Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We - TopicsExpress



          

Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin back from the island of Tinian to Leyte... just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in twelve minutes. Didnt see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. Thirteen footer. You know, you know that when youre in the water, chief? You tell by lookin from the dorsal to the tail. Well, we didnt know. Cause our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent, huh. They didnt even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, chief. The sharks come cruisin. So we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know its... kinda like ol squares in battle like uh, you see on a calendar, like the battle of Waterloo. And the idea was, the shark goes to the nearest man and then hed start poundin and hollerin and screamin and sometimes the shark would go away. Sometimes he wouldnt go away. Sometimes that shark, he looks right into you. Right into your eyes. You know the thing about a shark, hes got... lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a dolls eye. When he comes at ya, doesnt seem to be livin. Until he bites ya and those black eyes roll over white. And then, ah then you hear that terrible high pitch screamin and the ocean turns red and spite of all the poundin and the hollerin they all come in and rip you to pieces. Yknow by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men! I dont know how many sharks, maybe a thousand! I dont know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday mornin chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player, Bosuns Mate. I thought he was asleep, reached over to wake him up. Bobbed up and down in the water, just like a kinda top. Up ended. Well... hed been bitten in half below the waist. Noon the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us, he swung in low and he saw us. Hes a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper, anyway he saw us and come in low. And three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and start to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened? Waitin for my turn. Ill never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water, three hundred and sixteen men come out, the sharks took the rest, June the 29, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 23:10:35 +0000

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