(5 of 5)
> "The Jap is a hell of a tough boy. He's best when he's attacking; that's why our cue is to attack him. The attacker always has the advantage of surprise, and the Jap has not got any crystal ball."
> "Shipping and planes are our two chief targets and our own planes should be designed with that in mind. If the same weapon can be used against both, you're sitting pretty. The weapon is a question of skip bombing and lots of .50 caliber gunfire forward."
> "There is nothing wrong with our planes except that I haven't got enough of them. When we get in a fight, if we don't make 'em pay ten Zeros for every heavy bomber we lose, I consider we got gypped."*
> "War against the Jap is a war of attrition. Its last battle will be fought in the streets of Tokyo."
Nobody knows better than George Kenney that the ladder his bombers must climb to Tokyo is a long ladder. New names by the hundreds find their way into the communiqués. No sooner was Kododa disposed of then there was Buna and Gona—then Cape Endaiadare, Buna Mission, Sanananda—and Lae, Salamaua, Wewak, Kavieng, Rabaul and Gasmata still to come. That is only the beginning, and there are Japs in each of those places who must be dug out at the point of a bayonet after Kenney has flown the bayonets and the men to wield them.
In the long, hard task which does not faze him George Kenney is surrounded by able assistants. General Whitehead is his New Guinea air commander. Kenney's chief of pursuit is a 36-year-old, battlewise tactical genius named Paul Wurtsmith. Kenney has surrounded himself with capable Australian flying officers, such as Group Captain William Garing, who knows every nook of the thousands of trackless Pacific square miles.
Above all, George Kenney has the support of Douglas MacArthur who, when he gave out the totals of the damage done by Allied airplanes* in his area, dated them, not from the time of his own arrival in the Southwest Pacific, but from the Buna landing in July, i.e., about the time George Kenney took over. Said MacArthur of Kenney last week: "He is unquestionably one of the best qualified air officers in the world today."
* Lost with that plane was Brigadier General Kenneth Walker, 44, bombardment expert.
† A favorite gag of Lightning pilots is radioing to the low-flying Kittyhawks: "Just stay there; I'll chase him down to where you can hit him."
* Quite properly. A Flying Fortress crew consists of ten skilled Americans; A Jap Zero contains one Jap.
* The score of Jap losses since Kennedy's arrival is: 418 planes, 24 warships, 86 transports, 150 landing barges.