T
he order they had been waiting for came
through around 9 p.m. on January 2,
1943, when all available planes and crews
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on Guadalcanal by way of Espiritu Santo in the
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at 8 the next morning and landed at Espiritu
Santo in the middle of the afternoon. Along the
way Ripley, Ivey and Captain John Turner in
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leaving only Rigley’s Crock O’ Crap and Captain
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managed to join them by borrowing two old
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perated Ripley, Ivey and Turner crews—includ ing
Roddenberry—were left behind.
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in one piece.
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force to search for a damaged Japanese destroyer
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Americans found the destroyer, it appeared to be
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even near misses.
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IVQOP\[\ZQSMIOIQV[\3IPQTQ\PM2IXIVM[MÅOP\MZ
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) 5BMZW[<PM2IXIVM[MÅOP\MZ[I\\IKSMLQVNWZ
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and saw his target “fall in three burning pieces.”
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Espiritu Santo to spend the night. Spirits
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everyone joined in the fun and Ripley was
content to let them unwind. The 394th was
in the war again, and this time they were
the ones dropping the bombs.
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with more old planes, and lightened the
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_I[\PMXZW[XMK\WNLIa[¼TMI^MQV6M_
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spent a lot of his spare time reading and
occasionally writing verse, successfully
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squadron theme song (see sidebar, opposite).
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esoteric literary references seemed condescending
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but the unpredictability of the South Pacific
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based on observations from the previous day, could
be unreliable. Thus there had been no hint of what
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2WPV*ZQ\\WVIVL*QTT:QXTMa\WWSWٺI\IJW]\
hours on a routine daily search.
Just after noon a garbled coded message from
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extreme weather and was diverting to Espiritu
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but nobody was unduly concerned.
:QXTMa_I[M`XMK\MLJIKSIZW]VL IVL
when another hour had passed those waiting on
the ground grew more anxious, straining to hear40 AH September 2019
SO FAR, SO GOOD
Above, from left:
Captain Bill Ivey,
2nd Lt. Sanford
Price, Captain
Edward Quintard,
1st Lt. Robert
Crandall and
Roddenberry pose
outside the officers’
club at Nadi. Right:
Lieutenant Bill
Ripley proudly
points to his crew’s
combat record.