| Show Torpedo Hit Ship Like This Just Before Plane Was Felled i e ij i 4 7 lN 2 1 7 c cs s a I f g 55 5 5 F n v Y 5 r rl l w ti f fN N l la a 5 a O a Shy K 9 R Associated Press W TillS THIS IS AIRCRAFT CARRIER OF KA HA GA CLASS ONE OF JAPANS JAPAN'S LARGEST Ensign Geor George e II n. Gay Jr o 0 f Houston watched vessel essel burn Wounded U. U S. S Airman Watches c es Jap Repulse From Midway By JOE JAMES CUSTER PEARL HARBOR June 9 UP UP-A UP A young navy ensign in a riddled bullet-riddled rubber raft afloat amid the Japanese fleet saw three aircraft carriers burst into flames under the attack of American American planes Ensign George H. H Gay y Jr 25 Houston Texas told his story at atthe atthe atthe the n naval val hospital here He had just launched a torpedo at one of the carriers wl when en his plane was shot hot down H He was I wounded His companions were killed Gay clambered aboard the rubber rubber rubber rub rub- ber raft which floated to him from the wreckage age of of his plane There with Japanese cruisers and destroyers racing all about him he watched the battle for hours Saw Carrier Aflame He saw one of Japans Japan's two largest largest largest larg larg- est aircraft carriers of the ton Kaga class in flames when hen I he e came fully to his senses senses pos pos possibly I sibly a victim of his torpedo H He watched navy dive bombers go into action through an inferno of antiaircraft fire The other carrier of the Kaga class there class there are only two two and and a smaller carrier burst into flames Gay each instant in danger of his life watched fascinated while flames shot up and smoke billowed from the three stricken carriers as their now helpless planes hovered over oyer them and he saw smoke and I flame leap into the sky as great explosions ripped through their hulls Couldn't Rescue Crews Gay saw vain attempts to rescue the crews and a Japanese cr cruiser iser pump shells into one of the carriers carriers carriers car car- in an attempt to sink it with its crew He saw a destroyer rescue rescue rescue res res- cue some men As night fell he saw Japanese planes still hovering above their mother ship those that were left which now was utterly useless to them hem and next day when a navy plane lane rescued him black life rafts the Jie debris and great oil patches were alone left to tell of the disaster dis- dis disaster disaster dis dis- aster which had befallen the enemy enemy enemy ene ene- my fleet Gay was certain that one Kaga carrier was sunk and thought the two other carriers probably sank As they were burning fiercely when he last Jast saw them and United States forces were ere on the scene in force it seemed hardly likely that either survived Gay took off oft from a plane carrier carrier carrier car car- rier with other planes of his squadron squad squad- ron on the morning of June 4 when the Japanese made their attack attack attack at at- tack on Midway Sighted Jap Carriers It was midmorning when the planes reached the scene They saw below them on the sea three Japanese carriers in line Jine 10 miles between the first and third with witha a considerable force of cruisers and destroyers around them Hundreds of antiaircraft guns burst into fire when their planes were sighted The Americans a attacked t t a c k ked e d through Japanese fighter planes which raced in to challenge them Gays Gay's machine machne gunner was hit but the plane kept on Gay held his torpedo until he was almost on the carrier As he let go he swung his plane sharply over his target and sped astern An explosive shell tore through his rudder controls and seared his left leg A bullet struck his upper left arm Into Sea Gay brought t his plane into into astall a stall and into the sea His gunner had died The radioman radioman radioman radio radio- man trapped could not pull free As it disappeared there floated out from it a bag containing his deflated rubber life raft and the black cushion on which the radioman radio radio- man man bombardier bombardier kneels els during at at- tack Gay struggled to the raft which was awash because it had not been inflated I He had heard that the Japanese aviators were wont to machine gun allied aviators afloat on rafts so he hid under the cushion as enemy planes swarmed overhead Now he had time to find out about his wounds He felt his arm The bullet there apparently had been spent when it struck him for it dropped from his arm arminto arminto into nto his hand Lost Souvenir Bullet For some reason I put it in iii my mouth he said Maybe I wanted it t as a souvenir Anyway I lost it before long Gays Gay's wounded leg was under underwater underwater underwater water but he managed to bandage bandage bandage ban ban- dage it At hospital here a surgeon asked naked him um what treatment he had given the burns on it Well I soaked them in salt saltwater saltwater saltwater water for 10 hours he said During the battle a Japanese drove straight toward Gay Gay and only onty at the last Jast instant Idid did it swerve A heavy cruis cruiser cruise r steamed u Up p to within yards During the afternoon the Japanese Japanese Japanese Japa Japa- nese tried frantically to stop the fires Cruisers tried to stand alongside one carrier but could not approach it Later a cruiser raked it with big guns apparently to sink it though its crew was still aboard A little later latar a destroyer managed managed managed man man- aged to get near enough to remove some men Tried Vainly to Land All this time Japanese planes were were circling above apparently trying vainly to land on the smashed carriers Darkness began to fall Gay began to inflate his raft with carbon carbon carbon car car- bon dioxide contained in a bottle attached to it Maybe it was a little earlier than was wise he said but I had had all the salt water I wanted It was near morning when he was startled from his troubled sleep p by three explosions He believes believes believes be be- the Japanese had planted demolition charges in the carriers to sink them Several hours after sunrise a navy patrol plane spotted Gays Gay's rubber boat A seaplane came and picked him up |
