Guadalcanal Diary Page #5

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- Let"s leave it and see what it turns into.

- Kind of cute, ain"t it?

- Ow!

- Say, Hook.

- Yeah.

- Look what l found. Limes.

- Oh, boy.

lf l only had some ice, soda water,

cherries and a botle of gin,

would l make you a Tom Collins.

- You know l"m just fooling, Father.

- That"s all right, son.

But if you find those ingredients,

drop around.

Condition red.

Here we go again.

Condition red.

- Condition red.

- Sui.

Douse the fire.

- Where"s me helmet?

- Sui.

Here, boy. Here, Sui. Come on, boy.

- There they are.

Here they come.

- Hit the deck.

Father Donnelly.

- He"s been hit.

- You"ll be all right. lt"s concussion.

Don"t burrow in so deep.

Next time, cushion yourself on your elbows.

Wait till our planes get here.

They won"t look so pretty.

Yeah, but where are our planes?

Today is a red-letter day on the island.

Reinforcements are coming in.

The army. And coming

not a day too soon either,

for we are tired after days of heat and rain,

dust and disease, mud and malnutrition.

Weeks of constant fighting,

watching the enemy slipping more and more

men ashore from Bougainville and Rabaul.

The target of his bombers and Zeros,

against whom we"re lucky to put up

a mere six or seven Grummans.

ls it any wonder the welcome sign is out?

l never thought l"d be so glad to see

an army man. My name"s Anderson.

Boy, am l glad to see you guys.

You"re a sight for sore eyes.

Say, buddy, how many Japs you killed?

Quiet. Confidentially, that"s a military secret.

Thought you"d be in foxholes on the beach.

This place looks great.

lt does, huh? Well, give it time, brother.

The beauty will wear off.

- Where you from?

- Minnesota.

- l"m from Flatbush.

- Never heard of it.

What am l laughing at?

Every enemy thrust on our airfield so far

has been beaten off.

His ships have been sunk,

his dead are numbered in hundreds.

But the Jap is a persistent foe.

Now he is holed up in the caves on the island,

from which vantage spots

he is a constant menace to our patrols.

He must be driven out, and to Colonel

Grayson and his men has fallen the task.

Nor is it going to be an easy one.

These rocky ledges and great natural caves

afford excellent positions,

from which his machine guns

can sweep the countryside.

The men behind those

machine guns are fanatics.

They"ll die at their posts, some chained

to their weapons, rather than surrender.

One by one they must be

blasted from the earth that hides them.

- What do you think, Hook?

- l think it"s a trick.

There are probably 30 or 40 in each cave.

We"ve got to get them out of there.

- Malone, you and Pots know the ropes.

- l knew it.

Get above those caves and use grenades.

We"ll cover you, OK?

- Yeah, sure.

- OK, mac.

Take some of those pineapples.

- All set, Sarge?

- Yeah.

Davis"s idea.

He says it"ll blow the place to pieces.

Let me have it.

This gasoline and TNT ought to do the trick.

And now for the world of sports.

All right, pipe down.

The Yanks"ll murder them guys.

- Aloysius T Pots talking for the Yanks?

- New York"s my hometown, ain"t it?

Since when did Flatbush

become part of New York?

Who said anything about Flatbush being

part of New York? lt"s just vicey-versey.

Sportsman"s Park at St Louis

was packed with 34,255 wild-eyed fans

as the Cards and the Yanks tangled

in the second game of the World Series.

On the mound for the New York Yanks

was Ernie Bonham.

Well, that setles it.

The Cards sent their 23-year-old rookie out

in a surprise move to even the Series.

- Come on, you Redbirds.

- Give us the score, will you?

Dazzling fielding marked every inning,

but it was not until the eighth,

with the score tied one to one,

that the fans got the real thrills.

Will you give us the score?

Jim Brown and Terry Moore

proved to be easy outs,

but Enos Slaughter

caught one of Bonham"s fast ones

and slammed a scorching liner to right field

and slid into second base for a double.

- l knew he could do it.

- Think nothing of it.

Take it easy, Ernie boy.

Make every one count.

Roy Cullenbine, confused by the Redbirds

earlier on, made a perfect throw to the bag.

Ataboy.

- But Phil Rizzuto let the ball slip through.

- Tag the bum out.

While he was trying to locate it,

Slaughter dashed safely for third.

- l was expecting that.

- He isn"t home yet.

Stan Musial worked Bonham for a 2-3 pitch.

And then, with the home crowd

yelling for a hit, he...

- And the final score...

- You can"t do that. Give us the score.

Wait. Shh.

And that"s the way the game ended.

Condition red. Condition red.

Condition red. Condition red.

Condition red.

Don, condition red.

First time l"ve ever had a tree in bed with me.

l don"t mind the one with my name on it. lt"s

the ""To whom it may concern"" l don"t like.

They"re throwing everything at us

but the kitchen stove.

That"s the stove now.

- Here, take a puff.

- No, thanks.

Sure makes you feel kind of naked.

Nothing between you and kingdom come

except coconut logs.

lt isn"t so much dying.

lt"s having to sit here and take it.

Anybody who says he ain"t scared

is a fool or a liar.

- ls there any room in here?

- Come on in.

Sit over here, Father.

- Those sound like eight-inch shells to me.

- Bigger than that, l imagine.

There"s a report of a couple of batleships

and about eight cruisers off Savo lsland.

- How"s it going up there?

- OK.

You know, they"ve got

some great navy doctors here.

When this started

they were in the midst of an operation.

Had to go on or the kid would have died.

Think they ran off and left him?

Not those boys.

- How do you know, Padre? Were you there?

- Who, me? Well, naturally l had to stay.

- Hey, that was a bomb.

- Yes, their planes are busy too.

They"re pasting Henderson Field.

Father, you got any objections

if l say what l"m thinking?

Go right ahead, son. Don"t mind me.

Well, l don"t know about

these other guys, but me, well...

l"m telling you, this thing is over my head.

lt"s going to take somebody

bigger than me to handle it.

l ain"t much at this praying business.

My old lady always took care of that.

Yeah, my old lady was like that too.

l don"t know as l mean that kind of praying.

The Lord"s Prayer and things like that.

l know what you"re talking about, Taxi.

l used to pray like that when l was a kid.

""Lord, give me this, give me that.

Please let the Yanks win.""

l never been in a spot

like this before in my life.

l"m no hero. l"m just a guy.

l come out here because

somebody had to come.

l don"t want no medals.

l just want to get this thing over with.

l"m just like everybody else,

and l"m telling you l don"t like it.

Except l guess

there"s nothing l can do about it.

l can"t tell them bombs

to hit somewhere else.

Like l said before, it"s up to somebody

bigger than me, bigger than anybody.

What l mean is l...

l guess it"s up to God.

And l"m not kidding when l say

l sure hope he knows how l feel.

l"m not going to say

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