LCI (542) - Naval Cruise Book

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31 coat, when the last of the wartime green, yellow and mud color was painted out, the Pacific camouflage she had carried since Charleston. Finally the word came that all the LCICGDS were to be reconverted to troop carriers for use in demobilization in the forward areasg 20 ships were to be done every twof weeks. On the morning of 19 Sep- tember all ammunition was unloaded at the ammunition depot, and in the afternoon the fog oil was p-umped into a barge. The same afternoon Mr. Buchan successfully detonated the cap of a .50 cal. cartridge while his hand was in the wayg medical treatment was necessary. A busy day was climaxed when we tied up to LST 126 to discharge excess fuel oil, a task that took until 0400 the next morning because the for- ward tanks had to be pumped out by handy-billy. After returning to the QKLAHOMA, a second big time was had at a repeat beer and ball game on Richardson Field. September 21 the complement was reduced once more to LCICLD size, when 11 men were transferred. The follow- ing two weeks were spent waiting, the ship only moved once, to get water at Waipio. On 5' October our turn came for reconversion, and we proceeded to Dock B-13 at the Navy Yard, located at the inboard end of a narrow slip, more or less plugged b-y U. S. S. SoUTH DAKOTA. It was a tight squeeze getting by her, complicated by a cross tide, but finally the ship was safely moored to the 528. After two days the yard work- ers commenced to tear the ship up. It took them 8 days, and on the 16th reco-nversio-n was done: The 40mms were gone, also the magazine in No. 2 5 150 bunks had been installed in Nos. 1,2 and 3 3 otherwise things remained as before. The same day Mr. Littlejohn left for temporary duty at Waipio and ultimate transfer homeg Mr. Buchan succeeded as Exec. Then we filled up with fuel, loaded ammunition for our skeleton armament of 20mms, and tied up at Waipio. p October 19, after Matthews, V Doc Stewart and Summers were transferred for discharge and 2d Lt. David Gilchrist, USMCR, and 20 marines had come aboard for transportation, the 542 sailed for Guam as part of TU 13.l1.19, with ARL 26, LCCFFD 627, and 20 LCIS, most carrying Marines. Once more the sea was follow- ing and not too roughg movies were shown on the well deck at night, the films being traded throughout the convoy. On the 21st the flagship came alongside to trade and rammed two holes in the crew's messhall forward 5 repairs were made forthwith by welders Winn and Sullivan, working from a bosun's chair slung from the gundeck. At midnight on the 24th we crossed the International Dateline and so never had an October 25, 19455 the next day was the 26th instead. On the morning

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, 30 Captain permitted the growing of beards, even producing one of sorts himself. On the 23d all ships held anti-aircraft practice, firing at helium balloons, of which we shot down two. On Z8 August there was more target practice, but this time we were detailed to blow up and release balloons for the port column. That was the day the engines acted up, which required dropping back out of formation to change filters. The next day we woke to see the island of Oahu's famous Diamond Head on the horizon, and at 0830 the ship entered Pearl Harbor, proceeding up into the West Loch, where she moored to the 528 at a buoy about an hour later. West Loch was filled with LCICGDS. There followed a week of inactivity and speculation as to the future. All hands enjoyed liberty in Honolulu, even though it was a job to get there: First you had to wait for the LCM liberty boat to come around, that took you to Waipio, where you had to change to another LCM or LCVP, which took you to the Fleet Landing at the Navy Yard, then you had to walk or take a bus to the Yard gates, finally you rode by bus or train to Honolulu, all of which required about two hours. The ship- spent two days in the pontoon drydock at Waipio Amphibious Base for bottom painting and the installation of new shafts, the only time she ever was out of water for more than 24 ho-urs. The next night during movies on the well deck there was a small fire on the ramp, which provided excitement but did no harm. . On 8 September, after fueling to capacity from a barge in the harbor, the ship returned to Waipiio to moo-r in a big nest at T-4. By now the main topic of conversation was discharge points, and it began to look as- if some of the crew might actually be on their way home soon. The rumor that the 542 was going backto the U. S., caused by the' fueling, proved false. Nevertheless, her complement was being cut, for the next day 7 men were transferred asho-re. On the 10th she was shifted to a mooring on the port side of the hulk of U. S. S. OKLAHOMA, and johnson departed for the hospital and discharge, to- the regret of all hands, who would miss the personality that had contributed so much. September 14 most of us repaired to the Navy Yard's Richardson Field for a softball game between the deck gang and the communicators, and for beer. That was the day the majority of the fleet arrived in Pearl Harbor from the peace signing at Tokyo, we had a fine view of them as they circled Ford Island and came into their moorings. Beloin made a surprise appearance at the game. Havlin played ball so vigor- ously that he threw his shoulder out of joint and had to go- to the hospital. The next day, Danielson, Cofer and Lunn, the lirst men to acquire enough points to get out, were transferred for transportation home with the Beet. On the 17th the ship resumed her Navy gray

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U 32 of November 4 we entered Apra Harbor, Guam, after a voyage of al- most 16 days, our longest continuous period at sea. After mooring to a buoy in the deep harbor, we sent our Marine passengers to a larger ship en route China. The sojourn at Guam was short, hot and rather rainy, with little to do, except that some of us took a bus tour around the island, end- ing with a swim and beer at Hoover Beach. On 7 November, 27 Navy men unexpectedly came aboard for transportation to a barracks barge in the Philippines, making it necessary to take on more water from a barge. While we were doing this, the convoy left the harbor, but we caught up with them at nightfall outside. The destination was Leyte and the company the same, minus the ARL. Once more we had a calm and following sea and an uneventful passage of six days. i November 13 we entered the famous, hot, rainy Leyte Gulf and anchored among about 40 LCIS off the Village of Tolosa. Next day we made a 10-mile trip across the Gulf to the shores of Samar Island to discharge o-ur passengers- alongside APL 3, the barracks barge, which resembled an outsize houseboat. Now that the ship had been reconverted and sent out this far, there seemed to be no use for her- there were few docks, and she could not beach because of the fatho- meter. We sat for a couple of days, but by this time were very short of water, so we cro-ssed the Gulf again to Samar, this time to the water hole at Balusao, where the ship nudged the shore at a pier for four hours while the water trickled in and naked little Filipinos dived for coins and cats-eyes, using old army life belts for skiffs. We found that fresh foods were scarce out here, and we were very short. We finally located an LCI. that had visited a store ship and managed to get some supplies from her, though we almost lost Dubose, who got so interested in some equipment that he was left behind temporarily. Then on November Z0 the Captain received his orders back to the States, and Mr. Hillman relieved him as Commanding Officer. The ship also received orders to enter the ferry service between Tacloban on Leyte and Guian on Samar and on the Zlst moved to Guian to begin her new duty. The 542 had reached her postwar field of operations, far from home in a backwater of the late war. She remained in the Leyte area for about live months, finally returning to San Diego 4 June 1946 for decommissioning.