“Okay, I’m following you now. They’d be a sort of pillbox, with a 75mm high velocity anti-tank gun. One problem though. The turrets… wouldn’t they need power from the engine to slue?”
“Yeah, but they’ve got hand cranks too in case they lose power, and the sights were optical, not electric.”
“What about ammo for the main gun?”
“I’ve got some of my men looking in the bunkers for it now, maybe an old Browning M1919 for the coax gun too. That would be a nice touch and a nasty surprise for anything that tries to come through that channel!”
“Jerry, you’re a fucking genius!”
“I’ve still got some problems to work out. The optics might be fogged to hell, and the recoil system seals might be dry rotted. If that’s the case, we can’t use them. But I’ll try. And I’ve got one of my other guys, used to be a Combat Engineer, looking for anything else in the bunkers, we still might be able to use.”
They got back into the Hum-Vee, and Jerry made a wide turn to go back the way they came.
“Shame we couldn’t salvage at least one. With that many, we’d surely be able to piece together one running Sherman,” Jerry said.
“Maybe after all this shit is over, you and I will do that. I love this stuff.”
“Me too, Tim, I was going to school on line for my history degree when everything turned to shit.”
“That’s too bad,” Tim said, looking around at everything. He could almost picture all the sailors smoking their Lucky Strikes, listening to Glenn Miller and The Andrews Sisters, while they stowed everything away.
“Yeah, too bad, but if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Now it’s time, if you don’t mind me saying so, Sar’ Major, to get back and have a little talk with that lieutenant of yours.”
“I was just thinking that, Jerry. That is on the top of my priority list right now.”
“Good. She seems like a nice lady.”
“That she is.. I’ll work things out with her,” he said, as they pulled up in front of the huts.
Jerry looked at Tim and said, pointing at him, “You’d better!”
“Go take care of your shit. I’ll go find her now.” He walked away, and Robyn came running up to him. Before she could say anything Tim asked, “Where’s Holly?”
“She’s down on the beach, Daddy. She’s really upset.”
“I’ll take care of it. Sergeant Williams is working on something you might get a kick out of. Why don’t you go find him, and see if you can help? Tell him I sent you.”
“Okay, Dad. She really needs you. Go talk to her.”
“I will, now git!” He walked through a stand of coconut palms, over a slight rise and onto the ocean side beach. He saw her sitting there on the sand about two hundred yards down the beach, her arms wrapped around her knees, and head buried between them. He went over to her and stripped down to the waist, folding his ACU blouse, setting it on the sand, and placing his carbine on top. He sat down next to her, put his arm around her shoulder, and pulled her close. She looked at him briefly, then put her face back down.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Well, I’ve always been told that when you go to an island paradise, you work on your tan. So that’s what I’m doing, working on my tan.”
“You’re bloody mad!”
“Maybe so, but I do know I’m mad about you.”
“But why would you? I’ve messed things up for you so horribly.”
“Holly, you didn’t mess anything up for me.”
“Aye, I did. You and Robyn had that wonderful house in Arizona, and you could still be there, safe and sound if it weren’t for me.”
“But I’m not, and I’m here with who I want to be with. It doesn’t make a difference where we are as long as I’m with you,” Tim said, reaching out for her chin, and pulling her face towards him. The red rimmed eyes tore his heart out.
“But this place isn’t what I thought it was.”
“No, it’s not. But it still is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to, and having you here with me makes it even more special,” Tim said and kissed her.
“But why did he lie like that?” she asked, and Tim sighed. “Because he was trying to get into your flight suit, that’s why. And to be honest, the way you fill that thing out, I don’t blame him,” he said, trying to lighten his words.
She laughed a little for the first time. “But then I keep on thinking, now you and Robyn are in this mess that I’ve caused.”
“Holly, I think I was meant to be here,” he said, thinking about Dawn Red Eagle, and what he had told them so many years ago in Nebraska. “Now we’re here, Jerry and I will sort this out. It’s the nature of the beast. Williams and I are trained to deal with this sort of thing, you know that. But you and Robyn will be safe and sound on Howland Island, or wherever you decide to go.”
“But don’t you see? I’ve put you all in danger. If something happens to you, I’ll never be able to forgive myself!” she said, tears beginning to flow again.
“Holly, I’m too ornery to kill.”
“But all you have is rifles and a few grenades to go against a ship with cannons and missiles!”
“Ah, but we’ve got a few surprises for them. Now we’ve got a tank!”
“A tank? Where did you find a bloody tank?”
“Jerry found it. Them actually. There’s about thirty of them one the other side of the channel. We’re going to get one to work, at least the main gun, and nothing is going to get through that channel without a bloody nose.”
“What if this doesn’t work? That’s what I’m worried about.”
“Baby, worrying about that now is like a private on a landing craft a hundred yards off Omaha beach in Normandy on D-Day, wondering what he’s going to do on his first night in Paris,” Tim said, pulling her close. “We’ve got a few weeks to prepare, and like I said, we’ve got some nasty surprises for our Captain Kangaroo and the Good Ship Lollypop.”
“I’m still worried, Tim. I can’t help it.”
“Holly, this island has plenty of places to defend from. Jerry and I can do it,” he said. Then the thought of another island, not far from there, crossed his mind. Tarawa was not even a thousand miles from here, and long ago its Japanese defenders thought the same thing, and it didn’t end too well for them. He looked out over the ocean. There was a thunderstorm brewing several miles out to the southwest, and the sun was sitting on the horizon.
“Have you ever seen the green flash?” he asked.
“No, what’s that?”
“When the sun is just about to drop below the horizon, when the very top of it slips out of view, there’s a millisecond long ‘green flash’ of light. It’s a view to behold.”
“I’ve never seen it,” she said.
“Let’s just sit here, and watch it then.” She put her arms around him. He moved her around so she was sitting in front of him, her back into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist, she pulled his hands into her stomach, and they watched the sun slowly go down. He kissed the side of her neck and she sighed. As the sun slipped from view, they saw it, in a little ‘pop’ of green light.
“That was amazing!”
“Baby, you’re amazing,” he said, and kissed her neck again, pulling out the pin holding her hair in a bun and it spilled out over her shoulders.
“Sergeant Major Flannery, you are incorrigible!”
“That I am. It might just be the location and the company, though,” he said, and lingered on her neck with his lips. They watched the thunderstorm far out to sea until it was full dark, lightning bolts dancing through the clouds, too far away to hear any thunder. He lay down and pulled her on top of him, and they kissed more urgently, his hands exploring her body, then the spell was broken.
“Dad, are you out here? Sergeant Williams wants to see you!” he heard Robyn call out.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to put that idea on hold,” he said wryly.
“Aye, mayb
e we can come back out here later?” she said mischievously as Tim helped her to her feet.
“I don’t think you’ll have to twist my arm.”
“I didn’t think I would,” she said, holding on to him as they walked to the sound of Robyn’s voice.
Tim had a feeling of dread wash over him then, as the thoughts of the Japanese defenders of Tarawa, flashed to the forefront of his thoughts. Could they do it? The more he thought about it, the more he was unsure.
Chapter 21: The Battle of Volivoli
They prepared for two weeks, setting up claymore mines, clearing fields of fire in the underbrush, and going through the bunkers of ancient equipment looking for anything that might still be of use. They found several hundred cases of beer in plain green cans that needed what his dad used to call a ‘church key’ to open them. No brand name, just the word ‘beer’ printed on them. They all had a good laugh about them, but in the end, no one was brave enough to try any.
After seven attempts, they found one Sherman tank with a recoil system that was still functioning, but its optics were hopelessly fogged. So they found the sights of one that wasn’t, and swapped them out. Now they had a pillbox of sorts, with a functioning 75mm high velocity anti-tank gun. The sounds of the men practicing with the rounds echoed with the sharp cracks every day, almost all day, because they’d found an almost unlimited supply of ammunition, that miraculously was still functioning. They’d left most of the vegetation on the tank to camouflage it, cutting just enough away to allow the turret to slue. It was sitting closest to the channel, and would be at almost point-blank range to anything coming into it.
They had found a huge map of the island in one hut and tacked it to the wall. Tim and Jerry went over it again and again, making sure they’d set up everything the way they’d wanted it. In the meantime, Holly, Robyn and Jimenez got the plane ready to depart, making sure it was airworthy and its fuel tanks were topped off from the island’s fuel storage tanks. Jerry had brought enough hand held military radios that worked, and issued one to every man in the makeshift squad. They’d found a stockpile of 155mm artillery shells, and with a little help from everyone, they buried several in the lagoon side beach, with C-4 explosive in the fuse wells in the noses, running wires from blasting caps to detonators strategically located by ambush sites.
They were as ready as they ever were going to be, and everyone was tense but alert. Robyn was really on edge the morning before she and Holly were set to take the Hercules to Howland Island. They figured it was the closest, and with Tim’s Football, were able to task a KH11 to take photos of it, and the runway looked fine to use.
“Dad, this is really boring,” Robyn said to Tim as he looked up in the morning sun to see the Stars and Stripes flying on the flagpole.
“Baby, ninety-nine percent of war is boredom.”
“What’s the other one percent?”
“It’s complete and abject terror,” he said deadpan. He walked into the main hut, Robyn following, and found Jerry standing over the map, looking to see if he’d forgotten anything.
“Morning, Tim. I was just going over everything again. Got word from the Aussies, they should be here in about two days.”
“That’s good. I’ll be really happy to see another ship.”
“So will I. Never thought I’d say that, but I look forward to the Navy getting here,” Jerry said. Robyn was looking at the map, when Holly walked in. She didn’t look too well, and Tim let her know, concern in his voice.
“ I’m alright. Must have been a bad piece of fish I ate or something.” She poured a cup of coffee and came over to the map.
“Are you going to be okay to fly?” Tim asked.
“Aye, I’ll be ok.”
“When did you plan on leaving?” Jerry asked.
“I think maybe mid-morning. We’ve got her ready to go, and if you think they’ll be here in a few days, I guess it’s time for us to leave.”
“Yeah, Robyn talked to ‘Jimmy’ last night, and he said he’d be here in a few days. I just hope that Aussie ship gets here first,” Tim said.
“So do I, Tim,” Jerry said. “I’ve got some serious doubts, considering we have no idea what kind of manpower he’s able to put ashore, and what weapons he has. He could just lay off shore, and lob a few cruise missiles at us.”
“It’s kept me awake, too,” Tim said. “Do you have any thoughts on that derelict car carrier?”
“No, it’s just sitting there. I thought of putting some men on it, but I don’t see the use right now.”
The door burst open and one of the men came in breathlessly. They all turned and looked at him. “We got trouble, Sergeant.”
“Trouble?” Jerry asked.
“Yeah, big trouble, come with me!” He went back out the door, followed by everyone. He walked over to the ocean side of the hut, and pointed out to sea. The man handed Jerry a set of binoculars, which he raised to his eyes. He lowered them, and handed them to Tim, who raised the glasses, looking in the same direction that Jerry had.
“Fuck. It’s too late for you to leave now, Lieutenant,” Jerry said.
“What do you mean?” Holly asked.
“Here, have a look-see for yourself,” Tim replied, handing her the binoculars. “I’m not letting you take off now.” She raised them to her eyes, looking where he’d been. On the horizon, steaming towards them, was a gray ship, bow slicing through the waves, and close enough to see the faded white ‘193’ painted on the hull.
“Oh. I see. Maybe I can get her started up and off, before it’s too close,” she said, lowering the glasses.
“No. It’s an Aegis destroyer. They were designed to protect the aircraft carriers. Make a big bubble around a task force, and not let any aircraft near them. They’ve got all kinds of antiaircraft shit on them, including SAM’s. He’d shoot you out of the sky before your landing gear was up,” Tim said forcefully.
“Tim, we’d better get going,” Jerry said.
“Are all the men ready?”
“Yeah, they’ve been sleeping at their positions for a few days now.”
“Good. You take Holly and head out. I’ll meet you at the first set of bunkers.”
“You got it, Tim,” Jerry said, taking Holly’s arm and heading out.
“Jerry, you get Robyn too. And you tell Jimenez to grab his piece and meet me here!”
Williams turned and gave him a thumbs up, and continued towards the bunkers. Tim went back to the hut and grabbed his rucksack and carbine. He jogged over to a dug out foxhole on the ocean side, right inside the tree line. It was connected to a similar one on the lagoon side near the long pier by a deep trench. He dropped down into it and brought the binoculars back to his eyes. The ship was getting closer. He reached into his pocket to make sure he had the small hand held radio, pulled it out and turned it on. He keyed it up, and asked for everyone to check in, and one by one, they all answered. He told the men manning the gun in the tank not to fire until he told them to, and they acknowledged the order. Just then he heard movement to his rear, and turned to look. He saw Jimenez coming over to him through the trench, carrying his M16.
“Glad you could make it, Jimenez. Looks like the party is about to start.”
“Oh shit! Should we be getting the plane ready?”
“It’s too late. Just stick with me.”
“Whatever you say, Sar’ Major,” he said nervously, and they watched the ship sailing closer. As it neared, Tim took a good look and thought it had seen better days. The once gray sides were now streaked with rust so badly it looked almost a uniform red. The upper superstructure was streaked with bird droppings, and the antenna mast was missing halfway down. It looked like it had been broken off by a giant’s hand; what remained was a twisted mess. The numbers were still white, but badly faded, and it looked like there was a rusty rectangle of steel welded and re-welded several times over on the hull almost at the waterline. There were bamboo poles all along the rails, with little red flags flying on them, and it lo
oked as if someone’s washing was hanging out on the fantail. And… was that a few goats Tim saw, tied to the railing? Thick black smoke, was billowing from the stack, and topping it all off was a huge Jolly Roger flag flying from atop the bridge.
“What a hunk of shit!” Jimenez said.
“Don’t let looks deceive you. It’s still got guns and missiles,” Tim said as they watched the ship approach. It circled the island, and when it was back to where the channel was steered right for it, doing what Tim thought was around ten knots or so.
“What the fuck is he doing?” Tim said in astonishment. “Can’t he see that it’s low tide?”
But whoever was conning the ship didn’t care, and Tim saw the bow rise, its bulbous sonar dome on the bow covered in barnacles lift up, and they could hear the ship’s bottom scrape along the coral. The ship came to a grinding halt, half in the channel. It had once been deep enough, even at low tide, to allow ships to enter the lagoon, but after seventy plus years of shifting sands and no one to dredge it, the coral had reclaimed a lot of it, making the channel impassable to anything larger than a rowboat.
“It’s stuck! Whoever it is, he isn’t the sharpest tool in the woodshed,” Tim said.
“Holy shit, Sar’ Major! He’s stuck like a dog dick!”
“Yeah, that’s good for us. Let’s see what he does now. At least we’ve got twelve hours before high tide. He can’t get off of it before then.”
“I thought tides were every six hours, Sar’ Major.”
“This island has a diurnal tide. It’s every twelve.”
“A urinal tide?” Jimenez asked. Tim looked at him and shook his head.
***
Commander Wright was beside himself with anger, and let forth a tirade of abuse to Lt. Alphabits, who was conning the ship. It was the first major mistake the lieutenant had made, but that didn’t make a difference to the captain.
“What exactly were you thinking, Lieutenant?”
“A thousand pardons, Captain! I thought the channel was deep enough. I will get her off, I promise you!”
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