W.E.B. Griffin - The Corps 03 - Counterattack

"I’m afraid that’s true," Pickering said. "But I’m also sure that he made that decision under a hell of a strain, and that he now regrets it. MacArthur is a very complex character."

"General Vandergrift thinks we will invade the Solomons. Or at least two of the Solomon Islands, Tulagi and Guadalcanal," Goettge said.

"Where did he get that?" Pickering said.

"I don’t know, Sir."

Pickering looked at Banning. Banning just perceptibly shook his head, meaning I didn‘t tell him.

I should have known that,Pickering thought. Why the hell did I question Banning’s integrity?

"My job, therefore," Colonel Goettge said, "is to gather as much intelligence about Guadalcanal and Tulagi as I possibly can. Phrased as delicately as I can, there is some doubt in General Vandergrift’s mind-and in mine-that, without a friend in court, so to speak, I won’t be able to get much from General Willoughby when I go to see him tomorrow."

My God,Pickering thought, sad and disgusted, has it gone that far?

"And you think I could be your ‘friend at court’?"

"Yes, Sir, that’s about it."

"It’s all over Washington, Flem," Jake Dillon said, "that you and Dugout Doug have become asshole buddies."

A wave of rage swept through Fleming Pickering. It was a long moment before he trusted himself to speak.

"Jake, old friends or not," he said finally, calmly, "if you ever refer to MacArthur in those terms again, I’ll bring you up on charges myself." But then his tone turned furious as anger overwhelmed him: "Goddamn you, you ignorant sonofabitch! General Willoughby-who is a fine officer despite the contempt in which you, Goettge, and others seem to hold him-told me that on Bataan, MacArthur was often so close to the lines that there was genuine concern that he would be captured by Japanese infantry patrols. And on Corregidor they couldn’t get him to go into the goddamned tunnel when the Japs were shelling! Who the fuck do you think you are to call him ‘Dugout Doug’?"

"Sorry," Dillon said.

"You fucking well should be sorry!" Pickering flared. "Stick to being a goddamned press agent, you miserable pimple on a Marine’s ass, and keep your fucking mouth shut when you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!"

There was silence in the room.

Pickering looked at them, the rage finally subsiding. Jake Dillon looked crushed. Colonel Goettge looked painfully uncomfortable. Ed Banning was . . .

The sonofabitch is smiling!

"You are amused, Major Banning?" Pickering asked icily.

"Sir, I think Major Dillon was way out of line," Banning said. "But, Sir, I was amused. I was thinking, ‘You can take the boy out of the Marines, but you can’t take the Marines out of the boy.’ I was thinking, Sir, that you sounded much more like a Marine corporal than like the personal representative of the Secretary of the Navy. You did that splendidly, Sir."

"Christ, Flem," Jake Dillon said. "I just didn’t know ... If I knew what you thought of him . . ."

"Jake," Pickering said. "Just shut up."

"Yes, Sir," Dillon said.

"Do something useful. Make us a drink."

"Would it be better if I just left, Sir?" Colonel Goettge asked.

"No. Of course not. I’m going to get on the phone and ask General Willoughby out here for dinner. I’m going to tell him that you’re an old friend of mine. If he comes, fine. If he doesn’t, at least he’ll know who you are when I take you in tomorrow morning to see him."

"Sir," Banning said, "I thought it would be a good idea to put Colonel Goettge in touch with the Coastwatchers-"

"Absolutely!"

"To that end, Sir, I asked Commander Feldt-he’s in town-"

"I know," Pickering interrupted.

"-and Lieutenant Donnelly to dinner."

"Good."

"He’s bringing Yeoman Farnsworth with him," Banning said.

"It was my idea, Sir. I thought it would be nice to radio Lieutenant Howard and Sergeant Koffler that we had dinner with their girls. I asked Ensign Cotter, too."

"If General Willoughby is free to have dinner with us, Ed, I can’t imagine that he would object to sharing the table with two pretty girls. God knows, there’s none around the mess in the Menzies."

Chapter Fourteen

(One)

TOP SECRET

Eyes Only-The Secretary of the Navy

DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN

ORIGINAL TO BE DESTROYED AFTER ENCRYPTION AND TRANSMITTAL TO SECNAVY

Water Lily Cottage

Manchester Avenue

Brisbane, Australia

Tuesday, 21 July 1942

Dear Frank:

I ‘m not sure if it was really necessary, but the emperor decided to move the court; and so here, after an enormous logistical effort, we are. It is (MacA.‘s stated reason for the move) "1,185 miles closer to the front lines. "

El Supremo’ s Headquarters are in a modern office building, formerly occupied by an insurance company. MacA. has a rather elegant office on the eighth floor (of nine). I am down the corridor, and was surprised to learn that General Sutherland himself assigned me my office. I would have wagered he would put me in the basement, or left me in Melbourne.

MacA. and family, and the senior officers, are living in Lennon’ s Hotel, which is a rambling, graceful old Victorian hostelry that reminds me of the place the Southern Pacific railroad used to operate in Yellowstone Park. This time I was assigned quarters appropriate to my rank: that is to say, sharing a two-room suite with an Army Ordnance Corps colonel. Because the Colonel is portly, mustached, and almost certainly snores, and because I wanted a place affording some privacy, and because I didn’t think I should permit anyone in Supreme Headquarters to tell me to do anything, I have taken a small cottage near the (unfortunately closed for the duration) Doomben Race Track, where this is written.

It should go without saying that I think the JCS decision of 2 July to invade the Solomons was wrong. I have the somewhat nasty suspicion that it was based on Roosevelt’s awe of King, and his dislike of MacA., rather than for any strategic purpose.

The night before (1 July) I had dinner with a colonel named Goettge, who is the First Marine Division G-2. There was no question in his mind how the JCS was going to decide the issue. I found that rather disturbing, as theoretically it was still under consideration. He was in with MacA.’s intelligence people, getting what they had on Tulagi and Guadalcanal when the JCS cable ordering Operation PESTILENCE came in.

He tells me-and I believe-that it is going to be one hell of a job getting the 1stMarines ready to make an amphibious landing in five weeks, including, of course, the rehearsal operation in the Fiji Islands.

Ghormley has requested that the 2ndMarines, of the 2ndMarine Division, be combat-loaded at San Diego. The 5thMarines werenot combat-loaded, which means that they had to unload everything onto the docks, Aotea Quay, at Wellington, sort it out, and then reload it, so that it meets the needs of an amphibious landing force. That’s what they are now doing; and according to a friend of mine in the 5thMarines, it is an indescribable mess, with cans spilling out of ordinary cardboard boxes, and so on.

The problem is compounded by the dock workers, a surly socialist bunch who, I suspect, would rather see the Japs in New Zealand than work overtime or over a weekend. I’m sure that the Marines and Navy people here have been raising hell about it with port people in America, but if you could add your weight to getting somethingdone about it, your effort would be worthwhile.

On the Fourth of July, we learned from Coastwatchers that the Japanese have started construction of an airfield on Guadalcanal. That’s frightening. Both MacA. and Ghormley are fully aware of the implications of an air base there, but they both, separately, insist that the Guadalcanal operation should not be launched until we are prepared to do it properly. It is not pleasant to consider the ramifications of a failed amphibious invasion.