September
15, 1944
The
Philippines
Had
an interesting experience the other night. Lew Ayres, the former movie
actor ("All Quiet on the Western Front", "Dr. Kildare")
spoke in chapel and the choir sang for the event. As you may have
read, Ayres is a pacifist and plans to go into the ministry after
the war. Right now he is a chaplain's assistant nearby.
About
the middle of his talk the red alert was sounded, the lights put out,
and he went on. Most of us think we can tell the sound of a Jap plane,
and one mean drone had everyone pricking up his ears. About that time
we hear the fluttery swish that means a bomb, and Lew's audience was
in the aisles, not to mention between the rows and in the drainage
ditches. You would have gotten a kick out of seeing the bass and baritone
section roll over backwards as one man. Real precision and unison!
Lew remained standing and asked, "Were those bombs?" Someone
replied, "Them was bombs, Lew!" But they weren't close and
after a brief period of brushing off and slightly nervous laughter,
the talk went on.
