Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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tecting cover. Almost immediately the Hellcats were jumped by several groups of from four to six Zeroes. Lt. Qjgj Tabler shot down two and Ensign Barr destroyed one and two probables while protecting each other from enemy attack astern. Barr was subsequently shot down but was rescued the following day by a Kingfisher. Lt. QjgJ Christensen got one before his own plane was damaged. Lt. fjgj Rogers made two bombing runs on a small carrier and destroyer. Lt. fjgJ Cveland and Lt. Qjgj Hillner strafed the decks and island structure of a Zuiho carrier and dropped their Sooflb. bombs at the bow. During their run the enemy AA batteries ceased firing. We sent six Hellcats and four Avengers into that scrap. Only two returned directly to our carrier. A day or so later when noses finally were counted on other carriers, all our pilots were safe by some phenomena-all except Lt. George Brown who had driven his TBF through the fire of flaming Jap guns to plant his torpedo directly in a big Jap carrier--and gave his life in exchange. Brownie was leading our four Avengers---with Tate, Cmark, and Luton. They approached the Jap fleet from out of the sun. There were eight carriers, I counted them , 'declared Tate. Most of these were already under attack, but Brown noticed one which was steaming along unmolested. It was a big Hayaf taka. Brown nosed over into a dive. The other three followed and with no other assistance, the four whizzed down towards the flat top, while the six fighters were tangling with Japs overhead. Fanning out, the VT pilots attacked from different quadrants. Fire belched from the enemyis guns as LLBIOWDICQQ leveled off for the final run. His plane shook violently, a portion of the left wing burst s broke out in the middle, forcing the tail g,unner and radioman, E. C. Babcock and G. H. Platz to bail out. They landed successfully in the water where they had a ringside seat for the succeeding events of the night. In spite of the fire in his plane, Brown pressed home his rt of the carrier. Tate's torpedo hit the star' board bow-3 Cmark scored on the port bow. From his patrol aloft Christensen away the fuselage was riddled, and flame attack to plant his torpedo in the hea glanced down to see the Hayataka obscured by smoke. Suddenly a gigantic flash of flame shot out from the vessel. It looked as if somebody had thrust a lighted match into an open box of matches, said Chris. The carrier shuddered from . . . 1 d the three torpedo hits-and then blew up. Flames roared inside her as she kee e over into a watery grave. The four torpedo pilots did not take time to join up. Hopped by enemy planes, they scooted for home. Just before dark, Omark overtook a struggling TBF. It ' fl was Brown1e ! The fire had gone out. But the plane was scarcely able to y l ' ' d Cmark shepherded the crippled plane as and Brown was severe y injure . long as he could-a difficult job, for its lights were shot out and it wandered off course. It dropped into a cloud and was never seen again. ' f L d h' rew, Cmark landed on the: LEX with 1 gallon of gas le t. uton an is c Whiting and Brookbank, bailed out of their punctured plane, unable to land. Tate, with Siwicki and Dobbs, also hit the drink in the darkness. All were picked up by destroyers the next day.

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All day long our planes were launched, winged out to battle, and fefumed to be rearmed andurefueled. Meanwhile the ship, at General QUMYCYS, 1155611691 to radar plot:'l' A large group of bogeys at , 15 21 Another large' group at 100 miles, being intercepted. 'Tallyho on Raid 4191. Seven planes splashed so far. V Raid Three has closed to 50 miles. Never before had the radar scopes been so white with bogies. With excitef ment and pride mirrored in their faces, the pilots returned from their patrols, two fingers held aloft, then three, all adding up to the destruction of the Jap Air Force. In a morning spree over Orote Field, Guam, twelve BELLEAU WOOD nghters led by Lt. Oveland and Lt. Thelen were hopped by 20 Zekes. They shot down ten and three more probables without losing a single plane. During the morning and afternoon there were fourteen Jap raids on the Task Group. Every one was intercepted and broken up. You've got to hand it to those uflyffly boys . They beat off every Jap punch, they spared the ships a vicious attack. By nightfall the enemy air force had ceased its activities, so badly damaged it no longer could form striking groups. Task Force 58 immediately whipped west, seeking to contact the surface force, the carriers which had launched those planes we had just clipped. A11 night long and throughout the entire morning of June 20th we raced at flank speed. At dawn, scout planes were launched to locate the fleeing Japs, a timefconsuming process because of easterly winds which necessitated our reversing course to steam into the wind for launching. Then at 1530 the enemy was reported at Latitude 15 0 35' N, Longitude 1340 35' E-300 miles away and running for cover. They were at a maximum range. Risk our planes so late in the day? It would mean night landings! A hard decision to make. Then over the squawk boxes in the ready rooms came the order from-Air Plot: Pilots, man your planes on the double . Mitscher said, 'LAttack. Our share in this venture included four torpedo planes with a fighter escort. They were launched at 1621 with only a few hours of daylight remaining. We sat back soberly, realizing the odds against them-maximum range, the easterly winds, sunset approaching. The moment was tense. Un board the ship we could just sit and wait, while our hearts and hopes flew in those planes winging west' ward to the foe. The historic First Battle of the Philippine Sea has already been immortalized in such books as Mission Beyond Darkness . It is common knowledge how Task Force 58 planes took off in the late afternoon to smash the fleeing Jap and return to the fleet on exhausted fuel supplies either to make dangerous night landings or crash land in the sea. Gur strike arrived over the target at 185 5. While the torpedo planes dropped down to release their ish , the six fighters remained at 15,000 feet as a prof 2500 d' t nce 85 miles, circling. :Radar Plot-the room where radar scopes indicate the location of enemy and friendly aiwraft

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......-,A -..,.-Q-. Hundreds of planes nearly out of gas were returning in the dark of night. Many were crippled and damaged. Landing lights on the ships were turned on to land the planes, and the waters for miles around blossomed with flares-red, green and white-turning the ocean into a weird arena probed by eerie shafts of stabbing searchf lights. Lost planes droned overhead in all directions, but as orderly as possible they landed, landing anywhere, for any carrier looked like home. Here and there lights bobbed up and down on the choppy sea where a pilot had to ditch. In the midst of all this a plane popped up in our landf ing circle, and despite the tricky depth perception of lights at night, Harpo Harper, our landing signal oihcer, brought her in for a beautiful landing. It was a VF and as it came to a stop we dashed up to see whether the pilot was one of our boys or a lost visitor from anf other carrier. It was quiet, softfspoken Al Hillner, who staggered out of that plane and fell on the deck to kiss it in thankfulness for his safe return. We all had 3 lump in our throats as we helped Al to his feet and down to the ready room. Oveland, always a 'Lcool cucumberw, came in a short while later with Harpo doing another marvelous job. He was as glad to get back as Hillner. Both had been through a terrific ordeal. In this historic battle Task Force 58 planes shot 360 Japs out of the air. BELLEAU WOOD planes received credit for destroying 13 definite and 5 probable airborne planes, definitely sinking one carrier, and damaging two others. Very few carriers, including the Essex class with air groups three times as large as those on CVL's, have ref ceived full credit for sinking a major enemy warship. The BELLEAU WQQD had paid for itself by single' handedly annihilating a larger enemyi carrier. This sucf cessful attack on the Hayataka fills one of the most brilf liant pages of heroics in BELLEAU WOOD's record. Pictured at the left are the VT crews who attacked the Hayatakag fabsent is I. F. Siwicki who was injured in the frayl. The pilots who scored hits-Brown, Tate, and Omark-received the Navy Cross, the highest award a Navy man can receive save for the Congressional Medal of Honor. Distinguished Flying Crosses were awarded Luton and the crewmen of the four Avengers. At the right are the Hellcat pilots who escorted the Avengers. TOP ROW: gaxeli Omark, Lt. Ben Tate, Ens. D. Luton, Lt. Cjgl TOP RUW: Ens. Marcellus Barr, Lt. Walter Rogers. F ti , o 1. Y . P , , BOTTOM ROW : Lt. Cjvj Alvin Hillner, Ll. fjgj Rodne ' Tablet F - MIDDLE ROW: R0b0 f RHIIGS, James Dobbs, Philip Whiting, Ellis Babcock. Lt, Collin 6iv,,1m,,1, Lt, fjgj W,,1,1,.,,,a,. Ch,.i3u.n,,,m, ,- BOTTOM ROW: John Prince, G00l'gf2 Platz, James Brookbank. ' The remainder of june was spent in covering' the oc' Cupation of Saipan and Tinian. Our group returned to the Bonins for additional strikes against Iwo Jima, Haha lima, and Chichi Jima on June 23 and 24. Un the 24th of june alone, Task Group 58.1, of which we were Still 3 Part, deStf0Yed 116 enemy aircraft at the target be' sides damaging the airfields and installations. During the strenuous fighting of the preceding two weeks, Task Force 58 had cleared the Marianas skies of ,l21p21116Se air power, had dealt the Imperial Fleet a erushf ing blow, and had paved the way for invasion forces which now had a sure foothold in the Marianas. On june 25 the BFLLEAU VJOOD received orders to proceed to Pearl Harbor for an overhaul, her first since departing from the States one year previous. 42 van-small