The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1945-06-08
CHAPTER xxx


ables," we knew that we had not let
one Jap escape from the December
18th attempted bombing Of Yeching.
] felt so good I wanted to radio the
General, but I waited until we
checked up on those who were miss
ing, so that I could 60 and tell him
in person.
Our victory had not been without
loss. Lieutenant Couch, who had
led the rear attack on the bombers,
had failed to return. His wing man
had seen him pulling up over the tail
of the bomber formation after shoot
ing down one of the Japs; but they
had concentrated their fire on him
and had shot him down In flames. No
one knew whether or not the Caro-
lima pilot had gotten out. In the
speed with which that attack had
moved you didn't have time to see
parachutes opening.
Another pilot, Lieutenant Mooney,
had been seen to shoot one bomber
down, and then, in another head-on
attack, had either collided with an
other Of the enemy or had exploded
it so close to his own ship that the
observing pilot had not been able to
see MONEYS P-40 again.
Sending out the usual search par
ties, took off into a setting sun for
Running. My heart was heavy with
the loss Of two fine pilots, but there
was still hope that they had gotten
out. And at the same time my
spirits were singing with victory.
landed at headquarters in the
dark and went to the Generals
house. Over the rough road that led
there, my mind was on the speedy
happenings since had driven out to
the ship that morning. Then drove
past the guard at the. gate, who
smiled and yelled, AVG - ding
hao." called a cheerful greeting to
him, for everything was good now.
There was full moon rising in the
sky-a bombing moon," the Chi
nese call it-and the cedar trees
around the house that the Gissimo
had built for the General were cast
ing long shadows in its light. 4j
tossed my flying gear on the
bed in my room and hurried to the
General. I saw "Gunboat' the
houseboy coming out Of the Cen
erals corner room. He said softly,
General still feel pretty bad"
General Chennault was in bed,
propped up by pillows. He glanced
Up from a map and looked at me.
"Well, Scotty," he said, 81 hear
there was fight over Yeching this
afternoon and see blood on your
face, so I know you made contact.
What happened?"
Trying to look real stern, I told
the General that nineteen Japs had
come in, just as he said they would,
at the same time as the day be-
tore-only this time we were higher
than they and were waiting for
them. General" I said, with a
tremor Of pride in my voice, 1--WE
shot 'em all down."
The General was looking more like
aswen man every moment. He asked
about our losses and told him about
the two missing pilots. He thought
. minute, then started to get up.
.sScotty, If you'll look over behind
you in that pretty box, you'll find a
bottle Of Haig & Haig, pinch bottle,
that the Soong sisters sent US for
Christmas. We're going to open that
and celebrate"
We were celebrating when Doctor
Tom Gentry came back and. be-
gan to ask the General why he
wasn't in bed with his fever. The
General looked so happy, I guess,
that Doctor took his temperature
again. Then he gave me a funny
look. Normal" he said. ''Some-
times I think If you all shot down a
few laps every day, the General
would even get to where he could
hear as well as he could when he
was a boy in louisiana" II.
The General filed his glass again
and handed me the bottle. Then he
raised the glass at me and said,
''Howl' We drank to the victory Of
the afternoon. E
Early next day ! went over again
with Holloway, just in case the Jap
came again. We learned that the
victory had not been without cost.
Lieutenant Mooney had been found
dead, close to the wrecks of two
burned airplanes-a Mitsubishi jap
lanese bomber and his P-4O.
Couch had had better luck and
was in the hospital. ! went up to
see him as soon as we assigned the
l<saerial umbrella" Of P-4O's thatwere
eeing to patrol the skies for a re-
lcurrence Of the Jap raids. Lieuten-
ant Couch was badly burned but
was resting easy. He told me that
the bomber he had fired On had be-
gun to smoke and he'd taken his
plane IN very close to make certain
that the Jap burned. This had been
q mistake, he knew, for the guns Of
1hgee OK more u the enemy bad