Bairoko (CVE 115) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 14 text:

494:14 'f,1'Z..' ol. - '..' 'I .I ..4 I, 44 1.1.4. . ' . ' .. 'f vf!JYjufl,-'1'1,7',8'1f,y-5 flak 4.b'nA?5,4JtM fhnflw Li at ff 16 4' 4 Enlisted man reporting aboard for duty Captain 's irrspvctiorl 1 5 !

Page 13 text:

China as our destination On the way we got our first sight of the Philippines as we swung around the northern tip-down the coast to Lxngayen Gulf and the little town of San Fernando December 6 1945 Everyone who desired got a few hours ashore-the first time on Philippine soil Our stay here was short At 2130 December 10th we started for Hong kong Early in the morning of December 13th the rocky moun- tainous islands off the China coast loomed up Soon Chinese craft drew the attention of all By 0800 we were at the entrance to one of the most picturesque har- bors in the world-winding through chains of island rocks Jutting out of the sea The colorful and familiar Chinese Junks crowded the harbor. Small craft so packed with family life that they made the Old Lady who Lived in a Shoe take on the conservatism of reality crovs ded around the ship Friendly hands and friendlier smiles welcomed us to China That day is one that shall ever remain vivid in the memories of the men who crowded the flight deck That morning at 0920 the Bairoko dropped anchor inside Hong lxong harbor It was an interesting stay-that eight days in Hong Kong-souvenir hunting spiced by the proverbial bargain- ing of the Chinese-rickshaws-tour of the island-con- tact with a civilization so different from ours-contact with our own civilization transplanted to the Eastfall provoked the imagination, a reality so different from that of our world that it bordered on the fictitious and gave one the feeling of a dreamer At 0815 December 21, we sailed out of Hong Kong, the Bairoko leading the division, on our way to Manila The entrance to Manila was interesting in a different way It was a return to a home we had lost and re- gained--to an old neighborhood that had suffered a lot during our absence We dropped anchor in Manila outer harbor at 1402, December 23rd In Hong Kong we wanted to see what was there, in Manila we wanted to see what was destroyed The men of the Bairoiko shall never forget it The terribleness of the destruction shall ever be emphasized in the telling of it, in the realization that those to whom we tell the story cannot grasp the real picture that reality escapes the con- finement of words Christmas Eve, Midnight Mass was celebrated on the hangar deck Ships in the harbor sent boatloads of men over to attend A Christmas tree stood in the center of the hangar deck, at the forward end was the altar Th thought of all was the contrast between' Christmas 45 and the year before From our radar mast the Star of Peace shone out over the waters Peace on earth to men of good will At 1000 December 30th, the Bairoko started on her homeward journey-first stop the island of Guam It was a Journey of seven days Those seven days rounded out our experiences gave the ship the chance to prove it was a real ship and the men an opportunity to prove they were real sailors-both came through with flying colors A head wind that rose at times to sixty-two knots an hour and never dropped below forty-five struck us as soon as we rounded the tip of the Philippines and gave up the struggle only the night before we reached Guam It was '1 week living on the end of a see-saw But the ship and the crew came through in real navy style Our stay in Guam was the shortest of all-0810 anuary 5th to 0740 anuary 6th It was long enough to load the ship with planes flight deck and hangar deck -long enough to know pride in the navy that could bring the task force necessary for the tak1n'g of such an island, in the country that could reach so wide in its arm of power to subdue it V 1100, January 14th found us back in Pearl. Planes from Guam were unloaded, other planes were taken aboard for the States Five days after 0700, anuary 19th, we started on the last leg of our Journey back to the States Three hundred and more men were due to return to civilian life Our air group which had done so well-not a serious accident to pilot nor flight deck personnel in spite of so many landings-was scheduled to leave us January 24th the night before getting into San Diego -our last happy hour in honor of the men who were leaving Auld Lang Syne rang out with a volume and heart that gathered together many happy memories of a cruise that shall always remain vividly in mind and like old wine, mellow into an ever greater richness with the years. At 0936 january 25, 1946 the first line dropped over the bollard on the dock-one long blast on the bugle-colors changed-the Bairoko was back--0817, October 18, 1945, to 0936, january 25, 1946-19,330 66 miles

Page 15 text:

' , 7 ' f flf' iff f ef iz ,Wy POR if f if! fl W. 71 W , W I ,ifjw 7, iffz