 Soldiers of the press this week. Kiska mission Control to signal bridge control to signal bridge signal bridge I time check I'm check I answer zero five four five hundred Less 15 less 10 check Time take over I've on the morning of a sultry day in August the final phase of the American invasion of the island of Kiska had begun Canadian and American troops by the thousands lined the sides of ships ready to leap aboard landing craft and swarm ashore at broad beach bamboo Bay quisling cove The greatest armada of naval vessels ever assembled in the war against Japan Carried the load of fighting men and ammunition to this last Jap stronghold in the Aleutians Slowly and steadily the mighty fleet approached the island Unboard one of the troop transports was Russell Annabelle United Press staff correspondent Annabelle like all other United Press men on the fighting fronts was to go into battle unarmed Unprotected his job was to get an eyewitness account of that battle and here It is the story of the Allied invasion of Kiska by United Press correspondent Russell Annabelle You've been assigned a major walker's patrol sir, I think you'd better join him now sure of course which way Look and this way over this way I Followed the tenant over to the side of the ship where a fair size group of men were standing huddled together All around us were similar groups It was a weird scene the men had smeared camouflage paint all over their faces They looked like actors waiting for the queue The queue to go out and kill or be killed The men had sweated it out all night and now with the zero hour approaching. They faced the situation squarely They were brave and frightened The major was given a final briefing as I walked up the last word We're the land on Broad Beach Engineers are already ashore cleaning up landmines and booby traps That's their job. We've got the easy job all we have to do is fight Time present about three and a half minutes to go sir. All right That's all boys except good luck and give them hell Sergeant final check yes, okay each man check the guy on his left Yo Cameron Well done your face. I'll put the paint on why me sergeant. Who else now ain't that nice? Cameron your nose is showing imagine that cover it Ain't gonna lose kiss gonna carry your nose Come on go on cover it All okay major all right men get set any minute now Any minute and remember for God's sake keep quiet the burglars in the house But the baby's asleep in the next room see cheer baby what baby somebody smother that guy That's us With a smothered cheer the men dropped over the sides of the ship into the landing barges below As I slid down the net into the majors craft I found myself muttering over and over This is it. This is it The invasion of Kiska had begun The trip to the shore of broad beach seemed to take hours We crouched forward in the barge anxiously scanning the mist enveloped beach Around us I could see other barges loaded with men riding through the waves Strained our ears, but other than the sound of the sea. We've heard nothing no guns nothing Men were tense nervous They sat holding rifles hand grenades Major see anything Russell not a thing major Beach looks empty Those Japs are tricky devils never know when they'll pop out at you. Yeah, I've seen them rise out of nothing Let them rise. We're ready All right, here we are Just look at that beach broad beach hell. It's about as wide as a ruler. All right, man ready They haven't spotted us get down flat Sergeant won't set up right there. Here he is eight five to boy Holland to Landing concluded without incident No sign of enemy over right 885 over and off tell your men to watch out for mines and booby traps Yes Okay, everybody feet off the ground Walk with your eyes Traps and mines mines. You mean gold. Okay. Okay, funny man. Just watch it. That's all just watch it We moved on up the beach the men fanned out in single file formation as we made our way over the tundra toward the Highlands We crept along slowly Cautiously not a sound did we hear not a jab did we see? Erie ain't yeah, I don't like this Go slow Frank. Go slow sure Hey, hey Sarge ain't that one of them? Huh? Jap Where nah a trap, huh? Yeah, sure. It is Look out Frank. Don't touch it. Okay, just look at that. Well, yeah if that ain't clumsy a Tin can loaded with dynamite Then use a nail as a detonator That a stupid church Our objective was a heavy Jap emplacement on a crest of rubber hill We all tightened up as we crawled nearer and nearer easy now easy watch it major look There's a Jap. He's moving. I think he sees us. All right. All right. Give your man back I'm going up. I'm with it Tom. Hey, hey me too We decided to flank the emplacement moving in on the Japs from the rear We crawled painfully through the grass Expecting it any minute the Japs would spot us and blow us to hell As we reached the top the sergeant pulled out a hand grenade and oh baby Look at all of them rats. This is gonna be a pleasure to grenade should major look Look up there. Listen. They're gonna see us in a minute. I'm gonna eat this Don't throw it major. That grenade Look Look at that will you? Those ain't Japs at all Just a flock of stinking scarecrows And that's what they were This Japanese emplacement was armed to the hilt with mortars field pieces and machine guns all manned and guarded by straw scarecrows We couldn't believe it the sergeant just lay there shaking his head. I could have sworn they was moving I Could have sworn they was moving We rested a moment while we inspected the guns and mortars The major called me over Russell. Look at it All these guns are freshly oiled. No rust on them anywhere The Japs haven't been gone long They might be anywhere over the next ridge on top of the next hill Anywhere of course the major was right We were up against the trickiest soldiers in the business As most of us knew from better experience. Nothing is too low or sneaky for a jab to attempt And we could not afford to become Kells these Japs might be anywhere any place at all but where The major gave the command and with the rest of the patrol we moved on Our next objective was the main enemy garrison. We circled back over the tundra and on down to the beach We were again warned by field phone to watch out for landmines and booby traps We picked our way carefully through the fog One of the men major major sir look over here. What is it me and Jim found something over here, sir? All right, see by the water, sir a whole flock of footprints All leading to the water What do you make of that Russell? I don't know but it's beginning to look like cheese. I feel like Robinson Crusoe Where are them nips anyway? I don't know son One thing sure we're gonna find out By now the fog had become so thick we could barely see 10 feet in front of us This heightened the feeling that we were walking right into a trap Among the men tension mounted as we neared our objective In a low voice the major ordered the men to spread out and move in on the garrison in a sweeping half circle As we closed in on the enemy stronghold the second order came Expandance We crept nearer nearer Shut up listen to such there's something moving Huh, you okay? Get around by the door there and when I get the word you kick it open and I'll toss this hand grenade Yeah, then what then we run like hell by the Frank sure let's go all right Easy now easy Okay, Frank stop it Serge. Hold it look them ain't Japs the dogs Well, I'll be damned Five dogs What's wrong here dogs? What's that? No Japs just dogs You know major This moment. I've probably the most frustrated guy in the United States Army Like Russell Annabelle in the North Pacific area United Press Correspondents in every theater of military operations are living with our armed forces Daily they go with them into action to get the exciting stories of daring and bravery that lie behind the official communiques We will bring you another thrilling story of these soldiers of the press soon Be sure to listen and remember to listen for United Press news on the air Look for United Press dispatches in your favorite newspaper They are your guarantee of the world's best coverage of the world's biggest news