Herman Wouk - War and Remembrance

by War

The two admirals bent over the chart. The operation to relieve Wake Island, Pug quickly gathered, was on. The aircraft carriers Lexington and Saratoga with their support ships were already steaming westward, one to knock out the land-based air in the Marshalls south of Wake, the other to deliver reinforcements to the Marines, and attack any Japanese sea forces it encountered. But Halsey's Enterprise was being ordered to a station less than halfway -to Wake, where it could cover the Hawaiian Islands. He wanted to go all the way. He was arguing that the Jap fleet would not dare another sneak attack on Hawaii, with the Army Air Corps on combat alert; that carriers operating together vastly increased their punch; and that if the Japs did try an end run for Hawaii, he could double back and intercept them in time.

  The 1936 game-board exercise, Pug realized, had been prophetic.

  In the game, the Marines had been beleaguered on Wake after a sneak Japanese attack on Manila. The Pacific Fleet had sailed to relieve them and bring the Jap main body to action. The mission had failed.

  "Orange" air had clobbered "Blue" into turning back. "Blue" carrier attacks had not knocked out the enemy's island airfields the umpires had ruled, due to bad weather,.pilot inexperience, and unexpected Jap strength in AA and aircraft.

  Spruance ticked off distances, times, and hazards until Halsey exploded, "Jesus Christ and General Jackson, Ray, I know all that. I want some arguments to throw at Cincpac so I can shake myself loose!"

  Dropping the dividers on the chart, Spruance shrugged. "I suspect the whole operation may be cancelled."

  "Cancelled, hell! Why? Those marines are holding out -splendidly!"

  His sympathies all with Halsey, Pug Henry put in that while flying from Manila to Hawaii on the Pan Am Clipper'he had been under bombardment at Wake Island.

  '.Hey? What's that? You were there?" Halsey turned angrily glinting eyes on him. "What did you see? How are their chances?"

  Pug described the Marine defenses, and said he thought they could resist for weeks. He mentioned the letter he had brought from the Marine commandant to Cincpac, and quoted the colonel's parting words in the coral dugout: "We'll probably end up eating fish and rice behind barbed wire anyway, but at least we can make the bastards work to take the place."

  "You hear that, Ray?" Halsey struck the desk with a bony gray-haired fist. "And you don't think we're honor bound to reinforce and support them? Why, the papers back home are full of nothing but the heroes on Wake. "Send us more Japs!l I've never heard anything more inspiring."

  "I rather doubt that message ever came from Wake.

  Newspaper stuff," said Spruance. "Henry, were you stationed in Manila?"

  "I was coming via Manila, Admiral, from the Soviet Union. I was naval adviser on the Lend-Lease mission."

  . "What? Rooshia?" Halsey gave Victor Henry a jocular prod with two fingers. "Say, that's right! I've heard about you, Pug.

  Hobnobbing with the President and I don't know who all! Why, old Moose Benton told me you went for a joyride over Berlin in a Limey bomber.

  Hey? Did you really do that?"

  "Admiral, I was an observer. Mostly I observed how frightened I could get."

  Halsey rubbed his chin, looking roguish. "You're aboard to relieve Sam Hickman, aren't'you?"

  "Yes, Admiral."

  "Like to come with me and handle operations instead?"

  Victor Henry sparred. "I've got my orders, Admiral."

  "They can be modified."

  Pug knew this man well enough from the destroyer days.

  Lieutenant Commander Halsey had given him his first outstanding" fitness report for duty at sea. Once Bill Halsey went charging into a fleet action-he was bound to do that sooner or later, he had always been hot for fame and a fight -his operations officer might decide the course of a big battle, for Halsey leaned heavily on subordinates. It was a temptation of a sort; much more so than the Cincpac staff assignment Pug had dodged.

  But Nrictor Henry was tired of being a flunky to mighty men, tired of anonymous responsibility for major problems.

  The Northampton meant a return to the old straight career ladder: sea duty, shore interludes, more sea duty; and at last battle-line command, and the bright hope of flag rank. The Northampton was that all-important last rung of major sea command. He would be firing eight-inch guns in battle. He was a gunnery man to the bone.

  Yet rejecting Vice Admiral Halsey to his face was an unhealthy undertaking. Pug was hesitating, wondering how to handle this, when Raymond Spruance, leaning over the chart with the dividers, remarked, "Bill, isn't that a three-striper slot?"

  Halsey turned on him. "It damned well shouldn't be. Not the way operations are expanding! I can get that changed mighty fast."

  With Spruance's casual words, Pug Henry was off the hook. He did not even have to speak. Halsey gave Pug a calculating glance and picked up his cap. "Well, I'm going back to Cincpac, Ray, and I mean to win this argument.

  Stand by to get under way tomorrow. Good seeing you, Pug.

  You've kept very well." Out swept the gnarled hand. "Still play tennis?"

  "Every chance I get, Admiral."

  "And read your Bible every morning, and Shakespeare at "Well, sort of. At least I still try."

  "You clean-living types depress me."

  "Well, I stnoke and drink like anything now."

  "Honor bright?" Halsey grinned. "that's progress."

  Spruance said, "I'm going ashore, Bill."

  "Well, come along. How about you, Pug? Like a ride to the beach?"

  "Yes, thank you, Admiral; if I may-At the quarterdeck, he gave the O.O.D a message for Hickman, then descended the ladder to the sumptuous black barge, and sat apart from the admirals. The boat cruised like a ferry through the malodorous oil and flotsam that since the Jap attack was fouling the harbor. On the fleet landing stood a gray Navy Chevrolet with three-star Rags fluttering on the front fenders. A stiff marine in dress'unifonn opened the door. "Well, gentlemen," said Halsey, "can I give anybody a lift?"

  -Spruance shook his head.

  "thank you, Admiral," Victor Henry said. "I'm going up to my son's house."

  "Where does your son live?" Admiral Spruance asked as the Chevrolet drove off.

  "Up in the hens over Pearl City, sir."

  "Shall we walk it?"

  "It's five miles, Admiral."

  "Are you pressed for time?"

  "Well, no, sir."

  Spruance strode off through the clangorous Navy Yard.

  After a week of heavy drinking to blot out night thoughts of Rhoda, Pug had trouble keeping up with him. They began climbing an asphalt road through green hills. Though Spruance's khaki shirt blackened with sweat his pace did not Slow.

  He did not speak, but it was not, for lack of wind. Pug was embarrassed by his own puffing compared to the even deep breaths of the older man. Rounding a Turn of the uphill road, they looked out on a broad panorama of the base: docks, cranes, nests of destroyers and of submarines-and the terrible smashed half-sunk battleships, burned-out aircraft, and blackened skeletal hangars.

  Spruance spoke. "Good view."

  "Too good, Admiral." The admiral's face turned. The big sober eyes flashed agreement. "I planned to spend the day aboard the Northampton, sir," Pug panted, now that they were talking, "but when Admiral Halsey thinks of getting under way tomorrow, I figure I better fetch my gear."

  "Well, I doubt the urgency exists." Spruance patted a folded white handkerchief on his wet brow.

  . Wake Island's remote exposed location and the Navy's. present weakness, he said, all but precluded a fight. Admiral Kimmel, no doubt wanting to recover face after December 7th, had ordered the rescue just before the President had fired him. But the Fleet was awaiting a new Cincpac, and its temporary commander, Vice Admiral Pye, was having second thoughts. Abandoning the relief mission would cause great controversy, and there were good arguments on both sides, but Spruance suspected that these marines, like the phantoms in the War College exercise, were fated to spend the war in prison ca
mps.

  Talking in a calm War College vein, marching at a pace that made Victor Henry's heart gallop, Spruance said that December 7th had changed the Pacific balance of forces. The United States had been half-disarmed. The odds were now ten or eleven carriers to three, ten combat-ready battleships to none, and nobody knew where those heavy enemy forces were. The Japanese had shown prime combat and logistical ability. They had unveiled ships, planes, and fighting men as good as any on earth. The Philippines, Southeast Asia, and the East Indies might be theirs for the taking, stretched thin as the British were.

  Right now the Navy could do little but hit-and-run raids to gain battle skill and keep the Japanese off balance. But it had to hold a line from Hawaii to Australia at all costs, through the arc of islands outside Japanese aircraft range. New carriers and battleships would in time join the fleet. Jumping off from Hawaii and Australia, they would start battering back Japan from the east and the south. But that was a year or more away. Meantime Austrailia had to be held, for'it was a white man's continent. Its overrunning by nonwhites might trigger a world revolution that could sweep away civilization. With this arresting remark Raymond Spruance fell silent.

  They trudged uphill through tall sweet-smelling green walls of sugarcane under an ever-hotter sun, amid peaceful bird song.

  "Pessimistic picture, Admiral," Victor Henry ventured.

  - "Not necessarily. I don't think Japan can cut the mustard.

  Weak industrial base, not enough supplies for a long struggle.

  She'll have a hot run for a while, but we'll win the war if the spirit at home holds up. We've got a strong President, so it ought to.

  But our country's in a two-front war, and the German front is the decisive one, so we're second in line out here. And we've started with a big defeat. Therefore the realities are against any early heroics in the Pacific, such as an all-out battle to relieve Wake."

  Set back from the road amid lawns and gardens, its verandas roomy and sprawling, Warren's home looked more suited to an admiral than to a naval aviator. Spruance said when they halted, pouring sweat, "Your son lives here?"

  "His father-in-law bought it for them. She's an only child.

  He's Senator Lacouture of Florida. Actually, it's not that large inside.

  Patting his red face with a handkerchief, Spruance said, "Senator Lacouture! I see. Rather changed his mind about the war, hasn't he?"

  "Admiral, a lot of good people honestly thought we ought to stay out of it."

  Lacouture had been a leading and noisy isolationist until the eighth of December.

  "To be sure."

  Spruance declined to come in and rest. He asked for a glass of water, and drank it in the doorway. Handing back the glass, he said, "So, you'll be bringing your gear aboard today?"

  "Yes, sir. I'd better expedite the change of command," Pug said, "all things considered."

  Amusement brightened Spruance's grave eyes. "Oh, yes.

  Always execute orders promptly." Neither of them had to mention Halsey's notion of recruiting Pug for his staff. "Join me for dinner, then. I'd like to hear about your night over Berlin."

  "I'll be honored, Admiral."

  Janice crouched in a broad brown dug-up patch of the back lawn, wearing a damp lilac halter, soiled gray shorts, and sandals. Her wheat-colored hair was tumbled, and her long bare legs and arms were burned brown. Because of the special controls being imposed on Japanese truck farmers, fresh vegetables were already becoming scarce.

  She had started a victory garden and seemed the merrier for it.

  ,She straightened up, laughing, wiping her brow with an arm. "My stars, look at you! Been gardening or something?"

  "Admiral Spruance walked me up from the Navy Yard."

  "Oh, him! I hear that all the junior officers hide when he comes on deck. Commanding the Northampton will put you in shape, if it doesn't kill you. Warren telephoned. He's coming home for lunch."

  "Good. He can run me down to the fleet landing witt gear."

  "You're going already?" Her smile faded. "We'll miss you."

  "Dad?" Warren's voice sounded some time later through the bedroom door. Pug opened it, pushing aside two halfpacked footlockers.

  Uniforms and books were piled on the bed. "Hi. I stopped by the California shore office. They're sending your mail to the Northampton, but these just came irLI, The sight of British stamps jolted Pug.

  Alistair Tudsbury's office address was on the envelope. First he opened the cable, and without a word passed it to Warren.

  WHERE IS NATALIE URGE REPEAT URGE YOU INQUIRE STATE DEPARTMENT CABLE ME DEVILFISH SUB BASE MARIVELES BYRON Warren wrinkled his sunburned forehead over the cable.

  In his flying suit, the everlasting cigarette dangling from his compressed mouth, he looked weary and grim. "Who do you know at State, Dad?"

  "Well, a few people."

  "Why don't you try phoning? Briny's pretty cut off out there in Manila."

  "I will. I should have done it sooner."

  Warren shook his head. "She may be in one hell of a fix."

  He gestured at the letter from London. "Alistair Tudsbury. Is that the British broadcaster?"

  "That's him. Your mother and I met him on the boat to Germany."

  "Great gift of gab. Lunch in half an hour, Dad."

  Pug opened the letter after Warren went out. On arriving in Pearl Harbor, he had sadly maded off a short dry letter to Pamela Tudsbury, finally breaking with her. She could not have received it and answered; the letters had crossed. in fact, he saw, hers was dated a month ago.

  November 17th, 1941

  My love: I hope this will somehow reach you. There's news.

  The BBC has asked my father to make a sort of Phileas Fogg broadcasting tour clear around this tortured planet, touching the main military bases: Alexandria, Ceylon, Singapore, Australia, Pearl Harbor, the Panama Canal, ,and so on. Theme: the sun never sets on the Union Jack, and there's another possible foe besides Hitler-to wit, Japan -and the English-speaking peoples (including the reluctant Americans) must stand to their guns. Talky has stipulated that lao along again.

  More and more nowadays when he's fatigued or under the weather-his eyes are getting very bad -daughter writes up the broadcasts and even the articles. By now the product, though ersatz, is usable.

  When he broached the thing to me, I heard only two words-Pearl Harbor! If the whole proposal doesn't blow up, and if we can maintain our dicey plane-andboat schedule, we should reach Hawaii in a month or so.

  Where you will be with your blessed California, I don't know, but I'll find you.

  Well, there you have it! I know you were supposed to write to me before I broke silence. Sorry I violated your rule, but for all I know your letter or cable will come next week and I'll be gone. Perhaps there's a screed for me already in the mail from Vladivostok, or Tokyo, or Manila. If so, I hope it was a I love letter, not a prudent dismissal, which was what I feared and expected.

  Whatever it was, Pug, I never got it.

  Dearest, you can love your wife and also love me. Do I shock you?

  Well, the fact is you already do. You know you do. You've even told me so. You have only to act realistically about it. To be blunt, it's just as possible for your wife to love you, and also love another man.

  Maybe that shocks you even more. But this sort of thing happens all the time, my sweet, I swear it does, especially in wartime, to perfectly good and decent people. You and Mrs. Henry have somehow spent a quarter of a century shut off in a very special churchand-Navy shell. Oh, dear' I haven't time to type this over, or I'd cut this last stupid paragraph. I know it's hopeless to argue.

  I hate to stop writing to you now that I'm doing it at last. It's like the breaking of a dam. But I must stop.

  With any luck you won't hear from me again, you'll see me.

  The weather in London is unspeakable, and so is the war news. It really looks as though we got out of Moscow none too soon; it actually may fall, as it did to Napoleon!
<
br />   What a prospect! But for me, to be quite honest, the only news that counts-and it's glorious-is that suddenly there's a chance to see you again. I had a horrible feeling in Moscow, for all your kindness and sweetness, that I was looking my last on you. Now (crossed fingers) here I come!

  Love, Pam He could see the Young face, hear the young warm elegantly accented voice pouring out these hurried words.

  The wistful, hopeless little romance with Tudsbury's daughter which had briefly flared in Moscow was best snuffed out. Pug knew that. He had tried. Moreover, until now he thought he had succeeded.