FOUR OF MEN TAKEN ASHORE ON STRETCHERS

Chronicle (Levin), 21 November 1949, Page 5

FOUR OF MEN TAKEN ASHORE ON STRETCHERS

Received Monday, 10.50 a.m. NEW YORK, Nov. 20. Four of the 18 United States Air Force men rescued after a threeday ordeal on drifting rafts had to be taken ashore at Hamilton, Bermuda, today on stretchers. The other 14, although suffering from salt burns, bruises and exposure, were able to walk All were taken to hospital for a eheck up. Two of their comrades were drowned. A rescue plane sighted the two rafts yesterday and the Canadian destroyer Haida picked up the men and took them to Hamilton. A big crowd lining the docks cheered as the :aptain and navigator of the lost Superfortress stepped ashore first. "How was it?" a reporter called. "Terrible," shouted the captain, Joseph Petrosino. The Haida had sped through rough seas through out the night to land the survivors. She was accompanied by the Canadian air-craft-earrier Magnificent. Nightmare Three Days. The survivors told reporters how the bomber's tail broke off as it bounced for the third time after crash landing. The next three days were a nightmare. It stormed day and night and 20ft. high waves battered them. Staff-Sergeant William Pratt described how he and others saw their two comrades drowned when they were caught up in *a surge of water whieh snatc-hed them from the raft.