SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - War Diary, SS-290

krashkart · 03-14-12, 09:15 AM

August 3rd, 1943

"It was the strangest thing. When I woke up the cockpit was filling up with water. I was still strapped in, and both my legs hurt like hell. I didn't know what had happened, but I knew that I needed to get out fast. Then somebody climbed up on the wing. I heard their boots on the metal and looked over... and I kid you not, there was this Jap pilot looking right at me."

He paused for a moment. We all kept silent. I looked around the compartment, noticed a myriad of expressions on the faces of my sailors. Our youngest, Johnathan, could barely contain himself. I caught his attention, gave him a stern look and shook my head. Not a split second later he had his game face back on -- barely. (Boy still needs to learn a few things... plenty of cleaning to do around the boat, I suppose)

The pilot continued, "I managed to get unstrapped, and by that time I was up to my neck in water. The plane was going under fast and my legs wouldn't move. The Jap, he pulled me out. I don't know why he did that. We're enemies, right? Us and the Japs. But he pulled me out anyway and inflated my vest. I must have blacked out again after that. When I woke up he was gone. All I saw was your guys hauling me up out of the ocean."

We didn't see the plane go down, but the watch caught a glimpse of smoke on the horizon. I decided to turn the boat around for a better look. As we maneuvered closer we saw the pilot held afloat in his Mae West. We pulled up alongside and hauled him in. He was unconscious and in bad shape. His face looked as though he'd lost a bare-knuckle prize fight, and both of his legs were broken. His left leg had taken the worst of it -- two fractures and three inches of bone sticking out above the ankle. I doubt he'll fly again.

It's been twelve hours since we picked him up, and the pilot has come to. As he recounts his brush with fate I get the impression that he blacked out at some point while flying a patrol. He is one lucky guy to have survived. The part about the Japanese pilot, though... that has me wondering. It wasn't much more than a year ago that they tried to take Midway, and I imagine they lost a fair sum of aviators. But my guess is that he got himself out of that airplane, probably hallucinating from shock. Then again, you hear some strange stories from time to time -- ghost ships and what have you.

His eyes are welling up with tears and he's starting to groan. He is certainly feeling the pain again. 'Doc' is administering some more pain killer to put his lights out for awhile longer. Midway is only 150 miles ahead of us now. We'll drop him off there and head back out toward our assigned patrol afterward.

03-14-12, 09:15 AM	#2
krashkart Navy Seal Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 5,292 Downloads: 100 Uploads: 0	August 3rd, 1943 "It was the strangest thing. When I woke up the cockpit was filling up with water. I was still strapped in, and both my legs hurt like hell. I didn't know what had happened, but I knew that I needed to get out fast. Then somebody climbed up on the wing. I heard their boots on the metal and looked over... and I kid you not, there was this Jap pilot looking right at me." He paused for a moment. We all kept silent. I looked around the compartment, noticed a myriad of expressions on the faces of my sailors. Our youngest, Johnathan, could barely contain himself. I caught his attention, gave him a stern look and shook my head. Not a split second later he had his game face back on -- barely. (Boy still needs to learn a few things... plenty of cleaning to do around the boat, I suppose) The pilot continued, "I managed to get unstrapped, and by that time I was up to my neck in water. The plane was going under fast and my legs wouldn't move. The Jap, he pulled me out. I don't know why he did that. We're enemies, right? Us and the Japs. But he pulled me out anyway and inflated my vest. I must have blacked out again after that. When I woke up he was gone. All I saw was your guys hauling me up out of the ocean." We didn't see the plane go down, but the watch caught a glimpse of smoke on the horizon. I decided to turn the boat around for a better look. As we maneuvered closer we saw the pilot held afloat in his Mae West. We pulled up alongside and hauled him in. He was unconscious and in bad shape. His face looked as though he'd lost a bare-knuckle prize fight, and both of his legs were broken. His left leg had taken the worst of it -- two fractures and three inches of bone sticking out above the ankle. I doubt he'll fly again. It's been twelve hours since we picked him up, and the pilot has come to. As he recounts his brush with fate I get the impression that he blacked out at some point while flying a patrol. He is one lucky guy to have survived. The part about the Japanese pilot, though... that has me wondering. It wasn't much more than a year ago that they tried to take Midway, and I imagine they lost a fair sum of aviators. But my guess is that he got himself out of that airplane, probably hallucinating from shock. Then again, you hear some strange stories from time to time -- ghost ships and what have you. His eyes are welling up with tears and he's starting to groan. He is certainly feeling the pain again. 'Doc' is administering some more pain killer to put his lights out for awhile longer. Midway is only 150 miles ahead of us now. We'll drop him off there and head back out toward our assigned patrol afterward. Last edited by krashkart; 03-14-12 at 10:52 AM.