Laurel outlook., 1945-02-14

Ntla ~ W n hllCl WY NADAAtN
the flagship. They were Charles
p. CORY, Associated Press war pho
tographer of Hollis, Long Island
N. Y, and Philip Heisler. war cor
respondent of the Baltimore Sun.
something ga photographer rarely
Heisler and 300 sailors or the
hangar deck during the height OF
the storm to provide $4,000 pounds
of shifting human ballast against
the roll of the ship" James wrote.
Slipping and skidding through
sea water and gasoline inside the
half-dark hangar deck, the men ran
back and forth for hours to place
their weight where it would do the
most good. Some of the men pray
ed, some of them swore. But all
of them sweated as they fought the
storm with the weight of their
bodies.
"I was one who prayed-and
plenty hard Heisler said.
"Gorry said he couldn't remember
about the prayers. He was wonder
ing if his camera and the pictures
he already had taken were dry and
safe where he had left them.
CORY and Heisler were on their
way to join the third fleet when
they boarded the escort carrier,
which was ferrying planes to the
fleet. Then out over hundreds Of
miles of the Western Pacific had
come the great typhoon.
"The first day of the storm was
bad. The second was the kind of
sailing weather even old hands
rarely had seen. Not one of them
would have chosen to face it on the
little carrier, sturdy though she
seemed. Certainly not with its top
heavy load of planes.
"'During the morning of that
day. Cory said, q took a lot of
pictures. 1t was so rough you
couldn't walk without holding onto
something. Down in my room the
water was six inches deep on the
deck. My bunk had been torn loose
from the wall.
"'For awhile I stuck it out on
the navigation bridge, but waves
started pouring over it and | moved
up to the captains bridge
"The skipper was keeping her in
the trough of the waves because the
ship would break in two if he
turned.
"But the roll was getting too
great-40 degrees, almost halfway
between the horizon and the zenith.
The skipper was already decided
to order planes on the flight deck
overheard when the sea
saved him that by washing them
away. !
"The captain looked at the ane-
mometer. 1t showed a wind averag-
ing 20 miles al hour.
"The captain ordered all hands
not on watch to the hangar deck
the great garage-like repair shop
and storage place for planes just
beneath the flight deck.
"Under the shippers direction the
men took up positions, weighing
down that side from which the wind
was coming. AS the ship rolled,
they rushed across to the other
side.
"This was where CORY and Heis-
.er had their chance to help out.
"'Heisler had been in one of the
ready rooms with some of the pilots
songs CORY recounted.
But he'd got chased out of there
With the pilots about the time the
)attering of the storm tore all the
seats loose from the deck and piled
he seats and pilots and Heisler up
n the corner
eve went down and added our
on the hangar deck
"AIl through the afternoon and
III that night the ship and its
oapon1anaant L Az /.
torn. Three fires broke out when
he storm aossed planes around
md broke their gasoline lines. Two D.,
# them were threatening to get out ,
f control but were extinguished by 1
reat waves. I,
"No one left his station all night.
here were nc lights inside. No one
moked. No n e made coffee ,
of the danger of starting ,
~asoline fires. ;
"The supply officer broke out !
ONE stores of peanuts and candy =
ars. !
"The next morning the mixture of =
alt water, gasoline and oil still
back and forth on the g,
deck, but much slower, and Z
ne thermometer cups turned much ;
lore leisurely. The storm was dy- ,
lg. 7
"Forty-five thousand pounds of {
len, working in harmony as ballast, =
lus some good handling, had saved 7
ne ship. h
"'Those things, plus some luck. g
nd God,' said Cory" c
Mr.. and Mrs. Dixon recently re- +
a typewriter copy of the
bove story, sent them by their son..