What happened on this day in History?
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Crapped Out By Dr. Vic. Durrance Part 2 (conclusion of the story in the previous issue) We were barely floating, but I managed to paddle both of us around the right wing tip and to the partially submerged nose of the aircraft. By this time, Bates and Senger had deployed the two eight-man rafts that were stored in the fuselage. No sooner did I get the left gunner, Harrison, in one of the rafts than I heard the right gunner, Harris, screaming, "Come get me somebody!" He was in his seat pack raft and was drifting rapidly away from the rest of us. He soon disappeared in the heaving sea. The navigator, Bates, and I lashed both rafts together as the rest of the men climbed aboard. A quick check revealed that central fire control gunner, Stanton, and the radar officer were missing. The radio operator, Conley, mentioned that he last saw him holding onto the left wing, apparently suffering from serious injuries. Someone else said he saw Stanton floating face down near the wreckage. As the swells increased, the lashings that held the rafts together pulled loose, causing one raft to deflate. I thought I might be able to remain in the partly deflated raft because I was the smallest member of the crew. As this raft began to sink, however, I quickly joined the others. We were now ten men, one of whom was badly burned, in a single raft. Harrison, who was injured, was placed at one end of the raft. The rest of us were tightly jammed together in the remaining space. Because of the ingestion of salt water, most of us began to throw up the mutton sandwiches that hunger had driven us to eat earlier. Some men managed to vomit over the side, but the others simply did so where they sat. It soon became obvious that Harrison, as he groaned and tried to move, was in agony. Conley and I crawled over several sodden bodies without hearing any protest and administered two shots of morphine through his flight suit, for one shot seemed to have little effect. Harrison calmed down somewhat, but then began to talk irrationally and tried to sit up. We thought it best to try to keep him still, because we did not know the extent of his injuries. I sat next to him and tried to calm him down, but with little success. Darkness soon arrived and the waves seemed to become even higher. Because of the number of men and water in the raft, we were barely floating. I knew that if we turned over in the increasingly rough sea, Harrison would certainly drown. I held tightly to his flight suit with one hand and with the other gripped the raft. I remained so all night. At one point during the night the raft seemed to be nudged and pushed rather sharply from below. We never knew what caused this and were too terrified to even speculate. Another time during the night, the captain, Senger, suddenly shouted, "Brooks!" We heard an answer, "Here." And Harris paddled in from the darkness and tied his little raft to our large one. He had drifted out of sight soon after we ditched. We never knew what possessed Senger to cry out. It was pure chance Harris heard him. The next morning found us a sorry looking lot. I tried to let loose of Harrison, but I couldn’t move my fingers. Bates finally pried my fingers loose one by one. I was sure he was breaking every one, but that was not the case and feeling soon returned to them all. Harrison awoke and seemed rational. He said he felt fine but was numb from the waist down. I crawled over to him and unzipped his flight suit to check him. As his suit was opened to his waist, his swollen scrotum suddenly spilled out. It seemed as large as a soccer ball. He also had a chunk of bone missing from his shin about mid-calf. Later we surmised that he had been hit in the pelvic area by the auxiliary power unit, which crushed his pelvis. He needed immediate medical attention. Both rafts should have contained food, water and medical supplies. But we found only three pints of water. Someone had stolen everything else from the rafts. Bates estimated that we were drifting toward the Philippines at a fairly rapid pace and said we should not worry because "land was just a few miles away." Then with a strait face he added, "Straight down." Some of us would have been glad to help him get wet, but we were too exhausted to move. In retrospect it was a funny remark and did relieve some of the tension. Even today we chuckle about it. In the middle of the afternoon of the second day, we heard the sound of aircraft engines and soon three aircraft from our squadron came over us low and fast. Shortly thereafter, a PBY appeared and dropped several packages that skipped over the water so close to us that we signaled to the aircraft to stop the dropping. It flew over us again very low and disappeared in the distance. Several hours later, the mast of a ship loomed over the horizon. Was it ours or a Jap? Several crews who had ditched on previous missions had been picked up by the Japanese Navy. With some difficulty, we loaded our .45 side arms and prepared "to repel boarders," which of course sounds ridiculous today. Soon the USS Doherty came alongside and took us aboard amid much cheering by its crew. We later learned that the Doherty had been in Alaskan waters before reporting to Guam. There it had picked up a number of downed flyers, but they had all frozen to death. Aboard the Doherty we were treated like fleet admirals. Its crew did everything they could to make us comfortable. We were escorted to the head of the chow line, fed ice cream, and offered the best bunks. Harrison was taken to sick back and packed in ice in an effort to reduce the swelling of his scrotum. He was soon out of pain, although he mentioned that he was a bit cold on his bottom. I will never forget the kindness, concern and friendliness that we received from the wonderful men of the Doherty. The captain of the Doherty decided to sink our floating airplane because it might become a hazard to navigation. When the gunnery officer gave the order to fire, every gun on the ship cut loose. Machineguns, 20 mm cannons, 40 mm cannons and 3 inch cannons all began firing at the same time. What a racket!!! We later learned that this was the first time the Doherty had fired at a real target, hence the enthusiasm and the heavy volume of fire. Late at night on the 15th or 16th of May, the Doherty deposited us dockside on Guam. Mortally wounded, old 773 did her best to get us as close to Guam as possible, which allowed us to be rescued by the Doherty. Then she finally "Crapped Out."
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