THE EXPENDABLES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 58, 23 March 1943, Page 5

THE EXPENDABLES

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS A SPOT OF SYMPATHY LEAVE Everyone lias heard the expression "Hie Marines have landed and the situation is well in hand." but fev laymen realise that the captains ol tactics (as distinct from the lords of strategy) whenever they lind it ncccssary to establish a bridgehead or storm a breach on hostile shores, regard their original landing parties us "expended."' In other words long before the Marines land the attacking authorities have written the first detachme.nt. ofl' as a loss. Thus in a thirty-milc-an-hour war. In a three hundred mile an hour war the Marine Air Corps zooms in ahead of the "Expendables" and their Avastage can only be left to the imagination. But those Avho surviA r c carry with them an 'aura" as noticeable as the 'mana' of an old-time Maori chief. They carry the mark of men who h.Tve come through a gap almost too tight for humanity. It Avas the honour and privilege of. two Whakatane businessmen to meet such a body of Marine pilots on a recent week-end trip to Auckland. They Avere Gapt. Joe Foss and Lieutenants Tom Furlow, Roger Haberman, Oscar Bate and Frank Presley, all of the United States Marine Corps. Wartime has close-knit these men into a comradeship that had to be felt to be appreciated. Lounging at their ease upon an hotel balcony, with a small table multi-coA'cred with enticing cool drinks, they indulged in a pastime born of boredom in the South Pacific, totally heedless of the liurrj-ing city about them. The conversation shopped around a little until Lieut Tom Furlow came out Avith the. assertion that money Avas the curse of civilisation and the company settled doAvn to take sides and enjoy themselves. Fclloaa t s like Henry Ford—although kindly capitalists, piled too much money into one heap; averred Lieut Tom, and a certain redistribution was to be recommended. Every home should be free from Avant, should own radio, Avashing machine and refrigerator and all kids should get. an equal chance, of college education—thus propounded the alumnus of the university of Arkansas. Eagerly o\ie of the Whakatane businessmen joined in the battle, on the grounds that lie hated all capitalists. Lieut. Oscar Bate tlien joined the combat supported by Whakatane No. 2 with the avowal that, gold Avas Avere you found it, and that they personally Avere going to hang on to their coins so tightly that in the one case lady Liberty Avould scream with suffocation and in the other the: local Kiwi would shriek for mercy ere they disgorged one penny of their gains. And so the merry game Avent on, everybody "ribbed" everybody else totally Avithout. rancour and the liquors got smaller as. the bottles got larger. When Tom Furlow got hopelessly inA'Oivcd, Roger Habcrman came to Vis aid; Frank Presley refused ta be drawn, but smiled impartially upon eA T erybody. Fun Avas fun, but Whakatane No. 2 has a thirteen year old son Avho Avas bound to ply him Avitli questions of numbers of Japs shot doAvn, and Avhat kind of plane did the ace fly etc. so gently turned the conversation round to the facts so recently in hand. Yes, Capt Joe Foss had collected 28 Japs but most of them committed Hari-ikiri by flying into his bullets, he shot several on the ground,, but most of his A'ictories Avere accidental. Lieut Tom Furlow Avas A-ery sorry but lie only had nine victims, you see he Avas about the youngest, and the big felloAVS made him do all the dirty Avork back in the drag, whilst they Hew on to glory. His were mostly accidents too. With that Whakatane No. 2 had to be satisfied and the Yankee idea of "shiaeking'' Avcnt the Avhole Aveek-r end. But tAA'O closing incidents Avere very revealing. The February American Digest Avas deliA'cred and therein lA*a Walfert is reprinted from the New York Times in an article called "Grandstand View of Jap Naval Disaster" and I quote "The Intensity of the action—which lasted only ten mftnuteS'—is shown by the case! • Capt Joe Foss, a Marine ace I'rdm South Dakota, Avho shot down ope Zero at 29.000 feet, then dove down ta 3000 feet and destroyed tAvo torpedo Viombers, diving so rapidly that he was Avorking on his third A r ictim before tile first had completed its fall into the sea. That you an idea.'* '

It gives you an idea alright! But if the Whakatane pair- couldn't get any talcs of Dcrring do, they determined to get a picture and they carted Tom Furlow off to the dusty box room and pryed open tin. indestructo trunk provided by Tom's Uncle Sam. Whilst the. pair were making their choice of pinto operational pictures (since nicely framed in gold by George Caislcy and proudly hung in their respective offices) a typewritten document fluttered out of. Lieut Furlow*s log book to the dusty floor only to be swooped down upon by the Lietiten.-. ant and quickly restored to the trunk. But not quickly enough! Tom didn't know that, one of his guests had spent most of his life as a commercial traveller and is still New Zealand's expert at reading his clients "wanted" book upside down with the view of scrounging a few more 'lines' of merchandise for his firm. Scarcely had the typewritten document fluttered to the floor when hehad read "The President and Congress of the United States present" . . . citation . . valour . , . highest a\var<i . . . Navy Cros»s Lieut T. W. Furlow ... , . and .signed with the magic name "Nhnetz"— ■ * 9 Admiral Nimelz aiul American? have been accused of over-enthusiasm regarding some, of the things thty have done. * The writer is of the opinion that most Americans have something that can be mighty useful before, and after any kind of war. In fact, if the framing of our future life is left to the. "doers" of the> United.-Na-*» J£o^Ji^ r ,|his. war,- we shoul<| have**: little in winping the Peacefe* too! -'