Bairoko (CVE 115) - Naval Cruise Book

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BAIRGKO HARBOR is a small inlet on the North coast of New Georgia, one of the Solo- mon Islands. A Spanish navigator, coming upon these islands in l567, and hopefully be- lieving he had fiinally touched on the fabled and wealthly lands of the Indies named the group HIlas de Solomonf, Subsequent English eX- plorers claimed part of the group for Britian, and at the outbreak of the war New Georgia was under the English flag. During the early part of l94Z, in their effort to cut the Allied supply line to Australia, the Japanese seized the Solomons and began the construction of a series of air fields throughout the islands-at Vila on Kolombangara, at Munda on New Georgia, and on Guadalcanal. Vila and Munda were mutually supporting Fields. Bairoko Harbor lay between these two airields and was the port of supply for lX4unda. By the spring of l943 Guadalcanal was se- cure, and we had sufficient men and material to open the offensive against New Georgia. On June 30, l943, Rendova Island was seized and lN4unda then placed under artillery fire. lX4a- rines and Infantry landed on New Georgia. In the heat and muck of the tropical jungle they met a bitter Nip foe enraged at the loss of Guadalcanal. R e s i s t a n c e was particularly strong near Bairoko Harbor. After six weeks of desperate jungle Fighting the Munda airstrip was overrun, but Bairoko Harbor did not fall until August 25th. Its seizure marked the end of the fifty-seven day campaign for New Georgia. Bairoko signified the end of this early Pacific campaign-so the name of our ship is a symbol for that final victory which came during her shakedown cruise.

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CAPTAIN H. B. TEMPLE, U.S.N. Commanding The U.S.S. Bairoko CVE 115 Commander Frank F. Gill, U. S. N., whose home is at Livermore, California, was born 14 january 1907. Leaving school in 1928, he went to Pensacola, where he won his wings as a Naval Reserve pilot in 1930. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the U. S. Navy in December, 1940, while chief flight instructor of a reserve air base at Oakland, California. For the first two and a half years of this war, Commander Gill had combat aviation duty which took him into two war theaters. He was aboard the Lexington as arresting gear and gasoline officer the day Pearl Harbor was attacked and was immediately named Fighter Director of that ship, and served through her engagements until she was lost in the Coral Sea May 8, 1942. Until February 1, I944, Commander Gill served aboard the Santee as Assistant Air OHicer and at the Naval Air Station, Miami, as Superintendent of Aviation Training and later as Executive Officer. He reported in for the outfitting of this ship as its Executive Officer 27 April 1945. Captain Harry Brigham Temple was born April 7, 1901, in Leicester, Massachusetts. He was gra- duated from the Naval Academy, Annapolis, in 1924: has been on active duty since that date. In 1929, he reported to the Aviation Flight Training School at Pensacola, Florida. Since completion of Flight Training, Captain Temple has served in many of the various Naval Aviation activities, ashore and afloat, including sea duty on cruisers and carriers, in the Bureau of Aeronautics of the Navy Department, in the Flight Division, with the U. S. Naval Mission to Brazil, in which capacity he served as Aviation Advisor to the Brazilian Naval and Air Ministries and on the Staff of General MacArthur, Commander-in Chief of Southwest Pacific area. This duty lasted for a period of four months and involved service in Australia and New Guinea. He was then de- tached and ordered to report to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Air, as Head of the Aviation Special Development Section and, later, as director of the Division of Aviation Military Characteris- tics. Captain Temple was detached from this duty and ordered to report to the Commissioning Detail, Tacoma, for ultimate duty as Commanding Officer of the Bairoko. ,f if' 45: ,, .iii V, 2 i ' 1 6 COMMANDER F. F. GILL, U.S.N. Executive Officer 1 I f f l s i s f I L l I 1 l C.