Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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trl e Blk r the lkllltlwlll IIIOYIIIIIQ wipe out lveo Tonys eovereel w1th brlnehes neu As llllglkvl ind then blew up ten swrtehlng lOeOIllOf1VL.S Str1ke Chxrhe the same Il1OI'I11I1g ne1rly obl1ter1ted Nemuro tovxn vuth w1ther1nU hre lt warehouses and small f1etor1es By m1d july only a handful of Sh1pS rernamed of the once proud Imper1al Fleet Qnly three or four eould offer a threat to allled supremacy of the seas Une was the blt tlesh1p NAGATC t1ed up at the Yokosuka Naval Base Kure Naval Base many m1les to the westward ln the Inland Sea sheltered the cru1ser AOBA and the hybrrd battlesh1p carr1ers ISE and HYUGA each ve1th an abbre v1ated fhght deck on It s fantall On the 18th of july the BELLEAU WOOD launched a str1ke of elght fighters and n1ne torpedo bombers to part1c1pate w1th other Task Force a1reraft 111 a coordmat ed attack on the NAGATO Photographrc mtelhgenee showed th1s target to be well camouflaged at a Yokosuka dock Smce th1s ent1re area was a hotbed of AA pos1 t1ons the torpedo planes were loaded w1th 2603 frav mentatlon bombs for neutrallzxnff the ant1a1rcraft pOS1 t1ons wh1le the fighters were to bomb the sh1p w1th 1000195 bombs The Beulahs planes went 1n on the th1rd wave By th1s t1me planes were eom1ng 1n from all d1rect1ons and smoke from the explodlnff bombs had completely ob scured the NAGATO Ant1a1rcraft fire as expected was 1ntense and necess1tated v1olent evas1ve tact1cs What w1th dodgmg fr1endly planes duckmg enemy AA and try1ng to bomb through smoke as th1ck as pea soup, the p1lots couldn't be assured of much accuracy nor could they afford to stay around to eheck the results The m1ghty battlewagon d1d not recerve a fatal blow, nor 1n fact as severe damage as was or1g1nally reported Snps rt Kure veexe lnt I week llter Our hrst stu e took off It 0749 on Iuly 74 and jorned the fllght at flLl'i1IIg the ISE As mn the NAQATO 1tt1eks the VT s vxent after the AA emplaeemcnts whlle the fighters bombed the sh1p They reler ed fllell' bnmbs It 2000 feet lfter 1 11 700 foot d1ve 1nd seored three d1rect h1ts one n th boxx one ll111dSll1pb and one on the starboard beam s Vx aterlme When our p1lots lcft the area the ISE w Is surrounded by 1 spreadxnff o1l sl1ek md had 1 sharp l1 t to port For nearly a month we had plowed up and down off Henshu sW'1tt111U the home 1slands from I-lokkaldo to Shrkoku Pr1mar1ly the txrvet were urplanes w1th the except1on of the two punches it anchored fleet un1ts When no planes eould be found the fl ers went after sup port1ng our fae1l1t1es locomot1ves trams 1ndustry sh1p pmfr or any target of opportunlty To our astomshment we had dxseovered an abrupt ehanve of a1r pol1cy on the part of the japs Surpr1s1ngly few plane took the a1r avalnst us The a1rf1elds were spotted w1th planes but many were dumnues surrounded by nests of AA guns Operauonal planes had to be sought out w1th metleulous 1nspect1on Some d1stance from the a1rf1elds 1nd1v1dual planes were hldden 1n tree clumps under bushes between v1llaGe bu1ld1ngs under trees along streams or beneath haystacks 1n the fields Even when heav1ly strafed these grounded planes refused to burn 1nd1cat1nG that they had been dramed of all gasollne W1th plenty of planes why d1dn't they come after the fleet as we coasted unmolested off shore? No gas? No p1lots? Or sav1ng everyth1ng to throw at the land1ng forces wh1ch soon m1ght storm japan 1tself7 ' , f ' , ' - -1 - . - - Ska .Q - I lu f el -1 a 1, if K ee . . N 3 x -- - ,. ,,. . ., ' . , , 3 , ' 1 1 ' ' 3 ' , , 1 1 L an 1 A , ' H Q ' 1 ' Y . A ' ' . Q , Q ' ' N v- w - e e . - V , , , W , , e .. - - 1 1 , L 1 , I 2 3 7 rl 7' 1 H S ' -5 h ' ' sf x- 1 A - ' . , ' ,,, , ' , , D K g L 1 w s . 1, s its u i K ' N 1 T' T I wp 1 Q 3' 1, . I 1 c , L , N D 1 . I 1 1 g ' Q ' If L. I, , T e , n bc ,Q gk s l fs x ' ,, ' - a ,.. . , , . . 1 A ' '. ,I , , , K C L K C D Q , s y k ,s 1 s f N . -. ' e , '-. . l ,' ' at ' , e 1 bas , ,Z , ' - ,-1 . - l 4 K v . A , 1 . , l K Le - .,- . . , .. , , , , D9 - , -. ,' F, N, x - - , - L . D . . , I 5 - . . c C, ' , - , , fe, ' - a - 1 , . a T .T I l T . f 7 ' 1 ' , . a D s f 5 ' , . . . . - N D 1 a f ' a e ' , , 7 D ' I I D 1 , . . a f D , 1 ' a 1 a a Y

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2 1 Through the months the same story had been repeated time after time-the story of the Task Force striking into enemy territory ahead of the amphibious forces to clear the way for one invasion after another. With the conquest of each new base the carriers received an anchorage that much nearer Japan. They could then strike that much deeper into enemy waters. The seizure of Iwo Jima and Ukinawa brought us to Japan's front door. Continuous carrier strikes and B429 raids could now be maintained over the homeland. The handwriting of the amphibs was on the wall. Japan was next. For us was the job of clearing the way, keeping sus' tained pressure on the harried Japs, and delivering cripf pling blows where they counted most. . It was on july 9, as we bored in towards Tokyo, that the following transmission came over the TBS: 'sBull Durham, this is Lefty. I have a mine close aboard to port The flag promptly dispatched a destroyer to sank the mine with gunfire It wasnt long until sharp lookouts on another ship spotted a second mine Each time a ship reported a mine the quartermaster on our bridge scratched a chalk mark above the formation data board At sunset there were 13 marks Cpening day this time was July 10 with drives at air' fields on the Tokyo Plain. Strike Baker destroyed seven and damaged ten 'planes parked on Kumagaya field. Strike Charlie ran into a torrent of AA fire along the coast and had to detour south on their way to Irumagawa where they destroyed four and damaged seven aircraft. Strike Easy got five more on Kumagaya in addition to obtaining complete photographic coverage of three fields and the Kasumigaura aircraft plant. Strike Fox skirted the foot' hills of Mt. Fujiyama to reach Kodama Field. The day'S score was 14 and 20, destroyed and damaged, all on the ground. Not a single airborne Nip had been encountered. Withdrawing northeast of Tokyo the following day the formation again sifted through 13 mines. Each was sunk or exploded by cans from the screen. For the three days of July 1345 we plowed through fog off Hokkaido, waiting for the weather to break. The soup was so thick that other ships were frequently ob' scured from view Flight operations were curtailed With prime airfield targets closed in our strikes destroyed two freight trains a roundhouse and warehouses in Shiranuka Village About 'SO sixty foot barges were blown up at Kushiro On the 14th our blttleships moved in off Kam aishi to stretch and exercise their sixteen inchers this waS the first helvy shelling of japin I X 4 - . . . , x . . c , . . V C 3 ' 1 - . . . . . , c 3, Z c - . , . . . H . . , ' C . . e Q D . . Q . f , . , , . c . f 7 C D ' ' r d J - ' X v A . 4 . . 7 p . 8 . ' - x I ' 3 . . E ' 2 , - .g r M , l , , ...,. .... - -........ .W -- . ...... ...ie . .. . A A A . .- - - ' Y

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On this cruise the three task groups of Task Force 38 had been joined by a carrier group from the British fleet. When maneuvers brought us near the Limeys the soft accent of British pronunciation filtered over the TBS. Towards the end of july more and more grounded planes began to burn when strafed, and additional planes took the air against us. It was early Wednesday morning, july 25th that two divisions of fighters led by Lt. jim Stewart and Lt. Connie Nooy started a strafing run on Yokaichi airfield. They were jumped by 15 Franks and Tonys sweeping out of the cloud cover. In the dogfight BELLEAU WOOD planes destroyed five Franks and two Tonys. One Hellcat had a headfon collision with a Frank, destroying both planes. After the remaining japs had pulled away and our divisions had joined up, two addif tional fighters were unaccounted for. Radio calls and a search of the area were unavailing. Later, Ens. Thomas M. Guy, jr. returned to the ship with his plane badly shot up. Early in the fight a bullet had exploded in his fuselage igniting the radio equipment. His landing gear had been hit, dropping the wheels which would not come up. All the instruments were out of order except the turnfandfbank indicator. In this condition he dodged the japs by ducking in and out of the clouds until he reached the southern shore of Honshu where some alert HANCOCK fighters noticed his plight and shepf herded him home. The second missing Hghter piloted by Ens. Herb Laws: was never seen again. X Six months later the BELLEAU WOOD learned what had happened to Law. Here is his own story of that experience: I was shot down the morning of july 25. It was about 0600. There were I0 Hellcats in my flight. I was num' ber four man of the lead division. My plane was all right except my radio which was 'dead' from the time of take' o-ff. Our original targets were three airhelds north of Nagoya, but we didn't hit these because of too much cloud cover. We were south to southwest of Nag-oya when Stewart, my division leader, came down through the overcast and picked out some installations as targets. We each had rockets, a bomb, and the usual six guns. We had the usual fun straying and rocketfhring. After hitting a couple of targets we closed up and went up the valley to an airfield. I had expended my rockets but was saving my bomb for a juicy target. We came to the airfield and made several passes. I remember several training planes on the ground plus hghters and bombers. The place looked like the usual deserted place. The ceiling over the field was low, about 1500 to 2000 feet. I remember several planes burning on the ground. Bill Moore, my section leader, and I made a strajing run separately but fairly close up. It was a very shallow dive with not too much speed. Before going into this dive I saw only one other of our planes climbing into the clouds. Evidently the others were above the clouds and we were making an extra pass. just as we were pulling out at low altitude and turning left, bullets began hitting my plane. My first thought was that it was AA. Much to my surprise, to put it bluntly, th'ere was a jap plane directly behind me in the saddle hitting me it seemed with every bullet he fired. Where the hell he came from I'll never know. I dropped my droppable tank and bomb instantly. My instruments checked OK except for my oilfin temperature which read zero. I was hit in the left leg with what felt like a fivefinch shell. I pushed over 'while doing all this and turned to the right. He turned left and climbed. I moved out wide and started climbing. The jap did a wingfover and came back directly at me. And then my engine cut out completely. I had no power, and he got in some more gunnery practice while I looked for a place to land. I was too low to bail out. He was hitting me terrijically. It sounded like hail stones. My plane was smoking violently. I couldn't even see the instrument panel. I had to open the canopy to see and to keep from choking. My hydraulic system was gone, so I had to land whee.ls up, but more important-flaps up. I didn't have much choice of landing fields, but I landed fairly well. I got out of the plane w-hich was still smoking heavily. It was riddled with holes. He must have been firing 20 milf limeters. I sat on the wing and looked at my leg which was bleeding profusely. I put on a 'bandage which I car' ried on my person. just then a jap woman ran out from the bushes and fired at me from about thirty feet with a pistol. She missed and ran away. The japs had me within ten minutes. They disrobed me and bound me. I was taken to several places and ended up in Osaka that night. The treatment was terrible. I had no food or water for three days. I was beaten with clubs, fsts, leather strapS, and used as a judo guinea pig throughout every day and night. I had lighted cigarettes put to my lips plus 0thC'f forms of torture. I don't know how I stood it. It is sur' prising what a man can take and still live. Two weeks later Law was flown to Tokyo and con' fined in Omori prison camp. He was liberated on August 19, was a passenger on the first plane to leave japan for Guam, and reached the States in midfSeptember. 106