Evening star., 1945-05-21
Five Americans Reach
Own Lines After -Four
Nights Behind Japs
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
OKINAWA, May 21.-Five bed
F. raggled Deughboys, two of them
wounded, made their way down into
American lines before dawn yester-
day after spending four nights and
three days behind enemy lines.
They were survivors of patrols cut
of and almost completely wiped out
In an attack on hill called Love" "
which overlooks the approaches of
Yonabaru town. Only a few men
escaped getting hit on the assault
as the japanese swept them from
the rear, sides and front with ma
chine guns and mortars.
At las am. yesterday, Pvts. Keith
E. Cochran, Ipswich, S. OAK, and
Kenneth A. Boynton, Rochester
N. Y, both replacements who said
they joined the 77th Division the
day of the Love Hill assault, came
struggling into American lines with
two wounded buddies.
Wounded Man Hit.
A little later, Sergt. Donald B.
Williams, Monroe, Wis, came in and
told this story:
When we came down Love Hill,
I helped a man who had been
wounded by grenade. He had to
hit the ground several times on the
way back. Bullets whizzed over our
heads. The wounded man got hit
twice more in both arms while we
were lying there and I had to hold
him to keep him from rolling down
the hill"
Sergt Williams said he and the
wounded soldier stayed in a small
depression in the ground until dark
ness, and then he half carried the
injured man down the hill to tomb,
into which they crawled
Later Sergt. Williams crept to a
hilltop and took half-filled can
teen off a dead American soldier.
He gave the water to his wounded
companion
The next day volley after volley
Of artillery shells pounded the hill,
followed by an air strike, and Sergt.
Williams thought the Americans
were going to attack, but they
didn't.
Got Canteen of Water.
That night Sergt. Williams again
crept up to the hilltop and got
canteen of water. When he re-
turned some japanese came by the
entrance of the cave and fired into
it with a bazooka they'd captured.
Sergt. Williams was knocked out by
conclusion and the wounded man
was hit in the chest with a shell
fragment.
When Sergt. Williams regained
consciousness he saw two japanese
crawling into the hole. He shot one
of them through the head with a
pistol he'd taken off a japanese
officer earlier, and the other man
fled.
The sergeant stayed through the
next day and night and on the fol-
lowing night, with his companion
practically dead, he decided to make |
break for it. He'd had no food or
water for three days.
The sergeant was so weak from
the lack of water and food he was
barely able to drag himself along. |
When he reached tie bottom of the
hill he fell into a shell hole filled
with water.
Il just lay there and drank all I
could" Sergt. Williams said.
Moon Too Bright.
He started out again, but the
moon made too bright a light so
he fell back into the shell hole and
went to sleep "for about four hours,
I guess"
Finally, Sergt. Williams made the
American line at daybreak, yelling
to his buddies don't shoot. Hold
your fire"
Rvts. Boynton and Cochran told OF
getting into a tomb with their two
wounded companions and then
puttirA rocks back at the entrance.
The Jesanese registered mortar and
machine-gun fire on them.
The next night an old man and
woman and girl about 10 years
old came into the tomb. The
Americans had discovered another
room for hiding, SO the Okinawans
didn't find them until the next
morning. The woman got them two
canteens of water out of a shell
hole and then the Okinawans stayed
around all day cooking food, which
Pvt. Boynton and Cochran believe
they took to japanese soldiers on
the hilltop.
On the fourth night the Yanks
decided to make a break for it.
They arrived within American
lines just ahead of Sergt. Williams. |