The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-05-18
Bx LEE G. MILLER

ABOARD A CRUISER In The
CELEBES SEA-(by wireless)-
My birthday fell on the day before
the main Tarakan landing, and
Hugh Hannah, our gunnery officer,
had facetiously promised to celeb
rate it by a special fireworks dis
play with his main armament. But
ksince I'd seen the cruisers guns
do their stuff I decided to 60 call
ing.
My friend Lieut.. Jack R. How
ard, of New York, is intelligence
officer for Commander r. F. Mar.
tin, Of York, Pa, who is commo'
dore or "COMDESDIV'' Of a di.
vision of destroyers attached to
this task force. So several of us
took whaleboat to the de-
stroyer on which Bob Martin flies
his pennant.
With us went a lad I'd met the
day before in sick bay when Com.
mander Clinton j. Heath, of Waco
Tex, "First Lieutenant" of the
cruiser, was showing me some OF
the cruisers crannies I had not
previously visited. This was nice,
keen-eyed young man, Michael
Herene, %, a fire controlman, Use.
cond class. His mother, Mrs. An.
ma Herene lives at 1904 Dudley
Ave-, Cleveland.
Mike had an appendicitis attack
on a destroyer a couple of weeks
earlier, and was transferred to the
cruiser for an operation since the
surgical facilities on a destroyer
are limited. He was delighted to be
rejoining his own ship.
Well, as soon as we were aboard
the destroyer she headed in close
to Tarakan and with other war.
ships opened fire on Jap installa.
lions in and around the oil port of
Lingkas.
The Aussies had just landed some
artillery on the neighboring islet
of Sandau and now we were cover
ing the approach of -Aussie engi-
lneers in small craft. The engineers
intended to demolish several rows
of barbed-wire defenses in the
shadows along the Lingkas beach.
Mike Herene asked if I'd like to
look through a stereoscopic range
finder. We climbed up ladders and
through a little trapdoor into a high
fire-control room.
Lieut.. Donald C.. Sinclair. of
Cleveland, the destroyer's gunnery
officer, was in charge there but he
had his hands full and I didn't meet
him till later. He would listen to a
spotter in an airplane and call out
Zone hundred less" a fire control
man would shift the guns a bit.
then Sinclair would say, "All guns
load,' and then he would say,
drawing the word, "F-i-r-e' and
before the word was finished awav
would go handful of the tax
payers dough with whooping
bang. From time to time they
would let me look through the
stereoscope. 1t brought the shell
bursts ashore so close to my eyes
that I felt like lodging the frag-
ments.
"Boy. I sure love to shoot" said
Fire Controlman Second class)
Wesley Terwilliger of Danielson.
Conn, the gun pointer, who was
pressing the trigger that fired all
the guns.
Others in our crowded perch
were Fire Controlman Second
class Kenneth Bratton, of Oak.
land, Calf, trainer, Rayford
Epps, OF Athens, Ca, the stereo-
scope operator Fe Controlman
(third class) Earl Smith of Ia
Grange, Ga, a talker Che phones
instructions to the gunners), Radio.
man (second c1ass) Robert Cham.
berlain of Kansas City, another
talker, and Seaman (second class)
Angelo Roman, of Hazelton. Pa
Mike Herene, being convalescent
wasn't working But he said. .srhis
is just about my whole interest IN
life-fire control. That and reading >,
Mike used to work for the Nation.