In Danger's Path (40 page)
Carolyn went off at a tangent: “What's going to happen to them, after the war?”
“I suppose they'll get married and live more or less happily ever after.”
“They're from different worlds,” Carolyn said.
“How about âlove conquers all'?”
“You think that will apply to you and me, after the war?”
“I have a wife, Carolyn,” Banning said.
“Maybe the Mormons have the right idea. I'd be willing to share you, if that was the only alternative to not having you at all.”
He shrugged helplessly but didn't reply.
“You think she's still alive?”
He raised his hands in a gesture of helplessness. “I don't know,” he said.
“And if she is still alive, will she be the same woman you married? I suppose what I'm asking is will you still be in love with her?”
“âIn sickness and in health,'” he quoted, “âuntil death doth you part.'”
“You left out âforsaking all others,'” Carolyn said, a little too brightly.
He didn't like what he heard in her voice.
“Would you rather I left, Carolyn?” Banning asked. “Maybe that would be the bestâ”
“It's midnight,” she said practically, interrupting him. “Where would you go? You'd never find a hotel room this time of night. And besides, I meant what I said about maybe the Mormons have the right idea.”
“You're getting the short end of this stick,” he said.
“I know,” she said. “But I knew that when we started, didn't I?”
“If you want me to say I feel guilty as hell⦔
“I know that,” Carolyn said. “If you didn't feel guilty, I don't think I'd love you. Or at least love you as much.” She turned and went back into the bathroom.
Banning stared at the bathroom door for a moment, then angrily picked up the newspaper and threw it across the room.
[FIVE]
Office of the Commander in Chief, Pacific
U.S. Navy Base
Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii
1405 11 March 1943
Commander J. Howard Young, USN, Flag Secretary to Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, stood in CINCPAC's door and waited until the Admiral noticed him. “Admiral Wagam is here, Admiral,” he said. “With his aide.”
Nimitz's face grew pensive:
Lewis knows more about submarines
, he was thinking,
has more nuts-and-bolts knowledge, than Dan Wagam or I do
. In a moment he replied, “Ask them both to come in.”
Rear Admiral (Upper Half) Daniel J. Wagam, USN, and his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Chambers D. Lewis III, USN, marched into the room, stopped, and stood at attention.
“At ease, gentlemen,” Nimitz replied. “Good afternoon.”
“Good afternoon, Admiral,” the two replied in unison.
“Sit down,” Nimitz said, gesturing to a pair of upholstered chairs facing his desk. “I'm about to have some coffee. Would you like some?”
Moments later, when they all had coffee, he said, “We have heard from General Pickering.”
He opened the center drawer of his desk, took out a large manila envelope stamped
TOP SECRET
and handed it to Wagam.
“Three possibilities, Dan,” Nimitz said with a smile. “The General either has a limited knowledge of correct military form, or none, or he
does
, and doesn't give a damn.”
“I see what you mean, sir,” Admiral Wagam said, chuckling.
Lewis had to wait to satisfy his own curiosity about that until Admiral Wagam had finished reading the communication. Then Nimitz said, “I think Lewis better have a look at that, too.”
Brigadier General Pickering's proposed Operations Plan was in the form of a personal letter to Admiral Nimitz:
T O P S E C R E T
OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES WASHINGTON
0905 GREENWICH 11 MARCH 1943
VIA SPECIAL CHANNEL DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN
CINCPAC HAWAII EYES ONLY ADMIRAL CHESTER W. NIMITZ
FOLLOWING PERSONAL FROM DDPACIFIC TO ADMIRAL NIMITZ
DEAR ADMIRAL NIMITZ
:
GETTING WHAT SOMEBODY DECIDED TO CALL âOPERATION GOBI' UNDERWAY HAS TAKEN LONGER THAN I HOPED IT WOULD, BUT WE ARE FINALLY AT A POINT WHERE I CAN BRING YOU UP TO DATE, AND EXPLAIN THE PROBLEMS WE ARE HAVING
.
WE TURNED UP AN EX-4TH MARINES GUNNERY SERGEANT WHO BEFORE THE WAR APPARENTLY AUGMENTED HIS INCOME SMUGGLING GOLD AND ART WORK INTO AND OUT OF INDIA AND THE SOVIET UNION USING CAMEL CARAVANS. WE ARE ABOUT TO SEND HIM TO CHINA WHERE HE THINKS, AND I BELIEVE, HE CAN USE HIS FORMER BUSINESS ASSOCIATES TO GET DECENT RADIOS INTO THE HANDS OF THE AMERICANS NOW IN THE GOBI DESERT
.
LT COLONEL ED BANNING, ALSO EX 4TH MARINES, WHO I BROUGHT INTO THE OSS WITH ME, TELEPHONED ME AN HOUR OR SO AGO FROM FORT MONMOUTH TO TELL ME HE HAS HALF A DOZEN CAMEL TRANSPORTABLE RADIOS. BANNING, WHO HAS SPECIAL COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS, IF YOU TAKE MY MEANING, WILL SHORTLY DEPART FOR CHUNGKING TO TAKE UP DUTY AS A STAFF OFFICER ON THE STAFF OF THE US MILITARY MISSION TO CHIANG KAI-SHEK. AND WILL OVERSEE THE RADIO DELIVERY FROM THERE. ONCE HE IS PHYSICALLY PRESENT IN CHUNGKING, WE WILL HAVE SPECIAL CHANNEL CAPABILITY
.
THESE RADIOS WILL NOT, REPEAT NOT, BE OF MUCH USE BEYOND GIVING US MORE OR LESS RELIABLE COMMUNICATION WITH THE PEOPLE IN THE DESERT, AND, OF COURSE, TO GIVE US A POSITIVE POSITION FOR THEM
.
ONCE WE LOCATE THESE PEOPLE AND ESTABLISH COMMUNICATIONS WITH THEM, WE COME TO THE NEXT PROBLEM, WHICH IS HOW TO SEND THE NECESSARY METEOROLOGICAL EQUIPMENT, AND THE PEOPLE TO OPERATE IT IN THERE
.
AFTER CONSULATION WITH GENERAL MAC MCINERNEY I HAVE DECIDED THE BEST, AS A MATTER OF FACT ONLY, WAY TO DO THIS IS BY SPECIALLY EQUIPPED AIRCRAFT, SPECIFICALLY AMPHIBIOUS CATALINAS. THEY ARE THE ONLY AIRCRAFT WITH BOTH THE RANGE AND WEIGHT CARRYING CAPABILITY WE HAVE TO HAVE. FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS, USE OF LARGER NAVY AND AIR CORPS AIRCRAFT HAS BEEN DECIDED AGAINST
.
THE IDEA IS TO REFUEL THE CATALINAS BY HAVING THEM RENDEZVOUS AT SEA WITH A SUBMARINE IN THE YELLOW SEA, A HUNDRED MILES OR SO NORTHEAST OF TIENTSIN
.
THERE ARE SOME OBVIOUS PROBLEMS WITH THIS, INCLUDING THE HAZARDS OF TRANSPORTING AVIATION FUEL ABOARD A SUB, GETTING THE FUEL OFF THE SUBMARINE AND INTO THE AIRCRAFT ON THE HIGH SEAS, AND OF COURSE MAKING SURE THE SUBMARINE WILL BE WHERE IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE WHEN THE CATALINAS GET THERE
.
ANOTHER OF THE PROBLEMS IS THAT NOT ONLY WILL THE AIRCRAFT ALMOST CERTAINLY BE UNABLE TO FLY OUT OF THE GOBI, BUT THEY ARE SOMEHOW GOING TO HAVE TO BE CONCEALED FROM AERIAL AND OTHER OBSERVATION ONCE THEY GET THERE
.
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 THE WEATHER 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 MULTIENGINE 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 NIMITZ
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.”
[SIX]
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 Culhaneâprobably because of the emotionâhad 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 theirâwhat am I, “boyfriend”?âhas 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 driving 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.