“But Alex asked him what I asked you, if he was…concerned…about going to the war.”
“And he said he was. People who have been there are more ‘concerned’ than those who haven’t.”
“You know what I mean; that was dishonest of him. Of the both of you.”
“First of all, I haven’t made a pass at you, by way of trying to turn on your maternal instincts. So that is a moot point. Secondly, haven’t you ever heard what the Jesuits say, the end justifies the means?”
“That’s dirty!”
“They are both doing what they want to do. What’s wrong with that?”
She exhaled audibly, shaking her head, then sipped at her drink.
“You’re not what I expected, either,” she said.
“What did you expect?”
“I was surprised I didn’t have to defend my virtue,” she said.
“Sorry to have disappointed you.”
She laughed. “That I expected. The arrogance. I didn’t say ‘disappointed.’ I said ‘surprised.’”
“People think I’m arrogant?” he asked, as if this surprised him.
“The only reason Alex walked across that bar to you was because she knew you were the only man in there who would not walk across the bar to her. Or am I missing something here? Are you actually arrogant enough to think you can wait for me to make a pass at you?”
“Truth time?”
“Why not?”
“I really wish you had turned out to be a bitch like Alex instead of a nice girl. I don’t make passes at nice girls.”
“Baloney!”
“Boy Scout’s Honor,” he said, holding up three fingers like a Boy Scout. “I have learned that I have this great talent for hurting nice girls. There’s enough of the other kind around so that I don’t have to do that.”
She found his eyes and looked into them.
“How do you hurt nice girls?”
“They seem to expect more of me than I can offer,” he said.
“You’ve never had a nice girl?”
“I was, maybe still am, in love with a nice girl.”
“And?”
“She was married to a guy in my line of work,” Pick said. “He got killed on Wake Island. Once was enough for her. Oddly enough, now I understand.”
He drained his drink.
“Are you staying here with Alex?” he asked. “Or can I take you home? The trumpeting of the mating elephants in there is getting me down.”
She smiled.
“Where are you staying?” she asked. “With your mother?”
“No. In the hotel.”
“Is anybody staying with you?”
“The king of the herd,” Pick said, nodding toward the bedroom.
“You can take me home, if you’d like,” Bitsy said. “But if you offered to show me your etchings, I just might accept.”
Pick’s surprise registered on his face.
“You have the saddest eyes I have ever seen,” Bitsy went on. “I’m not what you think I am, Pick. Neither a virgin nor a quasi-virgin. As a matter of fact, I understand how your girlfriend feels.”
“I don’t understand.”
“What happened to my husband wasn’t heroic, like Wake Island. What happened to Dick was that a World War One cannon he was training on—or with, whatever—blew up at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“I think maybe tonight, we need each other,” she said. She patted his cheek, smiled, and walked to the door, picking up her jacket on the way.
“Shall we go?” she asked.
Pick put his drink down and walked toward the door.
XI
[ONE]
Office of the Supreme Commander
South West Pacific Ocean Area
Brisbane, Australia
0805 Hours 26 October 1942
“Good morning, General,” MacArthur’s secretary, a technical sergeant, said in a voice loud enough to alert everyone in the office to the presence of a general officer—meaning that everybody was supposed to stop what he was doing and come to attention.
“As you were,” Brigadier General Fleming Pickering said quickly. The sergeant dropped back into his seat, and a couple of other enlisted men and a captain resumed what they were doing. But Lieutenant Colonel Sidney Huff, MacArthur’s senior aide-de-camp, remained on his feet behind his desk.
“You too, Sid,” Pickering said with a smile. “Sit down.”
He’s looking at my ribbons. Have a good look, Sid.
I should have started wearing the damned things long before this; people are impressed. It’s not so much, look at me, the hero, but rather don’t try to pull that “I’m a regular, you’re nothing but a civilian in uniform” business on me. As these colorful little pieces of cloth attest, I have been there when people were trying to kill me, and failed. And this makes me a warrior, too, if only part time.
“The Supreme Commander is in conference with General Willoughby, General. I’ll see if he can be disturbed.”
“Thank you.”
Huff depressed a lever on what must have been the world’s oldest intercom device and announced Pickering’s presence.
“Show the General in,” MacArthur’s voice replied metallically.
Huff started for MacArthur’s door.
“Sid, I know where it is,” Pickering said.
Huff ignored him. He tapped twice on MacArthur’s door, immediately opened it, stepped halfway inside, and announced, “General Pickering, Sir.”
“Come in, Fleming,” MacArthur said. “I am delighted to receive a Marine this morning. You are entitled to bask in reflected glory.”
“Good morning, General,” Pickering replied with a polite nod in MacArthur’s direction, and then added, “General,” to Brigadier General Charles A. Willoughby, who was standing at a large map of the Solomon Islands mounted on a sheet of plywood, which itself rested on what seemed to be an oversize artist’s tripod.
Willoughby nodded and said, “Pickering.”
Was that to remind me that generals get to call each other by their last names? Or is he emulating El Supremo, who calls everybody but a favored few by their last names?
“That will be all, Huff, thank you,” General MacArthur said. Colonel Huff stepped back into the outer office and closed the door.
“I presume you have a MAGIC intercept,” MacArthur said. “When I had Huff try to find you earlier, he reported you were in the building but not available.”
“Yes, Sir. You sent for me, Sir?”
“Have you seen Vandegrift’s latest After-Action Report?”
“I glanced at it, Sir. You’re referring to the twenty-three hundred twenty-five October AA?”
“Yes. I’ve got it here somewhere.”
He walked to his desk and started to rummage through manila folders.
“There were a number of intercepts, General. Pluto and I were trying to find something interesting.”
“And presumably you did?” MacArthur said. There was a hint of annoyance in his voice. This surprised Pickering until he realized that El Supremo was not annoyed at him; he was annoyed because he couldn’t instantly find what he was looking for.
“One, Sir, I thought would be of particular interest to you,” Pickering said.
MacArthur finally found what he was looking for.
“Ah-ha!” he said triumphantly, and handed a manila folder to Pickering. It was stamped SECRET. “Here you go. Take the time to read it.”
He either didn’t hear anything I said, or chose not to.
“Aye, aye, Sir.”
It was the After-Action that had come in just after one in the morning. He had scanned it, and then gone back to trying to find something of special interest in the MAGIC intercepts.
I better read this carefully. I suspect there’ll be an oral exam. El Supremo is in one of his good moods. And that usually triggers a lecture.
* * *
SECRET
FROM: C
OM GEN 1ST MAR DIV 2325 25OCT42
SUBJECT: AFTER-ACTION REPORT
TO: COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, PACIFIC, PEARL HARBOR
INFO: SUPREME COMMANDER SWPOA, BRISBANE
COMMANDANT, USMC, WASH, DC
1. AT APPROXIMATELY 0030 25OCT42, WITHOUT ARTILLERY OR MORTAR PREPARATION, JAPANESE FORCES, BELIEVED TO BE THE 29TH INFANTRY REGIMENT, ATTACKED POSITIONS TO THE LEFT CENTER OF 1ST BN, 7TH MARINES (LT COL LEWIS B. PULLER) EAST OF BLOODY RIDGE. THE ATTACK WAS CONTAINED BY 1/7, WITH SMALL ARMS AND MORTAR FIRE ASSISTANCE FROM 2ND BN, 164TH INFANTRY, US ARMY.
* * *
A regiment attacking a battalion. Three-to-one odds, right by the book…. And they were “contained” by Puller’s battalion. Chesty Puller is one hell of a Marine.
* * *
2. 3RD BN, 164TH INF, USA, THEN IN REGIMENTAL RESERVE ONE (1) MILE EAST OF HENDERSON FIELD (LT COL ROBERT K. HALL, USA) WAS ORDERED TO REINFORCE 1/7, IN ANTICIPATION OF CONTINUED, OR AUGMENTED JAPANESE ATTACK.
* * *
National Guardsmen. Their enlisted men are older than the Marines—by at least five years. Which means they’ve probably had more training. But this is the first time they’ve been in combat.
* * *
3. BY AGREEMENT BETWEEN LT COL PULLER AND LT COL HALL, TROOPS OF 3/164 USA WERE DISTRIBUTED IN SMALL DETACHMENTS TO UNITS OF 1/7 RATHER THAN TAKING THEIR OWN POSITION ON LINE. RAIN WAS FALLING HEAVILY AND VISIBILITY WAS POOR. IT WAS IN MANY CASES NECESSARY FOR MARINES TO LEAD USA INFANTRY INTO DEFENSE POSITIONS BY HOLDING THEIR HANDS. THE EMPLACEMENT OF USA TROOPS WAS ACCOMPLISHED BY 0330 25OCT42.
* * *
I wonder how that happened. Was it the force of Chesty Puller’s personality that made this Army battalion commander in effect give up his command? Or was he actually wise enough to know that was the thing to do under the circumstances, and to hell with personal dignity and the honor of the Army? I wonder if Chesty would do the same thing if the boot were on the other foot?
* * *
4. ALL AVAILABLE 105-MM HOWITZERS OF 11TH MARINES MAINTAINED FIRE UPON ATTACK AREA THROUGHOUT THIS PERIOD, AUGMENTED BY 37-MM CANNON OF HEAVY WEAPONS COMPANY, 164TH INF USA, FIRING PRIMARILY CANISTER. M COMPANY 7TH MARINES EXPENDED APPROXIMATELY 1,200 ROUNDS 81-MM MORTAR AMMUNITION DURING THE NIGHT.
* * *
God, that’s a lot of 81mm mortar ammo! Even more when you think that somebody had to carry it from the dump after the on-site supply was exhausted.
* * *
5. USA 37-MM CANISTER FIRE ESPECIALLY EFFECTIVE IN CONTAINING SERIES OF JAPANESE ATTACKS DURING PERIOD 0100-0700 25OCT42.
* * *
Well, that’s Vandegrift giving credit where it’s due. That’s six hours of 37mm cannon fire. I wonder how many rounds?
* * *
6. AT APPROXIMATELY 0700 25OCT42, JAPANESE ATTACKS DIMINISHED IN INTENSITY. GREATEST PENETRATION OF US LINES WAS APPROXIMATELY 150 YARD SALIENT IN LINES OF COMBINED 1/7 AND 3/164 USA, AND SALIENT WAS REDUCED BY APPROXIMATELY 0830.
* * *
The best the Japs could do with a regiment in six hours was make a 150-yard dent in our lines; and then they couldn’t hold it! But what did that cost us?
* * *
7. AT APPROXIMATELY 0830 25OCT42, 3/164 USA BEGAN TO ESTABLISH ITS OWN LINES TO LEFT OF 1/7, ESTABLISHMENT CONTINUING THROUGHOUT MORNING.
* * *
Well, the Army battalion commander got command of his battalion back. Did he demand it? Or did Vandegrift decide that it was the best thing to do, tactically? If that’s the case, Vandegrift must think the Army commander knows what he’s doing. Otherwise, he would have kept the soldiers under Puller’s command.
* * *
8. HEAVY JAPANESE ARTILLERY FIRE, PROBABLY 150-MM COMMENCED AT 0800 25OCT42 ON BOTH US LINES AND HENDERSON FIELD. FIRE WAS AT TEN-MINUTE INTERVALS AND CONTINUED UNTIL 1100 25OCT42.
* * *
Their big guns. We have nothing to counter them. Our 155mm’s sailed off with the Navy the day we landed. Goddamn the Navy!
* * *
9. HEAVY RAIN RENDERED FIGHTER STRIP NUMBER ONE INOPERABLE, AND RAIN PLUS DAMAGE FROM JAPANESE HEAVY ARTILLERY RENDERED HENDERSON FIELD RUNWAYS INOPERABLE DURING MORNING. LIMITED US AIR ACTIVITY AFTER 1345.
* * *
Well, at least Pick wasn’t there!
* * *
10. INTENSITY OF JAPANESE AIR ACTIVITY DURING AFTERNOON 25OCT42 SUGGESTED BY ROUGH NOTES OF LT COL L.C. MERILLAT, FOLLOWING:
1423—CONDITION RED. 16 JAP BOMBERS AT 20000 FT, FIVE MILES
1430—INTENSE BOMBING OF KUKUM BEACH
1434—1 BOMBER SHOT DOWN, REMAINDER LEAVING
1435—1 BOMBER HAS PORT MOTOR SHOT OUT
1436—2 ZERO SHOT DOWN OVER HENDERSON
1442—ANOTHER JAP FORMATION APPROACHING
1451—1 ZERO SHOT DOWN
1456—HENDERSON STRAFED BY THREE ZEROS
1502—NINE ZEKES BOMB HENDERSON AIRCRAFT GRAVEYARD
1507—HENDERSON STRAFED BY SIX ZEROS
1516—CONDITION GREEN
* * *
Thank God, Pick wasn’t there. I wonder where he is.
* * *
11. AT APPROXIMATELY 2000 25OCT42, LIGHT (105-MM AND SMALLER) JAPANESE ARTILLERY BARRAGE COMMENCED ON NOW SEPARATE POSITIONS OF 1/7 AND 3/164 USA AND CONTINUED INTERMITTENTLY UNTIL 2100.
* * *
The standard artillery “softening up” barrage. How the hell did the Japanese move that much ammunition over that terrain? The most one man can carry is one 105mm shell at a time. For that matter, how did they get their cannon in position?
* * *
12. AT 2100 25OCT42 SMALL JAPANESE ATTACKS, IN STRENGTH OF 30 TO 200, UNDER MACHINEGUN COVER COMMENCED PRIMARILY AGAINST 3/164 USA AND CONTINUED UNTIL APPROXIMATELY 2400. 37-MM CANNON OF WEAPONS COMPANY, 7TH MARINES KILLED AT LEAST 250 OF THE ENEMY WITH CANISTER AT CLOSE RANGE. NO SIGNIFICANT PENETRATION OF US LINES OCCURRED.
* * *
Jesus, you have to give the Japs credit for tenacity! They kept attacking for three hours! Did they know they were attacking soldiers and not Marines? Sure, they did. They have good scouts, too. They knew what they were doing. And the Army fooled them. It cost the Japs 250 men to learn that this wasn’t the Philippines; that if they haven’t been starved and they have ammunition to fight with, American soldiers, American National Guardsmen, are not pushovers.
* * *
13. AT APPROXIMATELY 0300 26OCT42, JAPANESE STRUCK IN FORCE AT LINES OF 2ND BN 7TH MARINES (LT COL HANNEKAN) WITH MAJOR EFFORT AT F COMPANY 2/7TH, WHICH WAS FORCED TO TEMPORARILY WITHDRAW AT 0500.
* * *
“Temporarily withdraw” is a euphemism. Maybe it wasn’t a retreat, but Fox company certainly got pushed out of their positions.
* * *
14. A COUNTERATTACK WAS LAUNCHED UNDER EXEC OFF 2/7TH (MAJ O.M. CONELY). TROOPS CONSISTED OF RADIOMEN, MESSMEN, BANDSMEN, WHO WERE JOINED BY ELEMENTS OF COMPANY G AND 2 PLATOONS OF COMPANY C, 1/5TH MARINES. AMONG PARTICIPANTS WAS PLATOON SERGEANT MITCHELL PAIGE, USMC, WHO IS BEING RECOMMENDED FOR MEDAL OF HONOR FOR VALOR IN ACTION DESCRIBED IN 13 ABOVE.
* * *
Conely apparently rounded up everybody who could hold a rifle—cooks and hornplayers and stragglers and the lost—and sounded charge.
I wonder what the sergeant actually did to get his name in this? The British call that sort of thing “mentioned in despatches.” We don’t normally do it. Sergeant Paige must be one incredible Marine!
* * *
15. BY APPROXIMATELY 0600 THE SITUATION WAS WELL IN HAND, WITH ALL POSITIONS LOST IN US HANDS. APPROXIMATELY 300 JAPANESE BODIES WERE FOUND IN AREA OF F COMPANY 2/7TH.
* * *
Jesus, what amounted to less than a company of Marines—dragged up on the battlefield and just told to go out and fight—killed 300 Japs!
* * *
16. BY APPROXIMATELY 0800, SIGNIFICANT JAPANESE ACTIVITY HAD CEASED.
17. JAPANESE LOSSES ARE ESTIMATED AT APPROXIMATELY TWO THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED (2200) KIA.
* * *
<
br /> Sonofabitch! Twenty-two hundred dead. Six companies…a battalion and a half…dead! But what did it cost us? Here it is:
* * *
18. US LOSSES: USMC AND USA ESTIMATED TOTAL 105 KIA, 242 WIA, 7 MIA AS FOLLOWS:
A. FIELD GRADE OFFICER KIA FOUR (4)
B. FIELD GRADE OFFICER WIA THREE (3)
C. COMPANY GRADE OFFICER KIA TWELVE (12)
D. COMPANY GRADE OFFICER WIA SIXTEEN (16)
E. ENLISTED KIA EIGHTY-NINE (89)
F. ENLISTED WIA TWO HUNDRED FIFTEEN (215)
G. MISSING IN ACTION SEVEN (7)
H. HENDERSON FIELD IS OPERABLE; FIGHTER STRIP MINIMALLY SO.
VANDEGRIFT MAJ GEN USMC COMMANDING
SECRET
* * *
Jesus Christ, the Japanese took a whipping! Almost ten to one! How do they get their men to keep fighting when they’re taking losses like that?
Pickering looked up from the After-Action Report to find MacArthur’s eyes on him.
“You said something about an interesting MAGIC intercept, Fleming?”
“I have it here,” Pickering said, then took several folded-together sheets of paper from the right bellows pocket of his blouse.
Close Combat Page 28
