The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-06-30
SURVIVORS SAVED
|: BY DARING STUNT
Continued from Page One)

Continued from Page One)
The brave WAC said Col Ray
I. Elsemore, of Menlo Park Calf.
cargo chief Of the Far Eastern All
Force, had offered to fly her over
the valley tomorrow in his owr
plane, land I'm going if Captain
Riley will let me-" Captain Riley
is medic.
The valley, inhabited by natives
who live in walled communities
and war on each her, is isolated
from North New Guinea by .15(
miles of mountains, most Of them
unexplored. It is shut off from outh
New Guinea by mountains and
some 200 miles of INFESTED
.sWamplands. f5e..
During the days the trio were in
the valley, they were kept inform.
! ed OF developments and of the
news Of. the world by means of a
Walkie-Talkie which had been
parachuted to them.
The natives were not inclined
to be friendly but did trade some
OF their pigs for sea SHELLS. Miss
+! Hastings proved the one with
whom the natives were most will
ing TODD business.
Tension has been great in view
OF accident after accident which
had occurred during practice
pickups of gliders. on Wakde Is
land. Once Col. Elsmore was on
the point of giving up and order
ing bulldozers dropped to build
a large strip for a CAT.
the tow plane taking the glider
in left Hollandia this morning at
ter the weather, which had de-
layed the rescue attempt, was re-
ported excellent.
AS Major Samuels followed with
the pickup plane, he radioed the
weather was closing in and Il
don't think l can pick up today"
Col. Elsmore, flying over for OBJ
servation in a B-29, assured him:
This is the best weather I've
seen in the valley in many day.
You can do it. Go right down there
and pick up the glider. You'll
never set much better weather
here" ..4s So .-
Sanauels then sent word ahead
to the ground crew to have every
thing set as he carried none too
much gas and there would be no
dry runs"
NeWsmen and pilots in an OBJ
servation plane held their breath
as Sanuels swooped low. The long
cable slackened. Then it pulled
tight. As the glider lifted grace
fully, from the valley floor, Col
Elsmore in his BIO could be
neard saying over and over:
Boy oh boy. Oh boy"
The elders fuselage was dam
aged slightly in the. pickup. As it
went aloft, it picked up a para
chute which bel1ied out in the wind
and made it more difficult for the
glider pilot to keep his :notorless
craft on an even keel. 49,
The two engines of Samuels'
plane strained and heated in gain
ing altitude of 10000 feet. As he
reached the hump, he sent out
word:
Eve pushed her as far as she
can go. We're losing altitude
slowly
But contact plane messaged
back:
Don't worry about your altitude.
You can afford to lose altitude
now. It's all down hill on the way
to Hollandia. Why you can see
mount Cyclops down there 100
miles away"
The" two paratroopers who were
brought out We're Tech. Sgt Fer
nando Dong allo, of Oakland, Calf,
and S-Sgt. Benjamin Bulato, San
Francisco
Shortly after the landing, the
clouds closed in and a pelting rain
prevented the tow plane from re-
turning to bring out Captain Wal
tiers, eight other paratroopers and
a movie cameraman. ~
Col. Elsmore said two more glider.
rescue trips would be attempted
tomorrow. .--.
At headquarters here the three
survivors told of the crash May
a.. 1t. McCollom said he. craWled
from the burning fuselage. Sgt,
Decker and Cpl, Hastings said they
We're thrown out unconscious.
! McCollona then crawled back to-
the plane and gave morphine in-
jections to two other passengers
who were still alive: but nnortally
injured. > They lived, about "a hours.
AL the others we're killed in the
crash. g. 81, i: ss.4<a,,.es
The three survivors agreed that
come hard candies and life raft
saved them. They ate candy until
they were sick of it, McCollom
said, while the yellow raft, pune
tured,4 served as tent. and at
tracted the attention. of a plane
that spotted them four days later.
1t took the trio a day and a hall
to get four miles down the noun
tainside' to the spot where they
were discovered.
eve weren't afraid of the ma
,tives after our first encounter with
the1n," said :McCollom. They
carry spears and bows and ar
rows, But from the way they look
ed at us. from behind trees &c
knew they; were more afraid of us
then we were of them .
Cpl. Hastings said she found the