“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 & 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