THE EMPIRE'S WAR ACTIVITIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 7, 17 September 1943, Page 3

THE EMPIRE'S WAR ACTIVITIES

AJRCRAFT CARRIER WASP

HIT BY THREE TORPEDOES

A THRILLING STORY

The aircraft carrier Wasp had bad iluck, and in waters outside, of here ran head-on into one of those rotten twists of circumstances that turn up during war (wrote Ira Wolfert from Guadalcanar on October 13). About three o'clock on a clear, tranquil, sunlit afternoon, it. took three ■torpedoes from a submarine. It was built to take three times that, many without blanching, but the-Jirst one nosed into a bomb that blew to blazes all over everywhere. The second tin fish sw&m clear through. After that the third one did not matter to the Wasp, but was just a kick in the head of the dying body of the Wasp, helpless to staunch its wounds. The Wasp died a lingering death, burning for hours Avith vast, blazing spewings that looked like' the mouth of war itself opened wide. Our ship's hovered around it as anxiously as a covey of doctors around an agonising millionaire's bedside, but in the end United States destroyers reluctantly had to give the coup de : grace with torpedoes.

The loss of life on the Wasp was comparatively light, considering the way its luck was running and it was reduced by the heroism of the men aboard, heroism which, judging by the conduct of the Navy in this greatest and most prolonged naval battle in history, seems to be as much a part of the standard, equipment of our fellows as the tags they wear around their necks. Set a New Record A substantial ingredient of heroism is the ability to keep thinking in the face of disaster and to conquer the instinct of. self-preserva-tion and never to let go- of anything until the experts command, otherwise. A Wasp survivor story that best 'illustrates this feature of the United States' Navy is told by Ensign John Jen'ks Mitchell, 22 year old Annapolis graduate from Washington, D.C. As his shipmates put it, Mitchell established a new world's record fo>r an involuntary high jump by getting himself blown thirty feet high and sixty feet away. The record, for a surVivor in the last war was bei

l'ieved to have, been thirty feet high and a few feet away.

Ensign Mitchell is now convalescing very nicely here from a broken leg. His major distress seems to be that the broken leg temporarily is preventing him from passing the physical examination necessary before receiving a promotion to lieutenant, which lie has been given. Mitchell described his experience with considerable amusement. "I am somewhat ashamed of my story," said Ensign Mitchell. "As far as I am concerned, it consisted of a loud, unruly noise—something like a railroad train going up a flight of stairs —and the next thing li knew it was ten days later and I wanted a cigarette. My friends here have told me what I, did and saw during those ten days. I'n fact, this ware! has been something like a fraternity house on the morning after the night before, each man telling the other what lie did while under the influence of—say, high explosives. "General quarters had been on all day and I had. just been relieved when a. seaman in the crew of my gun station said in a somewhat unseamanlike way, 'Mr Mitchell, what's 'at. funny looking thing out there?' Alarm Given in Tenor Voice "It was a torpedo wake. I sounded an alarm in a voice that may be described as similar to a thrilled tenor, because the torpedo was coming right under my feet. I remember that, the Wasp started to turn, but being a careful sort of a man, the next thing that happened I\ was going hastily toward the bridge. The torpedo influenced my decision. It came in under my feet, apparently, although my vision may have been prejudiced, close enough to peel the soles off my shoes. It missed my shoes,, but hit the bomb I was standing over. | "They tell me I. landed right at the feet, of my superior officers on the bridge in a posture unbecoming even an ensign, being flat on my back." The bridge, it developed, was from twenty-five to thirty-five feet above and exactly sixty feet away from where Ensign Mitchell had been standing when he was blown up. l'n disclosing this fact, Ensign Mitchell laughed uproariously and said: "In fact, I am thinking of putting in my chit to qualify for landing on the flight deck." Then becoming serious, he added in a low tone: "I guess God had His hand, on my shoulder that time. I started for

the Pearly Gates, but Ho stopped me in mkl-air." As far as can be learned here, Ensign Mitchell i.s the sole survivor of his gun crew. Remarkable Escape After that, another remarkable thing happened to keep Ensign Mitchell alive. In the condition in which he landed there was considerable evidence to indicate that he was dead. But even in the awful circumstances then shaping up over the whole ship, the Navy refused to let one of their own be marked off for the Japanese until the. experts called the score. The experts were far from the bridge at the time, so Lieutenant Courtney Sliands, who is now a few beds away and looking in very good shape, and Commander Beakley strapped the ensign to a stretcher. Then Lieutenant Shands, dropped down to the explosive murk below where aeroplanes and their ammunition were popping like balloons on New Year's Eve and. dug a raft from an aeroplane for the unconscious boy.. The ensign was lowered carefully to the calm sea. But the raft was top-heavy and it turned over, leaving its occupant tightly secured under some half-dozen feet of water. The sea was full of sharks, which were attracted by the bloody gruel of bodies, and everybody in it was under great temptation to make tracks away from there. But Lieutenant Robert Slye struggled with the raft until he righted it, pausing every now and then to thrash at the sharks with his feet. Ensign Mitchell spoke with great emation of this part of his adventure and said he w T oukl feel grateful for the rest of his life both to the men and the spirit of the Navy which stimulated men to act this way.