Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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engulfed the after end of the ship. Assistance was given by the U. S. S. MUCFORD, DD 389, which came along' side our port quarter to ight the side of the fire. , Contributing to the performance of the flight deck crew was the Air Oiiicer, Commander Joe Clymer, whose calm voice of assurance flowed over the bull horn with direc' tions for playing foam and moving planes. On the back porch fthe fantaill the crash sounded like a dull thud which rocked the ship. A heavy shroud of burning gas and smoke drooped down to engulf the area, which for some time was completely blockaded from the rest of the ship. Several men on gun crew 11 were burned. All this time there was live ammunition in racks on the gun shield with flames of fire licking close. It was Joe Butchko, GM2c, who alone threw most of that hot live ammunition overboard. fEor this and general leader' ship he received the Silver Star.l The inferno on the flight deck was punctured by the sharp staccato of detonating ammunition and whistling shrapnel. Every now and then a heavier explosion crushed the atmosphere as another depth charge responded to the intense heat. Some men topside were caught in the grasp' ing arms of flame and with clothes afire jumped overf board from the flight deck into the sea. Vernon Black, Slc, and Sam Harrington, Slc, had been pumping away on a .50 calibre gun on the extreme after port corner of the flight deck when the greenfnosed meat ballvfstudded plane streaked by. He was afire in the engine , said Black, then something hit me. Burning gasoline sprayed all over. It got awfully hot . . . my clothes began to burn. There was only one place for Black to go to extinguish his blazing garments. He went. At the bottom of a 45ffoot leap, water can be awfully hard. HI hit every way but the right way. I paddled and choked and fought for life in the boiling wake of the ship. There was a lot of screaming in the water and whistles blowing. I blew up my life belt as soon as I caught my breath, but the belt burst immediately-fabric burned through. A destroyer, sidestepping through the sailorf studded water, sowed life floats and nets in all directions. Black fought his way to one raft. Fortyffive minutes later the U.S.S. PATTERSON, merciful can, picked him up along with a dozen other BELLEAU WOOD men. Down in the engineering spaces nobody knew at first what had happened. Ensign Bob Reich remembers: Word had been passed over the PA system that bogies were closing. Suddenly the guns were heard rumbling away and the odor of cordite billowed down the air vent. A few seconds later a thump from Usomewherel' rocked the ship. The ship Hinusrhed down as if it had just slid off a ledge. Smoke billowed into the machinery spaces from the ventilating system which had to be secured immef diately. The smokefwatch man up on the bridge called down on the phones that a Jap had just hit starting a pre on the jiight deck. Nobody got partie' ularly excited, as jiight deck pres were no novelty- and none of us up to that time had heard of the word Karnikaze . Not until we secured from GEL did we discover what actually happened. 58 aa.,-M--M A ,. . Vw.. . A l Y

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Hmmm Flames, wreckage, and hunks of metal shot skyward and outward with a roar. billowing clouds of angry black smoke soared hundreds of feet into the air, while burning gasoline sloshed about the tlight deck and cascaded over the starboard side. The gun crews on 10 and 11 were ordered to llood their magazines and abandon their staf tions, but all other mounts remained to tire at succeeding attackers fof which there were 3 who dived on and barely missed the SAN JACINTQ and ENTERPRISEQ. All other mounts, that is, except mount 9. One of our own flaming planes, which had been parked near the explosion, was blown oil the deck and down on top of the gun mount. Wreathed in burning gasoline it smothered the entire area with a blanket of death from under which no man escaped. On the flight deck the airdales sprang into immediate action, moving as many planes as possible away from the fire, especially the torpedo planes loaded with depth charges. With foam and spray they fought the forward edgeg-the only accessible edge!-of the blaze which had

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Y . The pl.xxxc stxxxrlt llxxx slxxp .xl lx.xxxxx' lv .xlmxll xlxe .xltw ClCX.tm,,-Q the engixxe pxxxxxlxxxxtp .x ll lcxxxl hole tltxwxx llxroxxglx Sdcckg .lf coxixp.xx'tiixexxts QC ixlxll lil, .xxxtl lxelxxwj dt-stroyf ing ax lo l lmxixx. ll.xx'ely xxxxssetl lxy xlxx- plane ixst-ll hut Completely destroyed lay lin' was ilxt- .xller ready roonx where xl numlwei' xxli .xxx' cx'exx'xxxexx were txxxpped. Following the initi.xl explosion bxxrixing gasoline llowed down through the d.xxxx.xged coxxxp.xi'txxxents. Added to this was the detonation of lxuxxdreds ol' rounds ol? illfcxxlilaer aunxiuxnition stowecl in the service rxxoin on the U3 deck imxnedigxtely laenexxtlx the tliglxt deck, next to the crash. Survival in the .xi'e.x laecaine impossible axnd many men were driven over the side by tire and smoke. Qthers had no chance to escape. Some, more fortunate, fought their way to safety. Four men in the photo lab on the O3 deck, iust forward of where the plane struck, all got out alive. Two, though badly burned, fought and grasped their way to safety. According to one: Wlieii I saw that chair leap three feet olf the deck, I knew something had hit us, Ensign Don Kennedy, aboard less than two months, went in from below decks to help direct the HFC lighting x xxxd trezxtixxexxt ol' injured men. The Silver Star was :xwzxrded him lor this performance. Deep in the howels of the ship six men were trapped in steering aft for five hours, unable to make their way to safety because of hot water and steam from a ruptured steam line blocking their one escape hatch-the one open! ing into the CPO? mess. Adding to their tension was a false report over the soundfpowered phones that a dud hoinb was lodged in chief's quarters immediately above their heads. Not until the entire area below decks was secured were these men-Klayda, Foran, Hanson, Welch, Kuss, and Saulsgliberated. This Kamikaze attack was the emergency for which the medical department had been preparing for months. The wardroom was swiftly Converted into an emergency ref ceiving station abounding with sterile dressings and plasma. As the casualties appeared they were examined by the three medical officers and four corpsmen. Almost all the injuries were burns and shrapnel wounds. Corpsf men whose battle stations were with repair parties hurried it C.P.O.4Cl1ief Petty Ojficer f as ,-fV t . Y- f asf :ex - 59