Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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1. -, . ti. - f- si1551ffi.rf1' ,W . if . . . 215. .5w'fr'.il::,.1 While some ships struck Tarawa in advance of the Marine landings, our group raided Makin. During the period November 19 f 27, we steamed through the waters of the Gilbert Islands, slapping the Japs on Makin and Tarawa and making swift jabs at islands in the southern Marshalls. ' Cn November 20 the Marines stormed Tarawa in as bloody fighting as is found in the pages of war. For four days the outcome hung in the balance until late on No' vember 23rd the last organizedxjap resistance flickered out. Farther north, word of the victory in capturing Makin was flashed back to the bosses in the terse an' nouncement, Makin Taken . It was a swell dinner we had on that Thanksf giving evening out there in the Marshallsf, Lt. E. A. Simon recalls. The only rub was that we couldn't concentrate all our thoughts on the fine food. We were between the famous Sunrise and Sunset ehains and right in the heart of the powerfully def fended Marshallsg and we knew the faps were lookf ing for us. V About halfway through our dessert 'it' sounded- the raspy, nervefjangling general alarm cut loose with emphasis. We knew we were in for it.. We were, - too, eight hours of it. Jap torpedo planes started attacking at dusk and kept it up until almost dawn. Raid after raid turned up on the radar screen, circled, and came in to attack. We lost track 'of the number of raids, and we even lost count of the number of flaming balls of pre which plummeted into the sea. At first we cheered each time a plane was sh-ot down, but as fatigue weighed more and more heavily upon us we merely watched with a dull apathy, too tired even to be thrilled by the brilliant display of fireworks. It was about 0130 when this 'floating filling staf tion' had one of the three narrow escapes of her life. CIC f Combat Information Center j reported a bogey coming in dead ahead, and a few minutes later our forward lookouts sighted a torpedo dropped in the n .- f-ta.. ,A . .,i ,gf ' ' 'f iC:?Egahff:ig mia.. Y., . not ..f ,s ,. . . fyffggy . water. Shortly we heard the roar of a plane, and overhead at masthead height hurtled the sinister out' line of a jap Betty. Immediately after the lookout's report the ship executed a hard left turn-and just V in time, down the starboard side of the ship, not more than ten yards out, sliced an aerial torpedo with 'CVLf24' all but written on it. V God was good to us that Thanksgiving off Kwajaleinf' By the end of November the Jap flood tide had begun to ebb. We had successfully erased the Nips from the heart of the Gilberts: Tarawa, and Makin. The Marshalls were next. lt's a funny shaped island-that Kwajalein-on the map it looks like some sort of a germ a bacteriologist would find on a microscope slide. This was the heart of Japan's domain in the Marshalls. On December 4 we hit it for the first time, softening it up for that coming day when the beaches of Kwajalein would become the focal battleground of the Pacific. Not a Jap plane came at the ship during the day, but shortly after the dusk landings and while the task force was retiring, the Japs launched their rebuttal. Large groups of planes closed ineifectually in the darkness. Most of the time they simply danced around annoyingly 25 fi 0 miles out, but one enemy plane made a determined run through the outer screen to be shot down 1500 yards off our starboard quarter. Five days later we arrived in Pearl Harbor to close out the old year. For many of us Christmas of 1943 was our first Christmas away from home. Oahu, with its torrid sun, verdant cane fields, and emerald waters, was a far cry from the snowy landscapes we had learned to assof ciate with the Yuletide. The cooks prepared a big dinner with most of the trimmings: turkey, cranberry sauce, fruit, nuts, cakes, pies, and ice cream. General Divine Services and Catholic Mass directed our attention to Him who brought the first Christmas message of Peace on Earth. We prayed that this Peace on Earth might soon prevail with Good Will among all mankind. if if r - figs, p r A -.fer if vs . -- asa -. -hi? la is fr ,-1 ik i . -nfl. . ww., 3102? 3 .-l. F . V A, E 'sig :Y L . L- . 5 V12 if ' -.qs J. , :Ffa '45 ming -A

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CRUI E 4 January 16-February 4, 1944 HE Marshall Islands, like the Gilberts and Oarolines, are a cluster of lowflying, ring shaped, coral atolls crown- ing the summits of submerged volcanic peaks. Flat, low, and palmfstudded, these atolls are a strange geographic feature unique to the tropics. In the midst of the Marf shalls was Kwajalein, nucleus of the island group and largest atoll in the Pacific-65 miles across. The ,laps were dug in on Kwajalein as solidly as on Tarawa. The battle for Kwajalein opened with a roar on January 29. Sporadic carrier thrusts had been thrown its way in preceding weeks to sound it out , soften it up, and def tract Jap attention from bigger operations at Makin and Tarawa. Kwajalein had always been on the list,-now it was on top. On hand for the big push were two new carriers, the INTREPID and the OABOT, which had joined the Force now part of Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance's Fifth Fleet and designated the destinedftofbeffamous Task Force 58 , A new face appeared to boss the car' riers, Rear Admiral Marc A. Mitscher with his flag in the YORKTOWN in group 58.1. The BELLEAU WOOD was mighty proud to be in this group which also included the ENTERPRISE. On january 29 carriers struck the heart of the Mar' shalls so swiftly and suddenly that Jap air power in the area was completely destroyed within four hours. Proof of this victory is that not a single enemy plane attacked any of our ships during the entire operation. BELLEAU WOOD planes were assigned Taroa Ovfaloelapj on opening day and then moved over to help r27 WAIALEI gang up on Kwajalein where, from January 30 through February 3, we gave the place all we had. As the doughf boys and leathernecks battled on the coral sands below, planes from our air group blew up four ammunition dumps and sank five vessels in the lagoon. The ammunif tion dumps were serious business, one exploded as Lt. fjgj Doc Herr pulled out of his run. Doc was lucky to get out alive, limping home with the bottom of his fuse' lage shot up like a screen. Without a doubt the highlight of our Kwajalein per' formance was strafing the invasion beaches, laying down a carpet of fire to clear the Japs from the path of the Marines. Requiring perfect timing-to be there the moment the Marines need support, requiring perfect aim' ing-to shoot the Nips and not our Yanks-beach strafing is a ticklish assignment. Best strafing exhibition I've ever seen -from the Admiral. Kwajalein was safe in U. S. hands on February 4. That afternoon the Task Group anchored in Majuro Atoll, the first time we had stopped for rest without ref turning to Pearl Harbor. At sea there is always speculation and rumor about when and where we return to port. No sooner is the hook down in the anchorage than scuttlebutt flares again about when we leave and where we go on the next cruise. During this brief stay in Majuro everyone began to won- der what our next target would be. Around the ship flew the scuttlebutt---Marcus? New Guinea? Marianas? And the perpetual hwordl' that we were going back to the States to train air groups.