Anthony (DD 515) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 17 text:

Goon-BYE Fmsco It init as ell good times have to come to an end, so did our stay in the United States and 3 08? CI' 09 S0011- But, While we were getting our valves ground, and a new set of spark plugs, Ulu' Sister Sh1PS .had been dealing out the blows that were to hasten the end of the war. The Philip- Pines had been 1f1Vaded and was now the scene of a bitter contest. it would have been much more fun to remain at home, but the Navy had a job, and we were a Snfal Put lmportant Part of that Navy, so on the 12th of December, just 47 days after we had sailed in, we once more passed beneath the Golden Gate Bridge and headed out to sea. We made a short trip .down the coast and arrived at San Diego the next day, where we spent a. few days in intense training. Then came a speedy return to San Francisco to make a last liberty in the U.. S. and pick up a convoy. At noon, on the 20th, we headed out to sea and as we dropped 001' Pennies under the Golden Gate Bridge, we hoped that it would be a. speedy return that they would bring for us. ' CHRISTMAS AT SEA Now, a completely modernized destroyer, the A , like her sister ships who were with her, chaffed at the slow speed of the convoy, but that was our job for the moment, and we made the best of it. Although Christmas at sea might be a. dismal prospect for some, the fact that the pre- vious one had seen us spending the day at our battle stations off Bougainville made this seem rela- tively pleasant. Our presents brought from horney' the gift packages provided us by the Red Cross and the excellent holiday dinner that the Supply Officer, Lt. Cjgy Samuel New, USNR, of South Bend, Indiana provided, made the day a memorable one. The holiday atmosphere was stimulated by Xmas carols and music, both via radio and from a special recording prepared for the day. As we steamed through the night, we could hear the carols and other music from the other ships, and while it made use think of our families, it made us realize the necessity for our job, so that never again would there be a wartime Christmas. ' AT THE ENEMY'S DOORSTEP With our arrival in Pearl Harbor on the 30th of December, we were ushered into the hustle and bustle of a fleet. getting ready for a truly bigoperation. We celebrated New Year's eve at sea, firing night exercises. Then came rehearsals, conferences, and all of the other preparations for the coming invasion. Meanwhile, the men made the most of what would be their last liberty port before they arrived in Japan, or returned to the States. ' The morning of the 27th of January found preparations complete and our force on' its way. It was a gigantic task that was ahead, and this was a gigantic force. Yet, it was but a part of the force that was to be thrown at the Japanese' doorstep. It was hard to believe, but we were actually on our way to invade Iwo Island in the Volcano Islands. This was indeed a stepping stone on the road to Tokyo. It was to be a tough struggle, and how tough is now a matter of common knowledge. The trip was uneventful, and upon arrival at Saipan, the A was detached along with the WADSWORTH, and we proceeded to Guam where we marvelled at the changes that had taken place since we had last been there. What had been a relatively complacent little island now was a miniature Pearl Harbor and the airfields could but awe us when we compared what the J aps had done with this Island in 215 years and what we had done in 8 months to create a base for opera- tions that would ultimately lead to Tokyo itself. QQ , We were not destined to be there for the initial landing, but we were close by, escorting a Re- serve Unit, and it was not long before our guns were blasting away at the Japs. We had more than a fair opportunity to test our new equipment against the enemy, and we were pleased at the oppor- tunity to do our bit to help the Marines who were putting up such a courageous fight ashore. This was our 7th invasion and our 5th major bombardment, and just as the coming operation was to overshadow this, so did this bombardment overshadow all that we had done before in both number of days so employed and in number of rounds fired. We were able to leave the area with a sense of satisfaction over a job well done, and the knowledge that the Island was now secure. ...13....

Page 16 text:

We continued the bombardment for several days, and at night two destroyers would remain to harass the enemy. This continued until we were relieved by one of the other divisions. We then escorted two baby flattops to Eniwetok in the Marshalls where we refueled, provisioned, took on board more ammunition, an-d on the morning of July 17th, we left for Guam. Having safely delivered our transports to their destination, we took our place in the transport screen and from a good vantage point watched the initial landing on the Island of Guam, that first U. S. possession to be recaptured from the enemy. Our somewhat dull but nevertheless necessary duty continued for what seemed to be countless days, broken only by our spending one night par- ticipating in a. cruiser battleship bombardment of Rota Island, but on the 10th of August, we got the very welcome orders that sent us back to Hawaii. They were doubly welcome, as we escorted a. fast transport instead of having to creep along with a slow landing craft convoy, and on the 20th of August we moored in Pearl Harbor. We were back after almost 13 months and it was a happy homecoming. A WE TAKE A BREATHER A i , 'Our arrival at Pearl Harbor signalled the beginning of our first real liberty since we left Syd- ney, Australia, and everyone made the most of it. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel had its share of vis- itors from our crew, and while ,the ship was getting a needed going over in the Navy Yard, the crew was getting a well deserved vacation from the rig rs of war. We also managed to get our first pack- age and magazine mail in 4 months, and the excellent air mailservice made thisftruly a pleasant time. A. 5 I - 1 if THE WESTERN CAROLINES W p,,. f I . The stay in Hawaii was broken by participation in rehearsals for ouglpegt operation-the Cap- ture of the Western Carolinesg and it ended by our departure in company with an Escort Carrier Task Group. This new and interesting duty ended rather abruptly when we were detached. at :Eni- wetok, on the Road to Tokyo'f and assigned to' escort a somewhat varied service group to Ulithi Atoll. This . change caused speculation, and rumors sped through the ship. The scuttlebutt that we were going back to the states proved to be good dope when we received our orders while enroute to our destination in the Garolines. Although the fighting in the Carolines was still in progress, we were able to enter Ulithi safely, and after fueling began what was to be practically a non-stop trip to the states. This was to be our sixth invasion, but under the circumstances, we were willing to forego anyiclaim to it. Besides, going home was the topic of the day ..... A A ' UNDER: THE GOLDEN GATE. ' f After an uneventful trip of over 6,000 miles, during which dress blues were embellished withi the extra, stripes and crows that had been acquired since they had been last worn, and during which we, speculated and planned for this long awaited moment, we steamed under the Golden Gate Bridge at 0612 on the morning ofthe 25th of October 1944. After ITM, months, we were once more in the good old U. S. A. Even the men from Boston, were glad to be in California and only one who has been out of the country for so long can hope to know the thrill. of once again setting foot on American soil. ' , A As the yard workers swarmed over the ship and department heads held conferences with the yard officials, the first leave party got underway. We had the very latest in equipment when we left the states in '43g now by the process which made it impossible for the Japs to have any possibility .of keeping up with: us, were once again to be re-equipped with the most mo-dern of weapons and ac- -cessories, and when the time to return to the battlefront would come, we would once again be as modern as the very newest destroyers. During our stay in the yard, some of our officers and crew were detached, and new faces took 'their places. Among the new officers to come aboard were Lieut. Herbert P. Carrow, Jr., USNR, of Evanston, Illinois, Lieut. Cjgp Eldon G. Elder, QMCJ, USNR, of Vandergrift, Pa., Lieut. Cjgy John 'W. Govanus, USNR, of Chicago, Illinois, Lt. Cjgj John E! Johnson, USNR, of Quincy, Mass., and Lt. fjgp Donald W. Thornton, USNR, of Georgetown, Kentucky. By the time we were ready to sail, these new shipmates knew the ship almost as well as the old timers. ...121 T

Page 18 text:

A S'1'ONE'S THROW FROM TOKYO Upon arriving at our base in the Philippines, Captain Edward Young, USN, of Coronado, Cali- fornia, Commander Destroyer Squadron TWENTY-FOUR came aboard and hoisted pennant, thus making the A a Squadron Flagship. We had left Captain Tedder just shortly before we left Iwo and were now completely a unit of our new squadron. With the Commodore came his staff of of- ficers and enlisted men, and it Wasn't long before these new faces were as familiar as any of our older shipmates. Here, we also made friends with the men and officers of the other ships of our new unit, and by the time we had completed rehearsals and logistics, we were completely at home in our new role. We left for this next operation on the 27th: of March, escorting one of the transport groups and expecting to do some more bombardment when we arrived at the objective. We had been some- what awed at the prospect of this invasion as it truly was but A stones throw from Tokyo or at least from Kyushu. We expected that this was to be something to make all of our previous efforts look feeble, but it would have been impossible for anyone to imagine just what was actually in store. Even now, just the name of Okinawa Island brings back the memories of moments that one thought couldn't happen, and even time itself can't erase some of the scenes that we witnessed there. We arrived at the objective without incident, but the picture of things to come was portrayed by an air attack on one of the other groups as we arrived. We were in a position where we could see the tracers going up and the burning, diving planes coming down. Having brought our transports safely into their unloading area, we took our place as a fire sup- port ship in time to commence the initial D day bombardment, and to help out with the curtain of fire behind which our troops anded. They encountered little opposition, and, although slightly sur- prised, we were thankful. We continued our bombardment duties for the next nineteen days, before We left for a time out trip south. This made 8 invasions and 6 major bombardments. During our 'first stay at Okinawa as a bombardment ship, We learned what it really was to spend long hours at our battle stations,a.nd just as We had secured, the alarm would come and back we'd rush to man our battle stations before a prospective air attack could become a reality. It was during this time that we saw our first Kamikaze attacks, but we were still being looked over by that protecting power who had looked over us at Bougainville, Rabaul, Iwo and at the many other places where we were in' danger but came through safely. As we saw our first batch of cripples , we realized just what this sure hit-sure death business could mean. It was unbelievable that a ship such as a destroyer could take a hit like these ships had, some by several planes, and still fight back. It made us both proud and humble, proud to be destroyer men serving on one of these light units and humble in the presence of the heroism shown by the men who served on these sister ships. But as yet no Kamikrazy pilot had looked our way, and we were just as happy about it. - On the 19th of April, we headed afconvoy to the rear area or what is called the rear area now. Here we got a chance to see some movies and relax a bit while the ship got a few kinks ironed out and then back to Okinawa. ' We brought our convoy into the transport area on the morning of the 10th of May, and we lost no time getting back to work. . No longer a fire support ship, we reported to the screen commander' and for the neggt several days moved around the various screen stations. Each time we moved, we seemed to get out just ahead of an attack, and the climax came on the evening when ships in the stations on both sides of us were hit. By now, we had begun to get the idea, and wondered when our time would come to go out to a picket station. By now the newspapers had written up these courageous ships who had been doing picket duty and who had either been sunk or damaged. We were proud to be asso- ciated with them, but we'd have gladly forgone the opportunity to become one of them. Never have any ships been called upon to serve as these ships had done. ON THE PICKET LINE ' Our number came up on the 23rd of May, and we headed out for our picket station for duty as a support ship. We were somewhat soothed by the fact that we were heading for a quiet station. In the next 4 days this quiet station was under attack at least once each day, 7 planes were shot down, 1 bullet riddled attacker crashed harmlessly close aboard us, and the ship with us was hit. ...14..