U.S. NAVAL MEN’S ORDEAL

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23813, 5 December 1942, Page 4

U.S. NAVAL MEN’S ORDEAL

ADRIFT IN THE PACIFIC ON RAFTS

(P.A.) SOUTH PACIFIC BASE, Dec. 3. Three days and three nights adrift in the Pacific on three overcrowded rafts lashed together, convoyed by schools of sharks all the time . . . men dying from wounds and being given honourable but pitiful burial at sea by their comrades . . . rations limited to one daily hand-out of emergency biscuit, a little meat and some water—those things are unforgettably etched on the memory of a United States naval officer blown overboard from a destroyer when attacked by Japanese aircraft in the Solomons area, and now convalescing from wounds at a United States mobile hospital. As commander of a naval tug accompanied by a destroyer, he found himself hemmed in on both sides when about 100 miles from' Guadalcanar. “The destroyer signalled to me to stand by while he took my crew off,” he said. “He proposed to torpedo my ship and then make a run for it. He took us off all right, but when we were closing in to shoot the torpedo six or eight Japanese torpedo aeroplanes and bombers sighted us and let loose before we could get rid of our torpedo. The first stick of bombs fell abaft the destroyer’s bridge and through the machine-room. Then a torpedo smacked through the bow, and in 10 minutes the destroyer had disappeared and the sea was full of struggling men swimming in black oil. The Japs came at us in the water with machine-guns, and quite a few of my buddies caught it." He went on to explain how ho managed to get three of the destroyer’s life-rafts together and lashed them. There were 28 men on each of them, though they were to take only 24, and some of the men had to hang over the side. The entire company of castaways was covered in a film of black oil and they had to stay that way until a destroyer came over the horizon and rescued them. This officer had the task of distributing the rations once a day. In the crowded rafts it was a difficult job. Each man had to come forward separately and then carefully back away and make room for the next. Discipline was maintained without difficulty, and in this respect the officer’s responsibility was lightened.