The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1945-07-12


for the sight of Allied airplanes at
tacking Hongkong-and at last it
had come. Even in their suffering
they were waving a cheer to the
few United States planes that had
finally come, and swore to myself
I'd come back again and again.
Then I saw above me the criss-
crossing vapor paths of an area
where fighter ships have sped
through an air attack. They almost
covered the sky in a cloud. Here
and there were darker lines that
could have been smoke paths where
ships had burned and gone down to
destruction.
/ was rudely jerked back to at
tention by a slow voice that yet was
sharp: "If that's a P-40 in front of
me, waggle your wings" ! rocked
my wings before I looked. Then I
saw the other ship, a P40 nearly a
mile away. think from the voice
it was Tex Hill. I went over to-
wards him and together we dove
towards home.
The presence of the other P-40
made me feel very arrogant and
egotistical, for had shot down four
enemy ships and had damaged 9TH
ers. So looped above Victoria har-
Dor and dove for the Peninsular
Hotel. My tracers ripped into the
shining plate-glass of the pent-
houses on its top, and saw the
broken windows cascade like snow
to the streets, many floors below. I
laughed, for I knew that behind
those windows were Japanese high
officers, enjoying that modern ho-
tel. When got closer I could see
uniformed figures going down the
fire-escapes, and I shot at them. In
the smoke of Kowloon could smell
oil and rubber. ! turned for one
more run on the packed fire-escapes
filed with Jap soldiers, but my next
burst ended very suddenly. was
out of ammunition. Then, right into
the smoke and through it right down
to the tree-top levels, ! headed
Northwest to get out of japanese
territory sooner, and went as fast as
] could for Kweilin.
] was the last ship in, and the
General was anxiously waiting for
me, scanning the sky for ships to
come in. He knew ! had shot down
an enemy, for ! had come in with
my low-altitude roll of victory. But
when jumped from my cramped
seat and said, General, I got four
definitely" he shook my hand and
looked very happy. THAT makes
nineteen them" he said, "for the
fighters and the bombers."
We had lost fighter and bomb
er. The bomber had become a strag-
gler when one engine was hit by anti
aircraft; then it was shot to pieces
by one of the twin-engined Jap fight
ers. The pilot had managed even
then to get it down, but he had re-
mained in the ship to destroy the
bomb-sight, and had been shot
through the foot by Jap cannon.
Two of the bomber crew had bailed
out and were captured. The other
two carried the injured pilot until
he had begged them to leave him
alone and escape. They had BAN
daged his foot tightly, but had re-
fused to go without him.
AS they moved on through the en-
emy lines that night, they stopped
to rest, and the wounded pilot
crawled away from them to insure
their getting away to the guerrilla
lines. They escaped, and later we
received a letter signed by the other
two crewmen which said that the
pilot had been captured and was
then in japanese hospital. The
letter was a japanese propaganda
leaflet that the Japs had dropped
near Kweilin, but being properly
signed, it gave us hope for the re-
mainder of the crew, and for the
heroic pilot, Lieutenant Alters.
That night Morgan led a night
raid to bomb, Canton, and had a
successful attack. Later the same
night, Ed Bayse led six bombers to
destroy the power station on Hong
kong Island. In his return to Kwei-
lin, five of his ships landed but the
other continued to circle-informing
the radioman that he had no air
speed and thus was having difficulty
bringing the fast bomber in to land.
Bayse, who had worked all the
day and most Of the night over ene-
my lines, started his ship and went
aloft, got the other ship on his wing
in formation, and told the pilot to
keep the position And then this
experienced bomber pilot led the
younger pilot in to safe landing.
It was teamwork of the sort that
had begun to appear among the
bomber crews, and more important
still, as the co-ordinated attack had
shown, between the fighters and
bombers. This was what Colonel
Cooper had been working for during
the past several months.
Cooper had done another fine job,
one that we learned of only after we
returned to Running from the at
tack. In India the field in Assam
had been raided heavily by the JAP
anese at the same hour as our at
tack on Kowloon, and simultaneous
ly the Japanese had tried to strike
at Running with large force. Colo
mel Cooper had been left behind in
the hospital with a sinus infection.
He was chafng at the bit, and we
sympathized with him-for after
having planned the greatest raid of
the war in China, he had been forced
out of accompanying the mission.
But it has always been our con-
tention out there that everything
happens for the best" And it proved
out again. When the enemy planes