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Show LOCAL MAN ON SHIP STRUCK BY ENEMY PLANE Their ship smashed and burning after a Japanese suicide attack off Okinawa, crewmen and medical staff members of the Navy Trans-port-for-Wounded USS PINKNEY rescued most of their injured charges and brought their ship safely into port. The ship, commanded by Commander Com-mander Arnold A. Downing of Brooklyn, New York, is being repaired re-paired at Oakland, Calif. For 90 gruelling minutes after the enemy plane and its bomb had crashed into the Pinkney, medical corpsmen worked frantically to rescue all but 19 of the more than 100 patients aboard; damage control con-trol parties fought fires which raged through the ship; the surgical surgi-cal staff completed an appendectomy appendec-tomy which was underway when the attack came; a radioman sealed seal-ed in his tiny compartment by the initial concussion, was doused with water through a porthole port-hole to protect him until an escape route was cleared. The Jap plane, carrying a 1,000-pound 1,000-pound bomb, crashed into the Pinkney's boat deck and the explosion ex-plosion ignited fuel tanks and spread flames far down into the ship. Most of the 36 men killed aboard the ship died in this impact. While hospital corsmen fought their way through the flames to bring the wounded Okinawa veterans veter-ans on deck and transfer them to other vessels, damage control parties par-ties began the hour and a half battle to bring the fire under control. con-trol. At the moment of impact, Lt. Frederic P. Shidler of Torrance, Calif., and Lt. (j.g.) Robert L. Boyd of San Mateo, Calif., were performing an emergency appendectomy appen-dectomy upon one of the crew members. Just as the incision was being made, the ship's electric system failed and the surgery was in darkness. Lt. Shidler lit several battle lanterns, however, and proceeded pro-ceeded with the operation as the flames from the burning oil drew close enough to blister paint on the bulkheads of the surgery. The operation was completed successfully success-fully and the patient transferred to a tug along with full instructions instruc-tions for his care. Once the fire was under control, con-trol, the entire crew turned to and began work to refit the ship for the home voyage. Eight days later the Pinkney was able to proceed. pro-ceed. On the ship was T. W. Diamond, 287 No. Second West, of Springville, Spring-ville, Utah. |