OCR Text |
Show QUEENS HD IE JZllLlf .WHITE W.N.U.TEATUREJ THE STORY THUS FAR: Lieut. Col. Frank Kurtz, pilot of a Flying Fortress, tells of that fatal day when the Japs struck in the Philippines. Eight of his men were killed while fleeing for shelter, and Old 99, with many other Forts, was demolished on the ground. After escaping to Australia, what is left of the squadron flies to Java, where they go on many missions over the Philippines and the Java sea. The hoys in Java hear what happened to the Marblehead and the Houston and morale sags. The Dutch blow up their ammunition dumps, and the order comes through to evacuate. The little Dutch navy fights a losing fight in the dark. Java collapses. Sgt. never gets his money. Thanks for all you have done. We have tried, but we are finished. Gravely, and with no bitterness. I ask him why he and all his boys dont come out with us. Well find room for him in the planes. Then we can continue the war from Australia. He shakes his head. Now our boys are loaded in the truck, and presently were out on the main highway, headed across Java, but just then we hear a familiar drone Jap dive bombers. ' Smelling their way into Java, theyve finally found this field. Its only luck they hadnt found it before. Our boys crowd against the tail gate of 'the truck to watch them CHAPTER XIX peel off one by one, assume that When I said I hadnt got it, he . angle toward the ground, said if it ever did come through, I let go the little egg, pull out of their the bomb wasnt to open it until he got back, dives and then or something like that. Hed meant takes hold. It punctuates the lesevery word of it, and yet now it son wed been trying for days to seemed he didnt want me to see it. drive home to the Dutch infantry I couldnt understand. But it didnt generals that the field was now unseem to matter. Because what did tenable. It was only the weather any letter matter, now that we could which kept the Japs out of it yestalk, all we wanted to, around the terday. But now we have worries of our world? It was long after midnight when own. There are seventy-si- x of us we finished, said Frank. But it in this little caravan fifteen of was some satisfaction to know it would cost the Japanese maybe five hundred dollars, and I only hoped Id be out of Java so they couldnt War-renfel- U I collect from me. Then I got back to work on the Dutch military, who of course were up all that night. They knew what was coming ; tomorrow even if the civilians were only beginning to suspect. It was two oclock in the morning when I got Major Fisher out of bed with the news that already the landing barges of one fiank of this invasion force had been sighted right off the beach. After a final desperate call to the Dutch General van Oeyen, he agreed our boys might leave, turnover to the Dutch ing their fighter pilots, provided that before they went they strafed the Jap landing barges. So I rustled two cars and a truck to transport them, and by four oclock we were headed for Gnoro. Again we telephoned Van Oeyen in Surabaya to tell him the orders had been obeyed, and he told us reluctantly to bid them Godspeed and good luck; they had fought the good fight, and those who returned from this mission were now free to go to Australia. If there was a way. I hoped there still would be. The Colonel had told me the day before that if I could get them across Java to Jockstrap by noon, they would find three Fortresses which he had ordered back from Australia to pick them up. However, he couldnt guarantee that these Forts would dare wait on that field beyond noon. The Dutch pilots are grave, but they make us welcome. Then comes the roar of and here is the first flight in out of the Rising Sun as though fleeing from it. Jack Dale is its leader. We grab them. What happened? It looks bad, they tell us. There were so many barges. And when they started spraying them, the barges threw up horrible cones of fire, in great masses. There was a cross fire, too from Jap shore batteries, already landed. At last they had set their ugly, crooked teeth into the fair white coastline of Java. Then Jack said, in a low voice, Whefi in hell will we get out of here, Frank? I said I had news for him, but just then the next flight comes roaring in its three Hurricanes flown by Dutch pilots, all that is left of the Dutch Air Force this final day, except of course they had planeless pilots who were to take up our abandoned s. Now heres the third flight, buzzthis time, and the ing in low American boys still have their old spirit left because they buzz up the drome, come roaring in right over the roof of the operations office for a fighter pilot its like knocking at the door. Theyre still the old 17th Pursuit Group or whats left of them. They are I looked at the so full of holes they should be condemned there is hardly one the Dutch would dare take up again.' We were leaving them little enough. Now my boys are gulping coffee. They grab an apple each and sandwiches to take along, and cram things in their bags, and I supposet, Captain its time for goodbys. Dutch fighters, leader of the with a finely tall, thin, dark-hairechiseled face, nervous like many fighters, is standing silent at one side. His Dutch boys are with him. What can we say? Our American boys have fought with them like brothers for weeks. Were now maki ing a dash for safety. Anamaet is the courageous ;one. He walks forward, puts up his hand, and says simply, without a quaver, P-4- 0s 1 P-40- P-4- 0s P-40- s. . 1 Ana-mae- d, , well wrapped, in Use a card table beside your toast. Sprinkle with cinnamon and ironing board to hold the freshly serve hot. ironed clothes until ready to put In washing a sweater, sew the them away. buttonholes together before putWhen an iron sticks, sprinkle ting it into the water. some salt on a newspaper and rub A newspaper used in place of a the iron over it. damp cloth for pressing pants will A drop or two of sweet oil on the remove the danger of scorching. cogs of the food chopper or egg The iron slides much easier. Use beater once in a while will keep a sheet of plain paper when doing them in good condition. light trousers. ID MAKE net for the Cherry Sun Suit (Pattern No. send IS cents in coin, your name, address and the pattern number. Due to an unusually large demand and current war conditions, slightly more time is required in filling orders for a few of the most popular pattern numbers. Send your order to: 5737) SEWING CIRCLE NEEDLEWORK 149 New Montgomery St. San Francisco, Calif. Enclose 15 cents (plus one cent to cover cost of mailing) for Pattern air-rai- P-4- 0s f For something delicious, try a the refrigerator. generous layer of applesauce between two slices of hot French In hot weather store the bread, have been for nothing. There are the hangars, split wide open six or seven Forts burning merrily. Also the water tower is hit. Professionally, I admire it as one of the best bomb runs Ive ever seen. The Japs seem to have made a perfect job of cutting-- off our retreat but no! There remains a single Fortress! It seems Lieutenant Vandevan-te- r managed in the nick of time to get her off the ground, and flew out to sea until the raid was over. Luckily they sent only bombers, and no Zeros which could shoot him down. Here he is now, perched on the edge of the field. But at the utmost he can carry only a third of us. I dispatch about fifty in the trucks to Madiun Field, hoping it isnt blown up, and that two Forts the Colonel tells me are due in from Australia can get them out. And now we have a bonfire of everything we couldnt take with us, but which we dont want the Japs to have all our photographs, every official paper, the entire records of the 17th Pursuit Group for the Java and Philippine wars. It all goes up in those flames on Jockstrap Field forever except what the few remaining boys standing around that fire can remember of what the others did. But just as the flames were leapd siren starting highest, the ed to scream. We dived for a drainage ditch, and I think I got my worst scare of the war. Because up above were two Zeros approaching, and down here on the field was our solitary Fortress our last chance to escape sitting in front of God and everybody (including those and defenseJaps) mother-nake- d less. How long I held my breath, staring up into the sky, I couldnt say now. But for some reason they hadn't dived on us yet, and then when one rolled up to let the other take a picture I realized it was only a recco flight, to take the damage theyd done a few hours before. I began loading the boys into that plane. But I did one final thing. I couldnt forget Captain Anamaet, standing there on that Gnoro Field watching us pull out, and if Id wanted to, the others wouldnt have let me. So with the Dutch liaison officer there at Jockstrap, we made arrangements that if tomorrow night we could get any planes through from Australia, they would circle our old bomber field at Malang. The liaison officer was to notify Anamaet, so that if his Dutch fighter pilots could get there, and Malang wasnt by then in Jap hands, they would light a bonfire on its field as a signal that it was safe for our Forts to come in and pick them up and take them out to Australia, where wed have another chance to fight the war together. We kept the date. The next night Captains Bill Bohnaker and Eddie Green slipped through to Malang. minutes they circled For forty-fiv- e our old field. But there was no bonfire. Maybe Anamaets boys had died during the day, giving their all for Java. Maybe theyd got to the field just ahead of the Japs and were now prisoners, unable to light their bonfire but listening in the darkness as Bill and Eddie circled and circled above them. What happened we never knew. But Im glad we couldnt have foreseen that darkened field at Malang as we all climbed into our own Fortress, turned off the Jockstrap field, and headed east for Australia, flying into a rising moon. Nothing much was going to happen on that flight to Australia, continued Frank, although we couldnt know it. All had to cram forward for the takeoff, of course, for with that big load in the rear wed never have got her tail up. We manned battle stations, and only after we were halfway across the ocean did the gunners leave their turrets. I rode up in the pilots compartment. and there were at least seven of us there, three sitting on the floor. At two oclock in the morning we sight the coast in the moonlight, which gives it a ghostly hue. Its just flat desert, but finally we find the little town of Broome. We circle it and finally a flare path breaks out below theyre tossing kerosene flares out of a moving auto to show us the runway, so we circle and It was two oclock in the morning when I got Major Fisher out of bed. them pilots. We have only one road map, so the drivers instructions are to drive carefully and stay together. Its a long drive at the speed we can make. A close squeeze to make it by noon. Then, in spite of the road map, we get lost not badly, but two or three times we must backtrack. Then I see well never make it by noon. The boys, tired from many weeks of fighting, try to doze standing up in thatbutjoltI ing truck. I dont sleep, have nightmares. At every crosslight roads I wonder if lightning-fas- t come sliding in Jap tanks maynt on us. Even if we had time to turn and run before they open fire with their turret guns, they would have cut off our escape to Jockstrap. My watch hand races toward noon and were still hours from Jockstrap, but I have an idea. Were not far from what shows on my town which d map as a should have telephones from which, while the boys have lunch, I can call the Colonel and tell him were on our way that those bombers must wait. The town is a sleepy little place built round what at a quick glance one might mistake for a Middle Western courthouse square. War youd think hasnt touched it, and could never come. In the hotel they stare at our uniforms theyre the first American ones theyve seen. The boys order, while I hunt a teleColonel at Jockphone to call the strap. But minutes tick by and they cant locate him. Nor anyone else who can deliver a message that we are coming, and those bombers must wait. Theyre all tired inor the cars, kidding, theres no wrestling which is amazing for fighter pilots. Finally I know from the map we must be approaching Jockstrap. But on what side of the town is the field? We cant waste precious minutes uselessly fighting its narrow streets. Then, to one side, I see leaping flames and a column of smoke. And at first it seems all to fair-size- come in. I couldnt sleep. The mosquitoes were making me groggy, and also I was thinking of our planes circling Malang Field for Anamaet. After a while I got up and looked out the hangar door. The first pale dawn was breaking over Broome, which I could now see consisted of a general store, a gas station, two houses, and this hangar shack perched out here on the edge of nothing, where the red sand desert of Australia meets the blue salt desert of the sea. (TO BE CONTINUED) No Name AriHrpgg Beaver With Direction Made Valuable to Mai Busy little beavers can be destructive, but if their energies are channeled in the right direction they can be most valuable workers for man. In Idaho, the animals are caught and moved to small canyon streams where they build dams, thus aiding in the conservation of water, the raising of the water table, and the development, thereby, of many small mountain pasture lands covered with lush grasses. Gay Little Sun Suit or tiny dress BRIEF sun-su- it is made twice as gay by means of a bright cherry spray applique. The matching open air bonnet is made perfectly flat and then buttoned together to form a hat. Whole set takes but little material and is a summer joy for any youngster. Pattern includes sizes 2, 3 and 4 years. A To obtain complete applique pattern and dress and bon- cutting pattern for sun-sui- t, America's ftivorih? Cereal Th )im Cratas art Croat Foods' $mm Kell6ggs Com Flakes bring you nearly all the protective food elements of the whole grain declared essential to human nutrition. ir Buy United States War Bonds IN CLASS VMn-m- te In the 1-- A it FOR duiwg kitchen, where economy rules where waste must be avoided and where quality counts as never before. Gabber Girl leads the list of dependable baking ingredients . . Asir Mother She Knows; Gabber Girl has been the choice of millions of proud bakers, In millions of homes, for years and years. war-tim-e 1 |