ADRIFT FOR 33 DAYS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 31, 5 January 1945, Page 5

ADRIFT FOR 33 DAYS

AMERICAN AIRMEN RESCUED. (11.30 a.m.) NEW YORK, Jan. 4. Four men who baled out of a flaming Liberator have reached their base after spending 33 days on, a rubber raft and 16 days with friendly natives, says the United Press correspondent in the Philippines. Altogether 10 airmen baled out. Two were killed by Japanese airmen who strafed them as they struggled in the water, two others were rescued independently and two are still missing. A navy bomber dropped a raft, an emergency radio set, water and food on the first day after the airmen had floated for hours in their Mft w West jackets. The fresh water was soon exhausted and salt water spoiled the rations except the canned cheese which lasted for 11 days. While the men were hiding beneath rubber sheets they caught birds which alighted on the raft and they ate them while the flesh was still warm. The fliers also became expert at catching fish with their hands. One day they caught a. 3001 b bluefish which they were unable to haul on to the raft. Their prayers for rain were answered by a tropical deluge which almost drowned them. On the 33rd day they sighted an island 400 miles from the position where they baled out. It took them 10 hours to paddle to the shore. They lay all night too exhausted to knock down the coconuts hanging above them. Next morning friendly natives gave them rice and cooked bananas. All became ill. The natives transferred them to another island when Japanese approached.