“We had two narrow escapes getting back to the PT boat,” Lieut. Walker said. “I requested the pilot, Ensign Moneglia of the French Navy, to go between two sets of lines I could see, rather than back down and turn around as the majority seemed to wish. It proved to be the safe way between two mines.”
The crew jettisoned all topside weights except one twin 50-caliber mount, so that they would have some protection against air attack.
Captain Bataille and Lieut. Livingston set out in a rubber boat for the town of Carro, at the eastern entrance of the Gulf of Fos, about five miles away. They were frantic to complete their mission by sending a message to the task-force commander, and they hoped to find an Army message center to relay their report that Port-de-Bouc was in French hands.
Two teams of bucket brigades bailed out the leaking hulk, but the water gained on them steadily. At midnight the sailors jettisoned the radar and brought up confidential publications in a lead-weighted sack, ready to be heaved over if they had to abandon the boat. The off-duty bucket brigade had to share a few blankets, because the night was chilly.
About an hour after sunrise Captain Bataille and Lieut. Livingston returned from Carro in a fishing boat, followed by another. That brought the little flotilla to two pilot boats, two fishing boats, and a battered piece of a PT. The two message-bearers had been unable to find an Army radio.
Two of the boats passed lines to the PT to tow it ashore, and the other two went ahead with Captain Bataille and Lieut. Livingston in the bows, as lookouts for moored mines. They found so many on the road to Port-de-Bouc that the flotilla turned and headed for Carro, on Cape Couronne, instead.
At the Carro dock, the PT settled to the bottom. An abandoned house beside the dock was turned over to the homeless sailors, and the French Underground trotted up five Italian prisoners to do the dirty work of making the place presentable.
Best news in Carro was that the cruiser Philadelphia had just sent an officer ashore with a radio, to send out some news of possible targets along the shore. Lieut. Walker tracked down his colleague, and after bloody travail, finally sent off his message to the task-force commander that Port-de-Bouc was indeed in friendly hands, but that the harbor waters were still acting in a very unfriendly manner indeed.
Walker threw in a little bonus of the fact that 3,000 enemy troops were only a few kilometers away and that the French Underground fighters were afraid they might escape via Martigues. He relayed the resistance officer’s plea for an air strike to break up the escape attempt long enough for American troops to arrive and sweep up the Germans.
Lieut. Walker adds a touching finale to his report: