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Local
- During the May 29 mission to Yokohama Crew #46 of the
Second Squadron was forced to ditch after their plane
was severely damaged by flak. The seven members of the
crew who were subsequently rescued are 1st Lt Edgar B.
Gear, the plane commander, 2nd Lt Howard L. Howes, 2nd
Lt Arland F. Christ-Janer, 2d Lt Ralph V. Hayenga, F/O
Richard F. Wilcox, S/Sgt Frank E. Williams and Cpl Elias
T. Schutzman.
One
man, with the aid of the rest of the crew has prepared
the following first hand account of the ordeal:
"May
29: 0250: Take off … Flak heavy on bomb run ... #3
hit hard … second later #4 …bomb doors hit as
closing ... Engineer says fuel transfer system is shot
away ...
1140:
Can't make Iwo on present gas so tell crew we are probably
going to ditch. Crew dumps everything overboard excluding
chutes ….. we tell crew impact is a matter of seconds;
they all reply O.K., we are ready! I wish them luck and
tell them its going to be rough …. We open all escape
hatches and make beautiful landing with full flaps ….
Water over my head as I go out my window. Plane is still
traveling through water as # 3 is feathered slam into
it and cracked face on the prop hub I just grab hold of
blade …. Ship broke in three pieces on impact and
nose is now going under. Sparks doesn't have a Mae West
so I give him mine and got him to get away from ship as
it does down …. I start out for the raft but am so
tired Pop pulls me aboard …. We tie two rafts together
…. We got Navigator aboard just in time. Ten seconds
more and he would have been gone …. We take stock
and see we have only seven men. Hi says he has broken
shoulder….. Ship is clear down now …. Sea is
starting to get rough and we sue feel alone. Hi and Sparks
are in pain from their wounds … B-17 drops Higgins
boat and it comes down by parachute and lands 60 yards
upwind from us … We work four fours to get to boat,
finally collapse as make it. Climb aboard; find a note
saying sub is 110 miles away and coming. Find some dry
clothes and dress and the feel really good. Just then
- wham!!! - we are all in the water again … we manage
to get everyone aboard. Waves running about 20 feet, white
caps breaking over us. We bed Hi and Sparks down on wet
blankets in 6 in. of water and get set to ride it out.
Dead
dark, raining harder boat turns over again … We figure
our time is up for sure now. The sea we figure now is
30 feet … We are thrown overboard so often we get
use to it … We don't even expect to get through another
hour … The sea is beating us to death and we expect
the boat to break up … Everybody is praying.
2230:
I figured it is close to daylight and look at my watch
and know we can't make it … All night long someone
is overboard. Everyone saves everyone else's life so many
times it's beyond count. Just at daylight Howard is thrown
20 feet from the boat and as he goes close to the boat
on the next wave I get him by the hair. He says he will
never have his hair cut short again. Chris grabs Hi's
left arm (broken) and hauls him aboard; Hi never flinches,
though.
Its
daylight and the sea is still about 30 feet with a strong
wind and raining hard.
May
30: 1300: We try our Kite … We crank out SOS until
1430. Chris sees an airplane way off and in ten seconds
we have everything going; radio sea markers, dye, flares
and red smoke, even mirrors … Ship sees us …
We look way out on the horizon and see a sub coming full
speed on four engines. What a sight! Finally after an
hour we are aboard, at 1730.
Stripped
us down, gave is a bottle of brandy and hot shower, a
big beautiful bowl of soup, and a warm dry bunk. May be
know of something better that, but all I can say is, Brother
Show me!
That's
the end of The Slic Chic (the old girl) and Crew #46."
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