Evening star., 1945-08-06
Letters to The Star
Dife, Dosbone, Slingshot & Co.
Somewhere in the Pacific

Somewhere in the Pacific
| To the Editor Of The Star:
I would appreciate very much Of you
| would buy this story SO. the public might
| see how it's got to be done.
JOSEPH R. CONWAY.
| Editors Note: It's deal)
| SOMEWHERE IN THE PACIFIC
| 1t was just before chow when my
budy and took walk around camp.
| We had walked three or four minuets,
when my budy said, "Hey. Joel"
"Huh?" was my reply.
| Then he said, Il got feeling"
] And I said, Guess we've all got feel
ings in this God-forsaken place"
But then Dife stopped and said, "Mabe
so, but this is a special feeling, like
there was truble in the air"
Then I said, Guess I gotta admitte,
| been feeling that way for the past
couple days. Come on, let's get to
| chow"
We went to chow. When we got
there, pattered eggs. The guys were
sqqwaking their heads off like bunch
| of hens. Then the seargent said, Better
eat it."
Those words were terrifying. They
rang in my ears over and over. Every
thing was quite as everybody sat down
| to eat. 1t was so damn quite it gave
you the creeps One of the fellows
| asked, why doesn't somebody say
| something?" Then another, "Pleath,
feloth, pleath"
One of the guys where surgent
| stood said, Hey, Joe! I want to see
that dame of yours when we get to the
barrigs." That started talk all around
| the room. Then the surgent broke it
up, saying. Some of you guys sound
like you need screw frightened" and
| burst of laughter rang out all over
! the mess hut.
Everything was lively until leutinant
| walked in. OK, fellows, report to
| your barricks at once" Everything was
| quiet again except footsteps. Where
| what? were the questions.
That Leutinant Again.
When we got to our barricks, Dife
| and me sat on my bed and looked at
one another. We sat there for five
miserable minuets, when the same leu-
| tinant walked in and said, "Attenchun!"
| There we were, standing in line be-
| side our beds, tense, wondering what
he was going to say. Then he said,
Pack up, boys. We're moving up"
We had all been waiting for this, but
| we were Scared-so scared that we
| turned every color except yellow. We
packed We sat waiting for half an
hour, nervously. Smoke filled the place
| from cigarrets. Then voice said, This
is it,"
We moved out of the barricks swiftly,
nervously, caususly. Anyone would have
| thought we were already in enemy held
| territory. Then it was as black as pictch.
We Just could see line of trucks and
jeeps, and the Lord knows what else.
We boarded the vehicels. Dife and I
were put on jeep, we fastened our
machine gun securly, nervously we used
our wrenches. Then we started slowly
the convoy moved on.
We traveld all that night, and just
at dawn we stope. The word was passed
on down the line. We're going the
rest the way by foot"
The jeeps move out and started up
slowly, the road was crowded with men
and jeep here and there. We walked
about Two and a half miles when we
stopped A motor cycle came down the
road slowly. 1t pulled right in front of
us all guns were trained on him then
he stopped one hand raised and said,
They don't expect thing. There's
look out tower about half amile up
the road"
The commanding officer turned and
said, II want vilentairs." Four men
STEPPED forward. The officer said, Il
want Two more" Dife stepted down, he
wasn't going without me SO I STEPPED
down beside. The officer said, "You men
know this is dangerous, if you fail you
have your life to lose if you succeed you
have everything to gain excluding mems
lives. Good luck"
Thank you sir" was our reply.
When we got in sight we started
crawling. There Dife, Dogbone, Sling
shot, Hawkeys, Sniff1es and I were,
crawling like frightend dogs along the
ground. When we got thirty SO. yds.
from the tower we split up. There
lay alone waiting to give the order to
attack. But then I thought 1--WE can't
risk shots. We've got to take EN- quiet
ly). looked up at the tower and saw
a rope with a huge hook hanging on
the tree. The plan began to form. Then
all of q sudden I felt something press
ing against my back. I turned slowly
to see a jap grinning in my face, but
that grin didn't last, it soon turned
into frown of pain, he sloumped to
the grownd.
SIingshot to the Rescue.
I looked around and saw Slingshot
reloading his slingshot. The jap stirred
and made the butt of my gun useful.
took the strap off my rifle and tied
his hands then I took my handkerchief
and made gage. looked around for
something to tie his feet when spied
a sawed off limb of tree, lifted him
up and slid his arms over the limb, and
hung him. there for save keeping. BY
this time the rest came back with other
CARDS that they had taken alive. When
they all had come together we tried to
discied what we would do to get the
lookout. Just then thought of Haw-
keys and Slingshot. told them what
| to do. Slingshot loaded his slingshot,
and Hawkeyes pulled his knife. They
let go at the same time. The jap was