The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1945-04-26

1lidll OWG lily LIE W uuIuIB Tie
months fought in China, it is Maj.
Tex Hill. Seeing what he did in
combat, and how he handled his
ship; seeing his coolness on the
alert, and his keen desire for action.
can hear Tex now, after he had
studied the plotting board that the
interpreters were covering with little
red flags showing the positions of
the approaching Jap fighter ships. I
can hear him saying: well, gentle
men, I think well take off," And he
would smile as he pulled on his he'll
met and goggles.
Tex was the son of the Chaplain
of the Texas Rangers. Before the
AVG days he had been a Navy pilot
flying off carrier decks, and in the
Flying Tigers he had been second
only to Bob Neal as the leading ace.
Tex was the most truthful man I
ever met-even his subconscious
thoughts were truthful He used to
tell me that one day after Madame
Chang Kai-shek had pinned a med
al on him for shooting down some
japanese planes over Toungoo, she
had asked him the next time he shot
down one of those japanese planes
to please think of her and dedicate
it to the people of China. Tex of
course said, Eyes, Ma'am ;"
I imagine that most any man
among us would have said Eyes" to
the Madame, and the next time we
shot down Jap we would have told
the great lady all about it. We
would have remembered after the
fight what we had promised her, and
we would have gone in with ro-
mantle story of how we had met the
barbaric Japanese and had seen the
Madame's face in the skies as we
shot the enemy down and had
thought of her and the people of
China. But not Tex Hill-he was
too honest for that. He told me,
Colonel, I promised her that, and
! really meant it. And I've shot
down about twelve Japs since that
promise four months ago. But you
know I never can remember to think
about her when I'm in battle-Im
too busy"
Well now, you hold that picture of
Tex Hill for a minute while / show
him to you in another light.
One day over Hengyang, after we
had broken the japanese wave with
our assault and support and there
were some fifteen Zeros burning
around among the pagodas of this
Human capital, | saw an odd sight
down below. There was one lone
Jap, doubtless of the suicide Samu-
raj school, for though his buddies
had either been shot down in their
attempted strafng attack or had
turned for home, this arrogant fol-
lower of the Shinto Shrine was
strafing the fieid-alone. Two of us
rolled to go get him, but from the
end of the field towards the river
I saw a P40 pull out of a dive and
head for the Jap. 1t was Tex Hill.
AS the two fighters drew together
in this breath-taking, head-on attack,
I saw their tracers meeting and for
a second I didn't know whether the
ships ran together or both exploded
in the air. AS the smoke thinned I
saw the P-40 fash on through and
out into the clear, but the Jap
crashed and burned on the field of
Hengyang. Hill and the Jap had
shot it out nose to nose, and once
again I thought Of the days of West
ern gunplay.
We landed and waited for Tex to
come over. AS we stood around the
burning enemy ship, saw Hill
striding across the field from his
fighter. Hanging low on his right
leg was his army forty-fve. Sub
consciously looked at his other leg
as If I expected to find the mate
hanging there.
Tex's blond hair was blowing in
the wind, his eyes were looking with
venomous hate at the Jap, his jaw
was set. I had opened my mouth
to congratulate him, for he had shot
down two enemy ships that day,
when / had a closer look at his eyes
Tex strode over close to the
fire and looked at the mutilated Jap
where he had been thrown from the
cockpit. Then, without change of
expression, he kicked the largest
piece of Jap-the head and one
shoulder-into the fire. ! heard his
slow drawl: "All right, you sonofa-
bitch-if that's the way you want to
fight it's all right with me"
Tex calmly left the group and
walked back to his ship and into the
alert shed for his cup of tea. None
of US said anything. The Chinese
coolies who usually yelled ''Ding-hao
-ding-hao" saw his eyes and the
set of his jaw, too-and just waited
until later to congratulate him.
Things kept right on happening at
Hengyang, for after all there are
japanese bases tanning out in many
directions-East, North, Northeast,
South, and Southeast. Some of them
were within an hours flight of our
field. Hankow was the one to the
North on the Yangtse. The Japs
sent their pompers to worry us from
up aIleI6, anu ueiOlG we lduSiL oil
how to do it, they made life mis-
cradle for us. They had gotten tired
of sending their day bombers down,
for they lost too many; so now they
had resorted to a period of constant
night attack.
Just when the full moon in the
clear sky would begin to light the
ground like daylight, the telephone
would start ringing, the Chinese in
terpreters would begin to stick the
little flags into the Map, and we'd
know that the Jap was on the way.