Retreat, Hell! Part 50

"Where are we going? Pusan or Seoul?" he asked.

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning if we can get on the 1500 courier plane to Seoul, you'll have time to meet Colonel Vandenburg this afternoon and tonight, then fly to Socho-Ri in the morning and see the Killer and Zimmerman, and then be in Pusan probably four, five hours before the tin can can get Pick off the carrier and deliver him there. Which means, your choice, you can have Dunston fly to Seoul from Pusan this afternoon-my suggestion-or have him wait for you in Pusan."

"That's not an answer to my question," Pickering said.

"Yes it is, boss," Hart said softly but firmly. "I kept my mouth shut when you and the Killer were going through that 'we can't use a helicopter that's needed to transport the wounded to look for him' n.o.ble Marine Corps bulls.h.i.+t, but enough's enough. You have valid reasons to go to Korea. Be glad you do. You and Pick are ent.i.tled to get together. Now, where are we going, Pusan or Seoul?"

After a long pause, Pickering said, "Seoul."

Hart nodded and returned to the telephone.

"Brigadier General F. Pickering, USMC, will require three seats on the 1500 courier to Seoul," he said.

Whoever he was talking to said something.

"Hey, Captain!" Hart barked into the phone, interrupting the person on the other end. "Whoa! Save your breath! I don't give a good G.o.dd.a.m.n if you have seats available or not. We have a priority that'll b.u.mp anybody but Douglas MacArthur, and we intend to use it. Am I getting through to you?"

Hart turned to Pickering, intending to smile at him. He saw that Pickering had stood up and was looking out the window. As Hart watched, Pickering blew his nose loudly.

"We're on the 1500, boss," Hart said.

General Pickering nodded his understanding, but he didn't trust his voice to speak.

[TWO].

USS MANSFIELD MANSFIELD (DD-728) 37.54 DEGREES NORTH LAt.i.tUDE 130.05 DEGREES EAST LONGITUDE THE SEA OF j.a.pAN 1505 16 OCTOBER 1950 (DD-728) 37.54 DEGREES NORTH LAt.i.tUDE 130.05 DEGREES EAST LONGITUDE THE SEA OF j.a.pAN 1505 16 OCTOBER 1950.

Lieutenant Commander C. Lewis Matthews III, USN, a very large, open-faced thirty-nine-year-old, took a final look out the spray-soaked window of his bridge, then walked to the rear of the bridge and pressed the ANNOUNCE lever on the public-address system control panel mounted on the bulkhead.

"Attention all hands. This is the captain speaking," he announced. He knew that within seconds he would have the attention of every man aboard.

On being given command of the Mansfield, Mansfield, he had received advice from both his father and grandfather. In addition to a good deal else, they had both told him to stay the h.e.l.l off the PA system unless he had something important to say. he had received advice from both his father and grandfather. In addition to a good deal else, they had both told him to stay the h.e.l.l off the PA system unless he had something important to say.

"Don't fall in love with the sound of your own voice," Vice Admiral Charles L. Matthews, USN, Ret., his grandfather, had told him. "Remember the little kid who kept crying 'wolf.' "

Rear Admiral C. L. Matthews, Jr., his father, had put much the same thought this way: "Stay off the squawk box, Lew, unless you have something really important to say. When you say 'This is the captain speaking,' you want everybody to pay attention, not groan and say, 'Jesus Christ, again?' "

Lew Matthews had taken that advice, and right now was glad he had.

"We're about to pull alongside the Badoeng Strait, Badoeng Strait," Captain Lew Matthews announced. "We are going to make an underway transfer of two officers from Badoeng Strait. Badoeng Strait. One of them is a physician. The other is a Marine pilot who was shot down right after this war started, and has been behind the enemy's lines until his rescue yesterday. Once we have them aboard, we will make for Pusan at best speed, where a hospital plane will be waiting to fly the Marine to the hospital at Sasebo. Do this right. The one thing this Marine doesn't need after all he's gone through is to take a bath in the Sea of j.a.pan." One of them is a physician. The other is a Marine pilot who was shot down right after this war started, and has been behind the enemy's lines until his rescue yesterday. Once we have them aboard, we will make for Pusan at best speed, where a hospital plane will be waiting to fly the Marine to the hospital at Sasebo. Do this right. The one thing this Marine doesn't need after all he's gone through is to take a bath in the Sea of j.a.pan."

He let go of the ANNOUNCE lever and walked to the spray-soaked window of the bridge, took a look at the seas and the gray bulk of the Badoeng Strait Badoeng Strait dead ahead, and shook his head. dead ahead, and shook his head.

He turned and caught the attention of the officer of the deck, then pointed to himself.

"The captain has the conn!" the officer of the deck announced.

"Bring us alongside the Badoeng Strait, Badoeng Strait," Matthews ordered the helmsman, describing with his finger how he wanted the Mansfield Mansfield to move and where. to move and where.

He turned to the officer of the deck and nodded.

The officer of the deck went to the control panel, depressed the ANNOUNCE lever, and said, "Attention all hands. Make all preparations for underway personnel transfer."

[THREE].

USS BADOENG STRAIT BADOENG STRAIT (CVE -116) 37.54 DEGREES NORTH LAt.i.tUDE 130.05 DEGREES EAST LONGITUDE THE SEA OF j.a.pAN 1515 16 OCTOBER 1950 (CVE -116) 37.54 DEGREES NORTH LAt.i.tUDE 130.05 DEGREES EAST LONGITUDE THE SEA OF j.a.pAN 1515 16 OCTOBER 1950.

Lieutenant Bruce D. Patterson, MC, USNR, wearing foul-weather gear and an inflated life jacket, was sitting in a bosun's chair. The chair-an item of Navy gear evolved from a sort of canvas seat that hauled sailors aloft to work on masts and sails, and thus was probably as old as the anchor-was suspended under a cable that had been rigged between one of the higher decks of the USS Mansfield Mansfield and an interior strong point in the USS and an interior strong point in the USS Badoeng Strait Badoeng Strait that was accessible through a square port in her side. that was accessible through a square port in her side.

"All things considered, Major Pickering," Lieutenant Patterson said, "I very much regret ever having met you."

Major Malcolm S. Pickering, USMCR, who was also wearing foul-weather gear and an inflated life jacket, and was strapped into a second bosun's chair, smiled, shrugged, held out both hands in front of him, and said, "Jeez, Doc, I thought you liked me."

There was laughter from the dozen Marine aviators who were on hand to watch Good Ol' Pick get transferred to the destroyer.

Another Marine aviator in a flight suit walked up to them.

"I don't suppose it occurred to any of you guys that you might be in the way down here," Lieutenant Colonel William C. Dunn, USMC, said.

Lieutenant Colonel Dunn was not in a very good mood. He had just finished what he considered the most unpleasant duty laid upon a commanding officer.

And it was still painfully fresh in his mind: USS BADOENG STRAIT (CVE - 116) MARINE AIR GROUP 33 A T SEA16 October 1950 MRS. BARBARA C. MITCh.e.l.l.

APARTMENT 12-D, "OCEANVIEW"

1005 OCEAN DRIVE.

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIADEAR BABS:BY NOW, I'M SURE THAT YOU HAVE BEEN OFFICIALLY NOTIFIED OF d.i.c.k'S DEATH. I THOUGHT THAT YOU WOULD BE INTERESTED IN WHAT I CAN TELL YOU OF WHAT HAPPENED.WE WERE IN A SIX-CORSAIR FLIGHT OVER NORTH KOREA, NEAR HUNGNAM, ON THE EAST COAST OF THE KOREAN PENINSULA. OUR MISSION WAS IN SUPPORT OF THE I REPUBLIC OF KOREA CORPS, WHICH IS IN PURSUIT OF RETREATING NORTH KOREAN ARMY FORCES.WHAT WE WERE CHARGED WITH DOING WAS INTERDICTING NORTH KOREA TROOPS TO BOTH SLOW THEIR RETREAT AND HIT THEM AS HARD AS WE CAN. WHEN THE SOUTH KOREANS DID NOT HAVE A TARGET FOR US, WE MADE SWEEPS OVER THE AREA, LOOKING FOR SUITABLE TARGETS OURSELVES.ON THE AFTERNOON OF 14 OCTOBER, I DIVIDED THE FLIGHT INTO THREE TWO-CORSAIR ELEMENTS, WITH MYSELF AND MY WINGMAN, LIEUTENANT STAN SUPROWSKI, IN THE LEAD AND FIVE HUNDRED FEET ABOVE THE SECOND ELEMENT, WHICH WAS CAPTAIN JACK DERWINSKI, WHOM I KNOW YOU KNOW, AND WHO WAS A CLOSE FRIEND OF d.i.c.k'S. LIEUTENANT SAM WILLIAMS WAS FLYING AS JACK'S WINGMAN. THEY WERE FIVE HUNDRED FEET ABOVE THE THIRD ELEMENT, WHICH WAS d.i.c.k, WITH CAPTAIN LESTER STEPPES FLYING ON HIS WING.A LITTLE AFTER TWO-THIRTY, FROM MY GREATER ALt.i.tUDE, I WAS ABLE TO SEE A COLUMN OF TROOPS MIXED WITH SOME TRUCKS AND OTHER VEHICLES. TO MAKE SURE THEY WERE NOT FRIENDLY FORCES, I Pa.s.sED THE WORD THAT I WOULD MAKE A Pa.s.s OVER THEM, AND THAT IF THEY WERE INDEED THE ENEMY, THE OTHERS WERE TO ATTACK, STARTING WITH SUPROWSKI, WHO WAS NOW A THOUSAND FEET BEHIND ME, AND THEN THE OTHER TWO ELEMENTS.I MADE THE Pa.s.s, AND RECEIVED SOME SMALL-CALIBER FIRE, WHEREUPON I GAVE THE ORDER FOR THE OTHERS TO ATTACK.I THEN PULLED UP, MADE A 180-DEGREE TURN, AND SHORTLY THEREAFTER WAS FLYING A THOUSAND FEET OR SO BEHIND d.i.c.k AND CAPTAIN STEPPES AT NO MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED FEET OFF THE DECK. I COULD SEE d.i.c.k AND LESTER'S TRACER AMMUNITION STRIKING THE ENEMY COLUMN.AND THEN, TO MY HORROR, I SAW d.i.c.k GO IN. ACTUALLY, IT HAPPENED SO QUICKLY THAT THE FIRST SIGN OF TROUBLE I SAW WAS THE FIREBALL OF d.i.c.k'S AIRCRAFT.THERE IS NO QUESTION WHATEVER IN MY MIND THAT HE DIED INSTANTLY, AND IT IS ENTIRELY LIKELY THAT d.i.c.k WAS STRUCK AND KILLED BY ANTIAIRCRAFT MACHINE-GUN FIRE BEFORE HIS CORSAIR CRASHED.ON MY FIRST Pa.s.s OVER THE CRASH SITE-SECONDS LATER-THERE WAS NOTHING TO BE SEEN BUT THE FIREBALL. ON SUBSEQUENT Pa.s.sES, AFTER THE FIRE HAD BURNED ITSELF OUT, I WAS FORCED TO CONCLUDE THAT NO ONE COULD HAVE SURVIVED THE CRASH.ON RETURNING TO THE BADOENG STRAIT, I WAS ABLE TO MAKE CONTACT WITH A MARINE UNIT ON Sh.o.r.e WHICH HAS ACCESS TO AN H-19 HELICOPTER, AND THEY ARE AS THIS IS WRITTEN IN THE PROCESS OF GETTING d.i.c.k'S REMAINS. I KNOW THEY WILL DO THEIR VERY BEST, NOT ONLY AS FELLOW MARINES, BUT BECAUSE AMONG THEM IS A MASTER GUNNER WHO KNEW d.i.c.k IN NORTH CAROLINA, AND HELD HIM IN BOTH HIGH ESTEEM AND AFFECTION.AS SOON AS I LEARN ANYTHING ABOUT THIS, I WILL IMMEDIATELY LET YOU KNOW.I DON'T THINK I HAVE TO TELL YOU HOW ALL THE MARINES IN MAG33 FELT ABOUT d.i.c.k. HE WAS A SUPERB PILOT, AND A FINE MARINE OFFICER, AND WE SHALL ALL MISS HIM VERY MUCH.THIS WILL PROBABLY OFFER LITTLE IN THE WAY OF CONSOLATION, BUT I HAVE JUST BEEN NOTIFIED THAT MY RECOMMENDATION FOR THE AWARD OF THE DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS HAS BEEN APPROVED. THAT WILL BE HIS THIRD AWARD OF THE DFC.IF THERE IS ANYTHING I CAN DO TO BE OF SERVICE AT ANY TIME, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.SINCERELY, William C. Dunn WILLIAM C. DUNN.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL, USMC.

COMMANDING.

Dunn walked up to Pickering.

"Jesus, Billy," Pickering said. "How about cutting a little slack? The guys just came to see me off."

Dunn didn't respond directly. He thrust a large oilskin envelope at Pickering. "Can I rely on you to get this in the mail as soon as you get to j.a.pan?" he asked.

"Depends on what's in it," Pick said.

"My condolence letter to Babs Mitch.e.l.l."

Pick's smile faded. "Sure," he said, and took the envelope and stuffed it inside the foul-weather gear.

Dunn walked to the open door and peered out.

He saw that while weather conditions could not-yet-be accurately described as a storm, there were strong winds, five-to eight-foot swells, and it was raining, sometimes in gusts.

He saw that as the Mansfield Mansfield and and Badoeng Strait Badoeng Strait moved through the sea, with an intended s.p.a.ce of fifty feet between them, they did not move up and down in unison. Only when the moved through the sea, with an intended s.p.a.ce of fifty feet between them, they did not move up and down in unison. Only when the Mansfield, Mansfield, moving upward, for example, was exactly on a level with the moving upward, for example, was exactly on a level with the Badoeng Strait, Badoeng Strait, moving downward, was the cable stretched between them fairly level. moving downward, was the cable stretched between them fairly level.

At all other times, it formed a loop, with one of the vessels at the top of the loop and the other at the bottom.

In addition, if the seas caused one vessel to lean to port and the other to starboard, the cable would be subject to a stress capable of snapping it as they moved apart unless additional cable was released from the winch. Conversely, if the vessels leaned toward each other, the lower part of the loop tended to go into the water, unless the cable was quickly winched in.

Dunn pulled his head in and looked at Chief Petty Officer Felix J. Orlovski, who had been in the Navy longer than many of his sailors were old.

"How are we doing with this, Chief?"

"We're about to make a test run, sir," the chief said, and pointed upward to the cable. A third bosun's chair was hooked to it.

"What's that strapped inside?" Dunn asked.

"The doc's medical bag, sir, and some weights to bring it to two hundred pounds. You want me to go ahead, sir?"

Dunn nodded, and Chief Orlovski bellowed, "CHAIR AWAY!"

The chair began to move between the s.h.i.+ps. When it was almost exactly in the middle between them, the two vessels leaned toward each other. The loop in the cable dropped the bosun's chair to the surface of the sea, where it sank briefly beneath it.

When the two s.h.i.+ps leaned away from each other, the loop straightened and the bosun's chair rose out of the water. As it continued to move toward the Mansfield, Mansfield, everyone watching the "transfer" could see that Lieutenant Patterson's medical bag and the weights that had been in the seat were no longer there. everyone watching the "transfer" could see that Lieutenant Patterson's medical bag and the weights that had been in the seat were no longer there.

Major Pickering said, "I am offering three-to-five the doc never makes it"-there was appreciative laughter from the pilots-"in which case, the colonel's going to have to think of some better way to get me off this vessel."

More laughter.

Dunn looked coldly at Pickering but said nothing.

He had been giving Pickering a lot of thought ever since the Air Force pilot had relayed McCoy's "Bingo, heads up" message.

His first reaction had been personal: joy and relief that Pickering had not perished in some desolate rice paddy or at the end of some North Korean's bayonet. That was understandable. They had been close friends since Guadalca.n.a.l, when, flying VMF-229 Grumman Wildcats off of Fighter One, Second Lieutenant Pickering had been First Lieutenant Dunn's wingman.

His second reaction, he'd originally thought, was sort of cold-blooded professional. Pickering's return to the Badoeng Strait Badoeng Strait after everyone-including himself-had decided he wouldn't come back at all was going to do a great deal to restore the sagging morale d.i.c.k Mitch.e.l.l's death had caused among his pilots. after everyone-including himself-had decided he wouldn't come back at all was going to do a great deal to restore the sagging morale d.i.c.k Mitch.e.l.l's death had caused among his pilots.

The first unkind or unpleasant thought had come when the Army pilot had flown the black H-19A out to the Badoeng Strait. Badoeng Strait. For one thing, he had heard and believed that helicopters-particularly new ones, and the H-19A was as new as they came-were notoriously unreliable. Somebody who knew what he was talking about had told him that if it were not for the helicopter's ability to land practically anywhere-or, for that matter, to flutter without power to the ground in what they called an "autorotation"-they would be banned as a general hazard to mankind. For one thing, he had heard and believed that helicopters-particularly new ones, and the H-19A was as new as they came-were notoriously unreliable. Somebody who knew what he was talking about had told him that if it were not for the helicopter's ability to land practically anywhere-or, for that matter, to flutter without power to the ground in what they called an "autorotation"-they would be banned as a general hazard to mankind.

It was well over one hundred miles from Socho-Ri to where the Badoeng Strait Badoeng Strait cruised in the Sea of j.a.pan. Finding the s.h.i.+p itself was risky. And if the H-19A had engine trouble, the "can land anywhere" and "autorotation" safety features would be useless at sea. It could flutter to the sea intact, of course, but then it would immediately begin to sink. cruised in the Sea of j.a.pan. Finding the s.h.i.+p itself was risky. And if the H-19A had engine trouble, the "can land anywhere" and "autorotation" safety features would be useless at sea. It could flutter to the sea intact, of course, but then it would immediately begin to sink.

Dunn hadn't thought the H-19A would have life jackets-much less a rubber lifeboat-aboard, and he checked, and it didn't. Everybody on board would have died if they hadn't been able to make it to the Badoeng Strait. Badoeng Strait.

And that was only the beginning of the problem. The Army aviator who had flown the machine had never landed on an aircraft carrier before. Dunn had admired his courage, and later his flying skill, but he had thought that if it hadn't been for Pick trying to become the first Marine locomotive ace, he wouldn't have been shot down, and no one would have had to risk their lives to save his a.s.s.

That Pick had not been brought up short by a direct order to stop flying all over the Korean landscape looking for a locomotive to shoot up instead of what he was supposed to do, was what was known at the Command and General Staff College as a failure of command supervision. Major Pickering's a.s.shole behavior had been tolerated, not stopped, by his commander, whose name was Dunn, William C.

Phrased another way, what that meant was that Colonel Billy Dunn was really responsible for all the lives risked, and all the effort spent, to save Pick Pickering's a.s.s, because if he had done his job, Pick would not have been shot down trying to become the first locomotive ace in the Marine Corps.

"You ready, Doc?" Chief Orlovski asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Patterson replied.

"CHAIR AWAY!" Orlovski bellowed.

Dr. Patterson, in disturbingly quick order, felt himself being hauled up vertically, then moving horizontally off the Badoeng Strait, Badoeng Strait, then sinking suddenly toward the Sea of j.a.pan, then felt his feet being knocked out from under him as they actually encountered the Sea of j.a.pan, then rising vertically and sideways at once, and then having strong male arms wrapped around him, and then dropping with a thump to the deck as someone released the bosun's chair from the cable. then sinking suddenly toward the Sea of j.a.pan, then felt his feet being knocked out from under him as they actually encountered the Sea of j.a.pan, then rising vertically and sideways at once, and then having strong male arms wrapped around him, and then dropping with a thump to the deck as someone released the bosun's chair from the cable.

Major Pickering turned to Lieutenant Colonel Dunn.

"I really don't want to do that, Billy," he said.

"Shut up, Pick," Dunn said, not very pleasantly.

Two sailors, supervised by a chief petty officer, began to attach Major Pickering's chair to the cable.

"As a matter of fact," Major Pickering said, "I'll be G.o.dd.a.m.ned if I'll do that." He looked over his shoulder, saw Chief Orlovski, and ordered: "Get me out of this thing, Chief."

Pick started to unfasten the straps, and was startled to find Colonel Dunn's hand roughly knocking his fingers away from the buckle.

"Hook him up, Chief," Dunn ordered. "He's going."

"I am like h.e.l.l!" Pick protested.

"You're going, Pick," Colonel Dunn said. "G.o.dd.a.m.n you!"

"In my delicate condition, I really think it's ill-advised," Pick said lightly, and added, "I really would prefer to wait for weather that will permit me to fly off this vessel, as befitting a Marine officer, aviator, and gentleman, if that's all right with you, Colonel, sir."

"No, it's not all right with me, you self-important sonofab.i.t.c.h, " Dunn said furiously. "Your delicate condition is your own G.o.dd.a.m.n fault. And we both know it." Dunn turned to Orlovski: "Snap it up, Chief!"

"What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you, Billy?" Pick demanded.

"There's not a d.a.m.n thing wrong with me. Your problem is that you have never, not f.u.c.king ever, really understood you're a Marine officer who does what he's ordered to do."

"What brought this on?" Pick asked, genuinely surprised at Dunn's tone.

"You really don't care how much trouble your childish behavior has caused, do you? Or how many good people have put their necks out to save you from the consequences of your soph.o.m.oric s...o...b..ating, do you?"

"Jesus Christ!" Pick said softly.

"Haul him away, Chief!" Dunn ordered coldly.

Chief Petty Officer Felix J. Orlovski bellowed, "CHAIR AWAY!"

Ninety seconds later, after a brief but thoroughly soaking dip in the Sea of j.a.pan, Major Pickering was sitting on the deck of the USS Mansfield. Mansfield.

A ruddy-faced chief bent over Pickering to help him out of the bosun's chair.

"I'm really sorry you got dunked, Major," he said, obviously meaning it. "It was the last G.o.dd.a.m.n thing I wanted to have happen to you."

"Chief, the skipper says the major is to go to his cabin," a voice said.