Manchester (CL 83) - Naval Cruise Book

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FROM: CTF 95 TO: MANCHESTER YOUR TASKS HAVE BEEN OUTSTANDINGLY WELL DONE FROM: LIND DD 703 TO-. MANCHESTER MESSAGE TO CAPTAIN X YOU HAVE A NICE FLAME THROWER

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In the darkness of the following night, we kept our rendezvous with a major Naval armada. By morning of January 30th, the USS Dixie with CTF 95 aboard was on our starboard beam; the Missouri was dead ahead, and the horizon was crowded with destroyers, frigates and minesweepers. At 0702, our main and secondary batteries unleashed their thunder, and salvo after salvo, combined with those of the other warships pummelled installations around Kansong. Kosong, further north, was next on the list. The relentless bombardment never let up until two days later when we withdrew, leaving little more than charred destruction visible in what were once targets of Kansong and Kosong, Korea.

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Our windmill was at it again. At the peak oi oui Kosong bombardmeni on January .ilst, the Manchestei helicopter was diverted from its spotting mission to pick up a fightei pilot who had crashed in enemy territory 45 miles north. The downed pilot, Ensign Bob Armstrong, later told us an interesting story: We arrived over our assigned targets, but found they ' d already been knocked out by the Navy bombardment boys. So our flight leader headed uth for some railway and highway bridge blasting. Then we turned north again, breaking into two ilil ' leient groups. Suddenly, our flight spotted enemy troops hiding along the main coast high- way, about 45 miles from the bombardment group. We made a couple of strafing dives at them, and as I came out of one of them I saw another bunch crouching in a ditch. I rolled in for a quick run at about 1,500 feet. I was so anxious that I dived at too steep an angle, I ui ,s. I was so close to the ground thai I ould see the bullets chopping into the earth around the troops. Anyway, when I tried to ease the nose up into the air again, I found myself in what pilots call a high speed shock stall. The plane just sort of mushed over ;nid slammed into a snow-covered rice paddy on the other side of the road. But instead of crashing then, the plane bounced back up into the air. The prop was bent back over the cowling, but it was still windmilling around. The fuselage was shaking so hard that the gauge dials were a blur. I barely managed to keep the plane upright. My flight leader saw that all was not quite right with the Armstrong boy, so he radioed me to turn and head for the ocean. I tried to throw the control stick over, but all controls were jammed and I kept going straight ahead. I was losing altitude by this time and I saw a village of grass thatched huts ahead of me. Next thing I knew I was skidding from grass roof to grass roof. All the jarring must have touched off my machine gun circuit, because I began pouring lead into the ground ahead of me. After I bounced over the last hut, I hit into a forest covering about half an acre, 200 feet away from the village. The wings had been clipped off next to the fuselage and, of course, the engine was smashed in. I was shaking a lot, but I realized that I had to get out of there quick, and as near the ocean as possible because the troops I had been firing at would probably close in at any minute. I pulled out a rubber life raft and checked my pistol. When I jumped to the ground my ankle started throbbing and I knew I couldn ' t get very far. I could see a North Korean stand- ing in one of the hut doorways watching me, so I waved at him in hopes he ' d be friendly. But he wheeled around and ran inside, probably because I had unintentionally waved my pistol at him. I limped to a nearby stream, but when I got there my back started aching, too, and that was as far as I could walk. The stream was about 20 feet wide and only 10 or so inches deep, but I inflated the raft, hoping it would float. It did, and I started down the small river to the ocean three miles away. My flight leader dropped a message cylinder saying the Manchester helicopter was on her way, and not too long after I was safely aboard and on my way out of there. All I could say at the time was ' Thanks ' . . . When Captain Parks visited him in sickbay next day, Armstrong said, You know. sir. those helicopters are like a million dollar insurance policy . . . The windmill was at it again. FROM: PHILIPPINE SEA TO: MANCHESTER THANK YOU AND WELL DONE FOR YOUR PROMPT AND EFFICIENT RESCUE OF ENSIGN ARMSTRONG