Bremerton (CA 130) - Naval Cruise Book

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SGMEWHERE oFF KOREA i7AuGusl ln lhe middle ol an Augusl allernoon I slood my walch and lhoughl how slowly lhe lime moved. Around me slood men who worked melhodically or simply looked oul across lhe walerloward lhe Korean hills a lew miles away. I knew how slowly lhe lime moved lor lhem loop il was on lheir laces. Now il was a iob almosl like any olher iobg like lhe milkman on his long daily roule, lhe clerk selling lhe lenlh pair ol shoes, lhe piece worker pulling slill anolher shall lo his lalhe. Like any iob lhal lakes lime and you are lamil- iar wilh. The guns lired and lired wilh a rhylhm ol lheir own, monolonous and conslanl. The beep beep beep ol lhe signal buzzer beloreilhe guns boomed was no more irrilaling or unusual lhan alarm clocks. Oul lhere lhe Korean coasl was as lamiliar as lhe rolling hills ol Michigan and lhe rugged mounlain range beyond like lhose ol Nevada and Colorado. Suwon Dan Lighlhouse al lhe norlh end ol lhe bombline mighl have been a slop lighl on a home lown slreel. Bul ol course il was nol always lhis way. ln lhe early days we were exciled and, as a ship, unlried.VEven lor velerans ol many Navy campaigns il was new. The lirsl day on lhe bombline il was, l suspecl, lor everyone a sudden and swill surprise when lhe huge eighl-inch guns wheeled oul and senl a whislling concenlralion ol dealh inlo lhe air. Perhaps lhal feeling ol awe in lhe lace ol deslruclion is always discovered and' rediscovered by men who enler war. For mosl ol us il was complelely new lo be lhere, lo be away lrom home, school, work, lamily and lriends, lhousands ol miles inlo lhe Pacilic, lacing lhe mounlains and bending every lacully loward deslruclion. When we shelled close lo shore and saw lhe resulls ol lhe blasling guns lhere on lhe clills, lhe plumes ol smoke rise up, brown and while, il was a surprise. We learned new names: Koio, Songiin, l-lungnam, Chongiin,.and we said lhem unlil lhey were lamiliar as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago. We learned whal a slrike was, lhal swill run along lhe coasl lo shell lowns, rail- roads, and lo supporl planes on bombing missions. Then al nighl on walch when lhe beaches became carnivals ol lighl lrom lhe morlar and machine gun llashes, we knew we'd come lo lhe cenler ol lhe slage.

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BuT iT wore oTT, ThaT exciTemenT. Then came hard hours, long hours aT General QuarTers, and The waTches, inTermin'able and demanding, and The sameness oT days unTil you Told Time according To The waTch bill insTead oT by days oT The week. We looked Torward To our nexT Trip To Japan where people lived normally in real ciTies amid color and lighTs, away Trom The bleak hills, some baTTered To bare rock, where sound spelled deaTh and people were running, crouching sTick Tigures bobbing Trom hole To hole. Of course our duTy wiTh The TasT carrier Task Torce SevenTy Seven pro- vided some relieT. lT was someThing To see The TlaT-Tops wheel ponderously around amid a covey oT desiTroyers and To waTch aT dawn The planes go ouT and aT sunseT reTurn. ' BuT l suppose The real eye-opener came ThaT Sunday morning on The bombline when The Reds unexpecTedly shelled us Trom The coasT. Perhaps everyone had waiTed Tor ThaT wiTh a kind oT eagerness. A seaman on The signal bridge grabbed a pair oT binoculars and waTched The smoke puTTs and TelT The ship's engines come To liTe as we came abouT inTo posiTion To reTurn Tire.. We'll geT wiTh iT now, he said. And we did, raking The beach wiTh big shells unTil clouds oT smoke arose and ioined wiTh real clouds in The sky. ThaT Red baTTery did noT Trouble us TurTher. We would be Tired aT laTer aT l-lungnam, buT ThaT TirsT Time was imporTanT. The BREMERTON had goT inTo The acT. We were a TighTing ship and hours oT Training, someTimes ap- parenTly worThless, suddenly Took on signiTicance. I Well, ThaT was our Tour. STreTches on The bombline, wiTh The Task Torce, inTerspersed wiTh gun sTrikes, so The ship wenT abouT iTs business. ExciTing someTimes, someTimes monoTonous, hard and exacTing, a rigorous rouTine relieved by shorT iaunTs To Japan. A grave, greyyshipiwiTh a big l3O on iTs bow, The BREMERTQN did, iTs iob and did iT well. ThaT we can be proud oT, knowing ThaT railroad Tracks were Torn, bunkers broken, buildings smashed, Troops killed, The iob ThaT our counTry had senT us To do in order ThaT Tree- dom mighT be deTended. Wordscome easy, especially words like Treedom and liberTy, buT whaT They sTand Tor does exisT. ThaT grave, grey ship wiTh a l3O on iTs bow cruised The Korean coasT, doing whaT iT could, To show The CommunisT world ThaT The exisTence oT Treedom and liberTy can, if neces- sary, be deTended powerTully and unTlinchingly.