and pene
trated nearly a mile, on a mile