Tall, breezy Carl Wakefield, San Francisco adman, sat down fuming and circularized Vice Admiral John Greenslade, Lieut. General John L. De Witt and Coast Guard Commander Roderick Patch: “Fifty-thousand Japanese parachutists could have landed on San Pablo Bay on that night, and a clear night it was, without detection.”
That night, Wakefield boarded a 43-ft. schooner for an overnight fishing trip. After dinner his daughter Pamela clambered into the dinghy and accidentally cast herself adrift without oars. Wakefield hauled up anchor and sailed after the girl but only went hard aground. The dinghy drifted on into a marsh while Wakefield frantically waved red flares for help and SOS’d till the batteries were dead. Nobody came. Pamela stumbled through the marsh to the home of a vacationing Coast Guardsman and next morning returned with him to the stranded yacht.
To Wakefield’s circular Admiral Greenslade replied that 50,000 Japs could not have landed because the Navy has “detecting devices” to pick up plane motors. He offered no good answer why nobody detected Wakefield’s frantic signals. Silent General De Witt was more interested. He silently sent a major around to find out why.
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