| Show Marine Fliers Triumph Over Perils of Air and Sea Combat Correspondents Recount Tales of Heroism Sergeant Survives After 32 Days on Barren Islands For 72 days he was mIss mg ing m actIOn HIS comrades in 1 a marIne corps flying unit m in the Guadalcanal area had long gIven up hope of seeing hIm again agam But Sergeant BIll Coffeen came back Shaggy and lean he stepped out of a navy rescue plane He told of surviving storms blistering sun and infection and hying for 32 days on a coconut diet The last 40 days he was mISS mISS- missing mg ing frIendly natIves cared for hIm Today Staff Sergt WIlliam I Cot Cof Seen feen Jr 23 whose parents lIve at atI I 1348 North Lotus street ChIcago Ill III IllIs is at a naval base hospital being treated for malarIa and malnutrition tion I got off on the wrong foot that morning of AprIl 13 and ended up the same way began Coffeen My plane barely mIssed the treetops as asI asI I took off from Henderson FIeld A guIde light t at the end of the StrIP blinded me We were to escort navy torpedo bombers on a mISSIon within SIght of land between Ko and Choiseul Islands I suddenly not ced my engine smelt lag My oil me line was leakIng Losing alt aIt tude rap and fear fearing ing the motor would explode I de decIded tided to bale balf out It seemed that I hit the water just a few seconds after my para parachute parachute chute opened I pulled the cord on my lIfe Jack Jacket jacket et but it faIled to inflate It had been punctured I pulled MY rubber raft out and m inflated It The paddle was mIssing The water was calm but 30 min minutes utes later a storm hIt HIgh waves tossed my small rubber raft about lIke a ck and overturned It Into the water went all of my medi medical cal es and emergency ratIons All AU I had left was the clothing I was wearing and my huntIng knIfe and pIstol After I righted the raft I started paddling with my hands I stIll was as asin in sIght of land In mId afternoon I heard the famIlIar drone of our fighter plane motors motors-It was my flight returning from the strike on whIch I had set out that morning Several of the planes flew fiew low and almost directly os 0 er me I fired five shots from my pistol and waved the whIte raft sari saIl but they faIled to see me I started paddling WIth my hands toward land On the way sharks swished s by the raft Reaches Small Island I I slept In a sitting pos t on that night Long before daybreak I started agaIn for land The sea was calm Near sundo vii the sec second secand and ond day out out I finally reached the shore of a small Island I was ex exhausted exhausted hausted hungry and thirsty When I reached the beach of the coconut grove Island I real zed I made a grave mistake by tossing my shoes overboard alter after the storm My socks were the only protectIOn for formy formy my feet I gathered two coconuts cut holes m them With my knIfe drank the ju U cc then broke them open and ate the meat It was the first liquId and food I had had In nearly 48 hours I stayed on thIS Island three days It was uninhabited and I knew I would dIe If I stayed there Far away I could see a larger island and decIded on the fifth day dayto dayto to strIke out for it I was growing weak from the coconut d et After hand paddlIng along the coast all that day wIth a blazing sun baking me I made the next Island at d sk It was studded with coco coconut coconut nut trees like the first fast Island Next morn ng I decIded to try for another island It took mo me all I that day to reach it It v was as the same story when I landed there there-no food no fresh water no lIfe Arm and Foot Infected My left leU arm was swollen to tWIce ItS normal size overnIght My rIght foot was also Infected I realIzed blood poison pOlson was devel developing so I cut open the source of infect on u rth Ith my knife and bathed my arm In salt water for more than an hour I was reI rd eyed eved somewhat and decIded to mote moe on That morn morning morning ing I trIed to drink coconut ju u ce but I just couldn t get it down As I paddled along the shore I Ilaw saw law what appeared to be a red roofed house near tl t e a end of the Island The house proved a greater dl dis tance away than I had est mated Ed tor tors note The Ing two stories were written by Combat Cor Correspondents respondents oJ of II e a UnIted States Slates marine corps corp cal calof oJ of ti II tia e a work of 01 these writers tl tie tle e first Ua by Staff Sergeant Wlliam 1 Co Jr l as told to Staff Sergeant harry BoL BoLer er TI TIe TIa e a second ta writ written ten by It Pe t I T Jol 01 tison on when night tell fell I st R 11 was several mIles from It But I had something to look forward and to-and I slept bet better better ter that night lIght I reached the beach near the house at mId afternoon of the next day I hId my raft In the bush and approached the bu fear fearful fearful ful that it was occupied by Japs I saw a sIgn that read Solomon De Developing Company Sydney Austra AustralIa lIa Isa I soon learned that the building was part of an abandoned coconut plantation I stayed at the on house five days On the sIXth day I Bath gath gathered ered some lImes and oranges and started traveling again agam In the dis tance I could see the tIp of a large island WIth the peak of a moun tarn tam rising above the clouds I de decIded ceded to make thIS island my next objective When I landed I soon found that I had made bad move I II found no lIfe only cl its fIs and moun I tams However there was plenty of fresh water water-my first in 27 days daysI I I finally decIded that I would re- re retrace retrace trace my steps and try to make it back to the first island on which I landed I started out the next morn morning morning ing and barely made It back to the on house The infection In I my hand had cleared but my foot I was swollen from infect on Prayed for DIrectIon That night I planned what I de da decided I would probably be my final at at- attempt tempt to contact lIfe I prayed to I God AlmIghty to send me in the rIght d Tomorrow I decided de I Ii if make for the other sIde of the bIg island uland Near dusk on the fourth day as I had barely enough strength In my arms to piddle a storm broke and gradually I was carried out to sea The last I remember I started to scream and then I passed out outi I was as told later that a hIgh wInd blew me into shore When I re regained gamed gained conSCIOusness I was m in the arms of a natIve lou American or Jap the na native native tive InqUIred ill m ills his best p dg n Eng EnglIsh English lIsh I m American I told him AmerIcan you good he re replIed replied plIed Those were the best words T r be belIeve lIeve I have ever heard In my lIfe I knew then that I had been rescued I couldn t walk My rescuer car reed me to hIS hut but not far from the beach I asked the date and he told me It was May 15 When I told hIm hImI I had been lost since April 32 13 r 4 t a ap aa l f I n M ih p f s a f pie a j I Ij y 11 6 N Ns Nr Nf s i r I v I f I Sergt I Coffeen Jr days he hardly believed me He HeI I told me that white men could not I live lve that long on the sea and In the jungle The native was a converted Seventh Day Adventist He had been taught English by mISS I felt stronger the next day By Bythe Bythe the thIrd day i 1 was able to walk once more They decIded to take I takeI me m in a canoe to their v where I was given American food canned I meat and potatoes On the second day in the village the Infect on In my foot was lanced Dur ng my stay rn m tre ti-e native vii lage I was as stricken v with Ith malaria malana I was gl glen given en nah name nahe e name for quin ne My Illy body was bathed In fresh water and 1 me WIth n five days the fe fever feer er d WhIle wIth the nat yes ves I rega ned 20 of the 40 pounds I had lost When I arrived arnved at ti e a native vIllage I weighed about pounds On the day after I had para parachuted parachuted into the sea a navy rescue plane landed off shore near the native vIllage Gunner Attempts To Bring Home Crippled Bomber Twelve fighter pIlots of my squadron had been out on ona ona a routine escort mISSIon We were sent to escort a group of marIne dIve bombers on a foray against the Jap held aIrfield at Munda and were returning to Henderson on Guadalcanal MaJor R L U S M C was telling a group of fighter pilots about GIlbert Henze an 18 year old gunner from State Center Iowa Somehow ill in the fracas I got sep separated separated from my format on went wenton wenton on the maJor As I headed home homeward homeward ward I receIved a rad o 0 warn ng that one of our dive bombers was in trouble I found it a good m Ie Ic south of me meat meat at about 5 feet The plot p lot harg ing half way out of the bomber s 15 ss s 4 wg 1 b d i fir u ua q a 4 4 M t Sergeant GIlbert Henze Denze COCkPIt his helmet gone hIS clothes rIpped to shreds I asked by rad o 0 IS your pIlot alIve I don t know SIr he answered we got hit by a burst of shrapnel about 20 minutes ago and he has been that way ever since Can you or have you ever do a plane No SIr he answered ered Do you think that you can keep her level and folIo v my instructions Yes SIr I sure can try The first thing I want you to do dothen dothen then is to release that 1 pound bomb I Can t Release Bomb BombI I can t release It sIr it can only be done from the front t tI tI I peered anxiously ahead Be Below Below low and Just vIsIble lay the shore shorelIne shoreline lIne of Guadalcanal If we could make It I could s 15 gnal for a crash boat or any kind of a boat and then If I could get the kId to follo v my InstructIOns I would try to bring hIm m in by water Then I heard the kId shout over hIS rad o 0 My engine Just sputtered then SIr She must be out of gas That s 15 the last word I heard over my radIo for suddenly It too went dead I could see the kid working Iran fran on the stick as the bombe went Into a glIde WIth my rad o 0 dead I frantIcally sIgnaled for the kid to Jump If H he saw me he failed to notice Then I saw h s 15 head and shoulders emerge from the cockpit I saw hIm clutching for hIS ripcord rip Sudden Suddenly Suddenly ly I saw h s 15 body parachute and all shoot UP upward ard as the trailing edge of the plane hIt hun hIm No man could hue lI under such an impact I followed the chute downward In tight cIrcles I could see a huge I vent m in the shrouds The k d s 15 body dangled from the harness A few minutes later It h t the water ater wIth a splash I brought my plane WIthin a fe v feet of the water As I passed over the spot where the kid had fallen all I could see was hIS yellow ell ow Mae West As I headed for home I prayed that the kId was vas incense ous when he I 1 It at least th s 15 would spare pare hIm any suffer ng before he dro I happened to be 15 tt ng by our rod rad o 0 a fe v days later A flier fuer had been p eked up by some fr endly na natIves twos tIves He was ous when hen found and though suffering from pIe plc wounds and fractures had hada a better than 50 50 chance to sur surVIve survive VIve I learned later that the to ta I 1 of tl t e a plane had severed his Ius rIgl t leg kg below the knee Ed tor s 5 t ate t l lIen e a uns returned to tl tI tle tIa e a St tes an 1 d ded ed edat at tl 11 p U S 1 at oral all 1 t l I Mare Isla d Coil Cali IUS for lor in 0 11 lie e u 05 b breed Tied reed at al Il 11 lis le cane tery State Ce ter Jo 10 va en |
