Show Six U. U S. S Fighting Men Wander Back Into Ca 1 1 After Five Nights in Guadalcanal Jungle By Uy JAl I JAMES S W. W I U. U S. S Marines Corps Combat Correspondent GUADALCANAL Oct 29 20 Delayed Delayed De De- INS INS After After five harrowing harrowing harrowing harrow harrow- ing nights and four equally terrifying terrifying terrifying terrify terrify- ing days spent in a jungle infested with enemy troops five marines and a navy pharmacists pharmacist's mate staggered through o out our front lines to safety this morning mornin Their story is one of days without without without with with- out food constant contact with the enemy our own shellfire bursting around them and a grim battle with the jungle itself starved Half-starved exhausted dirty cut by thorns and brambles the six were given a royal greeting by their astonished comrades you guys come com from We Ve thought you were dead Howd How'd you get back in Did a Lot of Praying Well we just prayed and kept moving And believe me we did dida a lot of praying The speaker was young Private Richard E. E Hollinger of York Pa acclaimed the hero of the saga by his five fellow wanderers wanderers- Pharmacists Pharmacist's Mate Homer Berry of Roanoke Rapids N. N C. C Private Cecil A. A Bazzell Thomaston Ga Private George E. E Safley Mineral Va Private Edward C. C Rothman Hartford Conn and Private Matthew Matthew Matthew Mat Mat- thew C. C Constantino Rochester N. N NY Y The six were members of a 46 man platoon on outpost duty in no-man's no land beyond our positions on the night of October 24 when I the Japanese forces attacked to the west of our positions in an attempt to recapture our airfield When the Japs moved up into position position position tion they swarmed around the platoon cutting it off from our lines Were Listed as Missing Two men were killed Thirty- Thirty one men men including including 10 wounded wounded- got back to our main body during the night The six who came in today were among the 13 previously previously previously listed as missing in action But let Private Hollinger tell the story When the J Japs ps came in around us it was very dark there was a alot alot alot lot of shooting going on and we couldn't tell what the score was So we decided to camouflage ourselves ourselves ourselves our our- selves and lay low for the night There were an awful lot of Japs At least a battalion moved right by us and almost tripped over us a couple of times They moved ahead with fixed bayonets There I wasn't any moon but those bayonets bayonets bayonets bayo bayo- nets were shining like flashlights There were a lot of them who weren't armed too They were carrying heavy bundles on their shoulders One of them put his bundle down to take a rest and the fellow behind him kicked him inthe in inthe inthe the pants and made him pick it up again Spotted by Patrol We got through the night allright allright all allright right and when it got light we saw that the Japs had thinned out so we decided to move We hadn't got gotten en very far when a man four-man patrol spotted us We shot at least two of them Later while we were crossing through some heavy grass one of our planes flew right over our heads We tried to signal the pilot with a white mosquito net but he didn't see us Then our artillery opened up Shells hells fell all around us Luckily none of us got hit We bedded down for the second night with Japanese all around us We Yle e co could coul lq h hear ar t them m t talking g and moving around During the night our artillery opened up tip up again and Bazzell was hit In the shoulder with shrapnel Had No Compass We didn't have nave a compass and we were completely lost but we kept on the move all day We had to go so cautiously that we covered only about yards before before before be be- fore nightfall Things were pretty quiet after the third night The fourth day we made good time wading straight down a river and andon s son s son on the river beach that nig This morning we ing again About 10 ocl heard some people moving i of us and thought at first more Japanese We sure sur glad when we saw it was ai aJ patrol They treated us t fc tl army iron rations and led u us |