"Buka's operational, Ken," Banning said. "These things happen."
"So what happens now?" Dillon said.
"The Seventeens can't dodge runway craters. And they don't think they can fill them before it gets dark. So the Seventeens will have to wait until first light. You'll leave then."
"Unless the Japs come back again," Dillon said.
"Unless the Japs come back again," Galloway parroted. "I'm sorry, it's out of my control."
"If the Seventeens can't get off in the morning, is there any other way I can get to Espiritu Santo?" Banning asked.
Interesting question, Galloway thought. He doesn't want out of here to save his skin. If he did, he wouldn't talk openly about going the way he just did. And why did he ask how I can get to Espiritu,' not "we" ? What business does he alone have to take care of?
Galloway seemed to be reading his mind.
"Galloway, I'm going to have to claim a priority to get to Espiritu, if it comes to that."
"There will probably-almost certainly-be an R4D, or several of them, who will try to land here at first light. Bringing AvGas in. They carry as many wounded as they can when they leave."
"If it comes down to that, and the B-17s aren't flying..." Banning said, "... what I was hoping was maybe catching a ride in an SPD or a TBF."
The Douglas SPD-3 "Dauntless" was a single-engine, low-wing monoplane, two-place dive-bomber. It was powered by a Pratt and Whitney 1000-horsepower R-1820-52 engine. The Grumman TBF "Avenger" was a three-place, single-engine, low-wing monoplane torpedo bomber, powered by a 1700-horsepower Wright R-2600-8 "Cyclone" engine. Both aircraft were used by both the U.S. Navy and the USMC.
"I'll ask," Galloway answered, "but I don't think that's going to happen."
"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't necessary," Banning said.
Galloway was now uncomfortable.
"Dunn's found some cots for you to sleep on. But we lost our jeep, so they'll have to be carried. How about you, Sergeant?" he asked, and looked at George Hart. "And you, Easterbunny?"
Corporal Easterbrook looked unhappy.
"You have something else to do?" Galloway said.
"Captain, if I'm going to spend the night with the Raiders," Easterbrook said. "I'm going to have to start up there now."
"Go ahead, Easterbrook," Lieutenant McCoy said. "We can carry our own cots. We only look like feather merchants."
He was talking to me, goddamn it, not you, McCoy, Galloway thought. And then he wondered why that made him so angry.
"Thank you, Sir," Easterbrook said, and left the tent.
"I wasn't picking on him, McCoy," Galloway heard himself say. "He's a pretty good kid. I try to keep an eye out for him."
"Somebody should," McCoy said. "He's about to go over the edge."
"Meaning what, McCoy?" Dillon broke in, an inch short of unpleasantly.
"Meaning he's about to go over the edge. Did you see him during the last raid? Take a good look at his eyes."
"Oh, bullshit!" Dillon flared. "Nobody likes to get bombed. He's a Marine, for Christ's sake."
"He's a Marine about to go over the edge," McCoy said.
"You're a fucking expert, are you?" Dillon said, now unabashedly unpleasant. "You have a lot of experience in that area?"
"Yes, Jake," Banning said, calmly but firmly, "he does. In the Philippines, for example."
"You were in the Philippines?" Bill Dunn blurted. "How did you get out?"
"Like I hope to get out of here tomorrow," McCoy replied. "On a B-17." He stood up. "Come on, George, you and I will go carry cots for these field-grade feather merchants."
Banning laughed, and stood up.
"To hell with you, McCoy, I won't let you get away with that. Off your ass, Jake. If I can carry my own cot, so can you."
Dillon, not moving, looked up at Banning.
"Off your ass, Jake," Banning repeated. His tone was conversational, but there was no mistaking it for a friendly suggestion. It was an order.
[FOUR]
=SECRET=
FROM: COM GEN 1ST MAR DIV 0845 14OCT42
SUBJECT: AFTER-ACTION REPORT
TO: COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, PACIFIC, PEARL HARBOR INFO: SUPREME COMMANDER SWPOA, BRISBANE
COMMANDANT, USMC, WASH, DC
1. AT APPROXIMATELY 1830 13OCT42 HEAVY JAPANESE ARTILLERY BARRAGE WITH IMPACT WESTERN END
OF HENDERSON FIELD COMMENCED. IT IS BELIEVED THAT WEAPONRY INVOLVED IS 150-MM REPEAT 150-MM NOT PREVIOUSLY ENCOUNTERED. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THIS ARTILLERY IS NEWLY ARRIVED ON GUADALCANAL.
2. INASMUCH AS 1ST MARDIV DOES NOT POSSESS ANY COUNTERFIRE RANGING CAPABILITY, 5-INCH
SEACOAST ARTILLERY OF 3RD USMC DEFENSE BATTALION AND 105-MM HOWITZERS OF 11TH MARINES
WERE INEFFECTIVE IN COUNTERBATTERY FIRE.
3. AT APPROXIMATELY 0140 14OCT42 HENDERSON FIELD WAS MARKED WITH FLARES BY JAPANESE
AIRCRAFT. IMMEDIATELY THEREAFTER INTENSIVE ENEMY NAVAL GUNFIRE FIRE COMMENCED AND LASTED
FOR A PERIOD OF NINETY-SEVEN (97) MINUTES.
4. A MINIMUM OF EIGHT HUNDRED (800) AND POSSIBLY AS MANY AS ONE THOUSAND (1000) ROUNDS
ARMOR PIERCING AND HIGH EXPLOSIVE FELL ON HENDERSON FIELD AND IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT
AREAS. FROM THE NATURE OF THE DAMAGE CAUSED, IT IS BELIEVED NAVAL FOURTEEN (14) INCH
CANNON WERE INVOLVED, MOST LIKELY FROM A JAPANESE BATTLESHIP OR BATTLESHIPS.
5. ENEMY LOSSES:
NEGLIGIBLE, IF ANY. MAIN NAVAL GUNFIRE CAME FROM WARSHIPS BEYOND THE RANGE OF 5-INCH
SEACOAST CANNON OF 3RD MARDEFBN. ACCOMPANYING SMALLER VESSELS, PRESUMABLY DESTROYERS, WERE
ENGAGED WITHOUT VISIBLE RESULT.
6. US LOSSES:
A. FIELD GRADE OFFICER KIA ONE (1)
B. FIELD GRADE OFFICER WIA ONE (1)
C. COMPANY GRADE OFFICER KIA FIFTEEN (15)
D. COMPANY GRADE OFFICER WIA ELEVEN (11)
E. ENLISTED KIA THIRTY-NINE (39)
F. ENLISTED WIA SEVENTY-NINE (79)
G. MISSING IN ACTION: TO BE DETERMINED
H. SEVERE DAMAGE TO HENDERSON FIELD RUNWAY, CONTROL TOWER, REVETMENTS AND SUPPLY STORAGE AREAS. REMAINING AVGAS SUPPLY CRITICAL.
I. EXTENT OF DAMAGE TO AIRCRAFT NOT YET FULLY DETERMINED. IT IS OBVIOUSLY SEVERE. FOR
EXAMPLE OF THIRTY-NINE (39) SPD AIRCRAFT AVAILABLE AS OF YESTERDAY, FOUR (4) ARE AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME, AND TWO (2) OF EIGHT (8) B17 AIRCRAFT WERE TOTALLY DESTROYED.
7. AS SOON AS RUNWAY REPAIRS PERMIT REMAINING B17 AIRCRAFT WILL WITHDRAW TO ESPIRITU
SANTO.
8. MOST CRITICAL NEED OF THIS COMMAND IS RESUPPLY OF AVGAS. URGENTLY REQUEST RESUPPLY
BY ANY MEANS AVAILABLE. RECOMMEND NO REPEAT NO REPLENISHMENT OF AIRCRAFT UNTIL SUFFICIENT
AVGAS AVAILABLE HENDERSON FIELD FOR FUELING.
VANDEGRIFT MAJ GEN USMC COMMANDING
=SECRET=
[FIVE]
Mag-21
Henderson Field
"Colonel," Captain Samuel M. Davidson, U.S. Army Air Corps, said to Lieutenant Colonel Clyde W. Dawkins, "I'm not sure I like this. As a matter of fact, the more I think about it, I don't like it at all."