Belleau Wood (CVL 24) - Naval Cruise Book

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. I gs . -1 is 121 ,I I 4 fi 1 E fi: I. if 'R 'i I 1 I I I I 1 I Iii ,I EI III ,E II ff I I 1 I fl Il f I S! I: I: ,I Q I I ,I Ig? Ji II' ff' I r I , I QEI I+ IIII I:I 'I fl, we III IJ IEII FII QI ,, tiff wi QEII z., ., In II1I IEW ISI' .I I' ,M I I za. ,Ei if Ist if ,. :IQ H2 If Z to the main fire to remove injured personnel. Other corpsmen worked with volunteer crew members removing the dead to a clearedarea forward on the flight deck and began the difficult job of identification. From 1430, the time disaster struck, until 2100, all medics labored ceasef lessly to make the patients as comfortable as sedatives would allow. Special liquid diets were administered through special tubes to those burned about the face and hands. Even after the major fire was under control, small flames continued to break out here and there. Shipfitters, carpenters, and damage control parties were up all night extinguishing these flickering fires and pumping out water from compartments below the damaged area. This was overflow salt water which had drained down through the ruptured decks and bulkheads from the fire hoses above. Destroyed in the fire were the eleven F6F's spotted aft. But what hurt most was the loss of our shipmates, over 100 of whom were either dead or missing when the pref --.................,.,s.....-... . . ......Y,.YV Y,V,,,,.,v W ,,,,,,..-.--....m.,,- liminary countwas made. That night there was a full moon. We will never for' get the sight of the rows of lifeless bodies aligned on the flight deck and the twisted, foamfcoated wreckage lying in the moonlight. John Giardini, WT1c, confesses. I didn't sleep much that night, others around me seemed to be restless too.I knew their thoughts, like mine, were of buddies who had been killed or were missing. After fueling next day came our disheartening job of investigation and cleaning up the carnage. As the wreckf age over mount 9 was removed it revealed the mount still turned around with barrels pointing over the flight deck. The crew had stuck by their gun, Bring to the end. One cheerful aspect of the day was the return from the def stroyer, U.S.S. PATTERSON, of fifteen shipmates who had been lost over the side. The return of these men left us with 92 shipmates dead and missing. Of a total of 245 casualties, 97 were still in sick bay, 54 severely burned. 60 - ,,,Y. ,.. .... V Y:

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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

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