From the Hutchinson News-Herald - date unknown
War Department
Had To Leave Wounded
Buddy In Flaming B-24
It was the toughest moment of S-Sgt. Dale Covert's life, when he parachuted from the riddled
and burning Liberator, leaving his wounded buddy, S-Sgt. Lloyd Cunningham, of Wilson, Kas., to
ride the flaming ship to his death in the ocean.
Rescued from Pacific waters by natives, Covert is home on furlough visiting his parents, Mr.
and Mrs. C. H. Covert, in South Hutchinson before reporting at Miami Beach for reassignment.
Active combat duty ended for the radio operator and gunner last November 7, when his bomber
was shot down by Jap Zeros after it had attacked enemy installations on Negros island.
The raid promised to be an easy one. So easy, in fact, that Sgt. Cunningham, left waist
gunner, left his parachute lying on the flight deck. That proved to be a fatal mistake, for the
bomb bay of the big ship caught fire, cutting off access to the chute. Without it, the wounded
man was trapped in the plane. The other crewmen begged him to try to hold on to one of them,
but he refused.
Attacked By Seven Zeros
Relating the dramatic experience which he underwent, Sgt. Covert said that his squadron had
been making raids every day, knocking out Jap airfields, so enemy planes couldn't strafe
American troops on Leyte.
"This mission to Negros island was just an average raid. The flight up and back took about
nine and a half hours.
"We went over the target and dropped our bombs, according to schedule, but as we started back
one of our planes dropped out of formation, and seven Jap Zeros immediately attacked it.
"We were flying wing to the ship and could see what was happening. In a case like that, our
whole squadron was supposed to drop back and cover a crippled ship until its crew had bailed
out, but apparently we were the only ones to know its plight.
"Our pilot, a new man, dropped in to cover the other Lib, but that was a bad deal for us.
When we left formation, the flight of Zeros all turned and came after us.
Plane Looked Like Sieve
" I think everyone of them hit our plane. The bomber looked like a sieve. Our upper turret
gunner was killed and the left waist gunner, Sgt. Cunningham, was struck in the side.
"With flames raging in the bomb bay, he couldn't get to his chute. While the rest of us were
snapping on our chutes and life rafts, we tried to get him to go out with one of us, but he
wouldn't do that.
"He just stood there talking to us when we bailed out. He didn't seem scared at all."
Sgt. Covet swallowed hard, then he said simply, "You don't argue at a time like that. You jump.
"All three of us in the waist went out the camera hatch. As we opened it, suction caused flames
from the bomb bay to come right back on us. I was burned on the neck and hands before I jumped.
Slow To Open Chute
"I was scared to death the Japs would strafe me, as they were still shooting at the plane, so I
didn't open my chute until I had fallen about 7,000 feet. Didn't black out on the way down. I
was lying on my back as I fell and I even looked at my wrist watch. It was 1 p.m. I remember
quite distinctly.
"Once I rolled over and saw the water and mountains. At about 1800 feet, I pulled the ripcord
on the chute. Instinctively I stiffened myself, and the jerk that came when the silk opened
really jarred me. Some of the other boys said they didn't get any jar at all.
"I came down in the ocean about two miles off the shore of an island. Didn't have time to
unsnap my chute as I hit the water, and it came right down on top of me. I almost drowned
getting out from under all that wet silk.
"When I did get it off, I came out through the shroud lines and was really tangled up, but
managed to unsnap my life raft and inflate it. After that, it took me quite a little while to
get untangled.
Natives Came In Canoes
"Once I was in the raft, I looked around for the other boys but I couldn't see any of them, as
we were strung out too far. So I just sat and waited.
"About an hour later, I saw some men coming toward me in little dug-out canoes. They really
frightened me, because I didn't know whether they were Japs or natives.
"They hollered and asked if I were an "Americano", and I said I was, so they picked me up. I
made the mistake of pulling out my wallet to see if it had been damaged, and when they saw it,
they began asking for everything I had. They particularly wanted my pictures. They would stop
paddling every few minutes while we talked it over, but I didn't give the photos to them. They
were of my girl.
"The natives rescued 13 men out of the two Liberator crews, eight of them from my plane. Two
hours after the air battle, we werer together on the shore of the island.
Fried Chicken for Dinner
"An old Chinaman took us in an let us sleep on mats in his house.
"That night we had fried chicken for dinner, believe it or not. It tasted just like the
regular thing to me. Of course there was rice, and the natives tried to get us to drink 'tuba',
their own brand of liquor.
"All of us boys ate by ourselves, but everyone came for miles around to watch us. We were
getting ready to go to a guerilla camp, where we would be a little safer, although the natives
assured us there weren't any Japs within 10 miles.
"However, about 3 o'clock that afternoon one of our Catalinas came in and picked us up. The
natives took us out to it, but I wasn't particularly happy to leave the island so soon. That
would have been a rather pleasant place to have finished out the war," Sgt. Covert said with a
laugh. "It was the first time I had seen anything resembling civilization in several months.
Overseas For Year
"About three hours later, we were back at our base. We never went on any more missions after
that, though we stayed at the camp until January 8."
Sgt. Covert had a year's overseas service to his credit, when he left the south Pacific behind
and headed toward the United States and home.
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