W E B Griffin – Corp 06 – Close Combat

“Whatever you think, George. You’re probably right.”

“Can I ask, Sir, for a favor?”

“What?”

“I’d really like to have a couple copies of those pictures of me with General MacArthur to send to my folks. And my girl. Could I get some, do you think?”

“I’m sure we can,” Pickering said. “The next time you’re in the Palace, go to the Signal Section and tell them I sent you.”

“Yes, Sir.”

I wonder what El Supremo would think if he knew what just happened. Will he find out? Or is that something else not worthy of the Supreme Commander’s attention, and from which he will be spared by his loyal staff?

If the decision was Mac Arthur’s, would he have done what I did? Or would he have gone along with the Colonel and George and “removed” her?

The telephone rang. Hart picked it up and answered it. ‘

“General Pickering’s quarters, Lieutenant Hart speaking.”

Pickering looked at him.

“General,” Hart reported, covering the microphone with his hand, “this is Colonel Huff. General MacArthur’s compliments, and are you and Major Hon free for supper and bridge?”

“Tell Colonel Huff,” Pickering said, “that Major Hon and I will be delighted.”

Maybe if I let him win, I could bring up the subject of Donovan’s people again.

Pickering had a flash in his mind of Ellen Feller with her skirt hiked high, a needle in her thigh. And then he replaced it with an image of Jack Stecker’s boy, wrapped up like a mummy in the hospital at Pearl Harbor.

He reached for the scotch bottle and then stopped himself. He would have to be absolutely sober if he expected to find the tiny chink in El Supremo’s armor he would need to bring up the subject of Donovan yet again.

Chapter Ten

[ONE]

=SECRET=

FROM: COM GEN 1ST MAR DIV 2355 23OCT42

SUBJECT: AFTER-ACTION REPORT

TO: COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, PACIFIC, PEARL HARBOR

INFO: SUPREME COMMANDER SWPOA, BRISBANE COMMANDANT, USMC, WASH, DC

1. AT APPROXIMATELY 1800 23OCT42 HEAVY JAPANESE ARTILLERY BARRAGE WITH PRIMARY IMPACT

IN VICINITY US LINES ON MATANIKAU RIVER, SECONDARY IMPACT HENDERSON FIELD, AND HARASSING

AND INTERMITTED FIRE STRIKING OTHER US EMPLACEMENTS. IT IS BELIEVED THAT WEAPONRY INVOLVED

WAS 150-MM REPEAT 150-MM AND SMALLER, AUGMENTED BY MORTAR FIRE.

2. AT APPROXIMATELY 1900 23OCT42, JAPANESE FORCES IN ESTIMATED REINFORCED REGIMENTAL

STRENGTH ACCOMPANIED BY SEVEN (7) TYPE 97 LIGHT TANKS ATTACKED ACROSS SANDBAR (PRIMARILY)

3RD BN, 7TH MARINES 500 YARDS FROM MOUTH OF MATANIKAU RIVER AND (SECONDARILY) 3RD BN, 5TH

MARINES 1000 YARDS FROM MOUTH OF RIVER.

3. FORTY (40) 105-MM HOWITZERS OF 2ND, 3RD AND 5TH BATTALIONS 11TH MARINES PLUS ATTACHED

I BATTERY 10TH MARINES (COL. DELVALLE) WHICH HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN REGISTERED ON ATTACK AREA

IMMEDIATELY OPENED FIRE. APPROXIMATELY 6,000 ROUNDS 105-MM AND HEAVY MORTAR EXPENDED

DURING PERIOD 1900-2200.

4. WEATHER AND MOONLIGHT CONDITIONS PERMITTED SUPPORT BY NAVY, MARINE AND USAAC AIRCRAFT

FROM HENDERSON FIELD. NUMBER OF SORTIES NOT YET AVAILABLE, BUT EFFECT OF WELL AIMED BOMBARDMENT AND STRAFING WAS APPARENT TO ALL HANDS.

5. AT APPROXIMATELY 2100 23OCT42 ATTACK HAD BEEN TURNED. INITIAL MARINE PATROL ACTIVITY

INDICATES JAPANESE LOSS OF AT LEAST THREE (3) TYPE 97 LIGHT TANKS, AND IT IS RELIABLY

ESTIMATED THAT JAPANESE INFANTRY LOSSES WILL EXCEED SIX HUNDRED (600) KIA.

6. US LOSSES:

A. FIELD GRADE OFFICER KIA ZERO (0)

B. FIELD GRADE OFFICER WIA ZERO (0)

C. COMPANY GRADE OFFICER KIA ZERO (0)

D. COMPANY GRADE OFFICER WIA ONE (1)

E. ENLISTED KIA TWO (2)

F. ENLISTED WIA ELEVEN (11)

G. MISSING IN ACTION: ZERO (0)

H. MINIMAL DAMAGE TO HENDERSON FIELD AND AIRCRAFT. HENDERSON FIELD IS OPERABLE.

VANDEGRIFT MAJ GEN USMC COMMANDING

=SECRET=

[TWO]

Radio City Music Hall

New York City, N.Y.

1825 Hours 24 October 1942

“Did you like the show?” Mrs. Carolyn Spencer Howell asked Major Edward F. Banning, USMC, as they left the world’s largest theater. Mrs. Howell was tall, willowy, chic, black haired, and exquisitely dressed. Her clothes were seriously expensive, but tastefully understated. “When my husband turned me in for a new model,” as she liked to put it, “his new tail cost him his ears and his nose.”

Her annual salary-for her labor in the research department of the New York Public Library-would not have paid for the ankle-length silver fox coat she was now wearing.

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