The Pacific (54 page)

Ugin confided in his old friend that he had deliberately flunked out of the V-12 program.
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The thought of ending the war as a second lieutenant who had never even seen a rifle range had been more than he could bear. Sid respected him for volunteering and knew he'd be fine, but in his heart Sid also knew Eugene was too sensitive of heart and too serious of mind for the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" that went with being a Raggedy-Assed Marine. Eugene was so excited to be with someone who would talk about something other than whiskey and women. Sid did show Ugin a picture of his girlfriend he had in Australia, Shirley Finley. He never expected to see her again. The colonel had told him he was going home. Sledge said "she was very pretty."

Once Sid finished his mess duty, the pair usually went to see one of the movies playing, finding seats on the rows of coconut logs. During the love scenes, jokers in the audience "tried to out perform the script" with a few well-placed obscenities. Sid found the improvisations hilarious. On the night of June 6 the movie was entitled
This Land Is Mine
. It concerned a schoolteacher in France who is forced by the Nazi regime to take action against it. The picture stopped. This time, the machine had not broken. An officer announced the news of the second front, the Allied invasion of occupied France. " The earth literally rocked with yells."
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News of the Allied invasion in Normandy caused Eugene to think of his brother Edward, who had been stationed in England, from whence the invasion had been launched. He looked up to his older brother, who had earned a degree at the Citadel, a prestigious military school, and become an officer. His mother had sent him a portrait of Edward, who looked dashing and impressive in his uniform. Gene kept it by his bed. Next to Edward, he thought, "I've never done anything to amount to a hill of beans." One small step he could make, he took. He sent his father a money order as a gift. He asked his "Pop" to spend the money on anything he wanted, so long as it was not a bond for his youngest son, Eugene. The gift, intended to demonstrate "my appreciation for the millions of things you & mother did for me," imitated the gift Edward had given their father back in April.

THREE NEW FLEET CARRIERS JOINED ADMIRAL SPRUANCE'S FIFTH FLEET IN THE great lagoon of Majuro, allowing him to create Task Group 58.4. The admiral and his carrier commander, Admiral Mitscher, shuffled the assignments a bit. USS
Yorktown
, Micheel's old ship, joined
Hornet
's Task Group 58.1, which also included the two light carriers
Belleau Wood
and
Bataan
. The other two task groups (58.2 and 58.3) each had four carriers. A grand total of fifteen aircraft carriers, emblazoned with a camouflage of aggressive geometric shapes, swung at anchor together.

At twelve thirty-two p.m. on June 6, 1944, the United States Navy's fleet of fast carriers and a vast array of escort ships stood out from Majuro, setting sail for the Empire of Japan.
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For the tip of his spear, Mitscher selected his most aggressive admiral in command of his most competent task group. He chose Admiral J. J. "Jocko" Clark, who credited his Cherokee blood for his fighting spirit. A reporter traveling with the fleet described Clark as "a mercurial, glandular man" who "has a long, floppy lower lip which protrudes far out when he is angry."
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With Clark's
Hornet
in the van, the fleet's trip to the chain of islands known as the Marianas took five days. The rhythm of battle began on the eleventh with the carriers refueling their escort fleet at five a.m.
Hornet
launched her CAP and ASW at about eight thirty a.m. The fighters found three enemy planes during the course of the afternoon and shot them down. Everyone assumed the enemy on the islands knew they were coming. In the afternoon, fifteen fighters took off and joined up with two hundred Hellcats from the other carriers to sweep the four islands of the Marianas with airfields (Guam, Saipan, Tinian, and Rota) clean of enemy fighters. Fourteen of the fifteen
Hornet
Hellcats returned at six forty-four p.m.; heavy AA fire had forced one to land on the water near the island of Guam. For this type of emergency, Mike's skipper, Campbell, had accompanied the strike with some life rafts in his bomb bay. The pilot went in close to shore, though, with too many AA guns nearby to attempt a boat drop. The rescue submarine promptly came in submerged and got him. Admiral Clark ordered his task group to pull back to the south for the night.

The fleet pulled away from the Marianas because the Japanese would find a way to attack at night, even though they had lost about 150 airplanes that day. A bogey appeared just before two a.m. The Hellcats equipped for night fighting had a difficult task. They had learned to launch and land at night, but finding the enemy--even with radar--proved difficult. The bogey disappeared.

Bombing Two's day started at two a.m. with breakfast. The wolves assembled in the ready room by three a.m. and the first strike flew off the deck beginning at five a.m.
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For the next three days, Mike's squadron struck the airfields, beach defenses, and villages of Guam and nearby Rota as many as five times in a day. So many missions placed a real burden on the squadron's mechanics because the SB2C took more man-hours to prepare for flight than other types of planes.
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After each mission, fewer and fewer of the planes would be available for the next one. Too many radial engines could not be throttled up to full power.

The scarcity of aircraft produced competition. Most pilots clamored for every chance to fly. As flight officer, Lieutenant Hal Buell had some say in who flew and who did not, as did the skipper. The wolves knew a pilot needed to fly a certain number of combat missions to earn an Air Medal, and that a certain number of Air Medals entitled one to a Distinguished Flying Cross, the coveted DFC, one step below the Navy Cross. In June of 1944, a pilot's confidence came a bit cheaper than in 1942. The gigantic Fifth Fleet, with its overwhelming superiority, surrounded by dozens of destroyers and submarines dedicated to rescuing downed airmen, could certainly overheat a man's dedication and turn it into a desire more personal and more foolish. Lieutenant Hal Buell made no bones about it. He "coveted a major decoration in the worst way."
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Mike did not ascribe his fellow pilots' enthusiasm to being "award hungry" necessarily, nor did he criticize those who were. The wolves were exactly what the naval aviation program had been designed to produce: highly motivated, aggressive, and thoroughly trained dive-bomber pilots. Buell had proven himself in several carrier battles and on Guadalcanal. The new men knew the dangers. Enemy AA fire on Guam and Rota claimed one plane from Bombing Two and scored hits on a few others. The squadron also lost six SB2Cs to "operational losses." Two of those losses occurred during takeoff. Both of the rear seat gunners were recovered, but only one pilot had survived. None of these losses surprised the men of Bombing Two. Clamoring to fly the Beast, therefore, took courage.

The squadron's flight officer did not, however, receive requests from Lieutenant Micheel. While others took issue with Buell's flight schedule, Mike "just went along with them. When it was my turn I went. I didn't scream for any." A cynic might have thought Lieutenant Micheel lacked an aggressive spirit, or perhaps that he was a little too comfortable with the knowledge that the Navy Cross he wore could never be awarded on the basis of the number of missions. A cynic would have been wrong. Mike led his division on four of the eighteen missions flown, taking them in fast. He pushed the Beast all the way down in his dives, through heavy flak, occasionally through heavy clouds. Of the half dozen important hits scored by Bombing Two during its raids, Mike got two confirmed: one on Guam's big ammunition dump and another on a shore battery of #4 guns guarded by intense AA batteries at the northeast corner of Oca Point.
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As a result the enemy had less big guns and less ammunition with which to stop the marines' amphibious assault, scheduled to begin June 15.

The pilots had been briefed that their strikes against the Marianas, and the imminent invasion of Saipan, would bring the Imperial Japanese carrier fleet against them. The possibility of at last confronting the flattops had hung over every mission. For the first two days, the searches came up empty, but late on the twelfth one of the U.S. planes spotted an IJN convoy headed toward Guam. Hal Buell led a search team "to relocate the enemy" in advance of a full strike being assembled. He and his men flew to the extreme edge of the SB2C's range and just did spot the surface fleet before their fuel supply forced their return. Four of the scout planes had to land on the first carrier they came to,
Bataan
. The fourth landed wrong, plunged through the barriers, and destroyed all four Helldivers. The next day,
Hornet
launched a "special strike" of six fighters and two dive-bombers. The strike found the enemy convoy, comprised of four destroyers and two troop transports, and left two of the ships "burning fiercely."
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Mike, meantime, took a division down to the town square in Agana, the largest town on Guam, to drop leaflets. The Japanese knew the Americans were coming. The Americans wanted the native Chamorro to have a chance to prepare themselves.

While the fleet continued to prepare Saipan and Guam for invasion, Clark's Task Group 58.1 began the morning of June 14 with a course change to 000 degrees. A ship came alongside to deliver fuel and aviation gasoline. Another escort came alongside to get some wolves. It brought them to a nearby escort carrier, and later that day they flew home with seven new Helldivers, some new Hellcats, and some replacement pilots. Word of the next mission, hitting the Bonin Islands to the north, also arrived. The enemy could use the airfields in the Bonins to shuttle planes from Tokyo to the Marianas. The task of denying the Japanese their reinforcements created a terse exchange between Admiral Clark on
Hornet
and Admiral Harrill, in command of Task Group 58.4. Harrill had been ordered to sail his group with Clark's to the Bonin strike. Harrill did not want to go, citing bad weather and lack of fuel.
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At about twelve thirty p.m., Clark got in the backseat of an SB2C and was catapulted off the runway so he could speak to the reluctant admiral in person. He returned a few hours later. The gist of the two admirals' conversation became common knowledge. Every sailor could fill in the blanks on what Jocko said and the manner in which he said it. Preparation on
Hornet
continued. A little after four p.m., the carrier "jettisoned dud airplanes."
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In the ready rooms, the pilots studied their charts and reviewed their upcoming mission. While the rest of the fleet continued to pound targets on Saipan and Guam, they would cut off one of Japan's supply routes.

The Bonin Islands held a communications center, a port, and an airfield. At six forty p.m.
Hornet
steamed north, leading Task Group 58.1 toward Chichi Jima and Iwo Jima, five hundred miles from mainland Japan. Task Group 58.4 followed. Jocko had persuaded Harrill to do his duty.

ONE DAY IN MID-JUNE, JOHNNY FOUND A MOMENT DURING THE LONG DAYS OF training at Camp Pendleton to write the longest letter of his war. "Dearest Mother," he began, "I have a long story to tell you hear it goes. First when I came down here I met a girl and have been going with her ever since, She is a very nice kid and she is Italian too. She has the prettest eyes and hair that you have ever seen. Well mom we are going to be married on Weds 12th of July. I was trying to get enough of a leave to come home but cait get it. So we are going to her place for a few days which is in Orgon. We are being married in a Catholic Church in Oceanside Calif that is about 10 mi from camp. She also is a Marine so you see I'm keeping it in the family. I wish you could be here for the wedding. I just got back from seeing the priest and he was very nice, he asked about you and Pop. She is going to wear a Vail for the wedding. Mom don't think that I'm rushing things to fast, but you see it is the only time that I can get a 7 day leave. Mom I know you will like her when you meet her. One thing mom she really can cook for that's what she does down here. The boys down here have been kidding me as soon as they found out about us getting married. Mom don't forget to wire me, did you get the telegram I sent you about my Baptism paper. I'll send you a picture of the wedding as soon as it gets finish. Mother to know that you and pop aprove of this is going to make me very happy. So I'll be wanting to hear from you in a wire soon. Her name is Sgt. L. Riggi which will soon be Basilone. I wrote to Helen and told her about it too so I hope she isn't hurt. Mom you know that I'm a family man just like you and pop. I want to have children so when the war is over I can relax. Regards to all. Tell the rest of the kids about me will you. Love and Kisses your loving son always Johnny."
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