Alamo (LSD 33) - Naval Cruise Book

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THE CRUI E On a cool cloudy day in early February, as the band played, and our families and friends waved farewell on Pier 6 we set sail from San Diego, with sincere regrets at leaving, but also with anx- ious anticipation of adventure, romance and excitement in the Mysterious East. After a few days of pleasant cruising, we rounded Diamond Head and steamed into Pearl Har bor, to be welcomed by a bevy of winsome hula dancers on the pier. Of course there was work to be done, cargo to be loaded in support of our embarked Marines, but there was also time for relaxa- t. h . . . . . ion, spare ours spent sunning, surfing and sipping Mai Tais on the beach at Waikiki or drivin 7 5 through Oahu's pineapple fields, green hills and misty old volcanos. Soon repleted by the pleasure f H o awaii, however, we continued on our way. The days grew warm, the seas calm and blue, as we headed southwest across the Pacific. Then, after many days, we caught our first glimpse of the exotic Orient in Subic Bay Philip ines, and v H P the truly amazing town outside the gates. While most of us enjoyed Olongapo, some had the addi- tional opportunity to travel by bus for an overnight in Manila, and then by dugouts to Pagsanjan Falls, through a deep and narrow gorge. Our only other contact with the Phillippines was at Mindoro where along with a Marine training exercise, we conducted Operations Swings and Michelangelo. We built and delivered a set of swings to a childrenis school in the town of San Jose and we painted the school building. The first six months of our cruise were spent with the Amphibious Ready Group, and in this ca- pacity we conducted four amphibious landings in Viet Nam. With the exception of our assault beaches, we had little opportunity to see the country. One of the highlights of our town there, how- ever, was our beach party at Cam Rahn Bay, where the beach is white and san dy with steep green hills behind, and th ' ' e water is clear and blue - now a growing military supply port but a potentially great tourist resort. During our tour with the Ready Group, we also paid a very short visit to Okinawa, the keystone of the Pacific. We anchored in Buckner Ba and r b y an our oats to White Beach, where taxi cabs drove us past fields of sugarcane into the local villages, anonymously named 1151, 2, 25, 3 etc. Some of us went on farther to Kadena Air Force Base and to the larger towns of Koza and Naha. Although the island was not our most exciting port, it was a welcome relief from Viet Nam. We were relieved from the Ready Group in August, and left Subic for our first real liberty port - Yokosuka, Japan. Yoko is best known for Thieve's Alley, an area crowded with bars and souve- nir shops, and lit up at night by frantic neon signs in Japanese and English. Although greatly modernized, there are still signs of Old Japani' left in Yokosuka N storekeepers bow in greeting and in thanks for a purchase, older people often wear traditional Japanese clothing, and there are nO beggars in the street. Many of us left Yokosuka to see other cities nearby: Tokyo, exciting and sophisticated, Yokohama, modern and one of the centers of Japanese merchant shipping, Kama- kura, an old city with its Great Buddha. Others spent their money at the Fleet Exchange and came away with bargains in tape recorders, silverware, china and the like.