Show C r i THEY WERE E E 4 40 b 0 Y n Y WHITE d WM II t A so su a FAK R The as I Ili STORY story of 1 part la the battle batUe for the theU Philip JL U Is being belD told by four of the five who are arc all ill that li is It t nl e n nelan liters cers left Y elan Torpedo Boat Squadron 3 3 They aJ 2 f UraL ot John Bulkeley now Is c a roam c squadron commander figured r. r R It B p. p Kelly second command tn command a Irni Anthony Akers and George C jr During DorIn a ft raid against the thc we the PT boats boals captured a landing Ke It e and 1112 took prisoner a Jap captain lice gi It of his men But Squadron 3 had peered the loss Iou of two of their jj sl six sis boats and they w were re plan plan- to a escape to China when all of their Ms were ere gone cone unless help mr- mr 1 1 G CHAPTER Vm 3 ten we went out that night j B Bulkeley eley we didn't dream wet wee we i t e to take our final crack at theoff the i off cS Bataan I took two boats boats- gy ti In the 34 riding myself with y sin In to to see if it we couldn't tae ODe of the Jap destroyers which army could see in hi Bay d been driven far back but n tI the highest ridge of the Ba- Ba mountains they could still look 53 n into with their pow 20 I But Put the admiral had said we wet t to go into the bay Wept We Wel l pt s1 t coax them outside The Japs 2 x the fie bays bay's rim lined with guns edit It would be suicide We got ode ide it of about eleven ck All according to plan Kel- Kel 17 1 Ud kid his 34 boat in hi a cove just out- out et t ct the tle bay while I went into the theand ante cance and raised a little hell bell bell ny my machine guns so they could tt the te tracers hoping a Jap deeper del deer de de- de- de l er would follow me out where- where o Kelly was to come out of the ther r h sand and lam a couple of torpedoes o G d ku t their engine room It didn't fa A pt rt The Japs had had all they te m of ot us But just as I was to leave I saw from the enS ena en- en S a force uce the outline of a bug big ig ship ship- ship ship- ed d to dock U She was a big one said Akers tons A tanker we I tamed the next day So we turned lad lark sneaked toward her there her there ns no fire tire on us lIS yet yet and and cut loose so 40 torpedoes By the time they we had cleared the mouth i the bay But from the mountains d If Bataan the army watched herITa her herton ton ITa all night and in m the morning I sere tere she was sunk at her dock They were our last torpedoes red Ired ed in defense of Bataan said s Since December 7 weh we I h d probably sunk a hundred times oar our Jl own combined tonnage in fa ene- ene cy TJ warships While wed we'd lost two c tl d our s six x boats neither had been lit it t by the enemy enemy both both had gone aground in the dark On the way back I realized that n had fired our last torpedoes ex ex- ex apt those we would need to fill our Ebes bes for tor the run to China And se e had just about enough gas to let let us there with hardly a barrel spare pare If lf we were ever to make makee e run we must make it soon d it was getting plain that we do much more for tor Bataan thich was on its last legs JI can tell you about the army J d Laid isid Cox I 1 used to get bored at Cove and take trips to the sometimes front o t-s t sometimes up into the out- out mere were a lot of men in hi on Bataan but the fronts fronte front- front he s e fighting soldiers consisted first ti It about two thousand Americans stu rell ell seasoned and good fighters I Then Shea jen about twelve hundred Filipino equally Scouts ts qually well trained and Anally good Lastly they had In hi to te fighting line about twenty-seven twenty sand Filipino trainees young trainees young who had never worn a uniform tt l a 8 few tew weeks before the war Their officers were equally unToward un- un ned e. e Toward the end it was Tough experienced Regular Army privates J be giving orders to Filipino k rals I hose e two thousand Americans td the twelve hundred Scouts were t only real fighting men on Ba Ba- 1 and they were run ragged ragged- time the Japs punched a hole ie f a line these experienced troops d have to be thrown in hi to plug user a at t once I iben en len there was the item of equIp equIp- 0 no spare parts They had a h tanks left with their treads t PS g off oft A missing fan belt would J Ut In n entire tractor out of the war Want ant of a tread a tank would I clink Junk b by Y the roadsIde at t's ts s more or less bow how it looked u tJ on oa March 1 said Kelly nith Eith is a day Ill I'll never forget d of off in n a curious way way way-It It I ed that General MacArthur it to take a ride on one of our f ls with th Bulkeley We felt hon bon but I couldn't just understand the General would choose a atee tie te like tee this fora for a pleasure trip I k orders were orders and even air force torce got theirs theirs theirs-or or rathers rather b It t Was lias s left of 01 It which was exact- exact f tOUr decrepit P- P P POs O's Os patched toil to to- s her iber i il from rom the Pieces of many oth- oth tt 1 I 5 Proud American air force forcel l ed us air superiority over J t area Irea ra o of at f the bay while th the e Gen Gen- tr ta d I Was out on the water The area tat t only four square miles and the thee I ae e o only y halt half an hour hour about about all a 1 e this pathetic aire air airas e Was as able to guarantee While Whit e general General was having hi his biJ ride I suppose Worried suppose something ha hauP had hade d e UP which might upset our dash das h r 1 V tea U f I could see lice the men didn't didn t understand it either Ing tag to and were s sta startIng start start- speculate and gossip But the General explained everything every every- thing when he be returned from the ride e by officially presenting Bulke ley with the order decorating him with the e W Wed We'd d known about It for tor weeks but this It seemed the w was as official presentation He also cona congratulated con con- the men on the fine work they had done and handed each a package of cigarettes It wasn't untIl un un- til tit that night that Bulkeley told me all this had been camouflage For that mornin morning g the General had called China him In and told him of the new P Por plan lan was out f for or us all right Because Because Be Be- cause Washington had made MacArthur MacArthur MacArthur Mac- Mac Arthur Commander In Chief for all aU the Pacific and ordered him to leave A submarine had been su suggested sug sug- Bested but MacArthur had sai said d Bulkeley was the only commanding g gm officer he knew in m n whom he had complete complete com com- confidence confidence he he was sailing with Buck But hed he'd wanted to make a trial run first and so added the thc little ceremony to allay the suspicions suspIcions of the men Because we were lea leaving Ing Bataan in hi absolute secrecy and very soon Of course to us this means that the China tr trip trip our Our P-Our our last hope of see see- seeIng ing America and escaping death ora ora or ora a Japanese prison was prison was gone for for- or- or ever Now the were like the rest here in hi the islands the islands the expend expend- noses tight fight on without hope to the end So far as we knew we would now finish up the war in the southern islands when the Japs got around to mopping up the last AmerIcan American Amer Amer- ican resistance there The minute we knew we were to leave Bataan soon continued Lieutenant LIeutenant Lieutenant Lieu LIeu- tenant Kelly after a pause we got N w. w y pa pat rr fps t a d dY i Y t s t y afi a f ft t t But the General explained everything everything every every- thin thing when he returned from the ride to work on the four boats We knew the trip would be tough and the boats were old now The engines had had double the number of hours hours' service without their customary customary thorough overhaul and returning so to they were making half hal their original speed We planned to scrape the bottoms bottoms bot bot- toms and overhaul their struts but this was done for only three My boats boat's turn was last and meanwhile it was used for patroL Overhauling these motors without without without with with- out any replacement parts was a terrible job For instance Any tank tank- town garage which overhauls a flivver flivver ver back in the States always replaces replaces replaces re re- places the gaskets with new ones Only we didn't have any Or any sealing compound So those old gaskets gaskets gaskets gas gas- had to be carefully removed handled as gently as though they were precious lace and laid back in hi place when the motors were re re- assembled How much gas could we carry We put experimented put down planks on those inch plywood decks to strengthen them and finally decided we could take a chance on piling twenty of those gallon fifty drums on each boat Naturally the crews got curious about all these preparations Since we knew so much about what the Japanese were doing across the bay we assumed their means for finding out about us were equally good Anyway Bulkeley and I had bad decided that there is la only one way of keeping a valuable secret during a war dont don't tell It yourself But we had to tell the men some some- thing So we said maybe after we had exhausted all our gas here on Bataan we would head bead down for Cebu In the southern Islands Cebu where there was plenty of food and more torpedoes and where they had bad the most beautiful and languorous girls on th the a islands and plenty of gasoline We painted it as a golden spot Only Bulkeley and md nd I knew that when we c got of to Cebu we would be doomed and there was no gasoline there n N 41 UK only a little in Mindanao We could never h hope Pe to get to Australia But then there were the two cor cor- respondents Clark Lee and Nat Na Floyd loyd of th the tha New York Times and also Colonel Wong They knew about the Chinese trip because the Admiral Admiral Ad Ad- miral had authorized them to go with us So we told them yes we were still going to China but we didn't t know when when maybe maybe not for a long time time and and advised them If they had any other chance to get out by all means to take take It Meanwhile Meanwhile Meanwhile Mean Mean- while we kept on the boats all that gear landing equipment we had assembled assembled assembled as as- for the China trip trip trip-so so if any hint bInt of it had leaked out to the crew they would think it was still on Meanwhile MacArthur had told Bulkeley that Bataan would fall shortly and Corregidor would g go soon after after if if It didn't get help from the States immediately No help was being sent Apparently f it couldn't be gotten to us Then the Japs could mop up the southern Philippines It was a grim picture for us But here was our last big job MacArthur MacArthur MacArthur Mac- Mac Arthur was the brains of the organization the the only general who could take that territory back The whole allied defense depended on getting him to Australia Bulkeley was reporting to him every other da day but MacArthur r refused refused re re- fused to set a date for leaving leaving leaving-he he wanted to stay as long as he could At this time the boys on Bataan were back in their strongest positions positions- also nIso their last-ditch last defense line line line- and the Japs had had about all they wanted with this line and were waiting for reinforcements But when news came that their General was on his way with many transports bragging he would capture MacArthur within a month our departure date was set for March 15 But to keep the men occupied and also to keep our secret we went right on with plans for developing our shore base at Cove We installed a good cooks cook's galley fixed up the mess hall screened in hi everything everything every every- thing as though we hoped to live there for months We even took all our clothes off olI the boats and moved them Into the nipa huts ashore On the fourth of March there came a nice break for me Peggy got me word that she had been transferred to Little Baguio hospital on Bataan relieving one of the girls who had been working too long under under under un un- der fire and I got the idea of invitIng inviting inviting ing her down to our base for chow and to spend the evening Dr Nelson Nelson Nelson Nel Nel- son who had been looking after alter my hand was also on Little Baguio and andI I Invited him and his girl friend too You should have seen my mv shin perk up when I told them The Thc skipper skipper skipper skip skip- per was going to bring a girl aboard They had the ship all spit and polish ready for the big event My cook Reynolds and the Filipino Filipino Fili Fili- Filipino pino mess boy were tickled pink They were going to show the army armyl You see the week before Id I'd g gone gone ne over to Little Baguio Id I'd Id I'd had only breakfast and arrived on foot late In hi the afternoon for my dressing to spend the night and walk back But they told me regretfully of course of a new ruling rations were tight tight- tightening ening they ening-they they were down to dried fish plain rice and one slice of bread bread- so absolutely no visitors could get food at the hospital So I went to tobed tobed tobed bed got u up watched them II eat breakfast they breakfast they said how sorry they were they couldn't offer me hiked any back all those hose miles over the hills Gills and at nine o'clock sitting sitting sit sit- ting sing at our own mess table ate seventeen sev seve seventeen enteen hot cakes as fast as Reynolds Reynolds Reynolds Rey Rey- could turn them out of the pan Now their one iaea was to 10 snow the army what real navy hospitality can be Its It's true Peggy brought the coffee we coffee we were out of that that but but they rustled the rest It started off oU with fruit cocktail then a real pot roast ol ot fresh meat with brown gravy andin and andIn In hi this a whole can of mushrooms which they'd been hoarding for some big occasion Then rice and canned peas and beans a delicious apple pie pic and then coffee like only we can make in the navy There was never such a dinner Then we sat and talked while the little waves lapped along the cove I told Peggy I wanted to see her ber again and soon She said they were keeping her very busy but she might get a night off au on the thc fifteenth or before belore There was no way I could call her so BO she said shed she'd get to the signal-corps signal field telephone telephone telephone tele tele- phone and ring me up about six o'clock on the eleventh when w we e could make a definite date I asked her ber If she couldn't make it sooner and she said of course cours e she wanted to but didn't see ho how w she possibly could I 1 wanted to tell to u her why I wanted It sooner Then I stopped myself Because in hi a war you dont don't tell anybody Not any any- body And If they have any sense and Peggy had plenty they understand understand understand under under- stand this and dont don't want to be told So instead we talked about the war and how they were low Iowan on quinine quInine quinine qui quI- nine now now just just had bad enough to give the worst malaria cases a light slug which would last only a short time and and bow how tired the soldiers were how uncertain everything looked Its uncertain for us w in hi the navy navy na na- vy too I said One of ot these days even I am liable to disappear with wIth- wIthout without out telling you good good goodby by TO BE CON CONTINUED L |