value for intelligence purposes, so he was put back on board his barely seaworthy craft, with tools and food, and sent on his way. Leaving the Yellow Sea, Trepang did a short tour of lifeguarding for B-25 Mitchell strikes on Shanghai, China, and for the continuing series of B-29 Superfortress raids on Tokyo, before she returned to Guam. Fifth war patrol: June – July 1945 Trepangs fifth war patrol was divided into two parts—the first saw the ship operating in a lifeguard capacity while the second gave her a more offensive role off northeastern Honshū and eastern Hokkaidō. In the former role, she arrived on station to the southeast of Tokyo Bay. On 22 June 1945, she was on the surface in the Pacific Ocean southeast of Daiozaki Light on the coast of Honshu, Japan, when a flight of seven United States Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortress bombers jettisoned three bombs which straddled her, one landing off her port bow and two landing off her starboard quarter. She suffered no damage or casualties. Having experienced two previous tours of lifeguarding, Trepangs men otherwise expected a series of long dull days, spent moving in circles, squares, or triangles to break the monotony. However, shortly before 12:00 on 24 June 1945, her first day of lifeguard duty, lookouts spotted a blossoming parachute overhead and soon saw the splash of a crashed P-51 Mustang fighter damaged while escorting Superfortresses to Tokyo. Trepang bent on full power and soon picked up the downed aviator, Second Lieutenant Lamar Christian, USAAF, safe and sound. During the maneuver, another Mustang, piloted by First Lieutenant Frank Ayres, USAAF, radioed that it, too, was in trouble; and the pilot requested permission to bail out. Trepang replied telling Ayres to "be patient" until the first rescue was complete. Ayres circled the submarine until Christian was safely on board the submarine. Ayres then executed a perfect jump and landed some away from Trepang and was soon hauled on board. On 27 June 1945, Trepang turned the two airmen over to the submarine which was on her way home with 30 other aviators already on board. In the middle of the transfer, the submarines picked up a radio message from a "Boxkite" (rescue search plane) that the surviving crew of Superfortress 44-70109 of the 504th Bomb Group, downed on 26 June 1945, was floating a mere from the Japanese seaport of Nagoya.