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Cuttlefish -> RE: Small Ship, Big War (1/25/2008 1:25:49 AM)
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October 5, 1943
Location: 160 miles southwest of Noumea
Course: Southwest
Attached to: TF 4
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 312
Orders: Proceed south and engage enemy fleet off New Caledonia
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The next morning brings with it overcast skies. The clouds are not enough, however, to conceal the rear echelon of the retreating Allied fleet from the searching Japanese. It is only a handful of ships. These are, it would seem, vessels that suffered damage at New Caledonia, whether from mines, coastal batteries, or aircraft, and cannot make enough speed to stay ahead of their pursuers.
Then, for one morning at least, it is the glory days of 1942 again, when Kido Butai would arrive on the scene and scatter the enemy to the winds, sinking all who were too slow to escape. The Japanese carriers launch their planes. These mercilessly harry the enemy ships until all are reported sunk. Japanese pilots report that a light cruiser and a destroyer are among their victims.
The sea beyond them is clear of further ships, however. It would seem that the bulk of the Allied fleet is already drawing close to New Zealand. To the dismay of many aboard the ships the Japanese task forces are ordered to turn around.
The Japanese are, for the moment, the undisputed masters of the sea and air around New Caledonia. What they will do with this condition remains to be seen.
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Seaman Yoshitake looks back towards the along the twenty-five feet of starboard rail he has so far cleaned and painted. Then he looks forward. From his vantage near the stern it looks like a long way to the foredeck.
Standing nearby and watching him, Chief Shun guesses his thoughts. “It’s a long way to go,” he says cheerfully. “And then there is the entire port rail. Pick up the pace, sailor!” Sweating in the equatorial heat, Yoshitake resumes his work.
“I would like to have a talk with who ever put that damned bottle in the water,” he mutters to himself. “I really would.”
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The bottle was put in the water by Ralph Bethke, a 19-year-old sailor aboard the US destroyer La Vallette. It is kind of a hobby of Bethke’s; over the course of his ship’s stay in the South Pacific some twenty similar bottles end up in the water.
The story of the bottles would make an interesting tale in and of itself. Two end up ashore in Peru; one turns up on the north coast of New Guinea in the middle of 1944; and one is found near Brisbane not long afterwards. In 1947 one will turn up near Cape Town, South Africa, where it will start an interesting chain of events; and one will be found two years after that by an elderly beach comber near Astoria, Oregon.
But since he never put his name to any of them no word of this ever comes back to Bethke, who survives the war. He is an energetic young man, and by 1960 he is a sales manager for John Deere in Wichita, Kansas. He stops for a meal one day at the lunch counter in the S.S. Kresge store, and on the way out he passes a rack of paperback books. There he sees a book called “Japanese Destroyer Attack!” by a man named Shiro Kuramata. It catches his interest and he buys a copy.
That night, after the kids are in bed and he has some peace and quiet, he begins reading it. The book strongly brings back his memories of the war and his service aboard “LaVadilly”. He is astounded at how many experiences he has in common with this Kuramata fellow. While there are certainly cultural differences, in a lot of ways they could have served aboard the same ship.
He can’t stop reading, and after he and his wife go to bed he remains propped up on a pillow, turning the pages. Then, on page 149, he comes to Shiro’s description of the Coke bottle incident. He cannot believe his eyes.
“That was me!” he yells, shaking his wife awake and holding out the book. “Look! That was my bottle!” After his wife wakes up enough to understand what he is babbling about she becomes interested too, though she does urge him to get some sleep and talk about it in the morning.
The next day he writes a letter to Japan. In due course it is answered, but what happens after that is a story for another day.
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