The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1945-01-18
always got there first.

always got there first.
And SO the eight Of them made
UP my crew-eight good soldiers
who had volunteered and who want
ed to hurt the enemy. None of
them worried about whether or not
he'd get home-for he knew of big
ger things that had to be done.
We had to test everything, for it
was over sixteen thousand miles to
Japan the way We were having to
go; there couldn't be a slip-up on
this mission, and SO we didn't take
a chance. When finally all was set
I was about nervous enough to bite
my nails off, for my ship was to
be last to leave the States. I had
worried every minute of the time
we had been waiting for fear that
some brass hat would get my orders
changed before I could get on my
way. The other twelve ships had
gone, with Colonel Haynes leading
in his B-24. They all made their
way to the East separately, with
instructions to meet in Karachi, In
dia, for final orders. And Karachi
was $4,000 miles away.
As soon as we could leave the
West coast Of Florida, We loaded
up and crossed the State. Going on
East over West Palm Beach, l rang
the alarm bell, putting all men on
the alert, and we dropped down,
with the crew firing at the white
caps out over the Gulf Stream. The
guns were working fine but we
couldn't take a chance. I had to
learn right now whether the crew
could work as team, for once we
started it would be too late.
As we came back towards the last
field we were to land on in the
US. A, something strange met my
sight, something that made the
blood pound a little harder in my
temples. There, along the entire
beach of Florida, was a jagged
black line-the clean sand of Flor
ida's beaches had been made black
and terrible-looking by the oil from
many tankers sunk by the Axis sub
marine war. 1t gave me a queer
feeling, for along the beaches there
was also the beached wreckage of
several ships. This war was mean
ing more and more to us as we pre-
pared to shove off for the first stop
out of America.
Now we were poised for our fight
to Puerto Rico. In our two-day
wait for technical changes on the
engines I worried more than ever.
for the other twelve ships were gone
and was getting frantic lest some
thing might change the orders. FL
nally, after having to wait during
days of perfect weather, we took off
in heavy rain for Borinquen Field,
p. r. t...at
The take-of and first two hours of
the flight were instrument" as we
We're flying through a moderate
tropical front. We finally broke into
clearing weather over Long Island
Key, British West Indies. This was
on March 81, 1912.
Just after noon we sighted His
PAMELA at the point of Cape Frances
Viejo. Sergeant Aaltonen passed out
some hot coffee from the thermos
jugs. Our spirits were high, for
now that we had passed the bad
weather this was like a picnic. The
big ship was handling like single
scatter. We turned from the dark,
mysterious Hispaniola, crossed Mo-
ma Passage, and landed at Borin-
quen Field at 1907, just three min
utes off our ETA. ESTIMATED Time
of ArrivaD.
Two of our fights Fortresses were
waiting in Puerto Rico for minor re-
pairs, so we felt little less lone
some. Just in case the authorities
in Washington decided to stop the
last ship or the last two ships in