Quoted By:
Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in twelve minutes. Didn't see the first Gura for about a half an hour. Gawr Gura. Four footer. You know, you know that when you're in the water, chief? You tell by lookin' from the dorsal to the tail. Well, we didn't know. `Cause our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. Huh huh. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, chief. The Gura come cruisin'. So we formed ourselves into tight groups. And the idea was the man nearest the Gura, he'd start poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the Gura would go away. Sometimes she wouldn't go away. Sometimes that Gura, she looks right into you. Right into your eyes. You know the thing about Gura, she's got...lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye. When she comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'. Until she bites ya and those black eyes roll over white. And then, ah then you hear that terrible high pitch screamin' and the ocean turns red and spite of all the poundin' and the hollerin' she'll come in and rip you to pieces. Y'know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men! I don't know how many Gura, maybe a thousand! I don't know how many men, she averaged six an hour. Noon the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us, he swung in low and he saw us. He'd a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper, anyway he saw us and come in low. And three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and start to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened? Waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a lifejacket again. So,eleven hundred men went in the water, three hundred and sixteen men come out, the Gura took the rest.
