Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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WA E CRUISE 2 October 1-October 11, 1945 ' HERALDED as the greatest carrier task force ever assembledn, six carriers steamed out of Pearl Harbor on October 1, 1943 to slug Wake Island. Our feelings were different on this raidg we were attacking an enemy entrenched on American soil, soil that bore testi' mony to the fighting spirits of the U. S. Marines. Present to avenge these heroes were the carriers LEXINGTON, YORKTOWN, ESSEX, INDEPENDENCE, BELLEAU WOOD, and COWPENS. It was pitch black that morning of October 5 , rainy and squally too. The first flight took off at O500g one by one the planes roared off the flight deck to circle in the night and rendezvous in the darkness. For two days, October 5 and 6, Wake took a beating twice as vicious as that given Tarawa. To our astonishment we were at no time attacked or engaged by the enemy, thanks to a snappy performance on the part of our C.A.P. which intercepted a group of Jap planes 90 miles away and shot down four Bettys and three Zekes. fC.A.P. is combat air patrol , a group of fighters policing the skies to intercept raids on the ships by enemy aircraftl. The operations against Wake brought the Task Force the following message from CINCPAC fCommander in Chief, Pacificj, Admiral Chester W. Nimitzz U. S. Naval Communication Service THE THOROUGH JOB DONE ON WAKE BY PLANES AND SHIPS OF YOUR TASK FORCE WILL HAVE RESULTS REACHING FAR BEYOND THE HEAVY DAMAGE INFLICTED

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rigged up, including electric saws and wickedflooking mallets. Another 'doctor' snapped, 'Say ahhhhhh', then jammed a paint brush, with more of the vile vitamins, down the pollywog,s thr-oat. Busy barbers made bad haircu-ts worse. The stocks were reserved for special cases of stub' born recalcitrants who were locked in, battered with salt water from a hose, painted with more of the royal baby's belly cosmetics, grease, oil, rotten eggs- and just pestered in general. Came the climax of the entire initiation: running the sleeve. A couple of target sleeves had been sewn together end to end making a threeffoot tunnel al' Q x .Xt . most 40 feet long through which each candidate was forced to crawl with a fire hose stream of salt water driving through from behind. The biggest shellbacks with more of those canvas persuaders flanked the tunnel. 'Nuff said. It was either keep your head down and the other end up-or be carried to sick bay for reviving. All of this process produced new shellbacks, with the predominant color for a few days in the blacker and bluer hues. Other than the bruises, each victim had one thing to show for the ordeal: an impressive certificate signed by the skipper saying the :bearer had been 'duly initiated into the order of shellbacksf Q

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