BRAVE INDIAN

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24878, 27 April 1944, Page 7

BRAVE INDIAN

WOBK IN SOLOMONS AMAZING SCOUTING SENSE A Seminole Indian who drew on the almost-forgotten talents of his forebears and showed extraordinary prowess as a scout while fighting with his regiment, on New Georgia and Arundel Islands is at present in Now Zealand as a member of the New England division which is in training here. Ho is Staff-Sergeant Clarence Little, better known to his comrades as "Chief," ami he is the eldest son of the chieftain of all the Seminolos. Thomas Little, of Oklahoma.

Sergeant Little's father has another and Indian name which means "Big Bull," but his son, like many Maoris who have forgotten their native tongue, says he cannot spell the tribal name. His own education was mostly European. Like the Fijian Commandos However, when he landed on New Georgia, after having been on a linertransport when it was sunk in the South Pacific, it took Sergeant Little no time to revert to the skills of his ancestors. Like the Fijian Commandos who helped in the same campaign, he was completely at home in the jungle, sensing and seeing things which escaped the attention of his white companions.

His company officer of that time. Lieutenant Bud Varble, of Kentucky, who saw Little at work, explained it thus: "Just as we are completely at home in the streets of a city, so was Little in his element in the forest or jungle. Once he warned us about a Japanese heavy machine-gun position which was dead in front of us. He told me to be silent and advised me not to stand up. We could not detect anything wrong, but Little said he could see the machine-gun position. Not another mother's son of us could, but he was right." Little was employed as lead scout. He had to go in front of the advance, so that if there were any Japanese he was the first to find them. He did invaluable work throughout the tremendously difficult approach to Munda airfield, but here he even surpassed what he had done before. Long Scout to Help Tanks He was given the job of directing the American tanks' fire against the Japanese pillboxes and gun positions which protected the airfield. He had to find them and point out their position by firing tracer bullets at them, so the tanks would be able to put down their own fire on them. It was > obviously a task of great danger, but Little, throughout a scout which lasted more than two hours, found one pillbox after another and was largely instrumental in enabling them all to be silenced, so throwing the airfield open to assault. For this Little lias been recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross, which is second only to the Congressional Medal of Honour among American decorations. After the end of the New Georgia campaign American forces were sent to Arundel Island to stop those Japanese who had managed to leave New Georgia by escaping over Arundel and on to Kolombangara. Still under Lieutenant Varble's command, Little was one of a small force sent to the northern end of the island to pen the Japanese off from the sea, so entrapping them between this force and another which was driving up from the New Georgia end. Japanese Bayonet Attacks "On the night the Japanese came up to us," said Lieutenant Varble, "1 smelt them. You can, too. They have a smell of their own. They launched three bayonet attacks at us that night which we drove off with grenades. One of mv men was killed. "We had to bury him next day. The burial and the service were interrupted by three more bayonet attacks. We fought them off. There were seven bayonet attacks that morning. "During the last one, at about 11 a.m.. Chief Little was standing up in his fox-hole to throw a grenade when he was shot through the head by a Japanese .25 bullet. As he fell the grenade rolled into the next fox-hole, where there were two more men. The pin was out. and 1 expected the explosion. "It was hard to believe what happened. It was just like one of those things you see at the pictures, and von think they are impossible. Little fell, the grenade rolled into the other fox-hole. Then, shaking his head, Little came up again. He took a long dive into the other hole, grabbed the grenade, and flung it away. How he did it I don't know. If he had been a second late with scooping it up, 1 would have had three men killed, Little and the twr> others. Fie just went into the fox-hole, his hand came up, and the grenade was flung to safety." Not a "Glory-hunter" After that Little was taken away for medical attention. In his head today are the scars of his wound, one close behind his loft temple and the other behind his left ear. The Americans on Northern Arundel were there for four days. They were cut off from their supplies, but when the job was over more than 300 Japanese dead were counted in front of their positions. Little himself does not talk much about his service He says he is "no giory-hunter." He did his job because it was given him to do, and that seems to be all that concerns him. However, the story which is told about him is well authenticated, and it is clear that he fully earned his recommendation for the Distinguished Service Cross.