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Show fC I HEY WEReF5 , white iS'i , fc,r th. r'.niP- , J , ,11 "w ' am,: .ui from his s.,ud. J V.n civilian. Whfn v, ""fell" explained 'i .viator arrived-Cthat arrived-Cthat morning. "e ; j ,! Catholic priest . :wi3i mass over you .9;;or, killed In an en- . -rT glad to hear it," Viuse then I knew oj Reynolds had Sot" c at the 'American ' ibu before the Japs ' .e I asked, "Where's I s see, the last I saw . ni tearing around the J ,.ljt Japanese cruiser, -i fire away from nt in to polish It -off. T 7d probably got him. ,r '--sdup later in Min-':ns Min-':ns lust a rumor." ;Jt hatmened was I :5e'.ey. ;They didn't ' -te destroyers chased II : l Then I pulled away ' n!er, and we tied up I. : get some sleep as ,r(J ctme I went on up ct I Intended to get i op to Cebu to see ijened to Kelly, al-iiireSj al-iiireSj lure he hadn't rant '- But at Higan I was order from Wain- " Li ret no more torpe-uth'.!I3'i, torpe-uth'.!I3'i, ao he couldn't ires., gas. They were 1 Ut.':jg the planes out to vitb1 ind-" fert stuck at 111-rroll; 111-rroll; m mer to headquar-'-.'t to report the bat--jer to General Sharp ",neji( end was before us rade:We'db4fighting bere sen . T.i rifles to the end. ' -zg it was April 13 -. called me In to say : :ia from Melbourne red to report to Mac-ou Mac-ou 1 -aid? on the plane 2 at :tethat night For rotten. pj -:red it another way. ' it Australia I might Side MacArthur to l t of the squadron. I J It was their only ) 1 ' rig to try to get out u-i key men," he : tot going to let you Si ilia trifle.' I knew ' i it MTB's had a : Si war. : " xai to the rest I 1 : ten out if possi-the possi-the bomber that the field, the Japs il . : ad put one motor II - through." charge," said Ak- J General Sharp II : toe Lanao in the , -so Island on a pe- were afraid ; -: land seaplanes on HI "5 defenses there. . , - jrmy how to run : Bf eley had gone - 'Md. thinking I , T him squadron --' 1 didn't know , I! 1 as-no crew they were : 41 boati t0 ' ;'L(ao and end - I e,' up 10 Del U4 to Sharp g0 he J " alive, and I radio to the ! tte cruiser 1 a'aedtosee I - Wj been killed Si TU send tma ,.vhe,8ald, "near ck ol -,rtl come ,dU. ere not too .up- There's J 54. re'Uel - 1 iS0hUl-MacAr. !,' He6Ty lv K 'wai(7e asked Jia, ,aitUl8 trans-v trans-v a' 1 ald. N? bopesup.' L,0"r'here on : "0gtoput i ''all Mf r j fre na" cabao VAC :''ltyaeKanother r J fading you'" tte pack "I didn't say nuirli. I (li-iirnH i, nnd I wore in for sh(1 ! ' h"Jl"S " b,,nol, of mi,k cows able now Aftor l,, flfty c 0 was . otto round up. It would take several days. "naok at the quarters I found nn old navy captain who'd arrived the day before-used to be in charge of the industrial department nt Cnvite He listened to my story, nnd Mac Arthurs promise, nnd then said Hie way it looks, I don't think I'm' getting out.' Then he talked about the thirty years he'd spent in the navy all of them training so he would be useful in case of war and you could see it was discouraging for him to end like this-npparently forgotten by the country he had wanted to serve. What had his life been for? -On the night of April 22 my hopes were down. I was fiddling with the radio and cut in on a news hrnnd- .-.V V ; 1 i 1$. 'V, I M --. . I r VI K f ! " ai. '.'.- -y ' - . i , -1 " 'Tell bira the end here Is drawing draw-ing near.' " cast from the States a short-wave station in San Francisco. It was the navy news release on our fight with the cruiser! "I went to bed sick as the silky-voiced silky-voiced commentator again repeated his account of our victory, when all out here knew we had only expended expend-ed ourselves in the hope that it might slow down a Japanese victory, and we had failed even in this. "Next morning the army colonel sent for me. He'd had a plane-less aviator hard at work who had collected col-lected thirty-nine of the fifty cara-bao. cara-bao. Soon the others would be here, so I was to start work today a trail-blazing expedition to inspect the Jungle path up to Lake Lanao. But suppose a plane came while I was away? I didn't even bring it up; it seemed so hopeless now. I went back to my quarters and had just packed to go when the phone rang. I was to report .to General Sharp at the landing field at once, and bring everything I had with me. "It was grim waiting at the airport air-port The priority list was made up "'"u.rtATU&ES In Melbourne and . w number. A J?nd each man had a more than thin"6 t7uld, not hold more than a hund,-PH "ew' but the- Because peDHre WaHi"g even three nlnn ps two- maybe' P-haps Swm't comeor "lied would not ,h e "ame wa number mightTe Srt "P' and list to claim hi. 6nUgh on the them aviators t?chn'c.lan. most of t get out so t'h mS last chance neralsCp'htojd11?--telephoned Cox me he had e on tonight's 11 toey they here? : why weren't thS Se.6 liSt ealled- -ong them S,butmon!y ? Present. So they nut L ansv,ei major and 1,- PUt an army tank subltitursatOTfIeCaPninaS -reSt0UrtedCdT en nn (, "sioe. They were to anexttoe MXt was erl'lJUsLbrn0re We g0t aboard' en- fix fP J' I S 8 grand old man, aU six feet of hlm, a commanding per- fSnand inch a soldier, as Ks fate and grandfather were before "He said this was probably the tast plane out, and he wanted me -rU 8 ?essaBe t0 MacArthur. Tell hlm the end here is drawing near and if help can't be sent, in a few days Mindanao will fall Of course, probably he understands mis, and maybe nothing can be done. "Then he talked about us. 'Everybody 'Ev-erybody left here In the islands should realize,' he said, 'that those who are called to Australia are the ones who will be most useful for the work ahead. Those who leave are the men for the job, regardless regard-less of rank and years of service. The rest of us,' he said, 'consider ourselves as being expendable, which is something that may come to any soldier. We are ready for it, and I think they will see that we will meet it squarely when it comes.' "Then they called my name, we shook hands, and I climbed aboard. Each of us who were leaving unstrapped un-strapped our 45's and handed them out through the plane's windows to the fellows who were staying behind. be-hind. They'd be needing them badly bad-ly and we wouldn't." "And Peggy?" someone asked. "There were three seaplanes sent out from Australia to Corregidor at the very last," said Kelly, "which, among other people, were to bring out the nurses. One of them was shot down off Corregidor, but the other two loaded and got back to Lake Lanao, where they gassed up for the big homeward hop while Sharp held the Japs back from the lake. One of these two got safely away; the plane Peggy was In cracked up on the take-off. So now we won't ever know. "But as our big ferry-command bomber swung wide out over the field after the take-off, you could see the island and then the path of moonlight glistening over the water, just as we used to watch it glisten from the tunnel entrance at Corregidor. Corregi-dor. And suddenly I remembered the last thing she said to me her voice was just as clear as if it had been two seconds ago, instead of many weeks, over that signal-corps telephone in the army hut on Ba-taan, Ba-taan, after I had told her this was good'-by. 'Well,' she said, 'it'i been awfully nice, hasn't it?' And her voice had sounded clear and brave, but seemed to come from far away. THE END |