The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1945-05-04


ais little black dashshund, would be
burrowing into the rocks, looking for
the inevitable rats. When with the
passing minutes the P-40's or the
bombers were due to return, the
General would begin to watch the
eastern sky. There he would sit
without q word until the last ship
was accounted for. Sometimes I
thought: The General lives through
every second Of the combat with US.
With his keen knowledge of tactics
and Of the Jap too, he sees exactly
what we are doing.
Another memory that always
brings smile is Lieutenant COUGHS
face when he was explaining what
happened the first time he got a Jap
Zero in his sights. The enemy ship
was lone SITTER" probably some
inexperienced Japanese pilot who
wasn't looking around and didn't
know the P-40 was behind him.
Couch said he kept moving up closer
and closer until he knew the Jap
was going to be dead the instant he
pressed his trigger. Then he pressed
and nothing happened. He
squeezed the trigger until he thought
he'd press the top off the stick; he
found that he shut his eyes, finched,
and bit his lip, but still the guns
didn't fire.
The American pilot from the Caro-
linas swore and throttled back, drop
ping to the rear while the Jap kept
flying innocently on. After Couch
had recharged his guns he began to
stalk the Zero again, going closer
and closer until he could see the
enemy pilot at the controls. He set
his sights right on the cockpit and
pressed the trigger once more. And
again nothing happened.
Couch came home disguised, and
! think he worked on his guns all
night.
Up between Hengyang and Ling
ling we had broken the main Jap
force with several attacks and there
were only stragglers around the sky.
We had been searching them out for
fifteen minutes when I saw and
heard a remark that was nothing
short Of classic. From 21,000 feet
] observed a lone Zero. But there
was a P-40 trailing him, and so I
held my altitude and watched. The
P-40 closed the gap more and more,
following the acrobatics Of the Jap,
and then drew up for the kill. AS
the tracers from the six guns went
into the Zero I heard the voice Of
Captain Goss say, 'There, Hirohito,
you bastard-God rest your soul"
Over the radio you could also. hear
the staccato roll of the six F'ifties.
The Zero slowly rolled over to de.
gtruction. a
Sometimes the hated Japs had the
last word. In regions where the air
warning net was working poorly or
not at all, our first knowledge of
the approach Of the enemy would
be the sight Of Japanese bombers
overhead. AS the bombs blasted the
runways and the Jap radial engines
were taking their ships at high alti-
tude back towards their bases, we
would hear over the radio on our
exact frequency, in perfect English:
$50 sorry, please, SO sorry"
We would just shake our fists and
wait for better days.
When first brought "Old Exter-
minator" to China, Ihad painted the
number 10 on the fuselage. Later on
we used the last three numerals Of
the Air Corps numbers for call let
tiers, or were assigned some name
like "ash," ''oak," or ''pine." But
the first time I came back from
Chungking, late one afternoon, / ap-
preached Running down the usual
corridor, expecting that to identify
me automatically, and from far out
called by radio: "One-zero, coming
in from the North" OF course I
was using the numerals Of the num-
Der "ten" to identity me to the ra-
dio-man. Instead, as I came over
the field I saw anti-aircaft men Of
the Chinese Army running for their
guns, and saw six P-40's taking
off to shoot the invader down. Mean
ing me. You've probably guessed it
by now-the radioman gathered that
some one had just warned him that
one enemy Zero was about to strafe
the field. Needless to say, / took
myself to safer places for a few min
utes until ! could properly identity
my ship. Then I landed and changed
the fuselage number to lucky ssev-
en''-but definitely not seventy.
There just wasn't much relaxa-
ton in China with Scotch at one
hundred dollars gold bottle-when
you could find it. In fact, we didn't
get to drink anything except boiled
water and that really terrible rice
wine. This we had to learn to down
with the Chinese and in their man
ner, which was with the inevitable
salute, "Gambey," or bottoms up"
Then they'd come and proudly show
you the bottoms of their glasses,
A. f.