Note 14 — Chapter XVII · Battle of the Airstrips
Reading edition
A guard from the battalion, assuming the plane to be friendly, approached it and climbed on the wing to offer assistance. The Japanese emerged from the plane and threw grenades at the guard. The men of the tractor battalion, hearing the noise, came on and killed two Japanese with small arms fire. Three others, however, escaped and reached a swamp west of the landing point. Ten or twelve more of the enemy moved south along the beach in the surf and also disappeared into the swamp.14