COMMANDANT, USMC, WASH, DC
1. AT 1140 13OCT42 A TWO (2) F4F4 PATROL OF VMF-229 INTERCEPTED A PREVIOUSLY UNDETECTED
JAPANESE FORCE CONSISTING ESTIMATED AS TWELVE (12) VAL; TWELVE (12) KATE AND FIFTEEN (15)
ZERO AND ENGAGED.
2. ENEMY LOSSES:
A. TWO (2) KATE
GALLOWAY, CHARLES M CAPT USMCR ONE (1)
PICKERING, MALCOLM S 1/LT USMCR ONE (1)
B. ONE (1) ZERO
PICKERING, MALCOLM S 1/LT USMCR ONE (1)
3. VMF-229 LOSSES:
A. ONE (1) F4F4 DAMAGED, REPAIRABLE.
B. ONE (1) F4F4 CRASHED ON LANDING, DESTROYED.
C. VMF-229 LOSSES REDUCE OPERATIONAL AIRCRAFT AVAILABLE TO VMF-229 TO THREE (3) F4F4.
PLUS TWO (2) POSSIBLY REPAIRABLE F4F4.
4. MAG-21 LOSSES:
A. HENDERSON AND FIGHTER ONE RUNWAYS CRATERED BY ENEMY BOMBS. REPAIRS UNDERWAY.
B. AVGAS FUEL DUMP STRUCK BY ENEMY BOMBS AND SET AFIRE. ESTIMATED LOSS OF AVGAS
FIVE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED (5500) GALLONS.
C. LIGHT TO SEVERE DAMAGE, EXTENT NOT YET DETERMINED, TO ELEVEN (11) USN, USMC AND USAAC AIRCRAFT ON HENDERSON FIELD.
5. THE UNDERSIGNED HAS, ON THE RECOMMENDATION OF CO, MAG-21, AUTHORIZED THE EVACUATION OF USAAC B-17 AIRCRAFT FROM HENDERSON TO ESPIRITU SANTO UNTIL SUCH TIME AS STOCKS OF AVGAS AND SPARE PARTS, NOW ESSENTIALLY EXHAUSTED, CAN BE REPLENISHED. ALL REMAINING STOCKS OF AVGAS NEEDED FOR F4F4 AND P39 AND P40 AIRCRAFT. B17 AIRCRAFT WILL DEPART
AS SOON AS REPAIRS TO RUNWAY ARE ACCOMPLISHED.
VANDEGRIFT MAJ GEN USMC COMMANDING
[TWO]
VMF-229
Henderson Field
1330 Hours 13 October 1942
"You had a blowout is what it looks like, Mr. Pickering," Technical Sergeant Oblensky said.
They were in a maintenance revetment, an area large enough to hold two Wildcats. It was bordered on three sides by sandbag walls. Sheets of canvas, once part of wall tents, had been hung over it to provide some relief from the heat of the sun, and from the rain. "A blowout?" Pickering asked bitterly.
"If I had to guess, I'd guess you run into a bent-up piece of pierced steel planking. But maybe a piece of bomb casing or something."
"Jesus Christ!"
"Put you out of control. And then the gear collapsed. It won't handle that kind of stress, like that. You're lucky it wasn't worse."
"The airplane's totaled, right?"
"Yeah. Not only the gear. When that went, there was structural damage, hard to fix. And then the engine was sudden-stop. Probably not even worth trying to rebuild, even if we had the stuff to do it with. I'll pull the guns and the radios and the instruments and whatever else I can out of it and have it dragged to the boneyard."
"How many aircraft does that leave us with?" "Three. Plus I think I can fix what Captain Galloway was flying. He lost an oil line, but he shut it right down, maybe before it had a chance to lock up. I'll have to see."
Galloway at that moment walked in.
"I blew a tire," Pickering said.
"Blew the shit out of it," Oblensky confirmed. "Have a look."
"Thank you, Mr. Pickering," Galloway said.
"Thank me for what?"
"You know for what. I couldn't have gotten away from that Zero."
"You were doing all right," Pickering said.
"When I say 'thank you,' you say 'you're welcome.' "
Pickering met his eyes. "You're welcome, Skipper."
"I just saw Colonel Dawkins. There were witnesses to both of yours. Both confirmed. What does that make, seven?"
"Eight. I'll confirm yours. I saw it go down."
"They confirmed that, too," Galloway said, and turned to Oblensky. "Did you have a chance to look at that engine?"
"I'm going to pull an oil line from this," Oblensky said, gesturing at Pickering's F4F4, "and put it on yours and then run it up and see what happens. You said you shut it down right away."
"I don't want anyone flying it but me, understand?"
"If I didn't think it was safe, I wouldn't let anybody fly it."
"Just say 'aye, aye, sir,' for Christ's sake, Steve," Galloway said.
"What happens now, Skipper?" Pickering asked.
"What you do now is run down all your friends-they're scattered all over-and bring them here. As soon as the runways are fixed, they're flying the B17s off to Espiritu Santo. They can go with them."
"What about the R4D?"
"It took a hundred-pound bomb through the wing. It didn't explode, but that airplane's not going anywhere. Mr. Pickering will need your jeep, Steve."
"It was over by the AvGas dump when that went up," Oblensky said. "No jeep, Skipper."
"Well, Mr. Pickering, you said you were thinking of joining the infantry. The infantry walks, so that should be no problem for you."
For a moment Lieutenant Pickering looked as if he was about to say something obscene. But he thought about it, and what he said was, "Aye, aye, Sir."
[THREE]
VMF-229
Henderson Field
1535 Hours 13 October 1942
When Captain Charles M. Galloway Walked in, Majors Ed Banning and Jake Dillon, Lieutenant Ken McCoy, Sergeant George Hart, and Corporal Robert F. Easterbrook were sitting on the bunks and wooden crates of the Bachelor Officers' Quarters-a tent with sandbag walls. Galloway was trailed by Lieutenant Bill Dunn.
Galloway looked at Banning.
"Major, the B-17s can't get off today. That last raid cratered the runway again."
There had been a second Japanese bombing attack at 1350, a dozen or so Kates and slightly fewer Zeroes.
"I saw fighters take off," Banning replied. It was a question, not a challenge.
"You saw two fighters get off," Galloway replied. "Joe Foss and somebody else. They took a hell of a chance; dodged the craters and debris."
"I saw one Japanese plane go down," Major Dillon said.
"Foss again," Galloway said. "He got a Zero. But that was all the damage we did."
"What the hell happened to the Coastwatchers?" McCoy asked.
Galloway looked at him. He had not yet got a fix on this semilegendary Marine. A lot of what he'd heard about Killer McCoy had to be bullshit, yet he'd also noticed that Major Ed Banning (a good professional Marine, in his view) treated McCoy with serious respect.
"According to what I heard, McCoy, there was a transmission delay between Pearl Harbor and here. You know what atmospherics are?"
McCoy nodded. Galloway noticed that the nod was all he got, not a "Yes, Sir."
"Well, we monitor Coastwatcher radio. Sometimes we can hear them, sometimes we can't. This time we couldn't. So the warning had to go through CINCPAC radio at Pearl" (Commander-In- Chief, Pacific headquarters at Pearl Harbor, T.H.). "There was a delay in them getting through to here. They said atmospherics. We were refueling our fighters when we finally got the warning. By that time the Japanese were over the field."
"Buka's operational, Ken," Banning said. "These things happen."
"So what happens now?" Dillon said.
"The Seventeens can't dodge runway craters. And they don't think they can fill them before it gets dark. So the Seventeens will have to wait until first light. You'll leave then."
"Unless the Japs come back again," Dillon said.
"Unless the Japs come back again," Galloway parroted. "I'm sorry, it's out of my control."
"If the Seventeens can't get off in the morning, is there any other way I can get to Espiritu Santo?" Banning asked.
Interesting question, Galloway thought. He doesn't want out of here to save his skin. If he did, he wouldn't talk openly about going the way he just did. And why did he ask how I can get to Espiritu,' not "we" ? What business does he alone have to take care of?
Galloway seemed to be reading his mind.
"Galloway, I'm going to have to claim a priority to get to Espiritu, if it comes to that."
"There will probably-al
most certainly-be an R4D, or several of them, who will try to land here at first light. Bringing AvGas in. They carry as many wounded as they can when they leave."
"If it comes down to that, and the B-17s aren't flying..." Banning said, "... what I was hoping was maybe catching a ride in an SPD or a TBF."
The Douglas SPD-3 "Dauntless" was a single-engine, low-wing monoplane, two-place dive-bomber. It was powered by a Pratt and Whitney 1000-horsepower R-1820-52 engine. The Grumman TBF "Avenger" was a three-place, single-engine, low-wing monoplane torpedo bomber, powered by a 1700-horsepower Wright R-2600-8 "Cyclone" engine. Both aircraft were used by both the U.S. Navy and the USMC.
"I'll ask," Galloway answered, "but I don't think that's going to happen."
"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't necessary," Banning said.
Galloway was now uncomfortable.
"Dunn's found some cots for you to sleep on. But we lost our jeep, so they'll have to be carried. How about you, Sergeant?" he asked, and looked at George Hart. "And you, Easterbunny?"
Corporal Easterbrook looked unhappy.
"You have something else to do?" Galloway said.
"Captain, if I'm going to spend the night with the Raiders," Easterbrook said. "I'm going to have to start up there now."
"Go ahead, Easterbrook," Lieutenant McCoy said. "We can carry our own cots. We only look like feather merchants."
He was talking to me, goddamn it, not you, McCoy, Galloway thought. And then he wondered why that made him so angry.
"Thank you, Sir," Easterbrook said, and left the tent.
"I wasn't picking on him, McCoy," Galloway heard himself say. "He's a pretty good kid. I try to keep an eye out for him."
"Somebody should," McCoy said. "He's about to go over the edge."
"Meaning what, McCoy?" Dillon broke in, an inch short of unpleasantly.
"Meaning he's about to go over the edge. Did you see him during the last raid? Take a good look at his eyes."
"Oh, bullshit!" Dillon flared. "Nobody likes to get bombed. He's a Marine, for Christ's sake."
"He's a Marine about to go over the edge," McCoy said.
"You're a fucking expert, are you?" Dillon said, now unabashedly unpleasant. "You have a lot of experience in that area?"
"Yes, Jake," Banning said, calmly but firmly, "he does. In the Philippines, for example."
"You were in the Philippines?" Bill Dunn blurted. "How did you get out?"
"Like I hope to get out of here tomorrow," McCoy replied. "On a B-17." He stood up. "Come on, George, you and I will go carry cots for these field-grade feather merchants."
Banning laughed, and stood up.
"To hell with you, McCoy, I won't let you get away with that. Off your ass, Jake. If I can carry my own cot, so can you."
Dillon, not moving, looked up at Banning.
"Off your ass, Jake," Banning repeated. His tone was conversational, but there was no mistaking it for a friendly suggestion. It was an order.
[FOUR]
=SECRET=
FROM: COM GEN 1ST MAR DIV 0845 14OCT42
SUBJECT: AFTER-ACTION REPORT
TO: COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, PACIFIC, PEARL HARBOR INFO: SUPREME COMMANDER SWPOA, BRISBANE
COMMANDANT, USMC, WASH, DC
1. AT APPROXIMATELY 1830 13OCT42 HEAVY JAPANESE ARTILLERY BARRAGE WITH IMPACT WESTERN END
OF HENDERSON FIELD COMMENCED. IT IS BELIEVED THAT WEAPONRY INVOLVED IS 150-MM REPEAT 150-MM NOT PREVIOUSLY ENCOUNTERED. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THIS ARTILLERY IS NEWLY ARRIVED ON GUADALCANAL.
2. INASMUCH AS 1ST MARDIV DOES NOT POSSESS ANY COUNTERFIRE RANGING CAPABILITY, 5-INCH
SEACOAST ARTILLERY OF 3RD USMC DEFENSE BATTALION AND 105-MM HOWITZERS OF 11TH MARINES
WERE INEFFECTIVE IN COUNTERBATTERY FIRE.
3. AT APPROXIMATELY 0140 14OCT42 HENDERSON FIELD WAS MARKED WITH FLARES BY JAPANESE
AIRCRAFT. IMMEDIATELY THEREAFTER INTENSIVE ENEMY NAVAL GUNFIRE FIRE COMMENCED AND LASTED
FOR A PERIOD OF NINETY-SEVEN (97) MINUTES.
4. A MINIMUM OF EIGHT HUNDRED (800) AND POSSIBLY AS MANY AS ONE THOUSAND (1000) ROUNDS
ARMOR PIERCING AND HIGH EXPLOSIVE FELL ON HENDERSON FIELD AND IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT
AREAS. FROM THE NATURE OF THE DAMAGE CAUSED, IT IS BELIEVED NAVAL FOURTEEN (14) INCH
CANNON WERE INVOLVED, MOST LIKELY FROM A JAPANESE BATTLESHIP OR BATTLESHIPS.
5. ENEMY LOSSES:
NEGLIGIBLE, IF ANY. MAIN NAVAL GUNFIRE CAME FROM WARSHIPS BEYOND THE RANGE OF 5-INCH
SEACOAST CANNON OF 3RD MARDEFBN. ACCOMPANYING SMALLER VESSELS, PRESUMABLY DESTROYERS, WERE
ENGAGED WITHOUT VISIBLE RESULT.
6. US LOSSES:
A. FIELD GRADE OFFICER KIA ONE (1)
B. FIELD GRADE OFFICER WIA ONE (1)
C. COMPANY GRADE OFFICER KIA FIFTEEN (15)
D. COMPANY GRADE OFFICER WIA ELEVEN (11)
E. ENLISTED KIA THIRTY-NINE (39)
F. ENLISTED WIA SEVENTY-NINE (79)
G. MISSING IN ACTION: TO BE DETERMINED
H. SEVERE DAMAGE TO HENDERSON FIELD RUNWAY, CONTROL TOWER, REVETMENTS AND SUPPLY STORAGE AREAS. REMAINING AVGAS SUPPLY CRITICAL.
I. EXTENT OF DAMAGE TO AIRCRAFT NOT YET FULLY DETERMINED. IT IS OBVIOUSLY SEVERE. FOR
EXAMPLE OF THIRTY-NINE (39) SPD AIRCRAFT AVAILABLE AS OF YESTERDAY, FOUR (4) ARE AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME, AND TWO (2) OF EIGHT (8) B17 AIRCRAFT WERE TOTALLY DESTROYED.
7. AS SOON AS RUNWAY REPAIRS PERMIT REMAINING B17 AIRCRAFT WILL WITHDRAW TO ESPIRITU
SANTO.
8. MOST CRITICAL NEED OF THIS COMMAND IS RESUPPLY OF AVGAS. URGENTLY REQUEST RESUPPLY
BY ANY MEANS AVAILABLE. RECOMMEND NO REPEAT NO REPLENISHMENT OF AIRCRAFT UNTIL SUFFICIENT
AVGAS AVAILABLE HENDERSON FIELD FOR FUELING.
VANDEGRIFT MAJ GEN USMC COMMANDING
=SECRET=
[FIVE]
Mag-21
Henderson Field
"Colonel," Captain Samuel M. Davidson, U.S. Army Air Corps, said to Lieutenant Colonel Clyde W. Dawkins, "I'm not sure I like this. As a matter of fact, the more I think about it, I don't like it at all."
"You don't have any choice in the matter, Sam," Dawkins said. "These people are going with you, period."
"Who the hell are they?"
"Two majors, a lieutenant, and a sergeant. I told you."
"I told my people they're going out with us."
"I'll find something constructive for them to do," Dawkins said. And just as soon as I can find space for them, I'll get them out of here."
"And what if... ?" He paused a moment and then began again: "I really don't mean to sound insubordinate, but the first obligation of an officer is to take care of his men. What if I simply say 'with all respect, Sir, no'?"
"I said no way, Sam. I was shown a set of orders on White House stationery, signed by Admiral Leahy, the President's Chief of Staff. To repeat myself, you don't have any choice in the matter."
"How did they get here?"
"In an R4D. It took a bomb through the wing."
"The one with that funny landing gear?"
Dawkins nodded.
"You want to tell me what that was all about? It looked like skis."
"Sorry, Sam. I couldn't tell you if I knew, and I don't. I really don't. But if it makes you feel any better, I was in the Division Command Post, and I saw General Vandegrift shake one of the Major's hands and thank him. They're not tourists."
There was a loud, frightening crash, a long one, along with the scream of timbers being ripped apart.
"What the hell was that?" Captain Davidson asked.
"That was the Pagoda," Dawkins said. "General Geiger decided that the Japanese were using it as an artillery aiming point. They bulldozed it, I guess."
"Why didn't they just blow it up?"
"Probably because there's a shortage of dynamite, in addition to everything else," Dawkins said.
THE CORPS VI - CLOSE COMBAT Page 9