Show r sr WHEY THEY WERE E E Dy 0 WHITE y oe TIlE THE STORY SO FAR PAR The Story tory of oi their part put in the battle for the Philip Philippines pines is being told by four of the five ave naval officers who are arc all aU that II Is left of Motor Torpedo Boat Doat Squadron 3 They are John now Lieuten Lieuten- Lieutenant ant Commander squadron commander I R. R B. B Kelly second In command and Ind Ensigns Anthony Abers Akers and George E. E Cox Coz Jr Manila has fallen and we have bave lost our naval base at lt Cavite Kelly has bu told how bow be spent New Years Tears Eve Bye In the hospital on Corrector Corregidor while Bulkeley was wu discussing with the Admiral a plan of escape to China Is telling about a night raid two of Df the PT boats made against the Japs lap Bulkeley rode In the 34 boat CHAPTER VI VISo VISo VISo So we separated expecting to meet at dawn It was the last I I 1 ever saw of the 31 boat But heres here's what happened to our 34 boat in First remember it was dark dark- darker er than hell and the shore line was loaded with Jap field guns None of ofus ofus us ns had bad ventured in there since the Taps saps took over We had got in justas Just as little way when a Jap spotted us and blinked bUnked out a dot dot- dash challenge asking who we were Since we didn't know the sap lap code reply naturally we didn't answer but changed course veer- veer veerIng veerIng Ing trig away But the Japs were getting get get- getting ting Ung suspicious by now and from over by Point a single field fieldpiece fieldpiece fieldpiece piece opened up None of it fell sear near us maybe us-maybe maybe they were shooting it at DeLong in the 31 boat When we were about abeam of 1 light another light came on onto onto to challenge us this us-this this time from a n ship maybe that cruiser We changed course to go over and have havea a look but she was small fry not fry not worth orth a torpedo torpedo the the hell with her we were headed for and the cruiser By one o'clock we were off the north Dorth entrance to Port where we were to meet DeLong in Inthe inthe the 31 boat and go in together fur for the Attack and when he didn't show up I began to be afraid something might have happened yet I couldn't be sure But there was nothing to do but butto buto CD to o on in alone To make the sneak we cut the speed down to eight trots skirted Chiquita Island rounded Point and entered the little bay on two engines at Idling speed Everything was quiet DO ao firing down here and then we saw law her ahead in the dark not five yards away awa Creeping up upon upon upon on her we vie had just readied two torpedoes when a searchlight came cameon on and in dot-dash dot code she asked who we were We answered all right with rIght with two torpedoes torpedoes but but they had hardly been fired when I gave our boat hard rudder and started away It isn't safe tafe for an to stay near Dear a cruiser One torpedo hit home with witha a hell of a thud thud we we heard it over our shoulders Looking back we saw taw the red fire rising and present present- presently ly two more explosions which might have bave been her magazines But we had no time for staring for or we were into plenty trouble One of those torpedoes had failed to clear dear its tube and was stuck there lust at the entrance and was mak mak- making makIng making ing what we call all a hot run its pro pro- propellers propellers propellers buzzing like hell compressed air hissing so you couldn't hear yourself think But worst of all a torpedo torpe o is s adjusted so that it wont won't fire until its propeller has made a certain number of revolutions I I shouldn't give it exactly but lets let's I say cay it is three hundred After Iter that the torpedo is cocked like a rifle and an pound eight blow on its nose would set it oft ofT blowing blowing us all to glory So what to do Somehow that torpedo propeller had to be stopped end and stopped quick or else a good goodhard goodhard hard bard wave slap on the torpedo's r nose Dose would blow us all to splinters And at this point our Martino used his head fast He lIe Heran Heran ran to the head and swiped a hand hand- handful handful handful ful of toilet paper lie He jumped astride that wobbling hissing tor- tor torp torpedo p do like it was a horse and an with the toilet paper jammed the vanes of the propeller stopping it Wed stopped for all this but we couldn't afford to wait long The cruisers cruiser's fire was lighting up the bay be d us Ahead all over Su- Su bic hell was was breaking loose So we started up gave her everything we had bad to get through that fire With three motors roaring and andus us skipping around in that rough water with everything wide-open wide I Iguess Iguess Iguess guess we made considerable commo commo- commotion tion Anyway the Japanese radio in n Tokyo reporting the attack next day said the Americans had a new secret weapon weapon weapon-a a monster that roared flapped its wings and fired torpedoes in all directions It was only us of course but we felt flat flat- flattered We got the hell out of there and that was all there was to toO it it Well said Kelly MacArthur wouldn't quite agree He gave you t the for what you'd done But DeLong has the real story insisted Bulkeley I pulled up out out- outside side tide the mine field off oft Corregidor to wait walt for him Neither of us could go In until it got light because oth oth- otherwise otherwise otherwise the army on shore hearing us In the dark out there would think it was Japs and set off the mine field But when the sky got cot light and I saw my boat was alone I realized DeLong was in trouble And d since hes he's now a prisoner of the Japanese Japanese-if if hes he's alive wed we'd wed we'd better b tell his story for him L i 11 J. J t. t After we parted company at the entrance to Bay he started around its northern rim as wed we'd planned But just before midnight he developed engine trouble trouble the the saboteurs saboteur's wax had clogged his strainers He cleaned them and had just got under way when more trou trou- trouble trouble trouble ble developed the developed the cooling system went haywire They stopped and were drifting as they repaired it when there was an ominous grinding grind grind- grinding grinding ing sound under the boat they boat they were aground on a reef in Bay They rocked the boat boa t and final final- finally finally finally I ly started the engines to get them them- themselves themselves themselves selves unstuck But the noise now attracted the Japs and a 3 inch 3 Inch gun on Point opened up on them them splashes splashes coming nearer and nearer They worked frantically finally burned out all reverse gears so that the engines were useless DeLong gave orders to abandon ship They wrapped mattresses in ina ina ina a tarpaulin to make a raft and all allgot allgot allgot got aboard but DeLong who stayed to chop holes in the gas tanks and blow a hole in the boats boat's bottom with a hand grenade before he Jumped That was the end of the 31 Then he couldn't find the raft in inthe Inthe Inthe the darkness and being afraid to call out swam to the beach The raft had shoved off oft with all aU twelve aboard at three o'clock lIe He waited wailed on the sands until dawn Then in the gray light half he picked up the tracks of nine men He followed these until they S 'S S A k 1 A r err 1 1 S C 1 We answered all right with right with two torpedoes led into a clump of bushes where he be found most must of his crew They explained they had stayed with the raft until dawn was about to break Fearing sunrise would expose them to the Japanese they had decided to risk a swim to the beach where they could hide But Ensi Plant and two men who could i swim very well decided l to stay What became of them the nine didn't know and no one knows for sure to this day But the first thing DeLong did was to post lookouts and all day they stayed in that clump with an anee eye ee on the Jap observation planes which flew fiew over them in relays watching a hot little skirmish be between tween the Americans and the Japa Japa- Japanese Japanese Japanese nese on the far shore of the bay At Atone Atone Atone one point the Japs were falling back and there seemed to be a chance that they could make a run for it itin itIn itin in daylight rejoining the American Americ n lines But never was it quite possible possible ble and in the meantime they had bad spotted a couple of bancas native boats farther down the beach Two men who were sent out to investigate crawling on their bel bel- bellies bellies bellies lies through the grass returned to report the bancas were in fair con con- So when the sun had set they crawled to them and started getting them in shape For rowing they had two paddles a couple of spades and a board They had to work fast and quietly for the Japs were all around them them just just as they were launching the bancas they heard Japanese voices not two hun hun- hundred hundred dred yards away But a heavy wind came up and at nine o'clock at night both boats boats' capsized They righted them but the shovels and the board were lost and they now had one paddle for each banca Yet with these they continued to fight the head wind until three In n the morning when they were so exhausted that they de decided de- de decided to try the shore So DeLong landed on what he be hoped was Napo Point Point- They picked their way through the wire barbed entangle entangle- entanglement entanglement ment meat on the beach and then found themselves up against a steep cliff clifT They kept very quiet qui t until dawn not knowing whether daylight would find them surrounded by Americans or Japanese But when it became light the first st thing they saw was waa a It Filipino sentry I i J C Hey Joe Joe got got a cigarette Dna ana anaa a match they called out And an hour later they were telling their story to Captain Cockburn in the second Ninety-second American Infantry's field headquarters tent The nine were back with us at Cove the next evening That afternoon Bulkeley came over to tell me the story of the en en- When he was through Kelly he be said we need you Lets get of that doctor I said and you tell him that This time it worked The hole in my finger was still almost three inches long and about an inch wide with some of the tendon exposed but in ina a month it was healed except that I 1 cant can't move my finger joints I had to promise them faithfully I would show up every other day for treatment but the point of it was I got out of that place Two days later I took the 34 boat out on my first patrol from Corregidor dor up along Bataan toward Bay Bay Bulkeley Bulkeley who as squadron 1 commander rode all boats on patrol of course was with me It was a calm night night and and chilly Sweaters were comfortable over our khakis I although altho gh in the daytime we wore I only shorts or trunks Everything was going well in fact it was monotonous But when we were about twenty five miles up the coast hell suddenly started pop pop- ping Our own batteries were shoot shoot- shooting shooting ing at us Bulkeley explained to tome tome tome me that was the main excitement these days days to to keep from being sunk by your own side side and and calmly al ai- altered al- al altered I course to get out of their range which we could tell by the light of their tracer bullets Half the time those dumb das das- dastards dastards dastards tards dont don't know V friend from foe he explained Five minutes later we saw a dim light low in the water and headed toward it Was it a Jap landing barge trying to get ashore behind General Wainwright's lines Then it occurred to us that It might be En En- Ensign Ensign Ensign sign Plant and the two other men of DeLongs DeLong's boat who had disappeared red redin in Bay They might have stolen a boat and now be headed home home we we couldn't take chances So without firing we drew nearer watching the light Presently it began to blink dots blink dots and dashes all right but no mes mes- message message message sage that we could read Bulkeley ordered general quarters as a pre pre- precaution precaution precaution caution and the men were crouch crouch- crouching crouchIng crouching ing behind their machine guns It was about twenty five yards away boat low in inthe inthe inthe now now now-a a shaped queer-shaped the water water and and suddenly its light went out Bulkeley stood up with the mega mega- phone Boat ahoy I he called He got a quick answer Br r Br r-r-r-r r rl r-rl They opened on him with machine guns It looked look d like a fire lire hose of tracer bullets headed for our cock cock- cockpit cockpit cockpit pit and now they speeded up try try- trying trying trying ing to head for shore But we were pouring pouring the fire back at them Now we could see it was a Jap landing barge packed with men It had armor on the bow and the stern and kept twisting and turn turn- turning turnIng turning ing trying to keep those thos thick steel plates pointed toward us Of course our maneuver was to come in from the side and let them have it where they couldn't take it All this had been going on for about thirty seconds when I heard a acry acry acry cry of pain from behind It was En En- Ensign Ensign Ensign sign Chandler Ive been hit hit he said A Jap bullet had gone through both of his ankles We pulled him out of the cockpit and laid him down on the canopy meanwhile circling the Japs and pouring the steel down into their vulnerable sides We could soon see we were getting them The barge sank s lower and lower in the water and presently gurgled under while we pulled off ofT to lick our own wounds give first aid to Chandler and locate any other boats in the vicinity Surely the Japs wouldn't attempt a landing with a single barge All AIl we got though was more fire from our own shore guns guns guns- a swarm of tracers and then 3 inch ers began whistling over over one one of them landing two hundred yards away But we didn't mind The army seemed to enjoy it It and d it wasn't hurting us We fooled around until almost dawn and were headed for home home- we couldn't have got Chandler through the mine fields to the hos hos- hospital hospital hospital pital until sunrise anyway when Bulkeley happened to glance back Through the light half he be could see bobbing in the swell another lying low fiat craft Should we go goback goback goback back Youre You're damned right we should the men to said to get even for Chandler by sinking some more As we got closer sure enough it was another landing boat this time apparently leaving the coast of Bataan and we opened up on her with everything we had from four hundred yards away But their return fire was curi curi- curiously curiously curiously light and spasmodic So we closed to about ten yards Their fire lire had stopped but their boat wouldn't Our bullets would hit its armor and engines you engines you could see sec seethe seethe the tracers bounce off and ricochet one hundred bundred feet Into the air but still it kept going Suddenly a trac tracer tracer tracer er hit bit its fuel tanks tanks up up they went in a blaze the motor stopped and ond now the boat was only drifting But even as we pulled alongside those Japs nervy devils gave her hard rudder and tried to ram us TO U IW DE CONTINUED t N j M My R y y |