The next morning, Greg awoke feeling like he had taken a very short fall off a very tall cliff, every bone and muscle in his body screamed with pain each time he moved; although thankfully that punch Gutterman had thrown hadn't broken his nose just badly bruised it. His right side was one big purple, green, and yellow bruise, but he didn't think he'd any broken ribs.
He was 99.9% convinced that the best thing to do was to call off the mission for a few days until he'd had a chance to recover from the physical effects of the fight and have Dr. Pendleton check out his ribs. However, if Colonel Lard got wind of the fact that he'd postponed the mission he'd be dropping in before Greg could take his next breath wanting to know what was going on. Greg was certain about one thing and that was if he found out about Greg and Jim's fight both of them were going to be sitting in a military prison for quite awhile.
No, Greg decided it was best to ignore the pain, fly the mission, pray that everyone made it back, and then wait for whatever was going to happen next. Getting up, he headed for the flight line to give everyone a final briefing and last minute instructions.
"How are you feeling, Pappy?" Boyle asked when he walked up.
Greg gave him a sharp look.
"How do you think I'm feeling, Boyle? Because I can tell you that I feel about as well or worse than I look that's for damn certain."
Then he looked at the group.
"Where's Gutterman?" he asked his voice hard.
"He's still in bed. I woke him up when I got ready and he said to tell you he couldn't fly after the fight you two had last night, you could take this mission, stick it up your ass sideways, and then do some other things to yourself that I'm 100% certain are physically impossible," French replied.
Greg had really had about all of Jim Gutterman he could take.
"YOU AND BRAGG GO TELL THAT INSUBORDINATE BASTARD HE'D BETTER HAVE HIS WORTHLESS ASS OUT HERE READY TO TAKE OFF IN 5 MINUTES BECAUSE IF I HAVE TO GO GET HIM THE SON OF A BITCH IS GOING TO EXPERIENCE A LOT WORSE THAN WHAT I GAVE HIM LAST NIGHT!"
French and Bragg took off. No one else said anything. This was between Pappy and Gutterman and they knew better than to get in the middle of it.
Greg took a few deep breaths and walked around trying to calm down.
"I don't need to get worked up and get myself or all of us killed as a result of doing something stupid because my mind's not focused on what it should be focused on," he thought.
"All right first team is going to take off and head towards the target at angels 23. When we reach Bougainville I'll lead you all in and we'll take out the hangars, then we're going to separate into two groups. I want Bragg and Gutterman to make a second sweep around and drop 500 pound bombs on the ammunition dump. While they're doing that French and I will make a third sweep over the explosives plant. This is going to be the part that we can't screw up on, one mistake and both of us are going to be reduced to nothing."
He waited a few minutes for that to sink in before continuing.
"We'll fly over and drop 500 pound bombs on the explosives plant, as well. Then we get out as fast as possible. We'll regroup with the second team and by then those rice balls will probably be heading back from their patrol, but hopefully TJ, Casey, Anderson, and Boyle can keep them off our tails without too much trouble until we get there. As soon as French and Bragg get back with Gutterman those of us on the first team will take off, then the second team will follow. Oh, and once we get within 200 miles of Bougainville there's to be no radio contact, unless it's absolutely necessary, until we complete the third phase and get 200 miles away from the island. Are you all clear on what everyone's supposed to do?"
Everyone nodded.
"Okay, get ready and good luck."
Greg put his hand on TJ's shoulder as he went past.
"I just want you to know that I have no reservations about you leading the second team and if I did I wouldn't have asked you in the first place. So, once we regroup don't let Gutterman give you any trouble, if he gets too out of line he's going to find himself in hot water once we land because whether or not he realizes it he's just about pushed his luck with me, as far as I'm concerned."
"Thanks Pappy, but and I'm almost ashamed to admit it..."
You're scared?" Greg finished the sentence for him.
"Yeah, you still think you made the right choice for the second team's leader?"
"TJ, that's normal, I'd be more concerned if you weren't afraid, and I can honestly say that for the last several days and nights I've been so stressed out over this mission that I hardly slept at all. I'm terrified that something's going to go wrong and this isn't going to end well, but I've got to push that aside and get us through this. A little fear is healthy, but not to the point that it paralyzes you or causes you take unnecessary risks just to prove you're braver than the next person. And thank God I don't see you at that point yet as far as this mission is concerned. Does that help any?"
TJ looked at Greg. If he had the guts to admit how scared he was and was willing to face it down and take whatever happened as it came, well he could too and show everyone else besides.
"Yeah," he said. "It does and don't worry, Pappy, we'll all come back."
"I hope you're right, TJ, I really hope you're right," Greg said to himself as he headed towards his plane.
French and Bragg arrived at the flight line a short time later with a very irate Gutterman, who didn't say anything, but gave Greg a hateful look as he passed him on the way to his plane.
"He cause either of you any trouble?" Greg asked.
"No, but he's madder than a wet cat at you," French said. "He did nothing, but call you every off color, derogatory name he could think of and several I'd never heard of, the entire time we were forcing him to get ready and then he said that as soon as we get back he's going to beat you worse than he did last night. Then he went off on TJ and what he'd like to do to him if he ever got the opportunity. The two of us threatened to knock him out and dump him on a Japanese held island if he didn't shut up and that seemed to do the trick."
It didn't surprise Greg that they wouldn't have done it either.
"Okay, once we regroup we all need to watch TJ's back, as far as Gutterman's concerned. I've already talked to TJ and he knows to keep alert in case Gutterman tries anything once we regroup."
I hated to admit it, but I probably should have confined Gutterman to his tent leaving Bragg and French to guard him until the rest of us got back and under ordinary circumstances I wouldn't have considered doing anything else. However, these were not ordinary circumstances and the fact that I needed everyone in the air gave me no choice, but to have him fly with us. I just hoped that I wouldn't regret it before we were finished.
Although they were not under radio silence for most of the flight towards Bougainville, there was none of the usual talking and camaraderie that normally occurred among the Black Sheep during the flights. Greg chalked it up to nervousness and didn't attempt to force them into conversation. Hopefully, the flight back would be a different story.
"From this point on I want everyone to cease radio contact until we regroup. TJ, you and your team patrol here while we take out the island. I doubt if you'll have anything to worry about for awhile, but some of those Zeros may try to sneak up on us."
"Will do, Pappy, and good luck."
"Thanks TJ we need all of it we can get."
Greg, Gutterman, French, and Bragg headed towards the targets leaving TJ, Casey, Boyle and Anderson patrolling the area 100 miles from there in all directions.
Greg's team located the planes and airstrip from the air without any trouble, a few Zeros were visible on the airstrip and for a few minutes Greg was worried that they were about to fly into a trap, but it quickly became apparent that those Zeros must have been grounded for repairs as they were able to blow up the planes, the buildings near the airstrip, and almost the entire airstrip with no problem.
"I'd like to see them take off now," Greg thought as he looked down at the burning planes and buildings below.
Bragg and Gutterman had already circled around and were preparing to take out the ammunition dump. However, as they flew off, Greg could tell that Jim wasn't concentrating and that his mind was literally and figuratively in the clouds.
"He's going to get it when we get back to Vella La Cava. This isn't the time to be doing a half assed job." Greg thought.
Just then the ammunition dump went up in a spectacular display of flames and thick black smoke. He couldn't think about Gutterman right now, however, as he and French had to take out the explosives plant.
Having sent the ammunition dump up in a burst of flames, Bragg and Gutterman headed towards their second target, the fuel tanks. A few minutes later as they flew over dropping the bombs right on target another blast of flames and smoke rose into the air as the fuel tanks were consumed by the impact of the bombs. This left only the explosives plant to be taken out and then regroup with TJ, who hopefully did not yet have to deal with any of the Zeros.
The explosives plant was hidden by the jungle overgrowth below, which lead Greg to believe that the Japanese hadn't wanted it known what they were in the process building. In fact, it was so well hidden that Greg almost flew over it before he realized what they were coming upon. He debated whether or not to switch back to radio frequency so that he and French could communicate easier, as it appeared that taking out the plant was going to be more difficult than he had anticipated due to the heavy jungle growth covering it. However, not knowing who might be listening in he decided to continue with radio silence.
Holding his breath, he and French continued in the direction they had been heading and in near synchronized succession they dropped the bombs over what Greg hoped was the main part of the plant. Then ascending to 30 angels they barely made it out of danger when the exploding bombs ignited the contents of the plant and a loud boom shook the island with such force that Greg and French both felt it in their planes.
As flames, smoke, and vegetation flew into the air. Greg could feel himself growing faint from fear as he realized how close they had come to being burnt to death and he wondered if French was feeling the same way. He shook the feeling off as he and French headed back to regroup with TJ and his team.
By the time they had nearly reached the point where the second team was patrolling Greg, at least, had calmed down considerably. Just as they had resumed radio communication TJ's voice came in clearly panicked.
"Pappy, we've got trouble. How close are you?"
"I hear you TJ, what's going on?" Greg responded detecting a sigh of relief from TJ.
"There're at least 20 Zeros attacking us. They came in all at once, and we don't know how much longer we can continue fighting them."
"Shit," Greg said under his breath."We're on our way TJ just hang on."
By the time Greg, Bragg, Gutterman, and French joined up with TJ, Casey, Boyle and Anderson; Casey had downed one of the Zeros, but four against 19 still was not very good odds. However, Boyle shot down two more of the planes; TJ, with Greg's help, sent three more spiraling into the ocean. Then in quick succession Casey, French, and Bragg each brought down two; although one of the Zeros managed to do some cosmetic damage to the side of Casey's plane before Casey blew it up in a brilliant blast that reduced it to nothing more than a cloud of smoke. Greg took out three more one after the other.
Then, after a brief game of cat and mouse, Anderson managed to place a well timed shot through one of the Zero's canopies splitting the pilot in half at the same time. The now pilotless plane spun wildly towards the ocean where it was quickly swallowed by the water below. The other four Zeros decided that the Black Sheep were too much for them and headed for the horizon. Knowing that they might have reinforcements on a nearby island that were waiting to take off Greg told everyone to stay together, but as he had been expecting him to do Gutterman took off after them.
"Did you hear what I said, Gutterman, get back in formation, now!
Greg was getting very, very pissed off at Gutterman and as far as he was concerned this was the last straw. When they got back to Vella La Cava Jim was going to have faced the consequences and he wasn't going to like the outcome. Greg then noticed that Gutterman was continuing to ignore his order.
"IF I HAVE TO COME AFTER YOU GUTTERMAN, I WILL SHOOT YOU DOWN. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" Greg yelled into the radio.
That definitely got Jim Gutterman's attention and he turned and rejoined the group. Suddenly, Boyle glanced to the side and saw four Zeros tailing them although they hadn't attacked yet he was certain it was only a matter of time before they did.
"Pappy, four Zeros behind us at 3 o'clock."
Greg looked back and noted that while they seemed to just be cruising along he had a very uncomfortable feeling that they were up to something.
"Stay alert, but don't do anything stupid. Let them make the first move. Do you understand that command Gutterman?" he added sternly.
Everyone answered affirmatively except for Gutterman, which didn't escape Greg's attention.
Then, a short time later, all hell broke loose as the four Zeros attacked without warning. Boyle managed to shoot one, blowing one of its wings off and sending it streaking downward to the ocean where it remained on the surface of the water for a few minutes before quickly sinking. The pilot of one of the other Zeros had his sights clearly set on Greg and almost had him a few times. Greg felt the bullets hitting the exterior of the plane and he knew that Hutch was going to be really pleased with the damage that the plane was sustaining.
Greg dove and spun putting the plane through moves that even he wasn't convinced were doable, but still the Zero stayed glued to him like bubble gum in a six-year-old boy's hair. Greg sent the plane downward and then pulled up quickly hoping that the Zero would grow tired of this game of tag, but no. He tried everything he could possibly think of, aeronautically, to shake him off or at least put himself in a position where he could flame the Zero, but the pilot was one persistent rice ball.
Greg knew it was only a matter of time before the pilot lost patience and decided to try to finish him off once and for all. Before that happened, however, Greg dove once more and it was a good thing he did as the plane suddenly exploded in midair. Greg looked out the window and saw French giving him the thumbs up indicating he had been the one to blow up the Zero and in all probability save Greg's life.
"PAPPY TWO OF THEM ARE ON MY TAIL, HELP!" TJ yelled over the radio.
Bragg managed to blow one of them out the air. However, the other Zero fired and the next thing the Black Sheep knew TJ's plane was spiraling towards the water. There was a brief moment of stunned silence.
"TJ pull up," Greg thought. Then as it looked as if that wasn't going to happen he changed the plea to "TJ bail out."
The minutes ticked by and as the distance between the plane and the water narrowed. Greg knew that if he didn't bail out soon he'd go down with the plane.
Then, Anderson's voice came over the radio, "Pappy look!" as TJ finally bailed out of the plane.
The Zero, however, was intent on finishing him off and fired at the descending figure attached to the chute. It appeared to miss its target and Greg getting as close as he dared let loose with every ounce of fire power he had.
"THAT'S FOR TJ YOU GOD FORSAKEN BASTARD!" He screamed as the Zero exploded into a million pieces.
Then Casey's voice came over the radio.
"I contacted Air Sea Rescue with the coordinates and they should be here in a few hours as they're returning from another rescue, they're almost to Espritos Marcos now, but then they have to refuel before they can go after TJ."
"Alright, what's our damage assessment?" Greg asked. "I know that rice ball really did some damage to the sides of my plane."
"I'm hit," Anderson replied. "My oil pressure's low, but I'm not leaking any fuel."
"Okay," Greg replied. "French you and Boyle follow him back. Anyone else sustain any damage?"
"My engine's sounding funny," Casey said. "And the plane keeps acting like it wants to pull to the left."
Greg didn't like the fact that counting TJ's they now had three planes out of commission.
"Great, okay then you can follow them back, too and if no one else has any major damage how are we on fuel levels, starting with you Gutterman."
Much to Greg's surprise Gutterman answered.
"I've got about 150 gallons."
"Fine, then you can stay here until Air Sea Rescue arrives and make sure that TJ's covered."
"Yeah, sure, whatever," Gutterman replied.
Hutch was waiting near the airstrip at Vella La Cava with Meatball for the Black Sheep's return. He looked towards the horizon and saw four black dots growing larger.
"What?" he thought.
He didn't like what he was seeing, especially when two of the planes appeared to be in trouble.
Anderson and Casey pulled their damaged planes off to the side and then joined Boyle and French who were having an animated conversation with Hutch.
"Looks like you all had some trouble," Hutch commented.
"The main part of the mission went smoothly. TJ's team however got attacked by 20 Zeros. They'd shot down one of them before Greg's team got there and then we made short work of the rest with four of them retreating." French replied.
"What about the others?" Hutch asked warily.
"They'll be along about 200 miles past where we fought those 20 Zeros we were attacked by four more. Three of them were taken care of, but one got TJ," Boyle explained.
Hutch's face turned white at that statement
"He made it out and we contacted Air Sea Rescue. Gutterman's supposed to stay with the plane until they arrive," Boyle continued.
Just as he had finished Greg and Bragg flew in. The two of them walked over and Greg filled Hutch in on more details about the mission. As they were talking the sound of a Corsair could be heard in the distance.
"Casey, how long did Air Sea Rescue say it would take for them to get to TJ?" Greg asked.
"An hour or two at the most, they were almost to Espritos Marcos after rescuing a downed pilot just off the coast of New Georgia. After they take him to the hospital and refuel they'll head over and pick up TJ," Casey replied. "Why?"
Greg and the others turned to look to the end of the runway where Gutterman's Corsair was taxiing in.
"Then someone explain to me what in the hell Gutterman's doing back already," Greg said.
"Care to explain how Air Sea Rescue picked TJ up so quickly?" Greg asked when Gutterman walked up.
"They haven't got to him yet and I got sick and tired of flying around waiting on them," he said.
"You were under orders to stay with TJ until he was safely picked up," Greg was using every ounce of strength to avoid giving Jim a worse beating than he had given him the other night.
"He'll be okay. TJ's a big boy. If he's able to lead a team he's able to survive being in the water a few hours," Gutterman replied giving Greg a smug look.
"How in the hell could you leave him?" Greg was now more than fed up. "You know we were attacked twice and if a group of Zeros see him out there he's done for; you know that as well as I do."
"I know you can go to hell," Gutterman shot back walking away.
"Get back here now, Jim, I'm not finished with you yet."
"Shut up, Pappy, shut the god damn hell up."
"Better do as he says," Boyle advised.
Gutterman turned and walked over to him.
"Stay out of it, Boyle, or..."
"Or what?" Boyle asked.
"Or this," Gutterman struck him square in the jaw sending him backwards onto the ground. French and Bragg each grabbed one of Gutterman's arms holding him so that he couldn't hit Boyle further.
"Take him to that storage shed, lock him in there, and stand guard until he cools off," Greg said through clinched teeth. "I'll deal with him after I know that TJ is safe."
Casey had already headed for the radio shack to get in contact with Air Sea Rescue.
"Pappy, this just came in and I think you need to read it, right now!" Casey said finding Greg in the Sheep Pen an hour later.
Greg unfolded the paper and as he glanced around an eerie silence fell over the Sheep Pen. Anderson got up and unplugged the jukebox.
"Pappy, what is it?"
Greg felt as if he were in a dream or more accurately a nightmare as he said.
"There's no sign of TJ. Air Sea Rescue flew over the area several times and didn't see any sign of him or the plane."
I couldn't believe what I had just read and at the same time knew that very thing was a very real possibility. I also knew I was going have to write TJ's family and tell them the bad news. What hurt the most was what I couldn't tell them, because I didn't know the answer and that was what had happened to him...had he drowned, been taken prisoner, or already been dead when he hit the water. It was the not knowing that hurt me almost as much as the fact that we were never going to see him again.
That night Greg lay on his cot unable to sleep, every time he drifted off the images of that afternoon would be replayed over and over. He saw TJ's plane hurling towards the water and TJ finally bailing out. Then he would invariably wake up shaking, a cold sweat covering his body. Finally, he forced himself to stay awake and turning over he lay there watching Emily sleeping peacefully in her bed next to him. He reached over and lightly stroked her cheek and she reached up to grasp his finger, holding onto it.
"What," he thought. "Did TJ ever do to deserve what had happened to him that afternoon? Nothing and that was the entire point, none of the men...boys, who had met similar fates, had done one thing to deserve getting killed or injured to the point that their lives were forever changed. TJ, like the rest of them had had his entire life ahead of him, now the way things were looking he was just going to be another name on a list that was getting longer of those who would one day be listed as killed in action.
Emily, if the adoption went through, would have only the memories that he and the other Black Sheep shared with her about her Uncle TJ, since Greg knew that TJ wanted everyone to remain in contact with her once the war was over.
"Stop thinking like that," he said out loud. "TJ is going to be found and he will be all right. You have to believe that to some extent otherwise; you'd have already sent a letter to his family, instead of putting it off like you keep doing."
Eventually, he grew so tired that sleep overcame him and he let himself drift into a dreamless albeit unsound sleep. Suddenly, he was jolted awake by what sounded like an old washing machine.
"Damn you Charlie," he yelled sitting up in bed.
He could take comfort in the fact that he wasn't the only one to have had his sleep interrupted by Washing Machine Charlie, as the other Black Sheep rushed out of their tents in various stages of undress and cussing a blue streak. They were about as overjoyed as Greg at being awakened in the middle of the night out of a sound sleep. The annoying thing was that this was the third time this week that it had happened.
French and Boyle both fired at the plane, but if they hit it, the shots did little more than do cosmetic damage to the exterior of the plane. However, they figured if they didn't hit him they got a little too close for comfort because the next thing they knew Charlie dropped a bomb into the jungle near the camp. Everyone fell to the ground and curled up protecting themselves as much as possible as the ground shook and a brief burst of flame rose into the air. Several of them wanted to go see what he had hit, but Greg put a stop to that idea saying it was too dangerous for them to go prowling around the jungle in the middle of the night.
As the sound of Charlie's plane died away everyone slowly began to get up and dust themselves off.
"First thing tomorrow, after the morning patrol, several of you go see what he hit this time," Greg said. "Right now though everyone get back to bed and try to get some sleep."
It was a fairly unexciting morning patrol, Casey sighted a Japanese submarine on the surface of the water near New Georgia, however, for some unknown reason, before the Black Sheep could get a chance to fire on it, the submarine sank beneath the water.
"I'll let General Moore and Colonel Lard know about sighting that sub and the rest of you decide who's going to check out the damage caused by Washing Machine Charlie's visit last night," Greg said once they had landed.
Casey, Boyle, Anderson, and French agreed to go and Bragg went to have Hutch check out the reason why his plane kept acting like it was going to stall and then seem to be okay again. It had happened three times during the patrol and if it was one thing Greg didn't need it was another pilot down in the water.