C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-T-I-A-L
November 27-28 - Lieutenant Melvin H. WARNER, USN, while searching for enemy shipping in the vicinity of Mangrove Point, north-east Borneo, sighted a small enemy freighter (Sugar Charlie) at Latitude 05-12 North, Longitude 119-16 East. After heavily strafing the vessel with his four wing .50 calibre guns and twin .30’s in the bow, Lieutenant WARNER made a bombing run and dropped a stick of three 250's, one of which scored a direct hit amidships. Following up with a second string of three 250's, he made two more hits on the superstructure aft. Five more runs were made to strafe and observe the damage. When last seen, the vessel was burning furiously, with black smoke rising to 500 feet, and was sinking by the stern.
November 28 - Ensign John E. RUDEEN, USNR covered an Army strike on Cebu. Returning to base, he landed at sea off Baliango Point on northern Mindanao to put an Amy officer ashore and again at Dipolog to pick up four survivors who were returned to Morotai.
November 29-30 - Lieutenant Ralph C. TREJO, USNR, while attacking shipping at Tarakan, Borneo, encountered intense and accurate light and medium anti-aircraft fire from shore positions. A hit, which put a large hole in the port wing just inboard of the wing-tip float, made control of the plane difficult, and resulted in its being drawn directly into the area where the anti-aircraft fire was most heavily concentrated. The combined efforts of Lieutenant TREJO and his co-pilot, Ensign Eugene A. BEITELSPACHER, USNR, were required to regain control of the plane which was accomplished at an altitude of 150 feet. They made the 650-mile trip back to Morotai successfully but landed with the fuel gauges indicating zero.
November 30-1 - Lieutenant Commander William L. KAUBER, USN, found and attacked a small enemy tanker which was lying just off the coast of northeast Borneo at Hog Point (Latitude 05-20 North, Longitude 119-20 East). In five strafing runs he severely damaged the vessel with 1400 rounds of .50 calibre fire. Damaging near misses were also made with six 250-pound bombs.
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