Neither Army Air Forces Lt. Damon Gause nor Army Capt. William Osborne had any nautical skills, yet they escaped the Bataan Death March, escaped from Corrigador, fled from the Philippines in 1942 by sailing some 3,200 miles over 59 days to Australia, an interisland voyage through the Sulu, Celebes and Java seas that would have taxed a master mariner. Their vessel was a leaky, 20-foot castoff fishing skiff with a small diesel engine they often had to fuel with coconut oil. They urvived typhoons, Japanese patrols, submarines and aircraft strafing runs. Navigation gear? A small hand compass and an old National Geographic map of the Far East. Food and water? Whatever they could find or scrounge from islanders en route. When the two Americans arrived at General Douglas MacArthur’s office in Brisbane, Australia the only thing the General could say was “Well, I’ll be damned.”...(left mesmerized by the size of their balls)
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Both men were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for completing one of the greatest escapes during the war. Photo was taken after landing in Australia. #badass #ww2 #fortitude #stayzero #zerofoxtrot #escape