Target: Rabaul (73 page)

Authors: Bruce Gamble

BOOK: Target: Rabaul

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Chapter 12: Stormy Weather

“were seemingly all over the sky”: 43rd Bomb Group history,
pp. 81
–82; “When the intelligence officer”: interview with author, November 19, 2011; “Rabaul was well-defended”: Mahaffey, author interview, April 11, 2011; “on the damnable combination”: 43rd Bomb Group narrative history,
p. 316
.

Chapter 13: Bloody Tuesday

“Several Jap planes came over”: Kenneth Gasteb, World War II Memoirs, unpublished, undated,
p. 18
; “a beautiful little town”: Joseph Solomon, 345th Bomb Group newsletter article,
Furlough
, December 2012,
pp. 7
–8; “one hell of a dogfight”: quoted by McAulay,
Dragon’s Jaws
,
p. 34
; loss of WO Ishi-i: Hata and Izawa,
p. 115
; “Harry Bullis was poised”: quoted by McAulay,
p. 201
; “We gave Lakunai drome”: 43rd Bomb Group narrative history,
pp. 117
–118; “1 transport, 2 cruisers”: Japanese Monograph 140; “The Nips big Vunakanau drome was our target”: 43rd Bomb Group narrative history,
p. 44
; “The air raids against Rabaul”: Holguin manuscript,
p. 215
; “This followed the familiar had done practically nothing Yamamoto pattern”: ibid.,
p. 221
; “The Japanese were now using”: Henebry,
p. 34
;” The first wave of B-25s approached”: Holguin manuscript,
p. 227
; “All my crews worked feverishly”: ibid.; “I remember seeing three destroyers”: Kirby, author interview, May 30, 2010; “Two 1000-pound demolition bombs”: 71st Bomb Squadron combat report, November 2, 1943; “a final effort”: ibid.; “During this time”: ibid.; “I had bellied up to the target”: Henebry,
p. 12
; “About half way across the harbor”: Webster, correspondence with Hickey; “With complete disregard for his own safety”: Woody Keyes, observer comment, Missing Air Crew Report No. 1458; “skittered like water bugs”: Webster, correspondence with Hickey; “I was so stiff”: ibid.

Chapter 14: Redemption for the Pond Lily

“Supporting Bougainville landing”: Kenney diary, November 2, 1943; “toughest, hardest fought engagement”:
Kenney Reports
,
pp. 77
–78; “In the space of twelve minutes”: Fifth Air Force,
Rabaul: November 2, 1943
, Melvin Best collection,
p. 194
; “Considering the size of his effort”: Hara,
p. 26
; details of Kurita cruiser force, including “a suitable fleet train”: Morison,
p. 179
; “He couldn’t sit still”: Marvin Harper, interview with author, October 2, 2006; “He’d get a gallon of ice cream”: John Gavin, interview with author, October 2, 2006; “He was truly charismatic”: Harper, author interview; “a feverish period of familiarization”: Barrett Tillman,
Hellcat: The F6F in World War Two
, Naval Institute Press, 1979,
pp. 180
–181; “energetic, sleepless”: Morison,
p. 324
; verbal exchanges between Halsey and staff: quoted in Halsey,
pp. 18
–19; “We saw many enemy seaplanes”: quoted by Hara,
p. 231
; “We looked up with utter astonishment”: Harper, author interview, January 22, 2007; “The antiaircraft fire”: VF-12 combat report, November 5, 1943, EBNAL; “They are hitting on our left”: quoted by Burns,
p. 323
; damage to Mogami: ibid.,
p. 73
; “Tony demonstrated superb maneuverability”: VF-23 combat report, November 5, 1943, EBNAL; “The sky became filled with Jap planes”: VF-12 combat report; “I suddenly saw Zeros”: quoted by Burns,
p. 74
; “I was stunned”: Hara,
p. 1
; “I was skeptical of these claims”: quoted by Hara,
p. 232
; “The futility of our losses”: ibid.

Chapter 15: Carrier Raid Redux

“I took a deep breath”: Halsey,
p. 183
; “If Halsey goes in”: correspondence, Kenney to Whitehead, November 9, 1943; “a damn good airplane”: quoted by Tillman,
Helldiver Units of World War 2
, Osprey, 1997,
p. 124
; “Bagdanovich radioed, ‘Attack, attack, attack!’”: Krantz, author interview; “a tremendous explosion”: Bagdanovich, VT-17 combat report, November 11, 1943; “I just picked out a heavy cruiser”: Krantz, author interview; “The scene was like something out of the movies”: Hamilton McWhorter III,
The First Hellcat Ace
, Pacifica Press, 2000,
p. 1
; “Man your guns”: quoted by Jon Guttman, “Free-for-All Over Rabaul,”
World War II
, November 1999,
pp. 177
–178; “The Imperial Navy air arm”:
Mainichi Daily News
, November 13, 1943,
p. 1
.

Chapter 16: Ferdinand the Bull

“I had one thing in mind”: Krantz, author interview; “Whether we all three prayed out loud”: ibid.; “We were like animals”: ibid.; “by ship, motor boat, canoe”: Eric Feldt,
The Coastwatchers
, Bantam edition, 1979,
p. 2
; “I had no unit to rejoin”: Figgis, author interview, August 9, 2001; “a tall, hawk-faced man”: Malcolm Wright,
If I Die: Coastwatching and Guerilla Warfare Behind Enemy Lines
, Landsdowne Press, 1965,
p. 69
; “The Japs had become suspicious”: Figgis, correspondence with author; “as dead as a gravestone”: Fred Hargesheimer,
The School That Fell from the Sky
, Bookstand, 2002,
p. 127
; “full up to the gunnels”: Krantz, author interview; “with great relish”: AIB Evasion and Escape Report No. 42,
p. 12
; “He took care of our cuts and sores”: Krantz, author interview; “a real whiner”: ibid.; “I was aware of some friction”: Figgis, correspondence with author; “Our supplies came tumbling down”: ibid.; “in a far worse state”: quoted by Wright,
p. 154
; “I did not have a close call”: Figgis, author interview.

Chapter 17: The Twisted Code

“simply out-faced the Emperor’s little men”: quoted by Peter Stone,
Hostages to Freedom: The Fall of Rabaul
, Australian Print Group, 1995,
pp. 202
–203; “Japanese military forces”: ibid.; “Americans were damned bastards”: quoted by Haruko Cook and Theodore Cook,
Japan at War: An Oral History
, The New Press, 1992,
p. 155
; “Most officers did this” and “It might sound extreme”: quoted by Cook,
pp. 294
–295.

Chapter 18: Transition

“About this time the Torokina field”:
Kenney Reports
,
p. 77
; Eleventh Air Fleet readiness statistics: Rick Dunn,
Rabaul Round Two
, unpublished research manuscript,
p. 7
; “As planned in advance”: Matsuda narrative; “I reconfirmed the necessity”: ibid.; “Of late the number of men”: Gordon Thomas,
Rabaul 1942–1945
, unpublished manuscript (microfilm), Australian National University; “a quagmire”: Olander, interview with author, May 15, 1993; “the best interests of the service” and “Boyington not be reappointed”: quoted by author,
Black Sheep One: The Life of Gregory “Pappy” Boyington
, Presidio Press, 2000,
pp. 117
, 124.

Chapter 19: The Ace Race

“You must be crazy”: quoted by Olander, author interview; “I simply adored the man”: Gregory Boyington,
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep
, Putnam, 1958,
p. 87
; “Far too many fighter planes”: Walton, VMF-214 war diary, December 17, 1943; “the poor bastard”: quoted by John Foster,
Hell in the Heavens
, Ace Books edition, 1961,
p. 47
; “The records were . . . inflated”: Frank Walton, author interview, May 15, 1993; “Frank would tend to sort this out”: Bruce Matheson, author interview, May 15, 1993; “I’m working with the best”: quoted by Baily, January 11, 1944; “It’s sure lonesome”: quoted by Walton,
p. 295
; “I repeated the dunking”: tape-recorded public address, San Francisco, October 25, 1958. “Take it easy”: VMF-214 war diary, December 27, 1943; “It shouldn’t have been anything”: Matheson, author interview; “He flew us right up into the sun”: Edwin Olander, author interview, May 15, 1993; “From a distance”: Robert Foote, individual combat report, December 28, 1943; “a terrific rate of climb”: Boyington, VMF-214 war diary, December
28, 1943; “Zero fighters left a trail of smoke”: Richard Dunn,
Exploding Fuel Tanks
, self-published, 2011,
p. 125
; “I came to realize”: Boyington,
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep
,
p. 196
; “You can only dodge” and subsequent exchange between Marion Unruh and Donald MacAllister: ibid.; “Goddamn it”: quoted by author in
Black Sheep One
, p. 398; “a little tough luck”: quoted by author,
p. 303
; “I ended up in the water”: Boyington, correspondence to Henry Sakaida, August 25, 1983; “about six feet tall”: John Arburckle deposition, September 26, 1946.

Chapter 20: Feeding Frenzy

“lots of Zekes”: VMF-215 aircraft action report, January 14, 1944; “The Zeke went down”: VMF-321 war diary, January 9, 1944; “The process was wide open”: Tillman, correspondence with author, May 30, 2013; “Hanson would land”: George Brewer,
Hanson’s Last Flight
, unpublished narrative, 1994,
pp. 6
–7; “He ordered me to stick with Hanson”: ibid.; “Just do what you always do”: Hanson, quoted by Weber,
p. 9
; “Marines just do not go off”: ibid.,
p. 13
; “an abiding hatred”: ibid.,
pp. 241
–242; comments by Warrant Officer Komachi: quoted by Henry Sakaida in “Rising Sun’s Fighter Foes,”
Flight Journal
, Winter 2003,
p. 57
; “I rushed out of the car”: Masatake Okumiya,
Rabaul Naval Air Group
, Asahi Sonorama, 1976,
p. 5
; “I looked up”: ibid.; “commit an honorable suicide” and “The laws of the battlefield”: Matsuda manuscript; “We repeated ambush after ambush”: Okumiya,
pp. 136
–137; ineffectiveness of mining: postwar interrogation of IJN Cmdr. Yasumi Doi, USSBS; “all attack, land-based attack”: Monograph 142, p. 511; departure of Boyington and other prisoners from Rabaul: author,
Black Sheep One
, p. 403.

Chapter 21: Fortress Rubble

Evidence of reduction in shipping at Rabaul: XIII Strike Command war diary, February 27, 1944; “Mental attitude”: McMurria,
Trial and Triumph
,
p. 32
; “All the troops”: Imamura, postwar interrogation, quoted in USSBS,
pp. 3
–4, AFHRA; “This time it was the real thing”: Holguin manuscript,
p. 42
; Fitzgerald’s joke: quoted by Joe Nason,
Nason, You Next Die
, draft manuscript, undated,
p. 43
; Nason’s handcuff dilemma, and “Joe’s explanation”: McMurria,
p. 97
; polygraph of Shinichi Kawamoto: Criminal Investigation Lab, Far East Command, “Report of Polygraph Examination Given to Suspect in Possible War Crimes and Atrocity at Rabaul,” December 6, 1945, AWM; “cleaning out the fringes”: SOPAC Force summary,
p. 140
; “after a few days”: ibid.,
pp. 138
–142.

Chapter 22: Island of Despair

“bomb the airfields”: policy quoted in SOPAC Force summary,
p. 4
; Ordnance experimentation on Vunapope: ibid.; “the most significant innovation”: Sherrod,
pp. 3
–4, via James Merriman; “Our crew and squadron”: Merriman, correspondence with author, April 18, 2013; “broken the back of the Jap” and “a great fighting team”: quoted in captions, unnamed photographer, May 25, 1944; Lindbergh’s flight over Rabaul: Charles Lindbergh, “Thoughts of a Combat Pilot,”
Saturday Evening Post
, October 2, 1954,
p. 47
; “It was very exciting”: McMurria,
p. 69
; “Skin and bones”: Holguin manuscript,
p. 98
; “The problem with sanitation”: McMurria, author interview, April 11, 2002; “The potato runs”: Strike Command war diary, March 1944 summary; “Their retribution”: McMurria, Trial and Triumph,
p. 87
; “At the end of 1944”: Nason manuscript,
p. 98
; “Of all the prisoners”: Holguin,
p. 63
.

Chapter 23: Glory

“The flying, gunnery, and bombing”: Shaw and Kane,
p. 80
; “The rice supply”: Okawara, author interview; “a very famous man” and “Don’t worry”: Holguin,
pp. 85
–86; “I tried to rouse them”: Kepchia, author interview; “The Americans are destroying the cities”: Holguin,
p. 90
; “We did not cheer”: Nason manuscript,
p. 129
; “Uncontrollable emotion”: ibid.,
p. 92
; “It was as if an unseen hand”: Harding, “Surrender of the Japanese Southeastern Army” press release, September 6, 1945; “short and stubby” and details of surrender ceremony: ibid.; “Get these men”: McMurria, author interview; “Lucky Strike green had gone to war”: McMurria,
Trial and Triumph
,
p. 135
; “was only the beginning”: ibid.