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Show THE RICH COUNTY REAPER, RANDOLPH, UTAH Marine Fliers Triumph Over Perils of Air and Sea; Combat Correspondents Recount Tales of Heroism Sergeant Survives ' After 32 Days on k Barren Islands 72 days he was missing His comrades in a action. in marine corps flying unit in the Guadalcanal area had long given up hope of seeing him again. But Sergeant Bill Coffeen came tack. Shaggy and lean, he stepped out of a navy rescue plane. He told of surviving storms, blistering sun and infection and living for 32 days on a coconut diet. The last 40 days he was missing, friendly natives cared for him. For Today Staff Sergt. William I. Coffeen Jr., 23, whose parents live at 5343 North Lotus street, Chicago, 111., is at a naval base hospital being treated for malaria and malnutrition. 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 I took off from Henderson Field. A guide light at the end of the strip blinded me. We were to escort navy torpedo bombers on a mission. Within sight of land between and Choiseul islands, I suddenly noticed my engine smoking. My oil line was leaking. Losing altitude rapidly and fearing the motor would explode, I decided to bale out. It seemed that I hit the water just a few seconds after my parachute opened. I pulled the cord on my life jacket, but it failed to inflate. It had been punctured. I pulled my rubber raft out and inflated it. The paddle was missing. The water was calm, but 30 minutes later a storm hit. High waves tossed my small rubber raft about like a toothpick, and overturned it. Into the water went all of my medical supplies and emergency rations. All 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 in sight of land. In I heard the familiar drone of our fighter plane motors it was my flight returning from the strike on which I had set out that morning. Several of the planes flew low and almost directly over me. I fired five shots from my pistol and waved the white raft sail, but they failed to see me. I started paddling with my hands toward land. On the way, sharks swished by the raft. Reaches Small Island. I slept in a sitting position that I night. Long before daybreak started again for land. The sea was calm. Near sundown the second day out, I finally reached the shore of a small islartd. I was exhausted, hungry and thirsty. When I reached the beach of the coconut grove island I realized I made a grave mistake by tossing my shoes overboard after the storm. My socks were the only protection for my feet. I gathered two coconuts, cut holes in them with my knife, drank the juice, 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 to strike out for it. I was growing weak from the coconut diet. After along the coast all that day with a blazing sun baking me, I made the next island at dusk. It was studded with coconut trees like the first island. Next morning I decided to try for another island. It took me all that day to reach it. It was the same story when I landed there no food, no fresh water, no life. Arm and Foot Infected. My left arm was swollen to twice its normal size overnight. My right foot was also infected. I realized blood poison was developing, so I cut open the source of infection with my knife, and bathed my arm in salt water for more than an hour. I was relieved somewhat and decided to move on. That morning I tried to drink coconut juice, mid-afterno- . (Editoi's note: The following two stories were written by Combat Correspondents of the United States marine corps. Typical of the work of these fighting writers, the first was by Staff Sergeant William I. Coffeen Jr., as told to Staff Sergeant Harry Bolser. The second was written by Sergeant Pen T. Johnson.) when night fell I still was several miles from (it. But I had something to look forward to and I slept better that night. I reached the beach near the house at of the next day. I hid my raft in the bush and approached the buildjng, fearful that it was occupied by Japs. I saw a sign that read Solomon Developing Company, Sydney, Australia . . . I soon learned that the building was part of an abandoned coconut plantation. I stayed at the plantation house five days. On the sixth day I gathered some limes and oranges and started traveling again. In the distance I could see the tip of a large island, with the peak of a mountain rising above the clouds. I decided to make this island my next objective. When I landed I soon found that I had made another bad move. I found no life; only cliffs and mountains. However, there was plenty of fresh water my first in approximately 27 days. I finally decided that I would retrace my steps and try to make it back to the first island on which I landed. I started out the next morning and barely made it back to the plantation house. The infection in my hand had cleared, but my foot was swollen from infection. Prayed for Direction. That night I planned what I decided would probably be my final attempt to contact life. I prayed to God Almighty to send me in the Tomorrow, I deright direction. cided Ill make for the other side of the big island. Near dusk on the fourth day, as I had barely enough strength in my arms to paddle, a storm broke and gradually I was carried out to sea. The last I remember I started to scream, and then I passed out! I was told later that a high wind blew me into shore. When I regained consciousness I was in the arms of a native. You American or Jap? the native inquired in his best pidgin English. Im American, I told him. ' American, you good, he replied. Those were the best words I believe I have ever heard in my life. I knew then that I had been rescued. I couldnt walk. My rescuer carried me to his hut not far from the beach. I asked the date and he told me it was May 15. When I told him I had been lost since April 1332 mid-afterno- on Sergt. William I. Coffeen Jr. days he hardly believed me. He told me that white men could not live that long on the sea and in the jungle. The native was a converted Seventh Day Adventist. He had been taught English by missionaries. I felt stronger the next day. By the third day I was able to walk once more. They decided to take me in a canoe to their village, where I was given American food canned meat and potatoes. On the second day in the village the infection in my foot was lanced. During my stay in the native village I was stricken with malaria. I was given queenie, native name for quinine. My body was bathed in fresh water and lime. Within five days the fever disappeared. While with the natives I regained 20 of but I just couldnt get it down. the 40 pounds I had lost. When I As I paddled along the shore I arrived at the native village I saw what appeared to be a weighed about 115 pounds. On the 72nd day after I had parahouse near the end of the chuted into the sea, a navy rescue island. The house proved a greater dis- plane landed off shore near the tance away than I had estimated; native village. hand-paddli- red-rcof- ed Gunner Attempts To Bring Home Crippled Bomber Spending $5,000,000 a Cay Sending $5,000,000 a, day to dependents of our fighting men is typical of the tasks which make the Office of Dependency Benefits at Newark, N. J., one of the busiest spots in America. Its 10,000 hustling employees speed miles of mechanical processes and recordings to get Uncle Sams green checks to families throughout the nation. Applications flow in at the rate of 12,000 a day. Only a year old, this rapidly growing office has had an exhilarating effect on the Newark post office. There, since O. D. B. began to function, every day is a Christmas rush. Great mail-bag- s of government checks keep moving out, while huge volumes of mail, applications for payments, queries, etc., keep pouring in. The work of the O. D. B. is Twelve fighter pilots of my squadron had been out on a routine escort mission. We were sent to escort a group of marine not simply a matter of writdive bombers on a foray against ing out so many checks and the Jap-hel- d airfield at Munda sticking them in the mails. and were returning to Hender- For there are those who would son on Guadalcanal. take money from the men Major R. L. Vroome, U. S. M. C., who are fighting for America was telling a group of fighter pilots by making illegal applications about Sgt. Gilbert Henze, an gunner from State Center, Iowa. for dependency benefits. Few, Somehow in the fracas I got sep- if any, get away with it bearated from my formation, went on the major. As I headed homeward I received a radio warning that one of our dive bombers was in trouble. , I found it a good mile south of me at about 5,000 feet. The pilot hanging half way out of the bombers cause all applications are thoroughly investigated and long rows of clerks read every piece of mail. cockpit, his helmet gone, his clothes ripped to shreds. I asked by radio, is your pilot alive? I dont 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 flown a plane? No sir, he answered. Do you think that you can keep her level and follow my instructions? Yes sir, I sure can try. The first thing I want you to do then is to release that 1,000 pound bomb. Cant Release Bomb. CIRCULAR SORTER Above: A high speed machine used by the O, D, B. for quickly sorting com pleled authorizations. Purple Heart. I cant release it sir, it can only be done from the front cockpit. I peered anxiously ahead. Below and just visible lay the shoreline of Guadalcanal. If we could make it I could signal for a crash boat or any kind of a boat and then if I could get the kid to follow my instructions I would try to bring him in by water. Then I heard the kid shout over his radio, My engine just sputtered then, sir. She must be out of gas. Thats the last word I heard over my radio for suddenly it too went dead. SCHOOL New employees take courses to prepare for their duties I could see the kid working frantically on the stick as the bomber and to become acquainted with the machinery and operations of the went into a sickening glide. O. D. B. is the largest mail order business ever operated With my radio dead I frantically agency. signaled for the kid to jump. If he saw me he failed to notice. Then I saw his head and shoulders emerge from the cockpit. I saw him Suddenclutching for his ly I saw his body, parachute and all, shoot upward as the trailing edge of the plane hit him. No man could live under such an impact. I followed the chute downward in tight circles. I could see a huge vent in the shrouds. The kids body dangled from the harness. A few minutes later it hit the water with a splash. I brought my plane within a few feet of the water. As I passed over the spot where the kid had fallen all I could see was his yellow Mae West. As I headed for home I prayed that the kid was unconscious when he hit, at least this would spare him any suffering before he drowned. I happened to be sitting by our radio a few days later. A flier had been picked up by some friendly natives. He was conscious when found, and though suffering from multiple wounds and fractures, had chance to sura better than 0 vive. I learned later that the tail of the plane had severed his right leg below the knee. rip-cor- d. 50-5- (Editor's note: Sergeant Henze was returned to the States and died at the U. S. naval hospital, Mare Island, California. He was buried at Hillside cemetery. State Center, Iowa.) I BRIG. GEN. HAROLD N. GIL BERT, left, is director of the O. D. B. His 27 years of army ex perience have given him first hand knowledge of a soldiers problems. He has been awarded fhe Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, and the MECHANIZED ACCOUNTING Top left: This machine signs Gen eral Gilberts name to millions of checks every month. Top right: One hundred and fifty checks a minute pour from this collator. Bottom: From holes in master payment cards, this machine writes a complete voucher. |