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I knew that little bits of pretty ribbon had helped in World War I; maybe they would help in this one, too. Anyhow, it wouldn’t hurt to try. The next morning a t the office I got General Lincoln on the phone and read him a list of things to ship to Carmichael a t once. I told him not to worry about the paper work but to load the stuff in every airplane he had and fly it to Mareeba without consulting Townsville, Charters Towers, or anybody. Also that I would be in Mareeba in a day or two myself and would check up on deliv43 General Kenney Reports-Augzcst, I 942 eries and, if I found that he had delayed for any reason, I would demote a lot of people and send them home on the slowest freight boat I could find.

W e had been in radio communication, but there certainly was no welcoming party for General Miff Harmon, the new commander of the South Pacific Theater, which included Fiji. After about fifteen minutes, a young lieutenant hurriedly drove up in a jeep and asked for General Harmon. Miff identified himself and was handed a message from the colonel commanding the Nandi Base, saying that he would see him at mess at I 2: 30, as at the moment he was taking a sun bath. Miff handed me the note without saying a word.

I told him I had called off flying all bombers, B-17s, B-zgs, and B-26s7 until we could get enough of them in shape to put on a real show; that about August 6, just prior to the coming South Pacific operation to capture Guadalcanal and Tulagi, I would send the maximum number of B-17s against the main Japanese airdrome at Vunakanau, just southeast of Rabaul. The Jap aircraft there would raise the devil with the Navy landing operations if they were not taken out. At the same time, the B-25s and B-26s with fighter escort should be given a mission to clean up the Jap airdromes at Buna, Salamaua, and Lae.