22
Service News
(Continued from Page 11)
The request was granted and instruc
tions were given. The colored men were
particularly cautioned- against making
any noise because of Ja p infiltration.
A ll was set to have part o f them on
guard with the white Marines the first
watch and the balance the second
watch.
Ju st at daybreak an officer making
his rounds, came across a six feet, two
inch, two hundred and twenty five
pound colored Marine on top of a Jap
o f equal size with his big hands clamp
ed about his throat. The Jap was very,
very dead.
In reply to the officer’s question of
"w hat goes on here,” the colored Mar
ine said, "W ell lieutenant just before
daybreak I see this man coming. I got
to be awful quiet so I jump on him
to start to squeeze his neck. I don’t
know how hard to squeeze or how long
to squeeze, so I jest figured to keep on
squeezing til I’m relieved!”
In the Philippines the Americans had
worked their way to an important air
strip by late afternoon which promptly
became a no man’s land. The infantry
men were told to dig in and stay in
until they were ordered out. Machine
guns were trained on the strip ready
to wipe out anything that moved.
Rex, resting comfortably ( ? ) in his
fox hole was awakened by the noise of
Jap machine guns fired from the other
side of the strip. They had the same
idea as did our side. "Boy,” said Rexj
"those bullets sure are close. If I should
stick my head out they would tear the
top of it right o ff.” H e felt reasonably
safe for the time being but wondered
whether the Japs might not be making
their way across the strip with hand
grenades and bayonets. Then it hap
pened— a hand grenade dropped on him
and then rolled along side his fox hole.
Sweating at every pore he groped about
him searching for it before it exploded.
He counted the seconds. N o explosion
yet— maybe it’s a dud— got to find it
though— ah, here it is— and there it
was— a. baby cocoanut cut from a tree
overhanging his fox hole by the ma
chine gun fire of the Japs. The next
morning after the American artillery
had routed the Japs, Rex eased himself
out of his lodging to see how close
those machine bullets had come. The
nearest marks on any of the nearby
trees were no less than ten feet from
the ground.
O laf G. Fransen is home on a thirty
day leave. H e has been stationed on
Tinian in the Marianias for the past
two years. O laf could be back on the
job now had he been married the last
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