Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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:J- rv O v-1 D .... 5 UQ O P-4-' f, ff '-tw W4 27 ff w if or . P6 - A, 'N .Ly f ... 5 . O O H cv CL sv FY 'U rv as v-1 ,... is , + X , Harbor ready for entering drydock. Showing the scars of a year's sea duty, her entire structure needed a new paint job as well as several repairs. Meanwhile, the crew returned to Waikiki Beach and Honolulu. Special periods at rest camps were given to all the men-camps where the cares of the ship were forgotten. No reveille, no turn to , no quarters, watches, or swabbing of decks- just a few peaceful days devoted to dayfdreaming and recreation. Air Group 24 received its orders during this period and after 14 months aboard fone of the longest tours of duty for any air groupj disembarked for home, leaving behind a record of high achievement. To replace Lt. Cdr. E. M. Link and his men came Air Group 21 com' manded by Commander Vincent Casey with Lt. Cdr. R. A. Kennard directing the torpedo squadron. ln Hawaii we soon found that the climate is always the same and that means it's always good. lt's hot down in the harbor tied up at a Ford Island pier, but the liberty is just like the magazine ads except for the hula girls. Now we had no com' plaint to make about the girls in Hawaii except that the ratio of male to female was about ZOO to 1. . In order to finagle a date you have to know a guy who knows a guy who had his leg broken on a surffboard and therefore can't make the date he arranged last month . . . then you talk or buy your way past the other three guys in between you and the character with the broken leg. They say it was better after the WAVES arrived . . . but we saw little improvement in January of '45, just more sailors trying to knock each other off the Leapin' Tuna on the way to the Ford Island ferry. While on the subject of transportation in Hawaii . . . take this as a warning never to ride down the Old Pali Road with one of those wildfeyed bus drivers. Some of the boys tried it going over to the recreation beaches near Kaneohe . . . for days they walked around holding tight to all stanchions and lifelines and refused to go down steep ladders without a lifefbelt. On the iirst visit there Captain Pride arranged aroundfthe' island tours for groups of us. Everybody was amazed at the vivid green of the fields and exotic plants and trees . . and all hands sampled the papayas and various melonsg familiar bananas looked just like those in the States . . and tasted as good. isa? Mxwis-as wa.. -A ....,'.,sx-s-. X as.svxxeHQXa3qysc

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G Ll M C HUISE 9 july 31-August 13, 1944 To break in her new air group, the L'Beulah Kas we devotedly called herj joined the fleet which was out west attending the occuf pation of Guam where the ground forces were moving in after sef curing Saipan. For us, the cruise was only a brief sally, but it felt good to have a small part in again raising Old Glory on this famous island. l I x 2 .iii