January 28, 1943 (Thursday) 

“Buttons,” Espiritu Santo

Noticed yesterday before I took off in the morning that the Japs were jamming the Navy voice frequency (6970 kcs). A high-pitched Jap voice was speaking Japanese while the growler moaned in the background. Later he switched to German, but still on the same high-pitched voice!

The Jap task force collecting east of the Solomons, which we were searching for, hit Guadalcanal, everyone’s surprise! The carrier “Zeros” were the new 02s (square wingtips, armor, and better performance). For the first time in the war, our F4Fs took a beating. We lost two for no Japs shot down. That makes me mad when I think of the whole shipment of F4Us sitting down here on the #1 strip waiting for someone to fly them to Cactus. They could’ve made the Japs look sick.

Spent most of the day resting and washing clothes, the latter being the favorite pastime around here. Cold, and very hard water, make washing a tough matter. The dust and mud (alternately)  make it a necessity!

“Washing” or rather “Sewing Machine Charlie,” was over last night, but he didn’t drop any bombs.