Washburn (AKA 108) - Naval Cruise Book

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,'-N, PM places to shop. The Anchor Club, PO. Club, EM. Club and the Town Officer's Club offered fine food and recreation. The base had facilities for nearly any indoor sport. Everyone had a wonderful time. The town was not a booming metropolis equipped with luxurious shops and buildings like those seen in Tokyo, but Sasebo was very interesting. The friendship and warmth ot the people compensated for anything the city lacked. We shall always look forward to return to Sasebo. -3 wi 44.1-J.. 'Q'

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i Our first visit began 28 November 1961. It was early winter and the weather was excep- tionally nice. The major purpose of our stay was for voyage repairs and maintenance, and of course, the much deserved rest and relaxation, better known as R5zR . We had two personnel inspections, one by Captain Reilly to the tune of Hlingle Bells , and a second by Commodore Bullen. When December 'Yth approached, we could not fail to remember the significance of that day, especially since this year was the twentieth anniversary of the Second . World War. Time is certainly a great healer of wounds. We found the town very exciting and soon became familiar with the customs and habits k I of the Japanese people. They made our stay interesting and it was fun to shop in their stores and dine in their intriguing restaurants. There were many naval facilities for us to enjoy on the base and in Sasebo, most of which have been built since the Korean War. The Navy Exchange, the Fleet Display Room, and the Ship's Store Afloat, which later became another Navy Exchange, were all fabulous sim. fFf3r ' ' 1 CDC Ei' ., W , I t Q 1 3. 5: r-rr L. . 5 f' N ,' 'qqdfirw 4 l 'T g 16

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- P A .qt U S A M N ,., 7 as K 451 he E dw , A , , - L, . wh ,v 1. ,1 -, . x.Y.A vvbfuggf ,. From Sasebo we proceeded to PUSAN, KOREA, arriving on 16 December 1961. Our visit was Very short and only long enough to unload the Operation Handclasp cargo that we had in our holds. A few of us were fortunate to have liberty during the afternoon hours to relax or take pictures. The people were very friendly, especially the children. Living condi- tions for some were almost horrible and entire families were found living in low, one room, wooden structures. In strong contrast to this, beautiful tile houses existed, but these were surrounded by barb-wire fences. Our visit soon ended and we were forced to be on our way. In POHANG, KOREA, the purpose of our visit was to familiarize and train 4,000 Republic of Korea Marines. We showed them how amphibious operations were conducted and allowed them to run our boats. At any one time during the training period we usually had hundreds of ROK Troops on board and our decks were covered by them. The language barrier was the most difficult problem but we managed to handle all of them with no serious casualties. Following several days of marine training, we left POHANG and headed for Yokosuka, Iapan by way of the Shimonoseki Straits. S,-5. H A N G 2 'rl J - f ,, , . Q' 1 , it