Griffin W.E.B. - The Corps 08 - In Dangers Path

MCINERNEY FEELS THAT FAIRING OVER THE FUSELAGE BUBBLES AND THE FORWARD GUN TURRET WILL APPRECIABLY INCREASE BOTH RANGE AND SPEED, THE FORMER POSSIBLY, JUST POSSIBLY TO THE POINT WHERE BY DRAINING FUEL FROM ONE OF THE CATALINAS INTO THE OTHER, ONE OF THE AIRCRAFT MIGHT BE ABLE TO FLY OUT, EITHER BACK TO THE YELLOW SEA OR POSSIBLY INTO CHINA.

THE COLLINS RADIO COMPANY OF CEDAR RAPIDS IOWA IS DEVELOPING, OR PERHAPS MORE ACCURATELY MODIFYING, ON AN EMERGENCY PRIORITY BASIS, THE MORE POWERFUL RADIO TRANSMITTERS WHICH WILL BE REQUIRED FOR THEweather station itself. the meteorological equipment is at HAND. WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF RECRUITING VOLUNTEER WEATHER PEOPLE, AND MCINERNEY HAS PUT OUT A CALL FOR CATALINA OR OTHER MULTI-ENGINE PILOTS WITH LONG DISTANCE NAVIGATION EXPERIENCE.

SO WHAT I NEED RIGHT NOW IS TWO AMPHIBIOUS CATALINAS, WHICH WILL HAVE TO HAVE THE NECESSARY MODIFICATIONS MADE TO THEM, THE FAIRING OVER OF THE BUBBLES, AND THE INSTALLATION OF AUXILIARY FUEL TANKS. PLUS OF COURSE A SUBMARINE SPECIALLY EQUIPPED TO HANDLE THE REFUELING ON THE HIGH SEAS.

I AM OF COURSE WIDE OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS OF ANY KIND.

WITH BEST PERSONAL REGARDS, I AM, RESPECTFULLY,

FLEMING PICKERING, BRIG GEN USMCR

END PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM DDPACIFIC TO ADMIRAL NTMITZ

T O P S E C R E T

«Just a few minor problems,» Wagam said. «Like transporting several thousand gallons of avgas on a submarine; making a rendezvous at sea without any navigation aids to speak of, and then refueling a Catalina on the high seas in winter.»

»

Two

Catalinas,» Nimitz corrected him. «But you know what really bothers me about the way Pickering has set this whole thing up?»

«No, sir.»

«Nothing will work unless we can establish communication with the people who are

supposed

to be wandering around in the Gobi Desert. It all hinges on this gunnery sergeant both finding them and then smuggling radios into them on camelback. We won't need a submarine or two Catalinas if he can't do that.»

«Yes, sir,» Wagam said. «My orders, sir?»

«Give him whatever he thinks he wants, Dan. I don't think we have any choice.»

«Aye, aye, sir.»

«Lewis, you have any thoughts about avgas on a submarine?» CINCPAC asked.

«No, sir. Not a one. But submariners are resourceful, Admiral. We'll work out some way to do this.»

note 49

Female Officers' Quarters

U.S. Navy Hospital

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2025 12 March 1943

Just as Captain James B. Weston, USMC was about to step up into the hotel bus that would carry him to the Trailways bus terminal in White Sulphur Springs, Commander T. L. Bolemann, MC, USN, walked onto the wide outside stairway of the Greenbrier, called Weston's name, and tossed him the keys to the Buick. «If it doesn't shame you to drive that gas-guzzling automobile of yours, on black-market gasoline and wasting precious rubber that is desperately needed in the war effort, I won't stop you. Never let it be said about Ted Bolemann that he erected roadblocks in the path of true love.»

«Thank you,» Jim said.

«Try to stay on the black stuff between the trees,» Bolemann said. «And if you want my advice, stop lying to that nice young woman. Love is only partially blind.»

«I'll keep that in mind,» Jim replied, as he started for the hotel garage.

I

don't want to lie to her, certainly. But I don't think I should give her a full accounting of what happened in Pensacola

.

What happened in Pensacola isn't going to happen again. We were both carried away by the emotion of the moment; we were both suffering from that well-known service-connected malady known as enforced celibacy; and Martha Sayre Culhane

—

probably because of the emotion

—

had much more to drink than she could handle

.

Plus, of course, I am an unprincipled no-good sonofabitch.

When Jim stopped in Wilmington, Delaware, for gasoline, he telephoned Janice to tell her she didn't have to meet him at the bus station.

«Commander Bolemann called and said you were driving. Where are you?»

Her voice, he thought, sounded a little cold and distant.

«I'm in Wilmington,» he said. «I should be there in about an hour.»

«I'll wait for you at the FOQ,» she said. «Drive carefully.»

He was now sure that her voice had sounded cold and distant.

Is there some sort of female intuition that tells them when their

—

what am I, «boyfriend»

?—

has been unfaithful

?

Or did she sense that I was lying to her about where I spent last weekend? Bolemann said I was a lousy liar and that love is only partially blind.

He was wandering around in the FOQ parking lot looking for a place to park when Lieutenant (j.g.) Janice Hardison, NC, USNR, appeared, in her blues, with her uniform cap perched attractively on top of her upswept hair.

She was carrying a leather valise.

That's it. That's the reason she sounded cold and distant on the phone. She has changed her mind about this weekend. She's going someplace, and she wanted to tell me in person and not on the telephone.

Jim stopped the Buick and leaned across the seat to push the door open.

«Hi,» Janice said, pulled the seat forward, and put her valise in the backseat.

«Hi,» Jim said.

This was obviously not the time or place to try for a kiss.

She opened her purse, found what she was looking for, and handed it to him.

«What's this?»

«Ration coupons for twenty gallons of gas,» she said. «They're mine, I've been saving them up.»

«I don't need them,» he said. «But thank you just the same.»

«I don't feel right using black-market gasoline,» Janice said.

Well, if you feel that way, why don't we swap the wheels and tires off your Ford? That way we wouldn't be riding on black-market tires, either, thereby ensuring that if we lose the war, nobody can point an accusing finger at you.

What are you making fun of her for? She's right, and you're wrong. Among other reasons, because she is a highly principled woman, and you know what you

are.

«Whatever you say, Janice,» he said, taking the coupons.

Her perfume had now begun to fill the car.

«I have a seventy-two-hour pass,» Janice said. «And I thought it would be nice to get out of Philadelphia.»

«Good idea.»

«I went to the chaplain—he's a friend of mine…«

Of course he is.

»… and he arranged for rooms for us at the Chalfont-Haddon Hall, in Atlantic City—there's some sort of a program, a tie-in with the hospital. I hope that's all right with you.»

Rooms, plural. Of course. You don't go to the chaplain and ask him to help you find a room where you and the boyfriend can carry on carnally over the weekend.

«That's fine with me,» Weston said.

«The rooms and the food come with a twenty-percent discount, but not the liquor.»

Of course. What self-respecting chaplain would be pushing discounted booze?

«Well, then, we'll have to go easy on the booze,» Jim said.

«Have you been drinking a lot, Jim?»

«Oh, I have a drink from time to time with Dr. Bolemann.»

No more than three or four beers at lunch,followed, at the cocktail hour, by as many martinis, to give us courage to face the really bad wine they offer in the dining room

?

There you go, you're lying to her!

«He's a really nice man,» Janice said. «My father told me he knows him. I'm glad you've become friends.» She went into her purse again and this time came out with a road map. «I marked the route,» she said. «I think the best way is to go into Philadelphia and take the Tacony-Palmyra bridge.»