The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1945-03-23
CHAPTER XIX

But on the day when he finally
got out on his way to what he wanted
to do most, the Japs struck at Pearl
Harbor. Ajax had just landed at
Wake Island, and, soldier that he
was, he had reported to the Marine
Commander for duty. He was hav-
ing breakfast with the co eco
means Commanding Oficer), Major
Devereaux, when the Japanese at
tack came to Wake.
Ajax used to say that the unusual
strength he demonstrated that morn
ing was due to the heavy supply OF
vitamin pills he had taken. AS the
first bomb hit the runway Of the
field, he ran with the others for the
door and the safety Of the slit
trenches on the outside. The door
opened inward, but Ajax opened it
outward, taking the screen, the
door, and most of that end Of the
fiirnsy building with him. Part Of
the glass hit him in the face-and
that cut was the only wound he re-
ceived in the bombing. But he car
ried the scar with him when I last
saw him in China.
Baumler got out Of Wake Island
the next day on the last clipper, but
to join the AVG he was no longer
going West. It was now necessary
to 60 all the way back and around
the other way, towards the East.
Anyway he managed to 60 by way
Of Washington and got promoted to
Captain. I believe if Ajax had
stayed in Washington just one more
day, he would have been a Major.
After seeing Ajax Baumler in few
fights, I wish that he had gotten to
be a Major before he came to China,
for he certainly was a fighter pilot.
During the month Of our battle Of
Hengyang, saw Captain Baumler
do some of the nerviest things I've
ever seen any man accomplish.
We had a few ships that had been
strafed badly on the ground; some
Of them had been shot to pieces, and
in others the engines or hydraulic
systems had been damaged. In most
cases these same ships couldn't be
got off the ground when the Japs
came over; sometimes they were
caught three or four times by Zeros,
and consequently they were in
continual state Of repair.
One Of these was old Number 104,
the ship that Ajax had been flying.
The ground crew had worked on it
for days, but whenever they'd have
it just about ready to be taken back
to the factory in Running for over
haul, the Japs would catch it again.
Finally one morning Ajax must have
said, "The hell with it." For when
the "Jin-bao" came he went and got
into the crippled fighter to take off
before the Japs could get there to
strafe it again. He told me later
that he was tired Of seeing it sitting
on the ground as a target; whether
it would fly or not, he was going to
get it taxying as fast as it would go
and at least make it harder to hit
than it had been in the revetment.
Well, Ajax did better than taxy-he
got off. But the story of it all
reached me later on.
Twas on the ground that day, and
didn't see it. But heard Ajax talk
ing on the radio, and I heard his six
guns when he caught one of the
Zeros. Just a little later saw the
trail of black smoke that marked
the enemy ship going down. I was
glad to hear Ajax talking that morn
ing; for minute I'd thought that
smoke might be he, going down in
that luckless Number 104. All the
time he'd been flying the ship he'd
been having to pump the landing
gear up manually, for the hydraulic
system had been shot up by the
Jap strafer days before. Added to
this, an exertion which is no pleas
ant task at fighting attitudes, was a
more painful experience. The cards
were stacked even more heavily
against Ajax in this jinx ship, for
his electrical system was shorting
out.
On his take-off from Hengyang, as
he gave the ship the gun Baumler
had felt a terrible electrical shock
through his sweaty hand on the stick
control. He couldn't turn the stick
loose or the ship would have crashed
in the take-off run; SO he grimly
held on. Take hold of the spark
plug of your car some time while the
engine is running, and you'll feel
just about what Ajax felt. But he
kept holding it until he was at an
altitude where it was safe to turn
the stick loose, get out his handker-
chief, and wrap it around the stick.
Even after he had been through
the fight and came in to land at
Lingling he had to take some more
of the shock cure, for by that time
the handkerchief was damp and the
electricity was jumping through it..
He couldn't stay long on this last
field, for the Japs were on the way
back in waves; so he reserviced and
TAXED out to take of. Though the
engine was now missing badly. Ajax