Evening star., 1948-05-09
200 Paratroopers
Led in Mass Jump by
Survivor Of Bataan
By W. H. shippe n. Jr.
Ax;o,;en Editor Of IN. S,or

CAMP CAMPBELL, Ky, May g.
The 1900 paratroopers who jumped
on this base today were expanding
their airhead hours later under COM
mand of very rugged survivor OF
the death march from Corregidor.
They were manning howitzers, re-
coilless rifles, mortars, automatic
rifles and carbines on strategic
points around the captured aIrfield
at the direction of 1t. Col. Thomas
j. H. Trapness. former cavalryman
and l-American end at West
Point.
Col. Trapnell. As, made his 34th
Jump today with troops of the 82nd
Airborne Division since he gradu-
ated from the paratrooper school
last October. At late hour he was
consolidating his position against
"aggrcssor" guerrillas who have his
outfit surrounded.
Making Way for Heavier Guns.
Nobody on this biggest training
maneuver since the end of the war
was buster than Col. Trapnell, unless
it was Brig. Gen. Charles D. w.
Canham, acting commander of the
82nd, who went out the same kind
of door. The 46-year- general
and his staff were setting up COM
mand headquarters for reinforcing
troops en- route while Col. Trapnsll
kept his boys on the move.
The troopers were pushing raiders
and underground agents of the
mysterious and tricky commander
Sam Sloan of the aggresSorS out OF
the airport area and preparing for
the landing on wheels tomorrow OF
enough flying boxcars to bring in
$500 and guns heavier than the
Is nm. HoWitzers which were para
chuted this morning.
The morale of recruits and COM
bat veterans was high for many
reasons, one of them the presence
of the wartime commander OF the
whole combat team, 1t. Col. William
r. Ekman, who has a new assign
ment at the Pentagon and flew 70
the take-off base at Fort Bragg,
~. ~, W UlOp Will AiAo AhASiiNos
Served With Wainwright.
Col. Trapnell, who was with Gen.
Wainwright in the bitter campaign
on Bataan, and spent almost four
years in japanese prison camps,
explained he joined up with the
paratroopers after the Army ran
fresh out of horses for cavalrymen.
He added he knew next to nothing
about tanks and doubted If they
would respond to spurs, anyhow.
The paratroopers also were proud
of the fact that Secretary of the
Army Royal left his place in the
grandStand for official observers to
take up a point of observation al
most in the middle of the tight drop
zone. He was accompanied by 1t.
Gen. Alvin C. Gillem, jr, COM
mander of the Sd Army.
When the chutes began to shower
down, Secretary Royal and Gen.
Gillem found themselves practically
kneedeep in paratrooperS. One
landed on a few feet from the Secre-
tary who got tangled in. the gear OF
several others getting into the clear.
The first thing Mr.. Royal did was
TO visit the f1rst-aid stations to learn
If anybody had been injured in the
jump.
Just One Serious Injury.
He himself had been exposed to
several 300-pound packages which
fell free when chutes malfunctioned.
There was only one serious injury
among the paratroopers, however,
although more than SO reported to
first-aid stations for hurts ranging |
from severe bruises to fractured
ankles and arms.
The youngster injured most seri-
ously hit an obstruction when
tricky gust took him out of the drop
zone. Doctors said late today that
he would recover.
A few hours after the parachute
jump. witnessed by some 10000 resi-
dents and several hundred military
observers. IL of Fairchilds flying
boXcars returned over the field, each
towing two gliders.
ilS SiidSAo avn d6Ca dboAie TsOOo /
pounds of equipment, plus six men, |
when they were cut loose at 800 feet |
over the grandstand to circle down |
to one runway and get it clear in
less than 10 minutes.
Pilot Can't Change Mind.
Out of the gliders rolled a dozen |
teeps and half as many trailers,
a cut-down bulldozer and several
small field guns. The gliders were
well punched when they landed
and people on the fringes said
somebody would get hurt because
they were very close to all manner
of airplanes parked along the fringe. |
They pointed out that a glider pilot
can't change his mind because he
has no engines to pull him out of
tight spot,
One of several unpredictable things
happened to the kind of reporters
the 82d sends along on its projects.
S/Sergt, Robert M. Wilson, "a, of
Denver, who had SIS jumps up until