Show I 1 I 1 IN N U b 1 TOUR OF DUTY aboard a navy patrol piano over tile south atlantic delayed t somo men are more fortunate chah others somo some men are richer than many some men stay in love longer than most and most men never experience the wallop that roes goes with being at the bow gun of a navy patrol plane a a few feet over tho the submarine infested south atlantic how even a veteran vetera n bombardier can keep his eyes open or focused on a target out there in the open bow with the florce wind blinding and bayonn eting him Is something I 1 do not savvy the powerful gun kicks the way joe louis punches and shakes you violently the way low lew fields shook joe weber at any rate there you are out there under the huge propellers several feet ahead of the pilo except for the hurricane tempos wind and perhaps a nazi sub hiding below I 1 was reminded of the time senator senater holman of oregon and senator chandler of kentucky lew flew to the Aleut aleutians ians through heavy fog and storm most of the way and picked up a soldier at some alaskan base who immediately took his battle sta tion and trained his gun on the skies son said senator holman wh atcha bussin with that there weapon for fer that a way im being ready replied the gunner in case wo we meet some jap planes the white whito a as sa s a sheet holman turned to the whiter than that chamdler and intoned aint it silly what some of us senators will do to got get into trouble when we dont have to my aly good break came from missing connections with the plane that was to take mo me to the tha next port on the tour had I 1 made that plane I 1 would have missed one of the biggest thrills thrula of them all that thrill was not my first flight in a a huge and comfortable catalina catalana Cata llna one oti oft which helped sink the bismarck or firing the bow gun or circling low over oil specks that stained the beautiful aquamarine below the big wallop came several hours later when we reached the base I 1 am not permitted to divulge tile the excitement I 1 witnessed at this place the four para graphs about it were blue pen oiled even before I 1 hail bad the chance to correct the spelling it was waa my first experience with an official gremlin too for the first time in 22 years year of news papering I 1 realized how 1 tame the toughest editors are all I 1 was trying to jot down was that some fellows were luckier than thad other fellows that some pilots had reasons for being happier than others and that the U S now has fewer enemies than it had and so I 1 cannot reveal at this time what all that excitement was about I 1 cannot even elaborate that the excitement was enjoyed by a lot of very happy men and that the reason they were so excited and happy was that certain other men with dialects were unhappy or dead the rry on which I 1 hitchhiked hitch blich hiked was manned by the most youthful fellows I 1 encountered down there most were only 21 some were 23 or 25 and some were a little more seasoned reasoned but all featured beards that must have been months in blooming AU all the other fliers filers I 1 met at various places were clean shaven why the whiskers I 1 asked they been as lucky as other chaps explained an officer and so they agreed not to shave until they got a sub I 1 kept wishing that on this routine light flight I 1 would not prove a jinx to them and they could co uld get a shave at tile the admirals morning conference r I 1 was shown a dispatch that told of a merchant ship sunk the night before and that a patrolling the area had seeing two with survivors but when he returned to tho the iceie scene laptef late he saw only one we ve were instructed ted to keep our eyes open tor for those survivors that saving them would be even better than sinking an enemy sub but there was no truce trece of them I 1 never learned whether they had been rescued or not I 1 kept thinking of them throughout the flight knowing that brave men somewhere were suffering not only from the suffocating humidity and heat beat but from the blinding sun the atlantic seemed as tame as any florida lake I 1 was waa instructed to occupy one of the co pilot allott S pews handed a helmet hell net containing earphones and some dark specs I 1 just sat there wishing hard that got get lucky now and then the captain brought the plane down to a few feet over the water to ercle over oil specks they are really huge gobs of scum from tank ors and ships they said sometimes it might be from an ill fated merchantman but I 1 heard this is not always the case |