Excerpt

We couldnt see anything or hear anything so we finally left. As we were going back along the eastern shore of the island headed north, the skipper noted some movement on the radar, back in a dark little cove. I was standing right next to him when he said, We should go in there and mop them up, and he looked up at the starboard 50 gunner and saw him nodding.

He told Lt. Wells, Those people back in there are lucky--these men are all tired from being at general quarters all night and we have to be back on the other side to go in with the rest of the squadron.

We kept going at top speed and got around to the other side in time to watch the bombardment with naval guns. What a sight!

After the shelling, the radio spit out our orders. Both squadrons of PTs were to go through the narrow neck leading into the harbor, pull into the bay across from Puerto Princessa, drop anchor and draw fire if there was anything left alive in there. (I guess thats why they called us expendable) That was a very unpleasant trip.

We went in single file and passed below the bluffs, where we were to find later that the Japs had burned alive all the prisoners in the camp before leaving. As we later found out, one of the prisoners, a fellow from Santa Monica, California, managed to escape during the fire and hide in a crevasse, pull some brush over himself, and hide till dark.

After dark he crawled down the bluff to the bottom, swam across the bay and disappeared into a leper colony where the Japs being the cowards they were never went near the lepers.

Sometime later we were taking another group of army scouts down to the tip of the island to prepare the way for the push on to Borneo, and the Philippine scout that had been in the party we dropped off behind the lines at Palawan, came aboard with them. I asked him about my four--stripe army friend and he told me none of them made it.

The Japs were waiting for them. As soon as we left, they jumped the group and killed them all except the Philippine scout. He said he escaped in the darkness, and was found the next day or so floating out in the South China Sea, off Palawan. He said from the beach our boats looked like gun ships, and the Japs didnt want any part of us. My friend was right, he didnt go home.

We stayed at Palawan for some time, patrolling down south toward Borneo. We always moved at night, and either came home or laid up in the bushes during the day. There was an inlet almost to the lower end of Palawan called Brooks Point that was fairly safe, so we used to pull in there and the natives would come aboard and give us information about where to find the Japs.

We traded cigarettes for whatever they had. I made a trade for an honest-to-goodness blow gun, complete with poison darts. When I went below to get my cigarettes, another fellow made the deal and beat me out of it.

I did pick up several things; I have no idea where they went but I had my grubby little hands on them at one time. I picked up a Japanese officers riding crop. It was about 18 inches long, made of soft leather and had a small lead ball worked into the handle. I know where that went. An MP (Military Policeman) in Grand Island took it when I had an altercation with two prop-heads from the local air base later on in this story.

On one of the trips down south, we went clear to the tip and used too much fuel, and as we came home before we reached Puerto Princessa, all four tanks read empty. At the front bulkhead of the engine room there were three manual pumps in the gas lines, one to each engine. I had to get on my knees and wobble gas into one engine to get us home.

Another time we were coming up to the entrance to Puerto Princessa Bay and a Destroyer Escort (tin can) was standing picket duty in the mouth. The tin can flashed a challenge at us and we were supposed to flash back the code word for the day. Lt. Wells kept going toward the mouth and the can flashed again.

The destroyers deck guns all began to swing down on us when the skipper flashed back the code. I found out then that those people were serious about protecting their harbor. They knew we were friendly, but could take no chances that our boat may have been captured, so in another minute or so they were going to blow us out of the water.

I remember the dangdest things as I write. One night, we were called and told that the Japanese fleet had gotten into the inner sea between the islands, and was headed for Borneo. Two squadrons of PTs, or at least those that could move, were dispatched into the dark to intercept the Japanese fleet.

Our radioman, Smitty, was to go home the next day. I had never seen him with a helmet on because he seldom left the chart house, but this night he had it pulled down over his ears. We patrolled all night and thank the Lord we never met the Japanese fleet but it was not for lack of trying.

We picked up a blip on the radar nearby and thought it was a barge. We had all guns trained on the blip, when the skipper ordered the search light be turned on. I dont know why, because we never used it unless we were desperate. The light illuminated a small Sampan, loaded down with people.

I dont know how you could tell if they were friendly or not, but they were all screaming, and the skipper gave them the benefit of the doubt and let them live. We went on with our patrol. Fifty seven years later I found our skipper, Mr. Wells, and in the course of e-mail conversation I asked him why he didnt shoot that night. His answer was, It was getting close to the end of the war and I felt this would be unnecessary killing. Thats why I liked the guy so much.