“Buttons,” Espiritu Santo

Rest day. Lew Larson came over for a couple of hours and lunch. The Minneapolis is still waiting for her boiler tubes. The army transport, which was carrying them in her hold finally left Nouméa and headed for Buttons, only to go aground on the reef 30 miles south of here!

Fuzzy Fisler, flying my plane (#6), was jumped today by a Mitsubishi 96 in the same sector I flew yesterday. The “96” was flying out of of Ocean Island. It made a couple of passes at him and went on. Fuzzy’s crew didn’t wake up soon enough to do it any harm, I’m ashamed to say. An old bucket like a “96” should have been a pushover for B-24.