«He's fine, thank you.»
«What we're going to do now, ma'am, is take you to the caravan. You'll be better off with us, I think, than out here by yourself.»
«Thank you.»
Sergeant Sweatley thought of something else. «There's another Russian lady, ma'am,» he said, and then reconsidered that. «Well, maybe not a lady, she's married to an old Yangtze River patrol sailor. But at least she's Russian.»
«I look forward to meeting her,» Mrs. Edward J. Banning said.
Chapter Eighteen
note 68
Base Operations
Memphis Naval Air Station
Memphis, Tennessee
0815 28 March 1943
Admiral Jesse Ball's aide-de-camp arrived at the Peabody Hotel at 0715 with instructions to present both the Admiral's compliments and his regrets to Major General D. G. Mclnerney, USMC, and Brigadier General Fleming Pickering, USMCR, that he would be unable to join them for breakfast. «The Admiral,'» the aide said, «will of course be at base operations for your departure, which we have scheduled for 0815.»
«You don't suppose ol» Jesse is a little hungover, do you, Flem?» General Mclnerney inquired of General Pickering.
«If he's not, he should be,» Pickering replied. «I feel terrible.»
The new stars on General Mclnerney's shoulders had been well and truly wet down by his old friends.
Admiral Ball's aide then informed the two generals that the Admiral had sent his staff car to transport them and their aides to the air station, and that he further suggested that Captain Dunn and Lieutenant Pickering travel to base operations in their privately owned vehicles. The night before, since Dunn had been in the apartment he shared with Lieutenant Pickering in the Peabody, he had been able to participate in the wetting down of General Mclnerney's new stars.
«The Admiral, Captain, expressed the desire that you be there to see the Generals off,» Admiral Ball's aide said.
«Of course,» Captain Billy Dunn said.
In point of fact, Admiral Ball was a little hungover, but that was not the reason he did not take breakfast with his old friends. He had a little ceremony to arrange, and he wanted it to go off without a hitch.
When the Admiral's staff car, followed by Captain Billy Dunn's Oldsmobile and Lieutenant Pickering's Cadillac, pulled up before base operations, a Navy captain in dress uniform, complete to sword, bellowed, «Atten-hut!»
Three squadrons of sailors and three of Marines came from Parade Rest to Attention. The sailors were separated from the Marines by a ten-man Marine flag guard. The national color was in the center, with the flags of the U.S. Navy and the USMC to either side. To the left of the Navy flag was Admiral Ball's two-starred blue flag, and to the right of the Marine Corps flag were the red starred flags to which Generals Mclnerney and Pickering were entitled.
«Sound off!» the Navy captain bellowed, as General Mclnerney stepped out of the Admiral's staff car.
The Memphis Naval Air Station band struck up the Navy hymn. Admiral Ball marched up to Generals Mclnerney and Pickering, and saluted them with his sword.
«Will the Generals honor me by trooping the line?» he inquired. «I would be honored,» General Mclnerney said, and added softly, so that no one but Admiral Ball could hear him, «Goddamn you, Jesse.»
With General Mclnerney in the place of honor, and Admiral Ball and General Pickering trailing after him, the flag officers marched off to troop the line.
After thinking about it a moment, Captain William Dunn trotted quickly to the formation and took up his position as commanding officer before the assembled Marines of VMF-262.
Smiling broadly. Lieutenant Pickering, who was attired in a leather flight jacket but now wearing a fore-and-aft cap, leaned against the fender of his Cadillac and watched the proceedings.
With the trooping of the line completed, Admiral Ball led Generals Mclnerney and Pickering into base operations.
The band segued into «Stars and Stripes Forever,» and the Navy captain and his staff marched to a position at the head of the Navy troops.
«Right face!» the Navy captain bellowed, and when the sailors and Marines had turned, bellowed «For-ward, h-arch!»
The parade moved around the base operations building to the parking ramp.
Lieutenant Pickering went into base operations.
It took just a minute or two for General Mclnerney to put on a flight suit and to have a quick—but thorough—look at the flight plan for his flight to Pensacola. The Memphis NAS pilot who would be the copilot for the R4-D's flight to Chicago also had a flight plan prepared for the approval of Lieutenant Sylvester, who would be the pilot-in-command.
A Corsair and the R4-D were parked right in front of base operations. There was a red flag with a single white star flapping from a small staff beside the pilot's side window of the R4-D.
«Come see us anytime, General,» Admiral Ball said to General Mclnerney.
«Thanks, Jesse,» General Mclnerney said. He was obviously touched. He shook Admiral Ball's hand and then General Pickering's. «Take care of yourself, Flem,» he said. «And good luck!»
«You, too, Mac,» Pickering said.
General Mclnerney offered his hand to Lieutenant Pickering.
«It was good to see you, Pick,» he said. «Keep up the good work.»
Good work, my ass
, Admiral Ball thought, but he smiled.
«Thank you, sir,» Pick said. «It was good to see you, sir.»
General Mclnerney nodded, then walked toward the Corsair.
The band began to play «The Marines' Hymn,» and kept playing it until General Mclnerney climbed into the Corsair and fired up its engine, and until General Pickering—who embraced his son quickly before walking to the R4-D—was aboard. Then the band began playing «Auld Lang Syne.»
In the cockpit of the Corsair, General Mclnerney waited for the needles to move into the green, then looked at Admiral Ball, saluted, and started taxiing. A moment later, the R4-D began moving.
Pick waved at his father.
General Mclnerney turned onto the active runway and immediately began his takeoff roll. As soon as he had broken ground, the R4-D began to roll. Once airborne, the R4-D took up a course for Chicago. The Corsair, which had made a shallow climbing turn to the left after takeoff, now headed back to the field. It flashed over the field at 250 feet, with its throttles to the firewall, and then pointed its nose skyward. At 5,000 feet, it entered a layer of clouds and disappeared.
Admiral Ball walked over to Lieutenant Pickering.
«I think General Mclnerney enjoyed all this, don't you, Lieutenant? And your father, too, of course?»
«Yes, sir. I'm sure they did.»
«And what about you, Lieutenant. Did you enjoy it?»
«Very much, sir.»
«And last night? Did you have a good time last night?»
«Yes, sir.»
«Commit it to memory, you disgrace to the uniform you're wearing. It will be the last thing you'll enjoy for a hell of a long time.»
«Sir?»
Two Marines with Shore Patrol brassards on their sleeves, one of them a technical sergeant, marched up and saluted Admiral Ball.
«This officer is under arrest,» Admiral Ball said. «Escort him to his quarters— his
on-base