Bayfield (APA 33) - Naval Cruise Book

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JOHN B. KAYE, CAPT, USN COMMANDING OFFICER ' A l939 graduatefof the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps Unit, University of Washington. CAPTAIN KAYE was called to active duty in October l939, shortly after the President declared the United States to be in a state of Limited National Emergency. He served in his first ship, the heavy cruiser MINNEAPOLIS fCA36j as a gunnery and deck officer through l7 World War ll campaigns, including the battles of Coral Sea, Midway, Tassafaronga and Surigao Straits. Following World War ll he served successively in the Fleet Training Group, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba U9-45-l946j, as student in the General Line School, Newport CI946-l947l, as Executive Officer WILTSIE CDD7l6j H947-19485, as Commanding Officer GANTNER CAPD42j H948-19495, in the San' Diego Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet H949-l95Oj, on the Staff of Commander Carrier Division THREE U950-l95lj, through seven Korean War Campaigns, in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations C1952-19555, as Commanding Officer, USS NICHOLAS fDDE449j 0955-19575, as a student of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces U957-l958j, on the staff of Commander Striking and Support Forces, Southern Europe in Naples, ltaly H958-l960l, and as Chief of Staff to Commander Cruiser Division ONE C1960-l96ljl before reporting as Commanding Officer BAYFIELD CAPA33l on lO July l96l. CAPTAIN KAYE is a holder of the Legion of Merit, Commendation Ribbon with two stars and the Presidential Unit Citation. L He is the son of A. Lyle Qdeceasedl and .lane R. Kaye of Seattle, Washington. He is married to the former Ruth Van Hoosen of Yakima, Washington, and has two sons: Bill age l5 and Ted age ll.

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As -the Utah Flag Ship, BAYFIELD was the nerve center of that historical assault and in addition provided the boats and specially trained coxswains needed to land the troops and cargo which she carried within her hull. Before the Normandy Assault which launched General Eisenhowers drive to crush the Nazis, BAYFIELD trained extensively on the beaches of Northern England. The planning and preparation for the landing, some of which dated back to 1942, made possible the American success, for the invasion took place in the heaviest storm to sweep the English Channel since 1924. Lowering the boats from the ship and maneuvering in the heavy surf taxed every crew member's training and set a precedent for the Amphibious Force. ' From the waters of the English Channel BAYFIELD, then enjoying the nickname of the Mighty B , steamed south into the Mediterranean to take, part in the Invasion of Southern France. With a valuable experienced crew BAYFIELD was then ordered from the Mediterranean to the Pacific where Amphibious warfare was then the primary concern. Here in the last year of the war she took part in the assaults at lwo Jima and 0kinawa,,a war record of which BAYFIELD shall always be proud. V-J Day set BAYFIELD to work carrying out operation Magic Carpet bringing war-weary American Soldiers and Marines back to United States, Her first peace- time mission and 'a most happy one. 4 ln the fall of 1949 during the turbulant Chinese Civil War BAYFIELD, carrying units of the United States 9th Marines, steamed the Chinese Coast ready to evacuate American Nationals or to intervene if directed. As the fighting ceased BAYFIELD anchored in Shanghai to negotiate with the Communist for an American Naval Base at Shanghai. As part of the terms for the talk BAYFlELD'S decks were taken over by Communist sentries and for three days the crew virtually lived as captives of the Communist Chinese. With the failure of the negotiations BAYFIELD steamed from Shanghai, the last American ship to see that harbor. 4 With the outbreak of the hostilities in Korea in the spring of 1950 BAYFIELD, then in the Atlantic, was transferred to Pacific waters and participated in the Amphibious Operations at lnchon, Chinnampo and Wonsan. She also took part in the re-deployment of troops from the beaches of Hungnam to Pusan. During the Communist push in Indo-China in September of 1954 the ship steamed over 7000 miles transporting approximately 6000 lndo-Chinese refugees from the North Coast at Haiphong to Saigon in the South. For BAYFlELD'S part in this operation Passage to Freedom 'T the ship received national attention in a 1955 Readers Digest article entitled They'll remember the Bayfield . Working at capacity BAYFIELD can carry 1400 troops and 13,000 tons of cargo, all capable of being off loaded in the heattof an Amphibious'Assq,u'lt in q matter of hours by the highly trained team which makes up the BAYFlELD -crew. 21 boats constitute the Boat Group which storm the beaches with troops and cargo. All told BAYFIELD has steamed the equivalent of 17 tripsaround the world in her 19 years of Naval service. A - ,

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rr: .,,.Z 1 V X , Whit ,Q qVzff!,W,,f, W. HOLMGREN, CDR, USNR EXECUTIVE OFFICER CDR HOLMGREN, a native of Little Falls, Minnesota, graduated from the University of Minnesota in l944. That same year he received his commission at the Columbia University Midshipmen school. Our Executive Officer's first duty assignment was as 'EngineerlOfficer of LST 655, and later assigned to this same billet on LST 457. After five years of civilian life he was recalled to active duty for the Korean War and served aboard the USS PROSERPINEI CARL Zlj. Other assignments have ,been Commanding Officer, USS TRAVERSE COUNTY CLST ll6Oj, associate professor in the Naval Reserve Officer's Training Corps at Stanford University, and Executive Officer, USS CAVALIER QAPA 371 CDR HOLMGREN wears the following campaign medals: Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal with one star, China Service Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal fAsiaIi, Philippine Liberation Ribbon, American Campaign Medal, Naval Reserve Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and World War ll Victory Medal. The Commander's home is in Rossmoor, California, where he resides with his wife, Sara, and three daughters, Svea, Linda, and Janet.