.Ju -.-...-H' ':v:'rf. . '- ' '- ' 1 ',Q?'E,.-:i5T!iQ'f'5'?1 '3:'----K ' ' . 3.': ' . ' f 'W x '. ' A , ,. r - . '.- V , - ... ' 1 Q ga 4 --.J . ,.x . ,. ,,, ' ,. -- ,uv ',,...,,t , 2-.., 15, - ., V - fr--: .- f...,1 ff- H -' ..,, ,H .. L - 1--fal., 1, ' j 3,543 x 1 ,f -- ' .- f V .,g V V- '-, . 1 ff 1 I-W A.. JM .,.. . 0 ,lr , , ' if-:-gk Aff,-A, , A , bw 1-1,'n.' , ..,- 5 . , , ' ' ws , , M ' . A v ., ,LW-27' .: - WA- - 1 -.AM-4' f , 1 -' , -' 'K Q xl ' , , Q! ' . ,. 1, L w,',.,'N. mf- Lx. . 1. '- ,W - ,K ,al wi' ', ' 5 , MQ. - J N t C 1 .vs 1' A. , , 1 . v , ,,. .2 A- Lf, -. 4 ,fu A ' .Q-1 . V55 , , . , . 1 x1j'.!V ,, Q, '1- 1 .gi F- ' l V- V Vg. ,N f, ., T , , -,ju Hv,,:,. . , ,:.'w1: '1 .1 ff ji 5 Rl '- ' , W K ' 19 , .. . ' -' '- 'f3Q'ij'i,1w.3-s-ffm W f.fQg-1r,,-f.- U.,-.V 143, -' ,1 - - .aqgij 3.5. , 'ern rf ' - ' tk, -' :fl ',..-. -' .V -4 V .-2 p. ' A ' -. wrgwasr-.-ru-.-.fl--'A--fn 'ff - '- .uf L,--fn-. 'fn if 1 - .V . -,' Ar'-f'-V -IL.,-: ' - -- 7 ,A A 1 -.. .-4. .4- v an-.Y -s ,.. 1 w- m .uv apr v 5 '11 .1 l-.fw X -. .fy - 1- ' -5 an w s. s rl, N me '1 .- ,- .fu -1. M.- -Q. -Q. F -N.. 'QJ'-Q? -.4 -se- .- rv-av 1 , ..- 4 ffl.: : - ' L R 5' n -. ' . ., 1 :Q -mr: 'J' -T' ,- .:, -. Ag '35 'Y W-,. 1 .1 Q . 3. X . :J 'f. .'. . A-yg',...,h: .-.1 ' - Xa.-' V. I ' .5 vt' ' L' ,gl f-W., A bl- -7. 'Q 1, ,W ge.. , gy. fix' ,. -. ' , .Y . yy. -'.s A 1:1 ii 12 im' 3 , FE' I ., if 4. av- ' 122. . , 'Y ' -., 5. 'W' :: , J ,Q-1, ,qi-.1 .. .-.. . , 1 . ff ' ' In 5 ' a-,,-- . ,- .-my , H , ,- 'aw' .,.- ., rg- g-Ar' , , ..f-. .Af . J. 1 -I .J 5, 'L . Q- 1.1 Q An 'I' vf'a 4- 'wo .n N..-.J V ,- .4' X .v --N '15 9 -ff L... v 2'Q' . 'j.,':f .-v, ..- J . 'E , .,.. f .1 v - -1' f, 1. 153.-'. 1 . - 1 ' . .... - Lg, ,NT .- If i' I K, ff, -rv., ,ww . . ., A. 1 J iv, -,F A .if ,Tl .. ,Q .1 X ., . . . Q , . 4:-. ,J I Fr. . 'Jia 2. .. 'rhlf' ' 1 - ' -'51,-YY 1 1551- K- V . 0 'rn .V K- r.--f'9:r.:f':, e '5' ' f .. 1- , I ly 'V W .fm '.' r-' , 'Q,. A.i ' , 1 . , wx, - Mg 'T 'Q Tie' L' .1 o ' ,rf .f . . '-fi. - 2' :V . o E0 '-mu, . I1-5 .QT , . , .gphxxf , 1' .4 .Swv 1 .1 -A . p . ...L -. -5 ,. K. -. ..- 4 Ja,-f. .'., 1 .. .5 ,-V,-r :ff-1, - rem' ' ...A .,,.. ', ' . w 1 .4 'la .- '. '1'm'Z'Y -'45-.1 1 E 5. 95,-' ..ff - -Ve. T 3f'l1vt,' x ,ag-P 4 y W ' f ,',.ngg, , - -5, W , ' ' , 'nw' air. Q ,L . 4 .,,- f' l ',,F:-fi IMQ. , -Y- . T4v.E'..f ,,9 git' H -A - ' d 1 . . 2 . 1 .yi favfj Q... f , J .5 f ... L-we A -r. v ,- -. n j- ii 5 ' -QQ! ft' . '1.. '.. 'gf L , -1 . ' ' -.W -f --'A 'N u' Y ' V , . n ' ' ' ' A '-J I 'A ,' '. N ' ., V - , . . avg... ,il -M -' ' - N f .. 3 -: v, ., Q, ' K --. V f - 'f, K w- ,.L, ' 5114? 4 . -' f f . , 'W F. Y N 5fQ,y-,1'- A V '- rl ., aww. ' Y.. .Q :J ' ' . S ,-' .. . +-34 ,v ,,.,,,,,, 1, ,,.,.....-,.-, -vs-:'q-an-9--v- '- P ' ., K .,.,v-P-in-h ,.'rs r .M A U ,,....,,.-Q-.-.,.. ----f,..- H-'H' 'A ' A - -... ,mi I I I 1 J :K 3, - A' 1- 4.,t1,A , X ,. Q 1 . i I 4 A 4 T . 2 5 1 Q Q 3 U A 'Q i -3 5 1 7 1 i 5 Q 5 .,,,, w. . ,, ,f f f I X-1 ..,, .i..fa ,V ,-.zf :, bi . ., ,QWAY -1 'r- -.. - .:----f:w-xf,---.- - --4 4.......-..L.,.,..-. 1 'W 4-.ev-. , , Y . - - ., .. ,, ,,,, , , .,,,..w-4. - - .N ,N ,, . .,, 1 . M A . , ,-.-. --:-H --.- f, H1 ,., ww N. A 1 mi r Y f 5- H .A 5' - A .- Af .----.J . .- -M -. , , '1. ww., ...... A..g......4......- .. - ...-.',-. -. ... ,M .- - ,, ' - K -J V A ' Y 'i' ' 'WW f, l'r-.4.-mf rr-':,::.1Q,, A . - .V fx. 11 L ., ... ,A-fm.. 4 --- - i- ' --vu.' we-.f 12,5-w--:5L,..w' - .ggi . .Y , f - ,- ,. V ,,- . -W-N'-'I-L'fi3 - ig,-mf'-,A 4 I,-:Ry 4-fv:'-.b r r h . 5 - -: :N-:gsy f' - fr, .'- ' - --+47 ' N x v aww' N J'- M ' 1 ' :Q ,-'Q 21 V+'-7 Q' P i 4 f J 5 i 1 A i 1 1 3 X4 1 - r ' 4 K 1 I l 2 , i 2 J i W 4 Q. P ft - I! 5 A I lb L- 3 4 5. QA 1 V 1 4, -'V Y ' i 1 k 5 2 I 3 E 2 9 1 l 2 ? y 5 . 9, 2 Q E 5 Q 1 S v W ? 1 1 E M' K 1, . L 4 H 2 ., - f , 68.23 ldefiifgwe THIS BOGK Weis published under the direction of Captain Marshal R. Greer, U.S.N. Commanding, U. S. S. Bunker Hill. It 'wus edited by Lieutenant VVallace C. Mitchell, U.S.N.R und Lieutenant Eugene F. Brissie, U.S.N.R The business details were handled by Lieutenant Bernard H. Ridder, U.S.N.R 'Q qu KX 'ffaEc-XR m,,, 'R BA . ,inn , 'vnu If iv? A. , M, '. X 'gg'iQ1'L.!Z ' f 'prim -w w '-....-.,- ,, I M l. N 5 QQ P ,H k ,, fm f wfy..-'ff wee iff' 1Ngli!?':43sA . - ' , ' ,. - .. W 4 FG . f 'xl' -- Wai f- W--'- L, ,. 9,1 Q , KfZii '73'f2?L'Zf3BLi A f i -- 19 ' , , -- ,. ,, 9- 'HY ' 1' - V- Qs.. -'.f9 -:H .ex , ' f V .-,::,'x:. - . ' KWH V , -A v E4 5,. , 4 .Hi .mv 54. ' -'I 'T C .F.S. BI!?Ikc'7'1Zjff! C- 1 Pl e T cf 0 F f Ig S if. fi Q - ft! ,V-1 ll 1 , 1+ US .ff UfS.S.BU KER HILL The 'record ofa ca'rrier's combat action against the Axis Nations in the Pacific Published by and for the personriel of the U.S.S. Bunker Hill At Sea 1944 v 4 ,f-- ,.-:..-4'- 73:1- 1, V f , :.. .r-,ff - --,f-jjjr.-'.T f,,..1 4 ,.-f-,,,., -- ' , LE I ,,,.- ,?.-T 4 -i.. -i..-1 .. ,-,..- l .1'-3 '4 'L-E.. ': ,::.Z' -,,..- TI-' , - ' -':- ---- A -- ,i' -fl ,i,4a.'??i: ,J ?2, ' F l '-T:-. lfigia 'i- 1 1 ' Z Y , ' Q fgzf, 1 4 ' g f 44-z,-ff? 4425 .p ,Q f ff 3 - f- , , , 1 4 :jf If x edic tion his story of a year lifted from the' life of a Pacyic aircraft carrier is dedicated to the wives and sweethearts and pa1'671f-9 Wt the sons of the Grey Giantess, whose will to fight is enhanced hy your inspiration. You who have waited . . . and listened . . . and written . . . deserve the biggest place in the hearts of those who have fought for yearned for and looked forward to the day when this Princess of Battle would bring them back to you She knew you were thinking about us -- and certainly we about you, and in knowing she seemed to lift her head a bit higher and prouder into the pre dawn twilight that held for us a new fight, a victory that had t0 be won . . . ' C I 7- F . I I T . . I ' o 9 . l- ,.l..l..lfi--- 915 7 1 -. Z 1 f f - , . .. 2 ' ' PM E i -ru l iff! i ' 'lil Q6 g , ' Q X A , Z ,I ' f - Foreword f5w,,,' eomhat ship ana' her men live and fight together in an intimate relationship founa' in no other association, and from which stems a fierce, honest pride in their mutual achievements. That pride, those achievements and that re- lationship too often live only in the fallible memory of man. This book was conceived in combat to perpetuate the record that they - the ship and her men - com- piled in their first year of action against the enemy. It is but one chapter in the story of the U. S. S. Bunker Hill, to which other chapters constantly- are being added. v .H eg N NX f' 5- ,ml X D , xl X qw ,f-.N Captain Bafferzfifze weffomef Rear .fia'miraZ Sharm an aboard. Fla g and Command if 4 ,At ffl w'Af' , ffl 1 in I yiiif. 5' 33- r-if fi x N-- W o their talents were added those of the three men Command- ing, whose responsibilities were to fight the ship against the enemy again and again. An awesome team to the Jap, they played every facet of their training and experience against the deeply entrenched insular positions the Nipponese had perfected. Audacious or wary as the occasion demanded, they had the com- plete confidence of the men who served and fought with and for them. Characteristic of good leaders, they guarded the welfare of their men as zeal- ously as they applied their skill and cunning to the defeat of the enemy. They thus created not only an efiicient fighting machine, but also a happy ship. As important in contributing to the successful operation of the ship were the five OHicers who served as the second in Command, the Executive Olli- cers. Upon their shoulders fell the direct responsibility of maintaining the efficiency of shipboard administration at the same high level as its battle ability. To such leadership is devoted unquestioning loyalty and re- spect and mutual confidence that is victory's guarantee. . .lisa ,f ,, i, I, ik V' f 's.....L -au.. , -..-41, .-'C ...C ,1 .Qi .-ft W- . fgiwlz-ffl? ,f7X i ,ff i ,,,,.,,..i 'fh if ii, ..,,, -2, LSf-1-Q. 'Q K 'yr' 'N - xxx . '-11222- .JN 1 'y' 'iD .-f . -':.,1pM?:J,' V .4' J T!i, 'if i1.9ii9ff .g-if f':'ff3'ff'at' I' In . . ,J ay' 1,2 .41f'7i,x ,f '59 4 arawf 'ff'-iff' 7:'i.fi' fl I iifgfl-il' . - pix? Y g?g,fl'4'f'fQ-sf . 'mi fiswgaai lil fiilllikiii H J . wg ff Josklf Tfrf..o'f5 -45 X Il REAR ADMIRAL F t was late Autumn last year when the Bunker Hill became the flagship of a task group commander who has been one of the outstanding Naval leaders in the Pacific war: Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman. He and his staff joined us during the invasion operations in the Gilbert Islands, and they were with us until early Spring, when the Admiral went back to the States for a well- earned leave. His green jeep cap became a familiar sight ,, X 'SJ' 7: -. .... Wi-. ..- . 5 5vr-. .'..g 't--... --.....fg:X'-, 5 '- --mga'--.-t . Uv ' cf., ' 4' jf C. SHERMAN, USN on the Hag bridge of the ship, and his delib- erate manner of speech gave you the feeling that every word he spoke had been carefully thought out. Wlhen Admiral Sherman left the Bunker Hill, he took with him the respect and ad- miration of every man privileged to haV6 served with him in a section of the Wal' zone then famous for its air duelsg and eaCh man knew that the enemy was considerably weaker because of the combination. REAR ADMIRAL A. E. MONTGOMERY, USN Q?- illl::i-. 5- - .- '3I2::r... ,KM N. -ww.:u.,,.4 .. fa.,,. if li f , 1 ,1'l.f,j'A' X lv. ,... 4 ,,. ,..- 'f,.n-'J-.V.,,r' . ' 4iil ?-:,Xl1 ii . QV . fnsf ',.'p-1' H- .v-Jglxgjflyafffiff ' '59 ' - I 4 ' 1 .il 'NJ' 1 , .gps-W1 ,, . 9'f '. 4-a!f5',f' N' -'rjtfill vfhlf' 'JZ Hgzilgxxzlwfgllbl J.-1--f il Fam. aff 'fe?4rr+f ..-f.-ff - -4: .b ' w...,f1f N - od 0k xafgll-Vp 61-eq Mvf 2 1-'seswtug H5 ...JN l 'isffi 3. .-vw . se-ny, H. .v--,A -an-Q .. 527551 7' -U... ., bg -QNs.,.s x, U-fuk,-sv .. 'u....s. s.. ,.u-,tr - gil, n. gmi5'WA'fL.:. , . v g 'mg :NU YA 483,556 :Wikia Vaio, Wm..- -qa , - . ' - - kr, : 7'A!'ux ah .'u,w1..-.N A '?'5gMagiv,,,f.fQM. '1vm5.73Ma:g-. ,. 1. . N4 K. fits-'f ' ' Ms is 'fy-wel-agzfghl i ',U?,?.,,Aq299vbgm K il Lf 'v . w . vp, 4-':1iga.,, 'L l kr-8 krxm-,vlan 'Nt ,rf .f f. ff' . X f J ff f A X f.. :- ,J ll ff' diili xx.. 'X l 'ff' ' -I. .fifciois LU.Tn.z.o:fsoN '45 ' if 51,-if .J I, fir f If 1 X 2- 'pf jc,-,f.ftg, ,g 'S r' I. 'I 4. I It l . qri'l'.!' ., 1. rl' -' fr ,V 7' -I if. . ',. ' .if rf' dmiral A. E. Montgomery, as com- mander of a carrier task unit aboard a sister ship, carried the Bunker Hill through her first strikes at the enemy after she be- came attached to the Pacific Fleet. So it was like old times in March when the Admiral brought his flag to the Bunker Hill for a con- tinuation of the havoc he had wrought in Jap camps. rf X ,-1 fig r J 1 . . - - v 1, r. . . ,ug b -th.. I' riff. ' ' ' f . . .ferr 2 , 2 2 li, iii 'i I 5 .. Admiral Montgomery always exhibited great faith and interest in aviation, even in the infancy of the modern War plane-in 1920 the Fleet Air Arm consisted of four sea planes. He entered Pensacola in 1922, and he won his Wings in June of the same year. Prior to the existence of carriers he com- manded an Observation Squadron and a Tor- pedo Squadron. 5 ff.: If I f ',Joe LU Txttorsom ' I 0 fi 1-r'f'f'i .-Jams, .r i., sAlllUaSiu-iq' REAR ADMIRAL GERALD P. BOGAN, USN ear Admiral Gerald P. Bogan, USN, who succeeded Admiral Montgomery as Flag Oilicer aboard the Bunker Hill, also became the second admiral to serve aboard from the State of Michigan. Born on Mack- inac Island, some three hundred miles north of Fort Huron, Admiral Sherman's birth- lace on Lake Huron, Admiral Bogan carved is future career from a boyhood among Great Lake sailors, although he received his appointment from Illinois, Where he was attending school in Chicago. Rugged in appearance and action, With his fighting features accentuated by a n0SC seven times broken-in and out of the line of duty-his genuine modesty and sincere distaste for personal gloriiication belies the blue storm he can turn up when properly aroused. In his scanty free moments, he Pfefers the company of his juniors in HH atmosphere of strict informality, especially there's a convenient piano which enables im to express his musical talents in the lead of some good harmony. REAR ADMIRAL JOHN J. BALLENTINE, USN ..,i,,...I Sx ji 1 A? Xxfhen Rear Admiral John Ballentine became guardian of the U.S.S. Bunker Hill, she was a rather haphazard mass of gray steel and snow Hakes lying in a wet slip at the Fore River Shipyard at Quincy. He watched her grow daily and from the first day he saw her there was a light in his eyes that set him apart from the crowd when he spoke of things to come. His one overall aim was to strike the enemy, hard and fast. He and his crew found that enemy-again N '-1 , 1' 'fam ' 'l ffl ,.zltm .3 T uk 1-ff' , , -,Q ,u -- xx Na 'x .XX x . li Nlgfgrx N .ff fffffi .Jpiff in -'N' ips .' l, fn' f .' -L, 'f , .Muay .g i 2? ' 1 11.5 ,ff pf' f.,-' ' Jiri' .iw -4' .. 1 1' ' f-523' , , ,fi f .f5fi':-f.'1','1f 2' X ' . - gum' I, ,f f If E all r9,i i .:t.' f f'. -. 'Q :A'f!f- ,.-,lt- f J -V!l:.f'fl ' fi' ,M 'Q ,J , i YI., ll ,li If - ill- :-, v' ,ff iifli lbs' r , J1 .- ' Z ,Q4:l3f.'igf H ,riff ' :iff 1' H- ' A :!l,l . J If :Mil ' --.XGA mfr. 4: .5 ff n I v, , .... If .JZ ,... lr Jogfiii Ts1.,L01'5o1s'45j ig , 1 .4 I 1 . JW ,f like .' ' ,. , . and againg his ship became a lethal Gray Ghost as the airmen took to the pre-dawn skies on attack missions that came thick and HSL In February of 1944, Captain Ballentine be- came Rear Admiral Ballentine and was named Chief of Staff to ComAirPac. A short time later, he Was decorated with the Silver Star and Legion of Merit i . . for daring and skillful leadership of a carrier Hagship in the South Pacific. P 'gif I, ,EJ if W fi'- r 1 A fi 7 9 205- .riff 14 ' fl, 1 jf! CN f fviw x' ,f Sn.. ff!!! ,z ,W .1 k .lr 4 !A'--. fu, Wulf L X il-'1,f ,-,-51.-Q, 5 er.q,.f... frfvf-Lv I ,J I f 'Nz-El CAPTAIN THOM aptain Thomas P. Jeter, USN, relieved Captain Ballentine as commanding ofiicer of the Bunker Hill in February shortly be- fore the iirst fleet strike against the Japanese bastion at Truk. Returning to the Pacific from Admiral Ernest 'J. King's staff, Captain Jeter led the ship in assaults against Truk, the Marianas, Palau, and Hollandia in rapid succession. He brought with him twentv-five years of valuable Naval experience, ranging from a S P. JETER, USN post as aviation advisor to Admiral King to as asszgnlment as Naval Advisor to the N aval Aiar olege of the Argentine at BuenaS ires. As Skipper of the Bunker Hill he earned a reputation of inspiring leadersh1p, xlhich was recognized when he was awarded t efliegion of Merit for the manner of his per ormance of duty. A native of 'South Carolina, Captain Jeter ivon his commission from the Naval Academy in June of 1918. R. GRE CAPTAIN MARSHALL Com ER, U li ,am jf i 1- -' ix---.Q,'s 5.1- ' 'iv , ' , , ,r r inn:-5,11 . ff' X. ip. .Fifi haf 41' , V ,,.,.,,,.,,.-... .... A , . , . , , A I - f' .f' .- .:112'2??2Eg:f'-Tixf77,:2...........-...... .A.v A '- . M-i ,,f.f,ff'i'-'Q- f N . 1 1 J' 'Jf ' ixil 1. Jef 4,5 ,qf.1 .f I 1f1 ' -,.x.22.:'L.:2::i?N,,,.-.s:::::,-sr: P 'i , h V uf. '4:..J,s.cfeJG.: .'-'f'i,,.v'- ...f--- --UH . .. l i , . r r I f' ..gg-1:LQg-g:fLt:'21jrg,:ti1t:Q:?+j13371733gtg- s in '-,613 ' .gf ff: l a'f3::414--f:,.'f53iaf.gggyyz...i-.f.r:::g:-3 ' be lb- pf, 5.5: Hg' wgg,,fj,.--::,'J.l- ' ' ,..-V r. A -- , ,- ' -' 4-I wi 115j:f?7',..--- N Vx ' ff , 4'lff2f AMF' Lffffz? ,,4?2: l R . f'gji:LqfQjif'if3'! .' -1-it f -' 5, '. L - , J U Q , , ' 'i yr ' if ,- ,' - - f iw fl bfi-'Wfff' ,Q 9, ,Wg f5g,5j9:5g,gifi',K .ff ,f 12,fSQ .jf f. . ,f ,.' -' ' 'fl ' Y 27' f 7. +if'if4iJ'i ,,'P .' -f ' f x f ' - 1 'fztf ' if - 'f f t 1 fx .44-l' si! f i. -fa. ff Af. , . ii rl H15 ,iw ' af f t if.-, 'iffy 'f. ' I ,- ,L .' If f' .. f , 1,40 - - - A U' K!, 'Z'f:,l.,a -'iii j.f?',1 i-fl! 4 ' 41 .- ' 2 fri I K fir f- Illjfi rg 5 + 8 . g' Ffili. lfljg I 1 , t . P, if if . i is . , 'fZypf,wW'f i l 13:9 .6 Y K,-701,545 .- ,.,., -Q , , i , . , ,jf ,6fWll, 'il !,4,1,ffQ,1 f r. ' 1 ' ' Q 41' '. Qfpffiff ' ,X ' , ffm I ff' X. ' . 'J d., -Qi j ' X I, z ' if .1 J f' .f J wiftifff' ,X I Q' ,n',M,i , ,Ze W at i f 'rel' Mr Q :lr Ahcfffkl-f.. rl. 'I .' l nv, D -' ,, ' ,'.' ,,,.'. 21 ,sjff ,Q-If mviifjaiipxfT..-Qf.ff'Qf',.w2.c ' - , , 3 . ,,...49 IA, lj, rifle. P '41 ff7Q'?!Kj',I ,5l.vL,F,,g.' . I I 4 ,F - .-jf' M, - f.,,Il',-lay if FIA grip, Bgblgll ff f fs? . gang! Ag, , t f f-if ft - 773' pa ' if X H il ,gt 1 i '-,'Z,1:-1.5.7 . rf' rvfbljglf '.v,.::,Jf::I'1Z. ?l .4 ' lar' . 1' Jfilipaf -.f :fK'!l. I ' 1' 4 ' I 'p'f'Jrfr f!' A! 'Hr iffy WJ- ' -. ID.,fi!7jyfi!?'1i2,1f 1525 Jr J if ' .?u,,s'f .,+'i.gf l A f if iifziklfinairagrrsrfiqjp . Y ,ai g If Ji., - ' ,I ff! if fu' , ,, Pip' , 1 'Z'ffffZTl'Q,,-L I .I I J ,fd f 'KAL 'i 1,1 fb... x d' A i- 5 A ,I f' ' ,, ,I , - '15 pf' f 0 iclfzfiz-R i4iiif..?'f?,'i-ilfffflvf 9553150 N '45 f f if ,mai ff. fa- if A I If ' v .v - Lf .- f 1 141' . . 1 . J of , ffl! ,ff ,rf f - n' if fin, J . 7' ' 5: ,IU ,f .:',,v' ff hen Captain Marshall R. Greer stepped up to take over the reins as manding Officer of the U.S.S. Bunker Hill from Captain Jeter, his first few words won the hearts of the hundreds of men who waited at attention to hear their new skipper's voice. The reputation of your ship has spread all over the Navy, he began, as a result of the hard blows you have struck at the enemy . . . I want you to know that loyalty goes down as well as up, .... Even before he had finished speaking, he had won the enthusiastic support of the men who were to bend to a thousand tasks in- volved in fighting a capital ship. Captain Greer became Commanding Officer in late August, 1944, his third sea command in VVorld War II. He came to the Bunker Hill from Norfolk, Virginia, where he was both Commandant of the Naval Air Sta- tion, Hampton Roads, and Commanding Officer of the Naval Air Station. SN . ' , . f a if X' gf ,' ' .. if , 'gff, i If , A sia 9 . ' AZ fh' I '4 fi f ffj ' d wg!!! . J, pf ffffpy - iff X ff K! fi ff 7 W 'aim- 't'w'ff0i.. f' 'I ff Z COMMANDER J. M. CARSON, - -nigga ask W ' ffp Q. f , . lid' X I 1 . ., -If LA: 7 Z .-'4 A fl lil' ., 92 I 9 if i ' M I K ,f lk 'Q .5 3 ' ' . . -Lis X' - ll fi f y Q xy f Wf?M7MWll!llir if COMMANDER H. J. DYSON, USN Fiv'e men have served the ship as Ex- ecutive Ofiicer since the May 25, 1943, commissioning date. First was big, diligent Commander C. E. Ekstrom, USN, who com- pletely fulfilled the responsibility of starting the crew oft on the right foot. His affable manner and his giant capacity for hard work made him a natural for the crew's early training. In December, 1943, Commander ? COMMANDER WALLACE B. MECHLING Ekstrom was promoted to the rank.of Cap- tain and received orders designating him Commanding Officer of a CVE then in con- struction on the West Coast.. Commalldel' C. A. Ferriter, USN, next senior line oliicer and a submarine veteran, took over the Executive OHicer's Ofiice. I I In less than a month after his new dut16S began, Commander Ferriter was ordered.t0 the U. S. S. Indianapolis as her Executive OHicer. He had served the ship from.1tS infancy, coming aboard as prospective F1I'Sf Lieutenant. Early in the war, Commander Ferriter was awarded the Navy Cross for his work during an early Japanese raid OH the Philippines base at Cavite. l I Commander J. M. Carson, USN, originally the Bunker I-Iill's Air OHicer, moved 111 fo take over the Executive Officefs post. A fighting Irishman from the start, Commander Carson presided over an efficient crew and Saw them through a series of tough but victorious actions. On May 4, 1944, Commander Wallace B- Mechling, USN, became the ship'S f0U1'th Executive Oliicer. Originally the Navlgator and noted for his efficiency, Commander Mechling represented the last original plank- owner head of department remaining aboard' He Came to the Bunker Hill from the En' glnegrlhg Section of the Bureau ofAC1'9' nautics in VVashington, and was ordered 111 November. 1944, to return to Washington for dutY- He was relieved by Commander H- I- Dyson, USN. ' ' . - . , ,Q 12, Q 1 .,, 1 fgiaaqn-is. fi es-55 ,, 1 ...- X . . ,, A ,,,j'fM'4 ,v31S'gi2.gX .,. - .. 1 .. .- X- . X. I ,.,..,-.-.,n-,..,4.-A Q .'X' ' f X, ,X,Xu. :X k,,,,,Q..X.. .XXX XX...,X... , XX 4- - -X - -.. - -X 4. i .1 ,ISI X -- ' - -- k X XXX: . X . :L ,Y ,A ,LW L w5i,-A ww A -,......,, -- ff , . X . - 4 - , .E fi X X - -XXX 3 -X X , ' ' XXX X- -XXX :X -XX X - - Cv X X- 5 -X EX X .. ,-. - X XXX- XX -X X , . , , .J X Q XXX X-XL X XX Q I 'A' ,gg - I . ' X X FX- 'lil X - r X XXX -X X X- . . XX X' XX X -. N fn. X .XX .XX X KX XX . X. f XXX , X AQ -- 1 . XX 'ff XX?- I 1.1 .X X XXX, SX XXXMXX: X a X Qi X-XX -XFXX XX-K X1 - -X X .XXX X X52-X XXX Xl -. --X. X: X X X X XX, . XX X X. X . X XXX. XX. -- . X X 4 'XP XXXX XXX- XX-XX X XX X I 1- 1 Sk -X. -XXX-gg XX. X XX-X A K - X. XXX.. XXX X XwX -ll X ' - - I XXX X X XXX -:XX XXX XXX XiX X -X 1 .f ' ff - XX., X X XX fr XX- NX YS? W Wm 5. X ...X X. XM if .Q .XXX XX.: - X X X XXX: XX X gs. -' 'H 1 . - -'X - XX -X XX X- XX- X XXX .XX-XXX. -. 1 , X.,,5w- 1 XX X .- X5 gg- XM yX .X . -X , D- ,X -X Xszy :XX ,XX -Xp. - 'X - XXX 'XX'f- XXYX. XX. XX' XXX- I , ' X - -..X XXX' TX- -XX' XXXX.-5:55 XX. , lu- . , ' - K, L. XXX, XM XXX 'XX XXQ. gk- Xi. Z-5 . A . -1 , -. .. A XX- -XX 4 They 'led uk in pugysui if QPNY 'Nampa . 1 if 'I ' -las vw ,N 4. .Q-Lf 4 -1' s 'Hs- Xw ra, ,..gXX., .X X 5. O OX. S.. .Xp . X Y .Xk V, .x . X,.,,x ,... A X X - .X.XX, ,- XXX X , ,X-X - N' B V X . X.. .wx R. XX -XFN X - 'i XXX... ,, K . X '. o 'X-X . - Q. X- k .Xxx- XXQ-X X XX. XX -X:X-- . A -XE ' Xa. .- XX: XXLAXXX- . XZX X- X - XX X X X. A in 7 Lu!-51 .ff ,V - Hu-,..' fy, ,f . ,f uri., 4 f V, ..f-v'fj'?, ' xx ff , if, fj - 'hm ., - - -X., !'.i'X.-.1 - ' . L ,K ' ' X. ff , M' f , , . .ffl 1 . . ,. ' , . , iq. -4. vrg 1 .. , ' I, C ' ,N X' . ' If S X I ' u X , -,V .v . 3' 4 , , I If A f ,pw . ,. I .'. J-7 f f fff 24' - - - wr ' . ' ,, ' 7'i'f ',f.' ' wi -'- 2. 4' X .. X. - -' X 4. f' f, - - .X f f. p ,, 3 .. . X- - . - f , asf ' nf . N ,fn ., Vps M- 'SK -AJ., VK ff f'f 4Jf',vW,f, 'V !,f,f, . . . ' ' -9. .Xa '. ' f , ' f f f f .,, . -. M. ,, -X - ,, L 1 . R, A. .44 . in aiu ...if - A , , W' ,. .,. V I W3 p f A , W - ' , t, ' ,L - W Xin' 'HA' -fi--. 2,1 H, I ff ' .-.,.. cu5.,nff,- 1- V Xp ' -f f f f ' -,f ,X '-4 n. ' '- ' ,f , f 1 - X- 'fl MWLUB- -OM-H . ,o-Qtfgf. o ,o,,. ov- -5 N f f v, 'f' . ' V -f LU 3 ' ' - . . . ,Q .EFI .I , , ,, , nw ' ,wh ' 14 ff , ,ff W- Mm ff ' x f W f P 1 I iw- pu -wan sxklw Maki-SYN!!-1-av an QR. Q.-ff? :tif inf 447' ,sf , . xi 'MX SP In the Sd i r ., 5' . s - ,j LA. V, -1.1, K 4. I - W 'A' ' H 'ww-z P K I - j 4. ' --J 54. 'g..5,Af:i 'T gJ'.,H uf pi., .:on..,.v ,, 'fn : ' va ,,:.Ja,n,-fyglsgj ' Ji 559- - 151 'JH ix' 1, 1 -k, V-Vlzf.. f.,v1,x'ff'r..v fx.. , ' J a . 1.1--EA -' r. , . Q Af ' f J - - ' Q u, ' - .Y 'gf 'Jesu-y'F'.15ff5.::L 7 -1gT::.':g'f?f ' ' J , , L-43 A ' ff 4.3 - ,' , ,.4L.'-A:..- f 14' 4 A. , . ,,,.. I K ,4w,jjgg,?4,.-gywfgggg A ,-.4Z1?f,,. ',, ,. , 'Z.,. .--r-1 .-f 'vg- fgv 15 - ' , -Yfa M. -5.3, 2, .55 -v,,f?1:r-ggi '- 'h,,f' -, ,, K ,, ,.,,.. Q .,4,, wma KJ In rf 'gi' :Yip ,Af.:, N,-.Q 54,1 . , -- k ,z ,fyf:',?,qg1,,-4 .- ,. 4 f-wig-., - f ,vuvv 1 R, , ':. 'f,,,. ,1L.,wq'-flifv,-wg .45-'w- . f',, Q 'U , gi-.1,..g,,5 gy.. ' 'Au-..'j, N., gy.,-Q 4 -3. 11, g.3..,M,,.-.,, x, .L V N, X . , . . V- ,K gG.x,,.1 . ,.y,f'. U JU' 'J-1-' F' ' if g.,,':'fr -f x ,rw V A ,,.Ks1.,.-gyyrxi-5,37 ' K , ',, W., 'I' ' . -ss, .-N Q. -1 ., .--1.-,g.+,.f ww 1 - V , - 3 gg-,H W- ,.5f.4L5 iq. L,-if 4:5 Q7--qi., A nirxqwl l .I ,7 I 1530! 3H:,,KNjiQ,Jx1r.Q ,V ,V ivy, , -V Q :U 19.1258 .pg .. ,L 4,f- 44. fgnwff g, .ite '. ' mr, f- ' v- L: ng, . west, . V vi, '. '15-'1f'.. ,f wif .,+ if , xii .raw was then farthest away V i 'U 1 5 1 Q ' N 1 s u 'itil 'iss K 5 it! xxxx 1 u, u 5 5 Q H 5 5 W 5 X S l 5 5 A 5 Q 5 N 1 1 fu n ' ' 5 A Q l 0 W X '4 i 5 5 5 1 H S I 5 K 'Q N N S I I I 5 U 1 s 1 g u x 5 I 5 5 5 5 H 'Klub X x 1 1 I l S I K H In w O Q amass hr!! I 1 gs!-n BHQQ liil' Wiiyl iH!!!iN Kiss! 'Visas' WW!!! 5555511 'ilii I-ll!!! ls!!! l'lnun1 Inns- villiti n1s4um xulniyq unsung Uhillil saints iii! x ii! 1 I S5 ill!! iviiii ll!!! 1n5I!il s - 5 sus!! il Q s Q C I Q, A q s A I O I Q O s 1 s 0 5 s O n 0 Q l Q l g s u Q 5 Q O 5 C I O .suns iullllf :run DO OO 5 . 1 s Q D I I C Q u s s I Q W Ii guns Q I gg!!! .gil Incl lil. ssssii' qs!! I I I U 5 Q s 1. Q D D O .usa Oli gsssus Ol g g Q u I I U l . s s Q O I I Q s A 5 u I I I . H I I I I I O A 5 5 I D ls ill I O I A Q I I l i U U U I 1 I 5 5 oi' gal still l 1 I ' I D C I .I Il I assi' .gnlsi I ni' O I Q O 5 5 Q 0 0 g 5 0 Q Q I l 5 U 5 5 s s s Q O ' O 5 D r l 5 I Q O' Q 5 s O O U' 5 I , . O - Q n u ? 8 Pacific Pau ff? A tg, . .1 ,., 1, -Ai se Strengthen The Sinews Cf War ,.i:,,i..N ,... . - ,, A A , , I , , .-A..... ...,., I . - I-I V f I , P -. .-,,. Y 2 Y .A,C A gm The D E P A RT M E N T S I .531 1 fi-Q .i QQ: I iw I MJ, +511 , BL gyfq, V, I . gi M3.:3!,x + z if i A A .M gig , hi.. -Ju Q2 ' I 'Iliff ,,g'4f,52.,ijf- ' 1 12521 . f Miz. 4-1mm ' AIR I CHAPLAIN I COMMUNICATION I ENGINEERING - GUNNERY HULL - MEDICAL I NAVIGATION - SUPPLY r' .' H .. -' 'D . -A .- ' I ,.., M .Q , M1 ' V ' - '-t QWX 31' These, fhen, are tlzofe men and flzeir work. The en and Their Ship my OU feel it when you stop off at a Joe-pot and hear her men Hing abuses at their ship, its officers, its crew, its duty. They scream that their biggest ambition is to get off this bucket of bolts and it undoubtedly is-so they can brag about her elsewhere! You feel it when you see them streak to battle stations as the mad clamor of the alarm, the harsh demand of the bugle, mingles with the beat of their feet on the ladders. It hits you sharply when you see them at work, li 4' I I in routine duty or in emergencies, under any and all conditions-still heaping invec- tives upon whatever it might have been that led them to take to sea. Then you in- stinctively know that the gripes are super- Hcial and undeniably mere part of the dungaree uniform. As you watch them you sense the incredible teamwork from which springs a good ship, a fighting ship. Each man, from seaman to Captain and the Admiral, takes a pride in that teamwork and the part he plays in it. These, then, are those men and their work. --...-41,.--j,-..,- V. .av .zqer Paw-l -N x .Nr Mhhasunnn , 1----V---AY x, N-Q... X, M-, ,, ' 1 yr'--'M ' 1 .W -W, x 'K ,N . .- lr 1 z Q, - ref-, ,. N- fan-1 .Q 'V 1 fi il!!! x '- I H45 :ri ,Maj I , il ,- I If ,,- -.. ,.,-.....,......M ' -. -Y... ...-.. ,.f.., , , i lf ,,,,,,,- ,- . l 7 V .,,,. ,.,.,.....,,. l QQIZ' xff N., V 1 IH. .- ,i A 1 If ' ' M' 'Q' I ,run 1 ' -.N ,f LX -, BCL-.4'JQ.Z.vb.ZQi.L.l.J,! ,',y A!,,A-f1..f -', -f 'A' 'WX1' JJ -XA Y f ,,fff,f.,-1Lv' s.Z!a..ff3ff.aZ fZ..4'S1'Ls.!5fL..fjQ,AG.0 1 . ft sh A. , is , s 1 sf , fa 'is -t.s.-asQs.,..1ses.,.f,xcs.4:iQe if ' 41, 4 ' 1 .i .Q A R -xx? , Y, sf lf rx V, N W,.,n,,,,,. ,-,.,...,. 3155, W ............,.,.,.,.l.a,.Qg--T:?:: '7'r -m..,, if q.-,j fIlfff7iffTfl ,-s - . '-5,.. ,...J-e- x.T 'i1f.'.:- Q-aff fv '93.ffi'QQ,i'gf:'Ar 'rj,e'ffi---.A--M x fT .2?fi'321f.'E2Q t,,.l,,. 1srgafg,,..fgQigr-e-s--s--1 me-7' ,fs....,f, , f s,g7s7,,A.,,,, Maw'-c im 9- iff!! 0 isaw, :vigil ,ff A My 3, ij, ., wiv: X If F, sxgmjr, , fl ,ffl l 3' Xu A' 5,7 Lf K., ' or command performance Symbol of the operating cjfciency of a carrier is the flight deck. On that vast stage are danced the finished performances to which the whole ship has contrihutedg a colosseam with more hachstage machinations than any theater the worla' has known. iveted to that vast expanse' of deck like a spotlight is the attention of all who judge a carrier's performance. Shop talking carrier personnel, from Admiral to plane captain, usually open sessions with What kind of a flight deck has she got? Thus the Flight deck IS not merely the W 1 division, nor the handling crews It IS the all inclusive reference to the results pro duced by the separate Air Department d1V1 sions and the Air Group highly integrated as a tremendous, closely geared team It must launch its planes in a smooth, Howmg pattern, lf must land aircraft return1ng from sorties, gas and re arm them, reload them with bombs, cull out and replace duds re quirmg mechanical attention, respot the deck and be ready to launch agam 1n a mmlmum of time b.1.E:.f2:31i2:i5.Srrr It be is g e ore dawn, work through blistering equatorial heat, beating tropical rams, or the biting winds of the North, and , ,W ..N..,....,......,..1..,..,,....1,.,.f.,-....-,a,....,,..,,,,...R e f ,......n-,.,..af.....,v.,w-.......n.w.,1,,:...,......ec.....--A mpKmmM ?33S-'SE' QE? f-f'53SD,.-1mUQi-eLD '-s Hr-r fp e-rrbO 33. 3d g3Q ':' 5' Pda. 505- Sf-'7'mfD,,5:2 ' 5s4'U73 2.Q O 'DW' c'oSD 'rn 'f'E5 'rn'-f-. f49.':S BfD,-SSFQTCDOS: fl CO Hoommogec :lv-g S 0 UD rwseirfbse 1:-sw nissan mm: 5:10,-f:.f. DDEDUQ ago ,., Ogqvmlqqg-, p-99'D p-- ml-'f'.w Ocn5f'ffP,E'O Cngq 2 O 'DQ QXDU3- 'N Swaozfbg D-I :,.Qk4C3,..1 Q- 9hfvWcf.935 ,fl wwg' Emo ts! rnrb,-5 n,0'-v-. Pg,-gsfbg-ll 1f.f CD sae EE. 5. saga rf? ZF 'Ne -.. ,. ,,h,,.......---li W-2.22 -- ...-.----5 ,,,,,...-- ' -,-,,,...4s-l va-,,,,.-s-1 v5..':f-- WI., fit his 'X L jffiit J fr N X. eb M... K -.w ...Q ,gi f: ...- 13:- ,,...- '.'-T3 1 .rl if ,:- 'f.. '-'-7 --1:5 --,fs-1 'I . , f ' ' 1 ' . 1 1 . 1 . . . . . y . v. . . , . . . . r . . . :....-,..,...,e.::L.:ff.,-azz:-. 1 ,,..........,, ,NW .,.......--- --,,m-we-,......a.......,.,....,...-. ,J-A X A . , l -,mn-mw-.m..,,:.,.,,--.. , K1 fe . .....,..,..,....,-, I - L ' ,Af ff 3 u,.s.fr...nN.Tn,,, ff 15- 'Y' X , A 11... ,f rf , -.4 rig., - A - , .A If , .uf gi N , , -- '- . . . -Q-l......:.,.. g I xv ,wx Sr V l ,,....-l sf-.-.... MI. f ,ll .1-N A r L..---' fs..-...., i 3 73.4, .V-'j-qs mx, -1- ,. '.: . , f----, . ., 2 -its gm: --- ' ' 1f:: r-' if NK' 5.5: 7 Q' 'il 15, , 3-'J Ti..-- ' a,..,.-, i-and N xl isp P .X-5 li, If rg:- . -1-----. 1 pf , . ,-. , ii f I Q , 1 1 .1-f.,,..... ix, .,,.,.f,.a J 4, iii, Q ,Q-X i',,,1' ' ...an m--. X ,f ,, s si, , 1 ,. I' If 4 ,...- , ' -- ,, X ixfs.. ffsf ,,-ixg-.sji,, Q .g 1 1 v :lg , , 3? ,, .....- . ...-.T 'l' ,5 152,155 Nl ,,....m. uggii,-f ' ' -372 A, ,ll V, M, m,,.....,.w....,TI,,, M, , .... -fw-VJ--W 1 lk v nflljp. 15,5-'fir' 'Tits ,,,,r.,,. gl --' - M'-N-fe . 'QW L '-m::.' Y' , mf! L- r '.,... . . . . ,,........,jh 1 , 9 -k N-,MNA wi' V thy' I ,,,.. ' ' l gl wvfvn,-L-4+ fl'il3 rw5f2 . f , -- ' .1..a.m, . ,,, X,lg'ifq?Kjigiii.HHg.i ,M xv. I ,-,.-1-'-0 , m.f...,.-, ' :mfg-.vb-sg, .,.,j.,,1,l ,H-1 ,-e i ,.,.,-- -n-...,..... . li-,llnsi it-mlm. .ltr ff- .- ---5 r ' ' . . ,,,,,,M4jL 'usw:i,3.sm Jpligligglp A . 3.6--'-1 ...ww.. X ix 'ft '. I-jf? yi. ,lumps rv:.a gif. Iggy' ,...--v , '--1--wee ' X 'Ti Q'35.,l 2,l.g,fjlllilSlslgff, lfi' :L--:,' '-.....T'.1g 1 l. 1 N mlil'.!lfllll llla 1!,w ' . .,...,.....,,A-,, , R M X, ,4,,QA:i-S f-a1tg,Ll,l,gg,1- 1, 1 K , , :......e.::::g XL t so-3 lg,-. V ' N -f - ... Z. '.II':.i:T'r ' rs if-er' 1 jf , , tw-'T N c , . -,W-.,..,.,.,,, , , M., .fl rg' .L r r 3-iii ..T.'.Iii1 ix, , 5' ffl: rffru? J X' ' . 4-...s-..t,,,.,,,,,Y , . .. , . , g -, .. B ,.,.s....a,,..,.m.,A,,,t',, 'Nr H, f 't-.M 'M ,.,f RN ,f ,. - . , ,....,,..,.,.,-,, ., 3 n 1 c.. , ' - 1Zi'51'g:'-- N to s N- K .-- ' .,,,.,g......,::17g1.,.-,, te- Y-Aff'-i ,aff 'r'--W.,-'rf' f' 4-we . . . . . eg:-v-nh.-,,,.,,,,W,v,-N-, . -N .,,.:w Ji V-ir' , ,,..,,,,,,,N,g ,,,,, J, W., Z'-i'llllQ.I.Z'lIZT5.1g.,g.,',,,,,,,, k 'e,.., -' 'jf . ,gf 'ani' t vw X-Nwafw-'!E?2!l 1r , .-.un 21 1 i launching schedules. As a team, comprised of the men in bombing, gassing, maintenance and handling crews, it met all competitors. And the crew's greatest pride was the ful- fillment of their boast: The best flight deck out here. -xslt' 4. 'REL' THE CREWS LIKED SPEED f they grumbled when an extra patrol was transferred to the Bunker Hi1l's schedule, they consoled themselves with a record of never having given one of their hops to another carrier. On such performances as taxi-aheads and respots their interest in the time consumed was as great as Primary Fly's, and highest praise is justi- fiably theirs for the part they played in the Bunker Hill's outstanding record of air oper- ations. ' To Commander M. Carson, USN, the ship's first Air Ofiicer, and Commander W. O. Smith, USN, its first V-1 division officer, must go major recognition for the building of that record. It was Commander Carson who picked the team, ably mixing green, in- experienced men he interviewed at various training centers with veterans, many of whom he had known in previous duty. Astute, thoughtful and even-tempered, Commander Carson was concerned over the smallest de- tails of operation, one of the contributing factors in the creation of an Air Depart- ment second to none. He moved to the bridge as Executive Ufiicer on january 15, 1944, and four months later was ordered to a carrier unit as Chief of Staff, winning the eagles of a Captain in the transfer. Working closely with him in the creation of an organization and in smoothing out the team performance between divisions and units, were Commander C. H. B. Morrison, USN, his assistant through the pre-commis- sioning and shakedown periods, Commander A. S. Major, USN, who directed formation of the V-2, or aircraft service, division as well as organizing the Fighter Director and Air Plot units, and who later became the Assist- ant Air Officer, and Commander Smith, a veteran of the original Hornet, whose hangar and Hight deck experience made him ex- 'K .-.. .XA p I ,Q .wi-'w ..:ii::E:Y . ,f.. 4 ' A Q'L,p.1fTE'fi i i . r g' 5 , X Q-5-2555 if , ai ...i I ---- A 1 , V w ,t,:p,?j W, ,.., 51 if-i15?i lit? 7?ff'il .. A M G 1'.y4.sy'., X . H, K' ,fe . i i . ' ..-'. -sr v . ggi. -'Mug 9.4 All g A A i 5 4 I 4 'ii' . f' fr f' ' X ,Q Avfzfgin ull,-xi, M .,,:sQ,,3- vi, ,iff , 4, , 'f -iff.f W 'L LY 5 Tai . W . 2 I gf? f '-:af A if? tremely valuable in readying the units for combat operations. Under their direction the Air Department, spread up and down the East coast in june of 1943, was assembled and trained, and re- ported aboard eager to take on the final polish necessary to meet the high-speed de- mands of combat. The Air Department early caught the first characteristic of any crack team-a compet- itive spirit. The earnest desire to become proficient fired plane handlers, mechs, arming and gassing crews with drive and enthusiasm. The bugaboo of internecine squabbles and feuds never existed, even in the most nerve- strained days of combat when fagged minds and bodies easily might have led to explosive brawling. There was, as there should be, a veneer of family shadow-boxing that quickly dissolved when any member of the clan was challenged. 29 VETERANS SET THE PACE - hrough the pre-commissioning period, duf- ing shakedown and in combat action, it was Commander Smith, who paced the air operations. A volatile, practical malji the heavy-set Warrior pounded the deck Wlth all the stamina and vigor of his big frame- Uncompromising in his demand for a fast- stepping, efficient organization, Commander Smith Worked unceasingly, driving himself harder than he did his men, to create that team. He measured operations in seconds and fractions of seconds, and tirelessly strove for perfection in every phase of operations. Even as Air Boss, he retained his interest in expediting the drudgery of deck operations and you often could find him on the Hight deck, bearing a hand. His right bower was a survivor of the old Wasp, Lieutenant Cjgj Paul Bedwell, USN, a wiry, iiery, one-time Boatsvvain Whose eleven years of flight deck experience were of ines- timable value in the training of the Hight deck team. He was its wheelhorse until his transfer to the States near the end of 1943, and under his tutelage Lieutenant Wallace C. Mitchell, Lieutenants Qjgj E. Cardon Walker, Steve Miklausen and D. W. Browne were Whipped into leaders of a fast-operating V-1 division. Succeeding Commander Smith as Air Of- ficer was square-jawed, quick-moving Gil Frauenheirn, who had come aboard as Lieu- tenant Commander at San Diego for a visit, remained to take over the V-2 division, moved to Assistant Air Boss with Com- mander Major's transfer, and had the de- partment leadership thrust into his hands by Fate. With it came a spot promotion to the rank of Commander, to lend him weight in the unnumbered discussions of operations, and to complement the ability. that qualified him forthe silver leafs. His first assistant was Commander P. P, Pete Barrick, conscientious, steady work- man who had reported aboard in April, 1944, and was completing a tour of duty in the various Air Department divisions when M stepped up. ln September, 1944, he received 0,-del-5 to a sister carrier, being relieved in Qctober, bv Lieutenant Commander W. E, Bertram, USN. veteran carrier pilot and ern. while Belleau Wood flight deck officer. Four units comprised the V-l division, whose primary concern vias aircraft trafiic and control, V-1-A, the arresting gear crew, V-1-C, the catapult crewg Y-l-ll, the Flight .1 5 1 - --- , f 1 , deck handling crews, elevator operators, jeep and tractor drivers, and Repair Vlllg and V-1-H, the hangar deck crews handling sim- ilar duties. Qi, 'U' THE UNIT LINEUPS SHIFT The original administrative lineup found Commander Smith as V-l ofiicer and, head- ing the units, Lieutenant Cjgj Walker in ar- resting gearg Lieutenant Mitchell, the cata- pultsg Lieutenant C-igi licdwell, the flight deck, and Lieutenant Rushmore H. Mariner, the hangar deck. As time went on and trans- fers .were afiected, change in the lineup of division leadership make recapitulation read like a boxscore. Stocky, imperturbable Rush Mariner moved to V-I ofiicer when Com- mander Smith became Air Bossg Lieutenant Percy H. Clark, Mariner's first assistant, t00k over V-1-H and later the division, with bulky Lieutenant ljgi Victor A. Hughtih former Chief Machinist and Clarks assist' ant, aSSuming the unit otiicership near the close of the first vear, a Lleumnanlf tial. Niklatisen, after A mart pprentlceshlli' as J- O., took Over V-l-A, 1115 intense, hustling Blackie Walker became V-1-D junior officer under popular Lieuten- ant A. R. Land-Pappy Middleton, athletic officer who switched from V-4 to V-1 late in 1943. Middleton's transfer to a Naval Pre- flight school in the early summer of 1944 left the V-1-D unit in Walker's hands, and Lieu- tenant K. A. Hashagen reported aboard to take over Fly Two and athletic duties, mov- ing to Fly One on Mitchell's receipt of orders in August. V-1-C remained in the hands of Lieutanant Mitchell throughout the first year, until he was relieved by Ensign Howard J. Nelson, Jr., and proceeded to duty at NAF, Philadelphia. Primary job of the Walker-Miklausen- Mitchell team, over and above direction of their specific units, was management of the flight deck, the control of traflic and the direction of crews topside. Walker assumed the duties of Flight Deck Control on Bed- well's transfer, playing the key liason role between the schedule makers of Flag and Air Plot and the translation of their orders into flight deck trafllc. Miklausen handled Fly Three, the gruelling direction of aircraft out of the landing gear and up the deck, and the precise business of spotting for launchings. Mitchell worked Fly One, launched all flights and directed stacking of planes upon landing, and the flow of air- craft aft for respotting. Repair VIII, included on the V-1-D mus- ter rolls but a distinctive unit of its own, was the small, alert crew headed by Lieu- tenant Cjgj Browne, bomb demolition expert and Air Department flre marshal. Its func- tion was in effecting rescue of personnel from crashed planes, clearing away wreckage, fight- ing fires and making emergency repairs to the deck when damaged. The blonde, gag- loving Brownie stayed with the ship until August, 1944, when his long-awaited orders to flight training, and his relief, Lieutenant Cjgj William Pitscher, arrived. Browne and one of his crewmen, Slc C. H. Martin, were awarded the Navy and Marine Corps medal for one of their many actions in emergencies. Fast-working, genial R. E. Howell, AMM 2c, was the bull petty ofllcer of the unit. Working with the angry, deafening roar of engines in their ears and fighting the blast! of slipstream that could tear the shirts off their backs or blow men helplessly down the deck, the crews of V-1-D well deserved the words of praise so often spoken by observers watching the machinery of a flight deck op- eration. Flight Deck Chief J. D. Tex Sadler, ACMM, youthful Wasp veteran and Texan, headed the crews and paced the work I C51 an . or .4 X x - f a 'r . Y, 5. la X Q ,pl Y ,N ff it .1 . , ...gl - ., .1 ' 1 . , J V 1 I ' ' K' -,A Q, 'ju' , sn-, 1, gi mb . F. 5 V p 1' . ,, 'QU Q 41 . eggs? sr: . 1, - -Ra'-. . if -, H a -- i :'m'.f'?::, i .is ff ..- it -'S' 559' ri? If' J ,p at if gi - ,- Q .Q , a i, ,, .11 M. ,. -3, a f as .. ,A . H ,.-M I ,iii ,c , 4, ,i,,,,,AL . . H .7-4 V -A I 1 K4 , 5 a- N Q, Y, . . .ff-'J . .A 4 I , I ., of the spotters and directors. Among the latter were burly A. H. Pete Kludjian, BM1cg stogie-smoking P. E. Penza AMM1cg quiet Frank Niadna, AMM1cg wiry H. I. Bud Lofton, BM2cg Frank Renz and James Ellison, AMM2cs, affable Charlie Almond, PtrV2c, and big Joe Scarba, AMM3c. It was due to their efforts that the crews main- tained a consistent record of top-notch per- formances, strike after strike. A .ff- 1 L. .r U 'sa' HANGAR DECK HUSTLERS Cn the hangar deck, a similar esprit de corps and hustle spurred the efficiency of V-l-H, the virtually anonymous backstage performers of the big show topside. Hand- ling planes as fast as they could land and be placed on elevators, the hangar deck crews were in position to make the flight deck look good or bad-and they always made it look good. They had such further bedevilments as working with only inches to spare between planes, and special spotting demands of the 1 l 3 1 Q I 3 l s l l l 1 i l l l ......-.-- .,, .l 1 i l.. lk . . - k s uadron and aviation engineers' Chuc lilhrlow, CBM, the Hangar Deck, Chlef' and Bill Stolzenburg,AMM1c, his assistant, were the deck bosses, aided bY an assortment, of plane directors who were adept at threading planes through the jampacked hangar with a minimum of Dilbert accidents that brought out raging engineers to replace a smashed stabilizer or bumped wing Stub- These directors, all of them crew leaderS SIHCC commissioning, included Joe Fernicola and Donald Dinges, AMM3csg C. E. Lambdm and D. E. Mitchell, CoXs'ns, and Johnny Surrett, BM2c. Two other units whose work attracted less attention but was as important to flight op- erations as any other were the arresting gear crew and the catapult gang. The arresting gear gang did its job with a high degree of efliciency, learning many tricks of the trade under their first Chief, Vincent Prevetti, whose 18 years of experience won him pro- motion from CMM to Warrant Machinist, and transfer back to new construction. His place was filled by quiet W. E. Smith, who came aboard as a first-class aviation mech and rose to ACMM. J. E. Toczek, W. R. Braun and B. L. 'Burow were the AMM1cs heading up the crew. The Catapult crew, saddled with a new type of machine whose peculiarities under heavy use had to be learned and mastered in the combat zone, was ably bossed by F. P. Zimmerman, ACMM, whose long exper- ience with all types of machinery, and his innate mechanical practicality were of im- mense value. M. D. Harsh, Art Engelgau, and T. S. Jones, AMM1cs, were the bull petty oiiicers credited with maintenance and per- formance of the intricate and powerful Cam- pults. Fox 32-in coininission-roger. Talkers at the Status Board and at the VF engineering desk, erase a line on their black- boards, chalk in an oc , and another plane ij ready I0 fly. Fox 32-a husky Hellcat-had returned from the afternoon hop, its wing blasted to hell and the fuselage riddled by debris thrown up by on exploding f7ap gunihoa. Bwig following dawn, if ,flew anotherfghu-r' 1? ' Jlxla ,imrnu in that. .Yo glansor. I! zamfaf, it mf fffwff' 'ff 'W -fed I wvdm lzuml on the sfirk, and wen! hflaw- -if UTI ,m.,.j,5 amy' ,W-fgl,t111t'!l1.i' Iooh' utter, Ill! BBQ was f1.f,tf.t,m1', and work started. In Ihr shadow, baruish ligh! of the hfmgar' rink, sl wing gg clianged, an mginr w'lli14-ffmfnf wwf, flflflws Inge palrlml u jr. .in armmg threw packed the gypsy will: lllflf' 11lr'.1'll'l4'4lI!?f' ltntlfal, Gnd Wdkllgd while two men with headsrls rlamprd to their ears-hdf1'le1l wilh Ihr radio. From some Corner came a rrew of men ,making a gas hose through the forest of wlirels, pol-rd Ihr brass nozzle into tlzirsly tanks. Up forward the homhmgi and arming crews, 'Yreslf' from Ihrre hours of sleep, gulped ho! coffee as they awailrdllzr bombs that vm due up from the nmgazirirs al 17200. Bring 'em up, send 'em lopsidr, do all the numer- ous little things izeressary to insure proper op- eration ofa lflllfllmll, l000wpound bomb--all in lhc' pilflz-blafk of Ihr-fllghl deff. Fox 324 sr'r in roirinizssirin roger. To the vast and relatively unrecognized V-2 division falls the responsibility for the servicing and maintenance of the carriers hitting power, keeping aircraft availability ll the highest possible peak. Working long hours through the night on engine repairs, fighting the thick blackness of the flight deck to ser- vice planes for the first strike, the men of V-2 get little of the glamor of carrier com- bat, the thrill of watching a flight rendez- VOUS in the murky dawn s-finale of the COP' side's big show. 'l'l1cy've more work todo. Their satisfaction will come from the pilot? thumbs up okaying engine pcrformtmlf bomb release and gun operation, when 59 lands back on lioaril. .The Bunker Hill's YJ2.-li gang had it! 59' gmnrngS with the first squadrons at NNW' R'!ll1Ci'JC Igommamler Major and Cornmlw . .' . - i ' on t V -k. agdanowith, lulgfy. AU Qu-agp een s WPCF. freely mixed squadron and personnel to build an ace maintenance sion. Tirelessly fighting the bugs af tht dl, Helldivers and Corsairs, with which the eidrws were equipped, was a trio of en- ollicers: big, competent Lieutenant John Lacy on the skittish fighters, quiet cap- able Lieutenant Cjgj Tom Balhizer on the bombers, and the pipe-smoking Lieutenant G31 John Dink Flint, trouble-shooter extra- erdinary. Directing them and constantly devising means for higher aircraft availabil- ities was the good- natured Scot- Dutch workman, Lieutenant Fred Rick Davidson, :ze Q-fe, i who was division e.,4,N head until relieved A by Lieutenant Com- .. ' manderRobert Glen- ' --as - 1 1 denning just before a ' l shakedown. Glen- itee -------.-------. denning held the as- signment until his transfer, and Com- mander Frauenheim, then Lieutenant Commander, succeeded him when the ship headed for the combat zone, holding the job until he was made the Assist- ant Air Officer, when Davidson again took the division. Additions to the oliicers' roster included youthful Ensign E. Kremzier, assigned to the bombing engineering crew, and round- faced, cheerful Ensign M. E. Piper, who went to the torpedo plane unit. As in any good Navy machine, the import- ant cogs were the enlisted men who carried out the orders and saw the job through. The muster roll of CPOs and rated men who sweated out screwdriver-and-wrench time and held responsible posts in the various V-2-E units is long, and a complete summary is nearly impossible. But to name a few: BOMBERS: Chiefs H. M. Watts, Jimmy Milligan and Red Rolando, of the ship's com- pany, and Chiefs Piercy and Red Griffith of VB Seventeen laid the groundwork for the Bunker Hill's pace-making use of the SB2C when other carriers were refusing to accept them. Cliff Jacobs made ACMM on the bid' of his work with VB engineering, as did H. L. Besselievre, now in charge of V-ZEB, who bc- gan his care of the ship's aircraft when two SNjs at Squan tum comprised the complement. FIGHTERS: First the Corsair, then the Hellcat, occupied such mechanical experts as Chiefs H. A. Wade and Henry Hobson, both of the ship's company, and VF 8's Odom, Barker and Fitzpat- rick. Chiefs F. R. Malosh, H. F. Harris and E. E. Gerner made their rates while aboard, keep- in' 'em Hyin'. TO R P E D O S : Chief R. Frenchy LaBrie bulled the ship's VT engineer- ing gang, with A. J. Csontos and R. Kane, also ACMMs, helping direct work on the Avengers. SHOPS: Chief Al Allen was in charge of all electrical work on the various types of planes, and a full house of miracle workers manned the metal shop. R. M. Doles, the Rebel, was senior CPO until transferred, when C. A. Smith took over. Jack Ballas and W. C. Kraut made ACM with the ship, just reward for their work in the metal shop. Up in the parachute loft, E. W. Cowart, slim PR1c, bossed the functions of that important unit, and D. G. Keeling, AM1c was in charge of the oxygen shop, where all maintenance and servicing of the high altitude equipment was carried on. Both shops were under the supervision of Ensign Piper. ACMM C. C. Smoky Phelps, one-time bomber specialist, was put in charge of the large crew of plane captains whose loyalty as Hellcat-Helldiver-Avenger nursemaids prob- ably is best exemplified in the case of Sheldon Miller, AMM3c, who rode a fighter right over the side, in a vain attempt to brake buck- ing plane while the ship was under attack. -Qilvi' Q ' ctig After brief destroyer duty, he was mmm quite safe and sound.. T I Dean of the division was small, dx 1839 l. Tommy Lyons, ACMM, who was another Ol Commander Carson's choices from the AHB- costia roster. A keen student of all things- mechanical, he usually was the court of highest appeal in any discussion or experi- ment revolving about the planes. ARMING CREWS WERE FAST Among a strike-day's more interesting sight was the eflicient, time-defying operations of the V-2-A unit. To its men fell the respon- sibility for putting the slug in the carrie-r's hitting power, hanging bombs and torpedoes, keeping the plane's guns ready for instant action when aloft, and doing it all on the run. The diligent training done while the squadrons were forming in the pre-shakedown period, and the constant improvement of methods in the first days of combat, com bined to produce a topnotch outfit. Starting hours before dawn, the arming and bombing gang put in the longest hours on the Ship during heavy operations. A delay in take0H', H tardy returning flight could Wreck .a strike schedule if V-2-A WaS,unable to' do its rerarming job in unbelievably short minutes. Lieutenant Harry Yoe wry gh featured West Virginian, was the uniii fglipg majoring, with Lieutenant James Pow? Gr re-bombing operations. Powers wa rs, m ferred back to the States in mid s S trans- 1944, and Lieutenant C' T 5 ummm of , , is? . . rocket specialist, assumed his gosljggilgglzsg, 1 I'91lNy 'ft ,- ? .isxsqnwt 5 ufwffiyi -2 , if saggy. if wafers-ge:-emimi: 5 etewmen, trailing their long hoses from risers, were the first to board amrning planes. Freeman's constant pres- gee on the deck, and his fierce exasperation dill inefficiency, characterized by as blast- kg a choice of expletives as the ship could bout, made good his frequent claim to other Bight deck ofiicers: We never held you up a damned minute! Berchtold, in charge on the hangar deck, did a similarly good job consistently, managing to have every plane glssed as soon as it was put into commission. I. F. Baumann, the magic metalsmith of the crew and boss of its Repair VII headquarters, made ACM in Gctober, 1944, in recognition of his ability. Backstage manager of defensive and offen- sive operations of the squadrons--and of the ship-in five critical fields, is the V-3 divi- sion, comprised of Aerology, Air Intelligence, Air Plot, Fighter Direction, and the Photo- graphic Lab. In a war the size of the one conducted in the Pacific, the aerologist can do as much for a strike against the Jap-if not more-as a screen of battleships. All that Flag Plot ever asked for was a nice, cozy storm to use as cover for the force while marching within striking distance. Successful master of this was Lieutenant W. A. Haviland, who suc- ceeded Lieutenant Commander R. A. Chand- ler, USN, in January. As Aerology Oliicer, his pride and joy was the week-long front he found for us when we first hit the Philip- pines. Pilots swore they needed no navigation boards, they merely headed for the biggest storm cloud upon returning from the target, dropped through it to 500 feet, and entered the landing circle! Keeping a constant check on the whims and fancies of the weather and trying to nurse the thermometer from the 85- degree point it held through our first year in the Pacific, was a quintet of plankowners: George Bellino, L. E. May, Clarence Pope and Pete Simonetti, Aerographers First, and Ed Stone, AER3c. First Lieutenant Charles Tenney, then Lieutenant Charles de Bretteville, headed the ship's Air Combat Intelligence oiiiee, that island nook where the prying eyes of visitors are as welcome as bogeys. Both Charlie! were top-Hight men, thorough, painstaking, efficient, and mentally geared for the long hours of briefings that preceded an operation, and the longer grueling hours of interpreting the reports and results of the squadrons. Lieutenant Cjgj R. H. Paschall, photographic interpreter, was added to the staff in July, r -.-1.-.-..-i-.1 5,-,,,. 1944, as photo missions began to assume greater importance. Office manager was the obliging, quiet-spoken Chief Yeoman Herb Reas, who reported aboard as Ylc, and pro- ceeded to win not only the fouled anchor of chief, but a subsequent recommendation for a commission. The ship's control of its aircraft aloft cen- tered in Air Plot, and in the Fighter Director bogey hatch, ofiicially designated as the Combat Information Center. From Air Plot, battle station of the Air Ofiicer and Assistant Air Boss, are issued the Hight schedules, the arming plans and the general direction of the squadron and Air Department operations. By means of telephones of every type, teletypes, Hsquawk boxes and radio, Air Plot stays in constant contact with every unit in its vast and complicated domain, aloft and aboard. Lieutenant Commander Robert Wood, '39 Academy graduate and erstwhile member of VB17, assumed charge of Air Plot as aide to the Air Officer in January, 1944, relieving Commander Major, V-3 division ofiicer until his transfer to the States to become Executive OH'icer of a new CVE. Woodstransfer Statei side in mid-summer shifted Lieutenant Iffclt S. Speer and running mate, Lieutenant ilgl Ralph L. Burgin, Jr., from CIC to Air Plot. Lieutenant Cjgj Harold A. Fisher, on loan from the Air Group, also was stationed in Alf Plot until his receipt of orders in October, 1944- Original Fighter Director Oflicer WHS the lantern-jawed Southerner, Lieutenant Bay Myers, Wasp and Guadalcanal fighter p1lOt veteran who organized the department, 115' sisted by such others as Lieutenants Speer and A. D. Blue Goose Johnson, Lieutenants Cjgj Burgin, Nick Hammond and Bill LaCroix. As time went by, additions to the roster ar- rived, including Lieutenant Phil Chapman in March, 1944, and Lieutenant Cjgl F. A. Wright and Ensign Hicks two months later. In July, Myers received orders, and turned the job over to his relief, Lieutenant E. Snead, Jr., who took over the post. Snead was a veteran of the old Hornet and of specialized work in the British Isles, and proved cap- able of being able to distinguish between low-flying destroyers and genuine bogeys. Under Lieutenant C. K. Eaton, the Photo- graphic Laboratory was organized, and put on a combat status, and a crew installed to handle the heavy volume of work that poured from the cameras of their own, and squadron, lenfsmen after every hop. Chief Photographer's Mate M. Hitchcock helped set the pace, tak- ing the hops, scheduling the other photogs, and working with them through the night to hustle prints to waiting Intelligence officers. He won promotion to Warrant Photographer at the turn of the year, returning to the States, and was replaced by Photographers O, F. Bowe, briefly, and C. W. Lanz. 1 Quiet, competent R. C. Sharkey, a Ph0M c who had been a CPO but a few days when he was killed, was the Photo Lab's first cas- ualty, as the bomber from which he was shoot- ing pictures was hit in its dive over Kavieng, and never pulled out. Wayne Flint, Pho- Mlc, also received wounds over that hot spdt, which resulted in his transfer. Johnny Keith, PhoM2c, went in at Kwajalein, Ufhgrs of the original gang hmcludd Kubrecht, l'lioM2t', wounded in the the liasterti Pliiltppincai and trtnsfefldgn, 'I-. Rhmiex ami CQ, tl. limi, l'l1lJMlC, K Yoder, l'lioNl2t, and kiliflord liximnc, Sc, who was transferred. The niany tennis ol paper work involvadig the operation til the Mr Department Sell gg Lieutenant llc-nri l'. lNlt'lll1rnriy,ptiised,cu3. tured transfr:rcc lroni thc pre--tonimissimiiq roster of aviation engine-erimz otiiccfs, Wm he made inajor contributions in work to the :ict-eptziiicr .if the llclldivcr as a cutter plane. He sticcvrcdcd l.ic'utc'nant Al O'COB- nor, who had liecoiiic the Executive Ofliicafs Aide and, latter, ai linnncri Department of- ficer, and for ni time was assisted by Lim. tenant Robert Blake prior to Hlakc's nomin- ation to succeed Ufonnor. Mcllhthhfs conscientious attention In the administrative details ofthe Air Department won as mud! admiration as did his collection of phono- graph platters, and his receipt of new books at every mail call. First L'l'Os in the depart- ment were D. C. Snow and li. G. Zum, both of them winning commissions and new duty, leaving to lanky Lake jackson, Ylc, the re- sponsibility of keeping order. Quarters for Muster always presented the knotty problem of finding the proper division in which to include the Landing Signal Officers of the ship's company. First of them were Lieutcnants Hliziilcr R. Cummings Ind Alfred Dewey. The small, cnthusilldf Cummings, a Naval Aviator, originally W9 attached to the sliip's fir:-at Air Group, lad sweated them through qualifications and MM' landing drills mont lis before they came aboard- Dewey .lflluecl him in tliosc arduous drill! I-Bd Came aboard well qualified to split the I-.Shoe duties with Cummings. With the sectlfid 55' GVUUP was l.ieutenant li. li. Rodenwflr former bomlier pilot and holder of A D-F-C' edal for his part in the wly 97' and Air M pf the .P3ClllC War. Qitinymingg W3 erred in April, 1944, rem,-mng gg q f Squadrons llfqiaring to go abound emi and Dewey rc mained to work with R ii iii 4,Ii'ii i'A'fiif' afili Nfbfi' ... N b if i i 'Tc if C H A Pi , A I N S 1' if Q5 .. ,A 5.-. is Q, g 2 ,Vg MW-Alf: A ,Mm Nvjhs K, ,., as , V, . I J . V 2-M -.. MwM4z,, T 't t ,,gs-- ff- f i' I4 - . . -ff e X31 l . H lf ,JJ -1 r - .-.aff . ,,..AW ' i Q Q' , 1 , 7 g ff N, f K, 1 1--ff .1. I .1 i ' '1 i i't .,,, ' Yi!! 'vw ,,.,,. - f 1 f L f I f v f ' ,f ,X O OTLC CCLTI TYICCLSMTC their true value to the ship The call to worxlzip has markea' a frequent ana' regular interval in the oft-times hectic life aboard the Bunker Hill. t was obvious from the first that the Lord was on our side and men eagerly sought expression for their dependence on the Master, and found in Him great strength and courage to tide over lonely hours of routine and through the business of battle. From the time of commissioning, the Com- manding Officer insisted that each man, re- gardless of creed, have reasonable opportun- ity to worship God in accordance with the dictates of his conscience. In addition to the regular Catholic masses and Benedictions, and the Protestant services and devotions, Christ- ian Science readings were conducted weekly and Hebrew services were held. Before each engagement, a prayer for all hands was said over the ship's speaker sys- tem and on the vast, dusk-shadowed flight deck, in the nerve-strained ready rooms, on the gun mounts-men stood with heads bared as their hearts and minds joined in the prayer for Divine guidance and protection. In their rooms, the Chaplains spent many hours with men who sought the comfort of God's word before carrying the attack to the enemy. At the regular Communion services, or in the bare surroundings of a small room, men made their confessions and received new inspiration on the eve of battle. In the mind of the individual, some service may stand out due to his own particular need at the time, or to some blessing which he re- ceived therefrom, but in general we will re- call the Memorial services for our departed shipmates. The late afternoon, for instance, that virtually every man not on watch stood on the Hight deck to pay his respects to those heroic men who had failed to return from missions. To see and hear those several thousand men raise their voices in the Navy hymn, Eternal Father, Strong to Save was to feel instinctively that men of such devotion could not fail in their appointed tasks. Strangely enough, too, a new religious sig- nificance came at Christmas when the ship was deep in enemy waters, retiring from its first raid on Kavieng. A brief moment from N.,-I .... H .-u..,.-mga, - the . mit to active combat was taken to CON? f hi mate who dee the mortal remains o a S P gavle his life to establish peace on earth, aid as the ship surged westward through if bright night, vainly hunted by an enFmy 1? the air and under the sea, the feelmgsuo many were expressed by 9- mall who Saldf God has his arms about this ship. S , ,, ,, , t, ...p 5 . , , ,,,, ,K , , .., i,T'f'i3i3' Y3l'lY'4Nflil1lllllllllilii lriirfifi' 4 l 32 Eqfygirsmi . 'fl it l P liiliila li tl' ,. .- lQifgfl.: gli V llilllfqlfi ig w fi?T t ' f5f1QSlQLm' ' g , as - , p--rr-I., li 1 lp! i i. ' f d dx I U up l ike .tj .f .1q ' 44,2 iii f ee i emi li oor i fi if i' fElE 1 ,Q e eeli 1 we :A -t .1 -. at Nl W'-l K-4' A i. .1 ' I i ff ' 5 -.--M-1 X f i X x Q ix V li il .I . i f i . Into the hands of two Chaplains, Lieuten- ant Commander Floyd Dreith and Lieu- tenant J. J. Quigley, was thrust the respon- sibility for the spiritual welfare of the ship when it sailed from the States. Chaplain Dreith was with the ship in pre-commissiom ing days, as spiritual leader for personnel des- tined to become part of the ship's company as well as the organizer behind the limited social activities of that period. He came to the Bunker Hill with wide experience, having served on a battleship, a heavy cruiser, a destroyer, a destroyer tender and at a Naval Air Station during his previous six years' ex- perience. He held the pastorate of a Lutheran Church in San Diego before joining the Navy and his knowledge of matters civil as well as Naval have served the crew in excellent stead when men faced problems of general welfare or marital, financial, physical and mm-af troubles. Chaplain Quigley left his Catholic parish at Syracuse, N. Y., in April, 1942, to join the Navy and served his first year at the Naval Air Station, Norfolk, before joining the ship just prior to its shakedown period His enthusiasm for all things worthwhile soon manifested itself in the wholehearted manner 1n which he entered upon his duties. Out- standing among his many contributions to the welfare of the shll' his Nw Q tion of 'lilllfi x1uNl?Mr.NT, which editorship WHS fff7 5n'wd pubhcly 9 3 the l leet's outstamling shirfs Late in Aulwili Ch'l'l'l ' lllh. lieved hy Lieutenant R. li. Delaney, vi of durv at San juan, and I few Yi Q Chaplain Dreith received orders L Executive Uriicer of the Chaplains' TIIQ School at William and Mary Wd, iamsburg, Virginia- T he obvious friendship and close mga.. tion in all things, spiritual and tempmll, between the two Chaplains hu done Q to enhance the cause of true Chfki aboard the Bunker Hill. Chaplain lilelanefs quiet manncr,hix elm- ness to continue the extra,-curricular work af his predecessor with as much interest md: him immediately popular. l..ieutenl.nt Cm- mander H. M. lforgy, a veteran of some ef 2 ' , , . , . .. L ,..,,.a......,-Q-.M-,--N g , .. ,., ,.....,..., Maf--.-..... r . . .1 ...,,,....f-.w--.f-.-.aff-M., X .,.,, ,.,....-..-...,..,-..-to-4-una' Ji WW' t ' l i t is ' sw mn- V 4 V, fa-v-w,1m-uu-auu- ,N -Q f-.. :EXE ,AA 1 ...A li.. 14,44 ' it V . 'r .i.. .ilia-Z' Q C H , ' i .V,, a afjrjeza T itty-gg.. ' if D A Q n Q . , ll i i R K Q 5 5 Q. igqgggss V, . 'f ' a 5 5 Q D I Q ix 5 5 5 5 1 0 A A A E , , , ,,,,.+-iq:-vw f i . .- .mga-neiik 2 , 3 V f ---shi li ii lag . awp... ff,,,.q-wwf' the hot and heavy Pacific actions in part of the war, relieved Chaplain but remained ahoard only 3 ghgn time, Causing his transfer from the ship the hands of men such I8 Alb Splflfllal and moral welfare af tht Hill s personnel Wag aggqrgdl COMMUNICATIGN Through these men we received orders to jig ht - and mail from home What's the garbled word? -the Navy'.s hoary jibe at all communicators, stood as mere gag material aboard the Bunker Hill. ngzmwwwmmum aw, aj..- v. ,L -2. he transmission and reception of all messages that came to, or left, the ship was the major duty of the De- partment, but in addition, the Com- munication Department was entrusted with carrying out many of the administrative de- tails Within the ship's internal organization. A pair of communications-wise officers headed the Communicators through the ship's first year in combat. Commander Porter Lewis, USN, held the post from commis- sioning until May, 1944, when he left for the stali' of Commander, Fifth Amphibious Force. An Academy graduate, he was a vet- eran of that type of duty, coming to the Bunker Hill from Recife, South America, where he had headed Naval Base communica- tions. His successor was Lieutenant Com- mander V. J. Cheek, who came aboard from the U. S. S. Belleau Wood. Prior to that he had logged solid Navy experience in the At- lantic, adding to civilian training and exper- ience in radio and broadcasting. The Communication Department breaks --,.mamvuyww internally into three groups: radio personnel, signalmen, and the yeomen, the latter group including the ship's print shop, and the Ex- ecutive OHicer's and Captain's ofiices. Assistant Communication Officer and Radio Officer, second man to hold the job, was the Pacific veteran, Lieutenant James Veitch, who has a continuous record of sea-duty since his graduation in one of the earliest V-7 re- serve classes. A destroyer sailor of twenty- eight months before reporting to the Bunker Hill, he succeeded Lieutenant L. E. Harrison, who reported to the ship while she still was at Quincy, and whose experience aboard the U. S. S. Ranger contributed much to the or- ganization of the department. He left the ship for new duty in May, 1944, going to Jacksonville, Florida. Lieutenant CjgD Neil Hartley, former as- sistant in the Radio Division, graduated from the Special Communication School at the Naval Academy, and organized and trained the radio gang in a thorough manner. VVhen he left for duty in the commissioning of a akcn new carrier of this class, his job Was f C. W. Pete FlYnnv ommunication course at over by Lieutenant Cjgl graduate of the c Harvard. n . V. h Although the work is closely allied wt! the Air Department, the group that kept the plane radios functioning also was part of the t, Lieutenant Communication Departmen . Q ' William Yeagley and Chief Radio Electrician Waters spent many a night before a strike at the enemy climbing in and out of the air- craft, testing and approving their radio facil- ilities. ,Radio,1 Electrician Davis and Chiefs Gawlik, Mesher and Scott did top duty in keeping plane radios operating efficiently as well as assisting the maintenance .of other radio equipment. Originally, the ship went to sea with Radio Electricians Max VVebb and F. Kelly, who both won promotions to Ensign, and subsequent new duty. One of the nucleus of old Navy men who contributed much toward getting the Bunker Hill well started on its way was the original radio material oHicer, Lieutenant Miller, who supervised the installation of much of our equipment and ably answered so many of the questions in the early days. His years in the Navy qualified him for a new billet in early 1944 and he left for Statesside duty. Those who have the impression that to keep the vast amount of visual messages whigh the ship sends and receives moving is a life of ease are advised to strike for the rate of -signalmanl That's what they do, the men technically known as the K-2 Division. Signal officer through most of 1944 was Lieutenant J. I. Slattery, who, on taking over his duties found a group of signalmen who had first been trained, and then polished in the language of the flashing light and semaphore in a manner which left little to accomplish., Lieutenant George Webber wa the ship's first Signal Officer and his efforts in the days prior to commissioning built as adept signal force from a combination ii' recruits and men with the theory but HUT or no practical experience. The man ' - C responsible for so much of the skill Jointly that Was 3 40 demonstratetl was Chief mgkcr, a man of lung experience in and his buys can the ivfkilt rdacsd Lieutenant Slattery was the otiicer, succeeding to the your Dfw ant li. P. Kmart! and lacuteaam H, Berry. junior tltvtumn u5irtrl in ig Division were Lieutenant thigh! and lrnsigtt ll. A. Mihtttlicf, the of the Shglfs planknvmcri and Mcvighil more recent atltlitnm to the dqmrtznmg, The yeumcti, along with the formed the third internal section cmtfthelfq. munication llcpartttacnt, known gg :ht Division. 'liltr minute tifllil Ind mtg required in at murtntartial pnx'eadil'lg, supervision nc-ccssary for snmuth OQJCTIQM di the Captains and thc lixerutive Oioefz oliices fell to these men. Chief Yeomln . 113' if was the nrst mar of the Executive 0555. Ofiice, and always seemed to know how wb thmkls when no one else did. Hi! yilflu the work for the Navy were helpful B GW- lng the men who for the mo-pt part the Personnel tif the office. The Ch-if l-011 WCW construction, to lic followd Hl'renCh5 ' l-C lim-uf, Chief Yuan!! mOVec'l up from first class since abfmffl H! Quincy. .fhc central nfiice on the ship, 68 tamis Umm- WHS llivcn a sur-restful another ciqicrienced man If H A ln? .Clerk Koster saw that till legal fm this oliicc stayed unnvidr s 3 TCT being promoted to Plain turned to the States and his w -.....,.............,..,....a. . V .,..-................ ... . -. - --.-a.--- - M.,-,f ......, -M hi V u-in-1--11---1-. 4 V -' H - 1- ff - J 'v - ...,- .4' ' la Yeoman Hill, duplicated that performance by also making Ensign and returning to duty aboard another carrier. Ship's Clerk Garrett succeeded Koster and Chief Massa became his assistant. The ship's printers are a willing and skill- ful crew who have earned a high reputation in the fleet for the excellent craftsmanship of THE MON UMEN T, the ship's weekly paper. Printer First Class Chandler and his gang de- serve much credit for that, as well as for the eliicient handling of the large amount of work required by the ship in the printing . .YYY Y-.-:.A:...Tm, 4 ,riff ---- .-.....-,.2.....--...af -Z-:.,...... 5- ...... .T..T,-.Z1 ,tx ' ' U . ..'. Q- 1.2142 .ii--.. .... ,... , ., LM., ,..,..,..--M w -,.- , - --- ----f---M ,,.. . ., ., --a. . f - -. -- - --- - ---f --- ..Ma-.A.,-. . -- - - - - V.. , ...... ---. M, . ,, . , ,, .. .. . . .M , . ...-a.......c-............., ...V K .. .... .,.., ,, . . 1 .-.la .--.fl-----:L--:::3...:.-..-....a...r-. -..'U'..... '. .... 31Z'..LT..T'.. , .. TI,T,'TfT', ,'TT.'T. ,Qf 'i'l.ffflZ'L'1flT.f v ,W ,, V .1 ,nw , . . - A I, -I M--... .. -J, N --J - A -an ,, USN 144 If y W If-A N. V A ...fx A up . ' 1 I' .fi-4 ' , e 1' , ' .ff ' line. Lieutenant Bill Berry was the K-3 Division Gflicer, assisted by Lieutenant Cjgl R. O. Herstine, both communication veter- ans. The lirst print shop officer, Lieutenant Qjgj C. W. Johnson, Spent his last day of duty aboard the ship in May. He received orders to new construction of another carrier in this class, the USS Bon Homme Richard. One of the most important jobs in the Communication Department is Ship's Secre- tary. Actually a part of K-3, the extent of the work and responsibility rates it as a separate unit. Lieutenant A. J. O'Connor gave the job its beginning, his experience aboard the old Wasp nominated him for the original assignment to the job. However, when Lieutenant Cjgb John Gott reported for duty in Quincy, it was decided that he would assume the duties of Ship's Secretary. The task of overseeing the work of the Executive Oflicer's ofiice falls under the title of Executive OHicer's Aide. A mid-year ad- dition to the Ship's company, Lieutenant R. M. Blake, handled this work, also considered a part of the Communication Department. He came aboard after a long stay on the beach at Munda, succeeding Al O'Connor who held the job temporarily after the original Aide, Ensign Roger Prouty, left the ship for new duty. The daily press news is also a service fur- nished the ship by Communication Depart- ment personnel. Lieutenant Cjgl Flynn and Ensign McVickers, who alternately edited it, will tell you that it was thoroughly maligned almost daily. This they consider a high compliment, however, for it means that the paper is closely read. Each day radiomen copied the best parts of several press broad- casts which emanated from the West Coast. The exploits of the Bunker Hill Ship's Post ofiice have long been known by most. This service also fell under the cognizance of the Communication Department. An estimate has been made that from time of commissioning through the first combat year, more than 100,000 letters monthly were mailed by the oliicers and enlisted men, and that they received an average of nearly a quarter of a million letters each month. A record was established for a single delivery on December 10, 1943, when the ship re- ceived 56 mail pouches, each containing ap- proximately 8,000 letters, and 625 bags of parcel post, magazines and newspapers. The Post Office handled 31,000,000 worth of money orders during the past year, a sum greater, on a percentage basis, than that credited to the New York City Post Oliice. Stamp sales amounted to S75,000, with 570,000 of this involving air mail. In one day, the Post Office sold 343,000 worth of money orders, a mark which still stands. On an average day, 54,000 in money orders and stamps are dispensed. 'M L I 'Wi-L as V . VG Q 5, ENGINp ERING ,u-,,,,..,w...t..,.......a.... ..,,. U., f53gf'g'Qf,1fu' ' ax X, i---E-..,......,,,,..--dw Qi:-jjj , ,Q - Q- ---' w' ,A .M sw I e xv f f ' Q ' Q- .ns Y , 4 Et if awww' K W ..-' 1 . , ..,.,.- . , 1. . . ' 4 , . -'f' Q rv ,ev 5 K ,M M ,.... A ,tal , jf- Xl , , Y' , :li ,fbi ii h fl N L The performed record breaking achievem6TlfS Daibf communiques from the sea fronts to the newspapers hack home have carried story after story which hegan as follows: A Fast Carrier Task Force . . . .... . ,V , , .. - .,.a-.T.,...f.u.,.q.,.,,lun-n-uncut' Y Y 1 W --frm , WY WY,-, , T .-,,,,,,.,l,,,,c,,q,,,,...,.- -:yawn QL,f1,U5f41ef:aa:-ma::fAf.u:.r.:v:4wA -0: AA-Q: :A-N --1---f was af- ---W f-N ne of the vaster differences between this war and any other has been the factor known as speed In the Bunker Hill, for a year the spearhead on fast carrier attacks, the speed and drive were furnished by the en- gineers, whose equipment and ability to handle this equipment were the forces that drove us over tens of thousands of sea miles. Powerful engines, excellently maintained and expertly controlled took us into the Battle . . . time and time again . . . and brought us back again. While the propulsion of the ship is its primary consideration, the Engineering De- partment embodies other duties of far-reach- ing importance. Its giant evaporators distill the enormous quantities of water used daily for all purposes, its generators produce the thousands of kilowatts which are sent out from the central distribution panels through miles of electrical cable to every part of the ship, its refrigeration makes it possible to have fresh meat, fruit and vegetables no matter how long at sea, its ship's service and sound-powered phones link remote sec- tions of a sea giantess . . . to name but a few of the department's manifold duties. The helm of this tremendously complCX structure is the Chief Engineer. His is the task of maintaining all machinery on a 24- hour-a-day operating status, and having the boilers and main engines ready for full power at an instant's notice. That the Chief EH- gineer is usually one of the first officers as- signed to a ship in commission and fitting out is an index of the importance attached to his job. Our first Chief Engineer was capable, quiet Commander F. F. Agens, USN, and too much credit cannot be given him fm- the splendid work he did in organizing an Engineering Department that will take back seat to HOM- He stayed with the Bunker Hill long elwlmh to see us weather several engagements with the enemY, and on more than one occviw new the pride of accomplishment when the amines were called upon to deliver , , , Ind did. His record must have impressed the Bureau, for in December he was called back to put mother carrier of this class in commission, after which he was attached to SupShips at Bethlehem Steel in Quincy, Massachusetts, where his know how will be used to full advantage. As a general rule when a key man is removed his replace- ment poses a difiicult problem. In the case of the Chief Engin- eer, however, there was no deliberation on this score. As if it were custom-made for him, Commander D. F. Kinert, USN, stepped into the spot vacated by his pred- ecessor. Having un- derstudied Commander Agens while holding down the job of Assistant Engineering Officer, Commander Kinert was thoroughly familiar with the doctrines and policies in effect, and was well qualified to take over the reins, guiding the hundred-odd thousand horsepower which drives the ship. Sufiice it to say the Engineering Department still ranks number one among the carriers of this class. The job of Assistant Engineering Ofiicer entails reams of paper work, the handling of ofiicer training, and personnel supervision in the department as well as pinch-hitting for the Chief Engineer when necessary. It is a position which we were fortunate to have had capably occupied, Hrst by Commander fthen Lieutenant Commanderl Kinert and followed by Lieutenant Commander J. R. Carmichael, jr. Small wir and when the occasion de- Y, mands, acid-tongued, Lieutenant .Commander Carmichael reported aboard with ta back- ground of Naval experience that included K W xf QNA 'FX Slf:'Xx i a harrowing tour of duty as the executive officer on a transport during the African in- vasion. Upon reporting to the Bunker Hill early in her pre-commissioning days, he was appointed B Division Gfiicer. The Engineering Department is divided in- to four divisions, each having cognizance of a separate phase of operation, and all four coordinated by the Chief Engineer to form a smoothly working team. A DIVISION: The A Division . , .-, .,........a,..............--.---.-. .. ,.,,..,-.-........-.-... has charge of main- tenance and opera- tion of all auxiliary machinery excepting those units directly concerned with boil- er or main engine operation. Prior to the com- missioning and until mid-March, 1944, k ' the A Division Of- ficer was Lieutenant James Williams, Jr. An engineer at heart and with machine shop experience, Slim Jim came to us as a survivor of the U.S.S. Laffey, the gallant destroyer which practically single- handedly sank several heavy units of the Iap Fleet before going to the bottom. When moved to the B division office, he was suc- ceeded by Lieutenant L. Sarge VValdo, a University of California product who had gone on duty with the U.S.S. Arkansas in January, 1942. He stayed with the Arlcie for a year, before joining the Bunker Hill's pre-commis- sioning detail in the Hull Department. He transferred to the Engineers in September, 1943, and was first a junior ofiicer in the division he took over from Williams. The A Division junior ofiicers included: Lieutenant Cjgj Stan R. Gabert, a one-time Appleton, Wisconsin, barrister and a plank- owner, and W. A. Sottung, who arrived from Joisey via Penn State and a YMS oper- ating out of New York. Former division j.o's who have been transferred to other duties , . -,. .... ,..-,-.................- .. , .-..-...,.............-Q I ,,:..........-i-,-TM...,...,.,--N,-qw-ww. Y, A f I included Lieutenants R. G. Buchner and H- J. Chedester. More than thirty-five years of Navy Cfillef' ience was embodied in the two station oflicers: Chief Machinist L. M. Carl, a former sub- mariner whose intimate knowledge of aux- iliary machinery was largely responsible for the smooth functioning of the diesels, all' compressors, elevators, and steering eng111CS5 and Chief Machinist H. C. Barr, whose duties have taken him from the sealing islands of Pribilof to recruiting duty in Chillicothe, Missouri, and who was the principal factor in the steady operation of the turbo-gener- ators, refrigerating and air-conditioning equip- ment, supervising and allocating work in the machine and metalsmith shops. Backbone of any division, however, is the men of which it is constituted, and the A division is no exception. With a small nucleus of experienced personnel at the time of commissioning, the new men took hold rapidly. A few of the original trained nucleii about which the division has been built: Chief Machinists Mates A. L. Alford, Charlie Howard, D. Miller, R. K. Nebus, J. M. Zellersg Chief Yeoman H. W. Johnstone, Chief Motor Machinist Mate W. C. Petsch, and G. N. Haga, L. Horvath, L. L. Jones and M. Ingrum, Motor Machinist Mates First Class. A Those men are a cross-section of the divi- sion, and no less measure of praise is due the men whose names do not appear above, Steam is the life blood of a carrier, her striking and defensive force, both propulgive and electrical. The productionof that vital substance is the duty of the B or Boiler division, as is the distillation of sea water to procure the fresh water used in the boilers for Steam production, as well as throughout the ship for drinking, washing and cooking por- poses. l Production of fresh water from sea water 1S an exacting procedure. A few grains of salt per gallon make water unfit for ' the boilers while a few I ' use In I l i . more grains render it unfit to drink. For this reason, a close control is kept on all water distilled and gh, fact that we had no curtailrnent of ingm- consumption due to lou production by we evaporators is a fine urlllltllfnfafy fm done by the evaporator gang. Cruising for extended periods and at Speedswus we did niost ol that first year- requires quantities ol steam. And to prodqgg the steam requires huge quantities of fuel Oil- Control over the millions of gallons of fuel oil carried, and shifting it constantly to maintain the correct lialance of the ship, is the job of the Oil Kings. Upon visiting the firerooms to see how the other half lives, Air or Gunnery De- partment personnel invariably remark that it can't be this hot all the time. Never- theless, it is. Teinpcratures range from 110 F. to 130 F. in the lireroonis as a general rule. Too much credit cannot be given the men who stand their four on and eight off, day in and day out, in those spaces. Ast mentioned earlier, the B division 3:55, ilsfi A M I 5- . ay- ., If . I M I V L J gift-f.if3t fi iii, QQ Y if t i if it i Stl: Q tilt ' 3 i . V officer from before commissioning until mid- December, 1943, was Lieutenant Commander ffl1Cn.Lieutenantl Carmichael, University of VY?-Shlnngffm graduate and now Assistant En- glllCCI'lhg Oliicer. His organizational ability knit together, in large part, the B division- He was succeeded hy Lieutenant Cjgi R- E- Staff, 1943 Naval Academv graduate, who held the post until March, 1944, when 139 transferred to the l-lull Department, sl10WlY thevfeflfter receiving orders for submlrflm training. UPON Lieutenant Staffs departure from W Lieutenant Williams took it over maintained its high level of efiiciency. B Division junior oH'icers were Lieutenant W R. T. Church, fueling officer, and Ensign E. A. Merritt. As in other divisions, the oiiicers were the men directly respon- iihk for the operating maintenance of the machinery. Chief Machinists A. L. Ernest and R. Simmons, together with twenty hard- working boiler repairmen, constantly kept the division's equipment in top shape. ln a division embodying almost two hun- dred men, the spirit and industry of those men is, in the last analysis, the thing that malta the division go. Working, as they do, in the hottest spaces of the ship, it is to their everlasting credit that the will to work and the willingness to cooperate with each other and with other divisions made the B division one of the best. While it is difhcult to single out individuals, the mention of a few names of those who helped make the division an eiiicient operating unit would include: Chief Watertenders A. J. Anderson, W. H. Makin, W. M. Martin, E. D. Nico- laus, G. L. Picard and R. M. Venningg Chief Machinist Mate F. J. Eienesg H. L. Grath- wohl, CB, T. Allen, D. M. Bishop, W. Bryan, D. Girard, I. Monette, W. P. Page, J. E. Puterbaugh, A. R. Restall, R. W. Webb and S. Wenschreider, Watertenders Firstg G. W. Austin and J. C. Entringer, MMlc, and O. Nichols, Blc. Custodian of everything electrical on the ship, from foretruck to keel, stem to fantail, is the Electrical Division, plagued with a maze of installations ranging from the tiny light in the pilot house binnacle to the huge motor-generators. The division's responsi- bilities also extend to upkeep of all electric motors on the ship, from pumps to gun mounts, and maintenance of the interior com- munication network of ship's service and sound-powered telephones, the general an- nouncing system, and the various squawk boxes. Guiding force of the division from early Quincy days was Lieutenant N. Nelson, USN, quiet-voiced, current-wise former War- rant Electrician with a sixteen-year record of duty in the work. A steady, conscientious Workman, an able division officer, Nelson left the ship late in 1944 to put his vast knowl- edge to work at SupShips, Quincy. Only one of the three junior oflicers re- mained of the original team, Ensign C. I. Shaw, USN, former Warrant Electrician and holder of the dubious distinction of having two ships sink under him in three days. He was aboard the ill-fated U. S. S. Langley when the ,laps caught her taking a load of P-40s out to the Philippines and bombed her to the bottom. Picked up by the U. S. S. Whipple, he was transferred to the U. S. S. l l Pecos, which was sunk while trying to get out of the battle area. Rescued again by the Whipple, he returned to the States via Aus- tralia, helped Ht out and commission the U. S. S. Fraser, and shortly thereafter re- ported for duty for commissioning and fitting out of the Bunker Hill. Lieutenant J. E. Alford was an E Divi- sion junior ofiicer from early pre-commissiom ing days but was detached in June, 1944, and the third of Lieutenant Nelson's first assist- ants, Ensign T. A. Sofos, 1944 Naval Academy graduate, went aboard the S. S. MafYland after six months in the division. is FOUR WARRANTS IN DIVISION Four warrant oiiicers were attached to the division: Electricians A. M. Plascjak, who returned States-side for duty, and L. E. Lentz, I-I. A. Manuel and R. C. Pennington, who was ':..'2.'Q-:7 - l- W cggggggfiiffifif Si' Si 45 1 P' A :U 4- ' 1 ,.:.,g.1.g. QL 7- Y 1, g M 4' A, ' iijggfi' -geifl Q ai is A 3 it , . - ' '- gf 159 497 -3' f izi:55Qi ., Mi'4'iA Qui . ig 5 ..ff,f::rgif:,:1 ' 1 ' ' w'g, 't,5' W, ..,,-. -.. .. - - l Q it 5- ,. ,A ' 'M' QQQvl?'w.'iL 1-3 Q , 1 .5 ,if . ,Q -: :iw V' Q A rffsgir I' ,gigE2'?i7ETiE fi-T? ' x '-- D. A i V ,f 444fig:.i4g,1.1,i.gii,i 555' t t if ,, L . .., I ...r...- 1 -. t --ee. -. gr.: ... .TT. ,gl-pgfigy .. . ,Y 5- ?5f'ff5Q.jf:f:if, t , lift detached at the iirst of 1944. Lentz, one-time battleship sailor, took charge of electrical dis- tribution and the auxiliaries and lighting in the machinery spaces, While Manuel majored in supervision of the I. C. circuits. Directly concerned with the maintmtamd the thousands of miles of electrical cable, gg the machinery and appliances nf Tilt zhipwm six Chief Electricians Mates and EM1c's who helped train the newcemuu. They included such Chiefs as C. A. Clark, Lowe, J. H. Brown, W. B. Garlington, L. D. Swinford, il. M. Croker and C. L. Pace, and the EMlc's H. Nise, lil. M. Woodman, C. VV, Wolfe, G. Renken, Finney, A. M. Adams, and A. P. Moylan. Moylan's caliber work won him promotion to Warrant Electrician and a transfer. JE- ALERT AND CONSCIENTIOUS Lieutenant M. C. Jorgenson, USN, Wim fifteen years of naval experience behind him, headed the unit the first year, with die exception of the shakedown era when Lim- tenant J. H. Millington, USN, ran the divi- sion. Jorgenson's j.o. was Lieutenant fjgl H. G. Dutch Phelps, Brown University graduate, who had been attached to Bethle- hem Steel Company at Quincy before moving aboard. Originally, two station officers also were on the roster, Chief Machinist L. M. Estridge, and Machinist R. A. Brumlow, both USN. Brumlow was transferred in March, 1944, however, and the combined duties fell to Estridge. Estridge joined Jorgensen and Phelps in forming an ideal combination fer engineering eliiciency. Alert, conscientious men of the M Divi- sion on many occasions prevented major cw- ualties to the ship's power plant by their tlwf- ough familiarity with the division's machlmfl' and to the men who helped train them MW go credit. A few of those who gave freely' ef their knowledge and experience include Machinist Mates F. Crane, W. E. Brennlfif Stuhli S. Wnorowski and P. M. Sdtw, S. Horak, I. L. Bocox, Gray, S. we Ostrowski, K.. F. Madsen, Gabarra, C. 0 and S' Baifczie, First Class Machinist E GUN ERY ,K ,::--...-- ,t , hm ,,,. y ,,k,,m,t,,,,,,,,,,-,A , H -we s. dx dv 'M ----...,,, X A JN L xx Clime and again the gunners proved the knew their jobs well The long line, two abreast, halted. Several hundred strong and clad in undress blues, the string of young manhood stretched out from the very tip of the huge South Boston Drydock to the portside brow of a new carrier whiclz lay moored to the sides of the freshbf flooded dock. Her steel was a new and resplendent gray, her lines were sharp, interrupted evidences Q' power and kinetic energy. 1 W . ,W . . Y , -:....,....-v. ... .-.ww hen came a word from the quarter- deck : Bring them over the port brow. The line moved, single file this times and the Gunnery Department per- sonnel, having left their Fargo barracks be- hind, climbed aboard their new home-which for many was their lirst sea-going home. They came aboard, seven deck divisions or- ganized, including a Marine Detachment, and began the long, strenuous process of learning and practicing. Ahead of them lay a task that few of them could visualize, defending the ship against intruders that would find their way through a Hghter plane cordon . . . real enemy planes that would be shoot- ing at you and dropping bombs down a line of sight that always pointed at your right eye. They were undertaking a job that would re- quire twenty four hour vigilance, in addition to an expert knowledge of the variety of weapons provided in the ship's armament. Now these same men who a year ago were little more than boots are tried and experi- mm- W.-.-.. -.--an-f -F s...-,M ..,, -me Ja- 1-f.,a-,.,..fs.fg,m.,-ws-.. w.1,..f,...-.-...fav--..a S..-n,1......-...-....m. -,m.,.,,,.,,.,..,.,,, enced gunners. While they trained-there were tow planes and lifeless sleeves-it was beyond their scope of imagination to visualize what was in store for them. Track that imag- inary target . . . keep your sight steady . . . watch that low Hying torpedo plane . . . there come the dive bombers out of the sun-there! right there! now simulate reload . . . ah, hell . . . it goes on day afterday. Then one day of-F Hawaii they got their lirst taste of what real smoke from a burning plane smelled like. Subsequently, a memor- able November 11 came, and the heat of a South Pacific sun became more intensified. But some Vals came down burning, as did several Ka-tes and Zekes. From there the story is best measured by events, for weeks and months are hard to keep separated. A night oli' Tarawa, when between the ship and the sun sixteen tiny specks appeared, low on the water. These specks grew fantastically fast, and in a matter of seconds guns were blazing and the air was heavy with the smell , le l l i 'K xi. I 51 I l e I 2,1 il : I Q Y 5.4 .5 l 51 . F4 5. ali We f i, , ill l f I l, ill , . FE 1 is , all I lf! . R51 H xl 'w kr f lllggli 'alll .,,w, ,'. 5. 1 nu, iii- 7 if ll- - ui' r l. .1332 .--'::- 1 ,ff .mfr .gi 3 'Q li l l I l it i f 5 .l z ra' Ui il 23 lx' i ll l L 5 of cordite and hot brass. Five Betties had caught their last glimpses of a setting sun and were lost in an inferno of smoke and Hame sent up by our guns. The ship's war diary would show you accounts of many other sum- mons to- battle stations, of otheractions, and of countless hours spent by these men at their guns . . . waiting, when the enemy didn't come, and when he did come. The gunners have done their job well. Boss of the Gunnery Department was Com- mander James C. Shaw, class of '36, USNA, Whose experiences in war and peace constitute an odyssey within themselves. He succeeded Commander W.R.D. Nickelson, USN, last spring, both of these officers had gone through the epic battles of the U.S.S. Atlanta together, from her commissioning to her death oH Savo Island in November, 1942. Commander Nick- elson deserves a round of lasting applause for his job in organizing the Gunnery Depart- 'DFI ment. All during the pre-commissioning days, he, assisted by Commander Shaw, spent hours of unrecorded worry and planning, theirs was the task of shaping a new sea giantess for the fights that lay ahead. Commander Nickelson left the ship to become executive ofiicer of a new cruiser. Prior to his wartime duties, the present Gun Boss spent a tour of duty in the Asiatic destroyer fleet, where he came to know Hrst hand the temperament and methods of his present enemy. Manila, Mindanao, Shanghai, I-10ng-K0ng, and even Yokahoma were a few of the Far Eastern points he became familiar with. During a stay in Manila he was con- fronted with his first spur-of-the-moment com- mand, when he took a destroyer to sea for four days during a typhoon. COITlmander Shaw, who is a native of the Great Middle West CMinnesotaD, is both a capable leader and an efficient administrator. A tireless worker, he has always been aware of the .gf-1 ,JV ,fd J' -cur' I .. wr' rw' fl, 'ZH' Jgqfbi' , constantly changing needs of his departmentg he is a combination of an ideal student and a searching professor. Assistant to the Gunnery Officer was able Lieutenant Philip H. Bradley of South Orange, New Jersey, who came up from the First Division oHicer's post to take over the duties left vacant due to Lieutenant W. H. Mack's transfer. Lieutenant Bradley was a veteran of the Atlantic Fleet, having served aboard the U.S.S. Massachusetts before coming to the Bunker Hill. During his tour on the North Atlantic, the Massachusetts spearheaded the battleship attack on French Fleet units dur- lng the Hrst days of American landings on the North African coasts. Prior to 1942, he served with the Navy Department in Wash- lngffm, H job most Naval ofiicers only dream about. As control oHicer manning the fOr- ward director, Lieutenant Bradley chalked UP an enviable record, chief incident of which occurred off Bougainville when he brought down two dive bombers with one five-infill nlvo. Like the Gunnery Ofiicer, he came to the Bunker Hill early in 1943, and before the ship was commissioned he served as ofiicer- in-charge of the Gunnery Department for the Bunker Hill detail stationed in Fargo Barracks. These two oflicers were charged with the job of keeping in a lighting, trim unit the scores of gun mounts and batteries carried by the Bunker Hill. Their assistants were the division officers and junior division ofiicers of each of the seven major departmental units. THE ' DIVISION ORGANIZATION Lieutenant William Linenberg, formerly the Second Division officer, was leader of the keepers , of the forecastlej' the mighty ninety-man First Division. His team of huskiesf manned the forward five-inch gun mounts, took care of the ship's ground tackle, and handled a share of the mooring lines. Pre-war days found Lieutenant Linenberg making convoy trips down Pennsylvania Ave- nue in Washington, Where 'he was assigned for dutyg but early in 1942 he put to sea on the U.S.S. South Dakota, which was later to earn the title of the Mighty X, and blast her way to fame and glory in night actions off Guadalcanal, at Santa Cruz, and in several other engagements of lesser importance. Bill still occasionally harkens back to the night surface engagement, which he considers more of a nightmare than finding Mayor Hague on Rittenhouse Square, which happens to be in his home town-Philadelphia. Assisting Lieutenant Linenberg in division- al duties were Lieutenants B.pH. Ridder and Paul R. Levine and Ensign James Holbrook, USN, who, as their junior, claims a lion's share of the work. If you ask any one of them how many enemy aircraft the First Division has accounted for, the answer would probably be: How many planes have come after us in the past year? Stanley Capp, CTC and a salt from the word go, keeps 'em firing down on the mountsg and S. F. Scruggs, BM1c and line heaver par excellence, was the leading deck petty oliicer. They supervised a division which--as a Sec- ond Division man said one day-is first in more than one thing, especially the chow line. The lighting characteristics of the Second Division's senior ofiicer date back to his childhood in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he held a hometown record for knocking out street lamps. Lieutenant K. C. Casey Somers Cno relation to the at-the-bat poetized heroj is the man to whom we refer, and his after five-inch mounts claim one plane less than Tojo had when the war broke out. In spite of their burly enthusiasm, however, the Second Division personnel was a colorful unit. Their color dates back to a boatswain's mate by the name of D. L. Henderson, who was a Hrm believer that the four-stack destroyer could be and would be America's secret e.. ,.,.........,a .........,. va., .nm .,1,u..,. .......-..-...---.1 . ' in 'Tl'I '--l '- - --e-v:q,,.-:.- ,ff weapon. Henderson's school of thought car- ried over into more recent petty ofiicer ad- ministrations, and even today you're likely to hear about the ship such Hendersonia as: airplanes and ships ain't got no business lighting each other. Under Lieutenant Somers' leadership the Second carried on high standards of gunnery and seamanship. Their portside collateral duties included taking care of a boat boom and a gangwayg and they divided equally the live-inch gun mounts with the First Division. 1 ,,5,l,, 1 , .ji iijf' W .I. p i if -'-zt- i 5 'if i Pi 51 i If H ii ii ' iw: lil J gf:g'3 iiig N i .iiitiii iii, Fiiiii iv fi llfl i lg I l ji' WP 'iii ir, sl g iiiivl Qiiiz' 5 TH! , it H, ,,. i. wi is if iiiii iii 'iii Ebiiiff lifj '1. iifil illgi 1 Hi i l L il li it : .gi :til ' iii: if lg., , .4 iii i. .,, i,.,,, ii- i ,ii iligiiii ijllliili 4 . . 1 ' l lztl 1 :ii ig fi Partners-in-leadership for the division were Lieutenant Dennis A. Wagner, USN, fCOf1tI'0l aft efiicerj, Ensigns W. J. MacGowen, USN , and J. N. Clark. Willie Frank, BM1c, was the leading petty ofhcer for the deck hands, while D. R. Glover, CGM, wielded the divi- sion's big guns. When it came to forty millimeter guns, rugged individualism and ready-service liberty parties, Lieutenant Joseph H. Cahill and his Third Division won hands down. It was the Gunnery Department's largest division. Sev- eral of the Third's more rugged individuals took up weight lifting for a time Cthey were students at the Case Gymnasium in the Sec- ond Division's spacesj, but they were forced to give it up after Lieutenant Willard Healy went on a health campaign and pilferred their ..................,.,,,. -T..-Z.. , ,M,,,,,.M...-...- f H.-4 NL' W' -H'-Lf'-Si -fi'fL-2'--vi-'-----:iv-J.--.f --............----- ' -111 -.-i. 'f-i- i , ' ' xt, . , -1---------g L ki , ,,'., '!V 6 fl- '-F if :Z-,p-v:-2-'ll ' 'ei' 'M - - . 4 lx Xxx-Qllit-qi'-lips-:gg , 5' X -, is WXNVT-NIR A X X-s Ni- Nts . XXX -...Nm 5+-.,,k'w.e?,,oN'-1 -,,K . lik xx, Nsslf-ssl?-QQ-. weights. But they're Hghting men, and more than once their guns sent the Jap down in flames. Division Officer Cahill came to the Bunker Hill from the U.S.S. New York, a ship named after his home state some few years before his Naval career began. He served with the Atlantic Fleet for eighteen months before Coming to his present assignment, and during that time. he spent interesting cruises which ranged from North River's immortal Pier 51 to Scotland's Albert Harbor an Grande Jetee. Lieutenant Cahill's divisional assistants were Lieutenant Healy, Lieutenant Cjgb Ever- ett F ettis and Ensign John Hayes. Lieutenant d Casablanca's figi K. D. Higgins left the division this sum. mer. Key man on the guns was Pi. Clyde, CGMg and ruler of the fantail was D. W, Kauffman, Bhllc, whose sea details included rigging in and out the starboard gangway and tending the stern mooring wire. The next division, referred to in its own circles as the lfighting l ourth, is living proof that sidecleaners are made and not born. A casual observer might easily be led to believe that the entire division was orig- inally recruited from the trapeze tent of Barnum and Baileys-'ethey dangle from stages .............,,.....,...,.. ....,.c.. M-.- . , K. . . . . . .. .L .... .........W.,,..c-.... -W...-.......,,..........---. ,,w.e,,,,. ,,,, .A ,,,,-e. .........-,......-.-m.-....w,.. M . L...-,-..., . .L ...-... ig ii. , .,.. it,sim--e--f1i i'.fq ...... 33-A3737'W ' W ii. i Qi i e'e'r 'r'ft::T? '- ............,. L:::gig , ,ji f - .t v KL Q, , Q ,Nh My -- E M JM 'Q A 1 I -----li-df , it ge- i 2 37.2 ', Vu. 5 .. . I ,- U ..w...,e,fQE'-in in ' i V V Q .H J ' 0 wa wb and lines as they move up and down the ship's side, giving her a cleaning and paint- touching-up each time operations permit. For battle stations, these men man the after twenty millimeter batteriesg the hail of tire they are capable of putting up has frequently discouraged and sometimes stopped the heart- ICSE of Nippon bombers, ,Heading the Fourth Division officers WSIS Llsufenam John J. Hasiiurgh, of Kansas city, Missouri, who came to the Bunker Hill early U? 1943, following almost two years of exten- sive Operations in the Pacific on board the U.S.S. Minneapolis. VVhile serving aboard the latter, he became a veteran of virtually everl' engagement that the fieet had during the first Year of the war. Originally Lieuten- ant Hasbufgh, was Fifth Division ofiicerg 110 imc fo the Fourth after the transfer Qf 'eutemmt hd Epstein, who left the ship E0 rug -rv-,vm E e 9 ii ,. ,. Q. a 5 fi if ci i Q 9. A fl S .enter Hight training in the summer of '43. Ensigns K. K. Hall and W. J. Nolan made up the supporting cast on the division oHicer's roster. Two Lieutenants, E. F. Brissie and K. C. Somers, who were Fourth Divisioners at the outset stepped up as Sixth and Second Division oliicers, respectively. Leading petty officer for the division was Ernie Laurent, BM1c, while P. McFarlane, GM2c, took care of the guns. . if N 'iff ,M THE FIFTH DIVISION LOOKGUTS Although its division ofiicer-Lieutenant Robert E. Thum-comes from the land of yawning canyons and singing cowboys, the Fifth Division doesn't particularly remind one of the West. Seeing the lookout experts lined up at quarters for muster is more likely to remind you of an Armistice Day parade in Brooklyn or an election day on Journal square in Jersey City. By and large they are Easterners-New York, New Jersey, New England, with a sprinkling of Pennsylvanians, Ohioans, Chicagoans and a few Southerners. They looked after the ship's boats, tended liferafts and helped rig transfer lines, but their main job was that of serving as sky and surface lookouts, As lookouts, they drew frequent praise for their excellence in air- craft recognition, taught by Lieutenant Cjgj Charles Simmer. The Division leader, Lieutenant Thum, was a veteran of 1942's Pacific battles, in which he participated while on board the original U.S.S. Hornet, and told occasional stories of Midway and Santa Cruz, the latter of which spelled the Hornet's death. During the period between duty on the Hornet and the Bunker Hill, Lieutenant Thum served on Admiral Halsey's staff at the famous commander's South Pacific headquarters. He hails from Rock Springs, Missouri. The division's two junior ofiicers were Lieu- tenant Cjgj Charles Simmer and Ensign C. C. Crandall. H. P. Vaughan, BMlc, was the division's leading petty officer. Fire Controlmen, the Gunner's Mates and Torpedomen comprised the Sixth Division personnel, not to mention a couple of Gun- nery Oflicer yeomen. It was their job to take care of and operate all the ship's fire control equipment, to maintain and take care of tor- pedoes, and to keep under strict surveillance the ship's magazines, which, for a fact, do not include Saturday Evening Post. When you brought these three units together, you had duties strung out from bow to stern, port to starboard, double bottoms to masttop. When you got the personnel of these units strung out, you were likely to have riots, tornadoes, horse races, rummage sales and some work done, too. Normal complement of the divi- sion was seventy-five men, most of whom were rated. Lieutenant Eugene Field Brissie, one of the first water-bound poets since John Masefield, who went down to the sea in ships, headed f ga . V 1 if -,V . xi. , V . , 1 Y' ' 1:-T if ' .-2 r f. ' . ' 2:33 f - .ef ..f .1 ' ,mf L 1 -3,131+-a, .-if . ff xy. ...-s,,...... . .I -we.. the list of Sixth Division officers. Coming to the Bunker Hill from the U.S.S. Arkan- sas-a ship whose fame flared up after he left, Lieutenant Brissie had behind him over a year of North Atlantic duty, including stays in the United Kingdom and Africa. He suc- ceeded Lieutenant W. H. Mack, USN, as division officer, Lieutenant Mack left the ship in 1944's mid-summer for further assignment. Also leading the Sixth Division were Lieu- tenants James Burgess, and Harry Hamm, Lieutenants Cjgjr A. M. Spore Qtorpedo ollicerj, and Charles G. Rodman, Ensigns A. L. Hage, and YV. L. Clary, Chief Gunner R. L. Odell, Torpedoman J. F. Ditzek, and Gunner Michael Dorn. Leading the petty 0f'f1CC1'S were Chief Fire Controlmen Al Boyce and Purcell Claunch, Chief Gunner's Mate L. O. Boles and Chief Torpedoman's Mate A. Dickens. Better known as the Marine Detachment, the Seventh Division was a forest-green ag- gregation of seventy-five men and three of- ficers, most of whom have frequently been accused of being refugees from Guadacanal, Tarawa, Guam, and, more recently Philippine foxholes. In spite of the fact that every sailor on the ship at one time or another characterizes them as the men with size sev- enteen collars and size four hats, the sea- going lads from the Halls of Montezuma gave a vigorous account of themselves, whether it was in hangar deck athletics or loading am- munition at some odd God-forsaken coral atoll. As the twenty millimeter gunners on the forward batteries, they formed a rather valuable part of the ship's defense plan. CaptainpRobert E. Brown, USMC, a grad- uate of Syracuse and adequately innoculated with the leatherneck potion, commanded the Marine Detachment aboard the Bunker Hill, succeeding Major W. S. CBattle Billj Mc- Laughlin early in 1944. Captain Brown first Went to sea in 1942, joining the U.S.S. Hornet which had already taken up a Pacihc Fleet mailing address, and he remained with her through her gallant, mortal stand at Santa Cruz Islands in October of that year. The Bunker Hill's Marine Detachment was first formed in March, 1943, at Portsmouth Virginia. Personnel was transferred to the Fargo Barracks, Boston, in April, where they remained until the ship went into commis- sion. Major McLaughlin, commandant at the time, was assisted by First Lieutenant Brown Qwho later became commandantj and First Lieutenant Gordon Stallings. Second Lieutenant Harry F eehan came aboard in jan- uary as the Major departed, and Second Lieutenant Frank Ponick was ordered to the ship in mid-summer, to fill the vacancy left by Lieutenant Stallings' death. Lieutenant 3 Stallings was killed in action in the air battle off Guam last june. Heading the list of non-commissioned offi- cers were hard-working Spencer P. judkins, first sergeant, D. DOHUCHY, .Irv SUUHCFY sergeant, Walter R. Hart, Jr., and Joe M. Stratton, platoon sergeants. Transferred earlier in the year were Francis J. Quinn, first sergeant, Jere L. Atchison, first sergeant, Mays Cox and Charles Hlinka, platoon ser- geants. .gr 95 THIS IS HGW IT LOOKED You're sitting there taking it easy and half- waiting, for you hear they may be out to get you today. The thing that impresses you most is the apparent impossibility of it all- the purest blue sky you ever saw, the Warm- est sun, the whitest clouds, and silence-the fiight has taken off and now rendezvous on the horizon to the West . . . and you're lazy enough not to think, but just to permit your stream of consciousness to course slowly , -iz 9094 tiff and freely over easy thoughts . . . Languor- ous air, you would call it . . . About all you know of the present are the voices over the flight deck-they're thin and far away, and the indigo waters just roll back ln a bitter-sweet monotony . . . Nothing can happen here . . . not this time . . . And YOU look at the sky again and squint, and you feel an insatiable desire to fall lazily into another world---something like an ice show you saw at the Centre Theatre two years ago, or an afternoon at the Strato- sphere in the Spring . . . Everything is far away . . . The lirst word that they're actually on their way strikes you as being out-of-kilter- probably a mistake somewhere. You've never seen Zekes and Vals and Kates before, though on several occasions you've waited for them. Now you hear that they're coming . . . you're at first tensed up, and then rather glad . . . The Murder-Murder! sound of torpedo defense on the bugle breaks you com- pletely out of your lethargy . . . You rush head-long for your battle station . . . The air has turned hotter . . . and you see the men hurrying to put on their helmets, you hear the purring of power-dives, and you watch the five-inchers point their muzzles higher and higher into the air . . . There's nothing there-there couldn't be, you can't see a thing but the same blue sky and lazy clouds . . . The not-seeing is a terrible moment of activity for though you read of this and that in time of action, you can't seem to get it through your head that they'll be there, that you'll see airplanes diving for split minutes, then gone-or burning in the water, all that belongs to another world, not this thought . . . Now you hear that they're only fifteen miles away, doing 200 knots and flying at 18,000 feet-who knows this? who said so? it's still probably a mistake . . . Buzzing in your ears are words, hot words, words that don't make sense because they're giving out directions and ranges and bear- ings . . . You think everything is God- awfully confused-it's just your mind, you tell yourself . . . The telephone circuit stops its ceaseless buzzing for a moment . . . Then one phrase comes in clear, unbelievably clear . . . There they are-high, three o'clock to the sun! Dive bombers . . . And there they are, thirty-three of them standing out as tiny black specks against that same blue sky, their sleek backs glistening in the sun- light when they dip wings to force a closer formation. One huge V of V's. But they're not all alone, you hear a word that the fighters are tangling with another formation out on the beam, out of the corner of your eye you see three spirals of smoke trailing toward the water out on the horizon . . . but you're fascinated by these specks- they're growing and you can see them more clearly now . . . going for the sun . . . A thunderous noise from behind, and you jump as the five-inch shells start singing out over your head, black puffs appear in the midst of the tiny specks, but you don't know what happened up there . . . Now they're pointed toward you, diving before they reach the sun . . . first one, then another, the tail- chasing madmen have begun. . . . The hard- est thing for you to do is to get it through your head that they're trying to kill you, sink your ship, burn you alive . . . -It's hell and smoke and noise now, and your guns are roaring in staccato barks be- tween the deep-chested fivers and the rattling din of smaller stuff . . . VVaves of red tracers, interrupted by puffs of black bursts, rise in the face of the hell-bent attackers . . . A splash beside your gun mount-in the water so close you could have touched it, and you didn't see it . . . The Fools! Number two rolls over on his back smoking, and a puff of white unfolds in space-a parachute starts down--Still they're coming . . . Still your guns are roaring--perhaps even you are yell- ing at the diabolic machines that cut madly through space, heedless of the fire and brim- stone . . . just fools, damn' fools . . . The last one is pulling out high, streaking for cloud cover far astern . . . Everything gets incredibly quiet in almost as short a time as it took to get noisy . . . You're still strain- ing your eyes toward the sun, now somewhat dimmed by the umbrella of black smoke that has taken shape over the surface force . . . For the first time you notice that you're jerky and nervous, your strength has been spent and you'er exhausted . . . 215 ,. M -.sw 1 ' , HLL . wifi Uwffrtif Nm i 'A M i..y A wide range o f duties was theirs to perform From water-tight integriqy to disposal of traslz, the H ull Deparfment lzaa' to maintain constant vigil to assure the security of the ship. he Hull Department of a ship-form- e erly the Construction and Repair De- , partment-now comes under the cog- . nizance of the Bureau of Ships and, as in the specific case of the U. S. S. Bunker Hill, was responsible for a tremendous amount of the ship's ei-Hcient operation. Most any hour of the day or night you could hear the Word passed for the First Lieutenant or some one of his assistants to dial a given number, report to a given space, or to receive divisional reports of one kind or another. By having the name hull attached to it in the U.S.S. Bunker Hill this department would have quite a job if it had nothing more to do than to keep up with its namesake. The hull is actually one part only, and such un-thought-of workhorses as the Fresh Water King, repair parties, underway boatswain's mates of the Watch and Damage Control con- stituents also came under the Hull Depart- ment's watchful eye. The cleanliness of the ship, disposal of trash and garbage were J nl ' further problem children of the First Lieu- tenant's oHice. When general quarters has been soundgds until there is actually some damage to conud or some part of the ship to repair the PW' sonnel of the Hull Department-convuy the other departments--has a nice quiet P59 . . . if you can consider sitting waiting for hits and near misses a quiet rest, As defined by the Chief of Naval Operations, Damage Control consists of fin partjz . . . the methods necessary to preserve watertight integrity, stability, and maneuverabilityg to control list and trim, to effect rapid repairs to materialg to provide adequate protection from fire and chemical agents, and to facilitate care of wounded personnel . . . Though it seems that these duties should be enough to keep the department busy, there are still more: the First Lieutenant is messing officer and is directly charged with the responsi- bility of feeding the men at battle stations during long periods at Condition One. SHIP'S TROUBLE-SHOOTERS The Hull Department seems to be the cen- tral nervous system for all ship's head- aches. Repairs do not always wait for con- venient times, so it isn't unusual for the carpenters, shipfitters and their aides to be up all hours of the night making good some damaged unit in order that the break of dawn may find the ship in one hundred percent fighting condition again. The senior officer of the Hull Department in the Bunker Hill was Lieutenant Com- mander S. H. King, officially known as the First Lieutenant and the Damage Control Officer-as well as the Chemical Warfare Officer. His assistants include the Assistant First Lieutenant, Materiel Officer, Fire Mar- shal, Ship's Bosun, Ship's Carpenter and other junior officers. Aboard ship the department was divided into three divisions QR-1, R-2, R-31, the first including the shipfitters, car- penters, painters, and personnel of the sail and bosun's lockers. The second included the ship's service personnel, and the third was made up of mess cooks and the masters-at- arms. Lieutenant Commander King, not unlike many other Naval ofhcers, grew up in an atmosphere far from the sea, he spent the first twelve years of his life in Omaha, Nebras- ka, before moving to Maryville, Missouri. Though he was barely sixteen when America got into the late World War, he enlisted in the Navy, the Armistice was signed before he went to sea, however. Later he entered the Naval Academy, where he distinguished him- self as an end on the football team and a member of the rowing crew. While still an ensign he resigned his commission and re- turned to civilian life, where he remained until December 1, 1941, when he returned to the Navy and was assigned as Naval R.O.T.C. instructor at the University of Pennsylvania. He reported to the Bunker Hill in March, 1943, as assistant to Commander C. A. Fer- riter, who was then First Lieutenant. Commander Ferriter, a veteran of sub- marines and commanding officer of a mine- sweeper assigned to the Asiatic Fleet during the early days of the war, was one of the first officers to come to the Bunker Hill. He will be remembered for his keen sense of humor and his all-round excellence as a leader. While in the Asiatic he was awarded the Navy Cross for his work in rescuing the destroyer l -an-1- Perry from a burning drydock the day the Japs first bombed Cavite Navy Yard. Assisting Commander King was Lieutenant R. S. Finkbine, who came to the Bunker Hill from Columbus, Ohio where he did a tour of duty in Naval Officer Procurement. A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Lieutenant Finkbine served in the first World War, as a seaman second at the outset and later as a com- missioned officer. Lieutenant Commander E. Rodee was as- sistant to the First Lieutenant prior to his S5 in transfer in late July, 1944, to a sister ship of the U.S.S. Bunker Hill. He had served on the ship from the very start, having been hull inspector assigned to the Bethlehem Steel Company's Fore River Yard prior to g01nS to sea. . Before, during, and after commissioning Lieutenant Mario C. Galassi, of Boston, served as R-1 division officer. In May of 1944 he was ordered back to the States to duty aboard another carrier, and he was succeeded by Lieutenant R. L. Boswell, who at the time was Assistant Materiel Gfficer and Records Oliicer. A native of New Orleans, Lieutenant Boswell attended Tulane University and was a member of the R.O.T.C. unit there. Later, however, he graduated from V-7 school and served sixteen months aboard the N avyls first converted carrier, the U.S.S. Long Island, then commanded by Captain J. Ballentine. Bos- well was the first R-2 division ofiicer aboard this ship, being relieved of that post by Lieu- tenant I. H. Millington who was also Ship's Service Officer. Millington later was relieved by Lieutenant George Weber, who was in turn relieved by Lieutenant R. S. F inkbine. The efficient operation of the Ship's Service Activities was due in no small way to such men in charge of various posts as John Zarr, SSB1c of the barber shop, Roland Grady, SSC3c, M. N. Foley, S1c in the geedunk stand, Ernest Tarullo, SST3c, head tailor before his transfer in October, 1944, and Dickey, Har- grove and Price SSL3c's in the laundry. Included in the R-3 Division were the Ship's Masters-at-Arms and the Mess Cooks. Al- though the Ship's MA's were tallied in the R-3 division for administrative purposes, they functioned under the Executive Officer. The division functioned under the leadership of such Chiefs as R. H. Buchner, CWTg F. P. Wheeler, CBM, and D. A. Ruby, CBM. Lieutenant Bodell, Jr., a native of Providence, Rhode Island, and Wasp Sur- vivor, was the R-3 division oHicer. The Ship's Fire Marshal and R-1 junior officer was Lieutenant R. C. Santee, blonde Californian who reported to the ship from the old U.S.S. Nevada. Constant training of all hands in fire prevention and ways to fight blazes, as well as the upkeep of the vast array of fire fighting equipment aboard, was his responsibility, shared by C. A. Diehl, CM1c and L. Schott, SF2c. December 7, 1941, is a date of two-fold im- portance in the life of the Bunker Hill's Chief Boatswain J. M. Curley, for it was on that day twenty-one years before that he began his Naval career, a nineteen-year-old boot. Born and reared in the shadow of the famed battle site for which the ship was named, Curley enlisted at Newport, Rhode Island, and went to the U.S.S. Maryland. Stationed aboard that ship for eighteen years, Curley was the spark of her famed football team and was acknowledged All-Fleet end for his play. He was transferred to the U.S.S. Nitro and later to Brooklyn Navy Yard before report- ing aboard ship in the pre-commissioning period. His aides were Bos'n Phaneuf, and J. O. Messick, Chief Boatswain's Mate who succeeded C. B. Stevens, CBM who reported aboard as BM1c and left as Warrant Bos'n. Efficiency of the shops was due largly to their direction by Chief Carpenter M. Begel- man, a quarter-century veteran of duty on all types of the United States' warships. Car- penter R. F. Chambers was his assistant. The Hull Department's shops, many times on a twenty-four hour schedule in order to meet the demands of the entire ship, were manned by highly competent crews, for which credit was due such men as E. H. Randall, A. R. Rangus, G. R. Hewson and H. A. Whipple, Chief Shipfitters, and P. F. Smith and H. G. Staege, SF1c in the shipfitter's shop? N. A. Morris, CSF, A. F.. Tucholke, SFIC, A. E. Zimmerman, and L. G. Schindler, SFZC, in the Plumbing Shop, C. A. Diehl, CM1c, and L. S. Schott, SF2c in the CO-2 Transfer Shop? R- S. Ayala, CMM, H. G. Rudisaii, and P. A. LQTYO, CM1c's in the Carpenters' Shop and Fllght Deck Repair, D. A. Ruby, Sail Locker CBM before becoming Chief Master-at-Arms, and F. Petrucelli, CM3c, and R. Leblanc, Ptr3c, in the Paint Locker. .4 L.. fi. -3' 'qty qfslmzyeaeeezaeev 4 5. 'i a :IJ , -JS-M, Atl-6A,A!x..K5-A,,4,q,,,,a15., A . ,,m-A..-.....-V -iw . . . , 't MEDICAL it 'T ' , ,.,, for ,ljjt g t-41, e-W-Q.-1-ef 'l l .. it . ,. , I rj., ,i 1 a , 1 f 1 ,,1. 1, ll, ., X, Std Y' x N X ln the background, to keep the ships men in fighting trim Ejjfeient, -well-equipped and ready for emergency or routine duties, the Medical Department gave all hands the assurance Qf health. ' A' ' W'-' -' 1-:-- f ' -?7--f- - v--ness.-f -1e- -ef-uq.1..-we-e-13-.ann-F-1-..-,.g. f...a..a- mas. -.1 t goes without saying that a ship is better off when business at Sick Bay is dull. Yet it takes an efiicient Sick Bay to keep its business dull, or, in effect, to keep in number one Hghting condition the crew of a warship. Health, ranging from care of superficial wounds to complex surgery, is un- doubtedly the primary weapon a military force must utilize, it is so primary that the average fighting man takes it for granted, and usually it's not until he suffers from a serious wound or a sudden illness that he realizes the invaluable role played by medicine in wa-,r. Aboard the Bunker Hill the Medical De- partment's job doesn't begin and end in the confines of spaces designated as Sick Bay. Its work entails the inspection of all living spaces for cleanliness and comfort, the doctor's approval on food served at every meal, and fyou probably won't believe thislj such un- thought-of jobs as encouraging below decks personnel to sunbathe or come out and take part in routine athletics. Every time an air- plane takes off or lands, there's a doctor and mn.:-.f.:.c.::mr-.m4c.-.r , 1-...L 1-ag:'--1-4'--f-e-afar, , ,f, -Q, aides standing by to take care of any possible accidentsg and in time of battle, there are Medical Department men scattered over every part of the ship where personnel are stationed. ,A - Y- ,, ,,.,.- , .s,..,.. .., V I Id,- , re 1- 317-1.-1' - , ,e .V V X I xx X li 1, 11,1 Hg ,MU . , I -, A v l fs. . it l l -V p ,yg slimy, A5 tfiiiwam p - --MIX i in 1, uf I in Y A ' ' XL ,W , ,,,, , i ,f il r N The scope of Medical Department work runs from Commanding Oflicer to lowliest appren- tice seamang its practice reaches every one of a crew of nearly 3,000, if in no more than routine semi-annual check-ups. When the first watch was set on board the Bunker Hill, May 25, 1943, the Medical De- partment was ready for business. The dressing room, operating room, dispensary, clerical ofhce, dental office and laboratory and the it t is S examining room were fully manned and ready for use. It might even be said that these people were actually anxious to try out some of their new equipment, which was as modern as any ever installed on a warship. But the health of the ship was relatively gOOCl f1'01T1 the start, for Bunker Hill medical personnel had supervised the ship's crew for several months before the commissioning ceremonies took place. During the period of pre-commissioning, Medical Department personnel were stationed at the Receiving Station, Fargo Building, Boston, Massachusetts, and at the Braintree Barracks, adjacent to Bethlehem Steel Com- pany's shipyard, to look after the health of the ship's company quartered at these two places. In Boston, where 1,000 of our men were stationed, the medical detail was headed by Lieutenant Commander M. E. Conti, CMCD, USN, and genial Lieutenant Sam Zurik. In addition to regular medical duties, the doctors spent morning and afternoon periods giving first aid and general health care lectures to members of the crew. Tak- ing care of the dental work at Fargo were Lieutenant Commander A. M. Rochester, QDCQ, USNR, and Lieutenant F.. C. Lytle, QDCJ, USN. At the Braintree Barracks the Medical Oliicer himself, CommanderfW. Dana, QMCD, USN, had general supervision, assisted by Lieutenant T. W. Steege, CMCD, USN. Pre-commissioning months served as a train- ing period for hospital corps personnel. Along with their regular studies, entailing lectures by the medical staff, eleven of the lower rat- ings were temporarily assigned duty at the U. S. Naval Hospital, Chelsea, Massachusetts where they underwent further instruction and familiarization with operating room, labora- tory and X-ray technique, and ward manage- ment. Shakedown cruise proved an eventful trip for the Medical Department: Commander Dana was promoted to Captain, and trans- ferred to the Sanford, Florida, Naval Air Station. He was relieved by Commander W. S. Rizk, CMCD, USN, whose stay was Cut 3 short due to a serious illnessg Commanm- Rizk was transferred to the U. S. Navgj Hospital, Trinidad, H-WJ-s havlflg been re- lieved temporarily by Lieutenant Commander A. P. Rhamy, QMCJ, USNR, senior flight surgeon aboard at the time. The ship rg. turned from shakedown, and in early August Commander O. VV. Chenault, CMCJ, USN, 9, veteran of the China Station, reported aboard as Senior Medical Ofiicer. Commander Chenault brought about new changes in his departmental setup, adding new dressing stations to his battle bill and, in general, polishing a department that was already well organized. His staff increased and changes were made: Lieutenant Com- mander Shortridge, CDCJ, U SN, replaced Lieu- tenant Commander Rochester, Lieutenant R. C. Bew QMCJ, USNR, replaced Lieuten- ant Commander Conti as ship's surgeon. Simultaneously two leading pharmacists mates, T. D. Merchant and D. T. Sims, were ordered to shore billets. The ship reached the war zone in Autumn, and it wasn't long until the Medical Depart- ment had had several opportunities to prove its mettle. Wounds usually came in small numbers, but on one occasion, during an enemy attack on the ship, a total of eighty- four wounded men were treated as a result of a near bomb miss. PM its . 1 ,f I ,J '- ' ., Other. officers included on the Medical staff were: Lieutenants W. F. Bill Nickel, JI'-i J- Pease and Lieutenant R. L. Cox, CHCJ. Chlef Pharmacist H. M. Niblack and Phar- macist H. P. DeAngelo. Lieutenant Com- Inander M. W. Etzenhouser, former Air Gr0Ul9 Hlghf Surgeon, became Senior Medical 05503- , ,Ay , .ig ZQ .1 P 1 '- . : fx NAVIGATION The plotted the westward course to the enemy Star-gazers repeatedbf took us there and hrought us out ageing every minute is tremendously important when the safety and efficiency W 3,000 men are at stake. he Ways and Means Committee of a ship is the Navigation Department, which is composed of the Navigator, the Assistant Navigator, quarter- masters and quartermaster strikers, not to mention the ship's band, which, though not inclined toward star-gazing, is very much a part of the N Division. In the hands of these representatives rests the responsibility of getting us to and from a target, in and out of Naval anchorages, furnishing any infor- mation the Commanding Ofiicer desires re- garding navigational aids, tides, and channelsg these people also are charged with the actual handling of the ship, the anchoring procedure, and the quartermaster of the watch is the right-hand man of the Officer of the Deck in that he is the recorder of all ship's move- ments, formation guides and such watch rou- tines as enemy air attacks, launching aircraft, men admitted to sick bay and the amount of fuel taken on from a tanker-in other words he keeps the rough draft of the war diary. Also included in the Navigation Department's seemingly endless host of duties is that of charting courses back to home ports, a job they have not Cto our knowledgej had an op- portunity to practice since the Bunker Hill came to the Pacific theatre. First Navigator for this ship, or chairman of the Bunker Hill's Ways and Means Com- mittee, was Commander VVallace B. Mechling, USN, a Naval aviator of Wide experience, who last spring stepped up a notch and became the Executive Ofiicer. Commander Mechling came to the Bethlehem Steel Company in Quincy, in connection with fitting out the Bunker Hill, early in 1943 from the engineer- ing desk of the Bureau of Aeronautics. His aviation background includes nearly fifteen years of flying experience. In the Spring of 1944 Commander Mech- ling's move to the Executive Oflicer's Office followed Commander M. Carson's transfer from the ship, Commander Andrew MCB. Jackson, USN, then Commander of Air Group Eight, moved in as ship's navigator. Com- mander Jackson finished number one in the Naval Academy Class of 1930. Leading assist- ant to the Navigator since the ship's com- missioning has been Lieutenant Parker Smith, formerly attached to the U.S.S. California. Charles E. Hahne, a chief quartermaster when the ship was commissioned, aided Lieutenant Smith in training the quartermasters. Hahne was promoted to Boatswain and transferred back' to the USA early in 1944. Under his supervision, quartermasters and strikers be- gan their training program. THE QUARTERMASTERS: Wheelhorse of the pilot house, indispensable aid to the Navigator Qwho is also the ship's Education Off-icerj, an all 'round man in the know on the quarterdeck or the bridge is the quarter- master. His rating badge is often a deceiver: a lot of other people look upon the quarter- master as the helmsman simply because there's a pilot's wheel sewn on his-sleeve. While he is supervisor of the helm, it is actually one of his lesser duties. He has a notebook to keep, he handles telephone traffic to the 1 i l E i lf fr li I i bridge, he presides over the intercommunica- tion telephone systems leading to and from the bridge, and he answers an average of 2,193 questions a day Cnot counting the im- portant onesj, most of which are indirectly directed at the Officer of the Deck, a man' whose job has no counterpart on shipboard. For these obvious reasons and additional veiled reasons, the quartermaster is a care- ff-fi -------'A:I.,,j,l -'j l fully chosen and well-trained man. Ev from above-average intelligence to a person outlook on life is pretty well requiiw, The Bunker Hill's N Division grew fram a group of energetic, willing seamen who built themselves around several old sea-goerg, Their initial training--and many of them were seeing their first sea-going vessels on these trips--came in Boston Harbor, where arrange. ments were made to have the men stand quartermaster watches on harbor craft--just for the experience and hell of it all. They aided pilots and tug skippers in maneuvering small craft in and out of wet slips, they charted make-shift courses to and from outer harbor points, and they recorded with dili- gence the activities of Tug X and AYB. After ,.......,....---we 5 S --1 L A! My 17' the ship moved into South Boston Navy Yard they stood practice watches on the quarter- deck of a sister carrier. On lazy afternoons they listened to lectures, practiced using nav- igational equipment, and learned the differ- ence between various tables. By the time the Bunker Hill was ready for sea, the quartermasters were all willing and waitingg and it didn't take long for their laborious efforts to show unmistakable signs of thor- oughness. .Much credit for the shaping of the N Dlvision goes to Boatswain Hahne, whose 1908! was' filled by George Butler, Chief Quarter' master, Carly in the year. These men invaluable assistants to Division Oliilcer Smiths Other men who have contributed Iiibmily to the department's success include Rod De- Camp, QMlc, Roland Falk, QM1c, C. W. Krenke, QM2c, W. M. Dickson, QM2c, R. A. Lawson, QM2c, and a late-comer, Irving Meissner, QM1c, all of whom com- prise the first team on the bridge. THE BAND: This robust group of sea- going musicians hold the poetic distinction of being able to praise the Lord and pass the ammunition, and they frequently do-all in the course of a day's work. Offering instru- mental support for church services is only a small part of their regular work, and manning gun stations is another of their extracurricular activities. They are easiest remembered, how- ever, for their shipping over music concerts during their in-port routines, and for their spirited jive hours on the flight deck during slack moments in operations at sea. Proof that they are an important part of the Bunker Hill's life came one noon-time in the Gilbert Islands: they were lulling the meridian sun- worshippers with Duke Ellington's Don't Get Around Much Anymore, when the General Quarters call scattered the audience in nothing flat and sent the bandmen to gun stations, leaving brightly-polished instruments ff scattered in their wakes. Said Chief Musician Douglas C. Cameron, band director, When you gotta go, you can't take it with you- not even Duke Ellington. You'd probably be surprised at the crew favorites among perennial requests. Fred- erick Dean, trumpeter deluxe, says, for in- stance, Anvil Chorus heads the list. Tastes also include particular affection for Begin the Beguineu Cmemories attached thereto, they sayj, Jersey Bounce Cat least thirty percent of the crew comes from Frank Hague's statej, and People Will Say We're In Love Ca little number from the show Oklahoma , which has been going great guns on all-but- forgotten Broadwayj. Other members of the hot Bachs include Paul Bowerson, bass and tuba, George Cata- lanotto, drums, Delmar Fleely, trombone, Richard Miller, trumpet, Marvin Schneider, sax, Henry Taylor, clarinet, Joseph Suldo, sax and clarinet, Louis Thomas, trumpet, Billy Tilson, sax and clarinet, Leo Warila, trombone. Added to the musicians at quarters are F rank Banyas, sax, Eustolio Garcia, bari- tone, Elston Hall, sax, Charles Hall, tuba, William Prophet, trumpet, Louis Uzee, French horn, George Meredith, drums. H g . Pf'!s rf 'e ' L i i xt 9.- ai fr' ef f SUPPLY i i ' A huge and sometimes thankless task was theirs to perform The complex clzaracter mf an aircraft carrier places upon its Supply Department a drvfrsiq of demands and responsibilities that at once defies imagination and excites respect. housands of miles at sea, the sudden need for a powder puff-for a radio- man's helmet !-a set of jeWeler's tools, a three-inch slugging wrench, or ten crisp, untouched dollar bills must be met with equal ease. Pack the average needs of every industry and household of a medium- sized town into a single ship, and you get an approximation of what the Supply De- partment represents. The perplexities of maintaining such a stock of varied supplies, stores and spare parts, and of recording and accounting for each item, are obvious. Exacting thoroughness, precision estimates and keen supervision of distribution must characterize the operation of such a vast or- ganization, and have on the Bunker Hill. The ship's first Supply Officer, Commander C. M. Charneco, took over his duties with consci- entious efhciency upon reporting aboard in early pre-commissioning days, and he gathered about him a stall' of officers and enlisted men who soon put into operation the department ,, - ....-.Q-me-ms.. that has served the ship and its personnel admirably throughout long periods in com- bat areas, far from sources of supply. Tartar to try the mettle of any Supply Department, and particularly one in process of being organized, is the problem of estimat- ing the type and number of replacements necessary for the operation of a new combat aircraft. In this respect Commander Char- neco and his men deserved a heavy hand of applause for the way that they studied failufC reports and requisitions during the early dayS of operation, which resulted in the stocking of correct quantities and types of material needed while operational bugs still were being ironed out in the planes. Such fore- sight, however, was applied to fproblems Of every department. In September, 1944, Lieutenant Command- er E. S. Tharpe reported aboard to relicvv Commander Charneco, highly praising the organization which he took over. The Supply Department, organizationlllfv 'eff ..Li . 'I-Egg' fi' Q, V Tia . v : D-I falls naturally into four distinct divisions, with each assuming direction of its individual responsibilities but with an interdivisional elasticity essential to departmental efficiency. Disbursing: During the pre-commissioning period and through the ship's first year at sea, the cash drawer was handled by Lieu- tenant Cjgj H. G. Henry Clater lieutenantj, one-time Maryland farmer and all-time expert on budget balancing. Chief Pay Clerk G. M. Chandler, a battleship and cruiser veteran, and slim Henry The Demon Demonbreum, SK1c, were his top-drawer assistants in hand- ling the payrolls of ship and squadron per- sonnel, and the various ship's funds. In August, 1944, Ensign C. F. Jones relieved Lieutenant Henry as Disbursing Ofiicer. Aviation Stores: Lieutenant Kenneth H. McClure, S-1 division oliicer, was placed in charge of Aviation Stores upon reporting aboard in March, 1943, utilizing his commer- cial experience with airlines as well as his duty with the Aviation Supply Detail as NAS, Floyd Bennett Field, New York. Chief Pay Clerk John N. Davis became his first assist- ant, his work in assembling bulk stores prior to the ship's Shakedown playing a large part in his subsequent promotion to Lieutenant Cjgb and transfer to other duty. Chief Clerk W. H. Hargreaves reported aboard as his relief, and joined Chief Pay Clerk B. T. Karnes in that section. Chief Storekeeper, J. Y. Popeye Hayes, ship athletic booster and sometime coach, was the leading hustler in Aviation Stores, com- bining hard-headed practicality with a keen knowledge of red-tape, and directed the work of the men in various storerooms, including J. R. Lauby, B. V. Todd, Storekeepers First Class, and others. ti THE COMMISSARY CONTROL GSK and Commissary: The General Stores division handled all non-specialized sup- plies connected with the operation of the ship, from machinery to pencils, and was or- ganized and first directed by Lieutenant Jack Flannery and Chief Pay Clerk F. E. Bare. To them also fell the responsibility of con- trolling the Commissary and maintaining the mountains of food stores that packed the huge storerooms below. Commissary Steward L. C. Dubois held direct responsibility through the first ten months at sea, before winning pro- motion to Pay Clerk and receiving a transfer. Chief Commissary Steward Willie Rawe then took over the biggest pantry in the world with such extracurricular activities as provid- ing scores of sandwiches nightly for men on watch, keeping Hagons of coffee brewing around the clock, and sending thousands of 1 i 2 1 3 l I ff To 501 doughnuts topside for men held at Flight Quarter and General Quarter stations. Lieu- tenant gl Stan F. Trueblood reported aboard in September of 1944, relieving the States- bound Flannery. Few on the ship are there who have not, at one time or other, contacted the various in- dividuals who run storerooms, keep the records and make out the invoices and orders. To mention but a few, the names of P. B. Roberts and I. E. Bradley, SK1c's, leap to mind-those characters being the reception- ists of the Supply Ofiice before their trans- fers, Bradley leaving as CSK. D. V. Roberts, CSK with China Station duty in his record and a host of sea-stories at tongue's-tip, was I il 35 it fit i l ni 'i -ii' wi 'E '1 l gi ig, 1 l I YM, ,W - .mi if il qv., .,.,. if ,rw init will :ii Q' H, :Wi , ,iii ig!-R. Cf HU-5 if f:i'.il'Ii figifil l 1 i .5 it ig fllil 1 ' i iii-- ii r V 1- 3 'i iii lui, Y .wsu-we-in ....t... .ms-.-. nfl! ' x l li.-ii ,Hg 11 .ix UZ. .,, fqqiif .,..,, fail My another colorful character. G. P. Bruce, SK1c, he of the soft Southern drawl, was the keeper of the main GSK Issue room, and CSK I. J- O'Rourke was in charge of the Small Stores where the monthly gross usually topped S1CP,O00. The cooks and bakers in the bustling galleys M H d C W Odell and were headed by J. . oo , - - ,. C. A. Remv, SC1c's, and A. C. Schmidt, Bkfic, while Jim Jufge, SK1c, and E. R. Chase, Sk2c, operated the two Ship's Stores, sea-going versions of the corner drug store. kia J 1 WARDROOM STEWARD'S MATES Part and parcel of the Supply Department, the S-2 division revolved about its division oHicer,,Lieutenant Stuart E. Hockenbury and his Wardroom Mess. Called upon to serve meals any and all hours as dictated by Hight schedules or the Condition Une Easy gunnery watches, the organization of Stewards and Steward's Mates kept pace with the fast tempo of action in combat areas. Chief Steward Frank Simmons, veteran of continuous duty since 1917, was Hockenbury's biggest aid in the training of the division of Steward's Mates, most of whom had no food-handling experi- ence before reporting to the Bunker Hill. 'Q -,tiw,u .41 The few experienced men included Cook Desnacido, and Chief Swiflfd Apeles, both of them having ests in the drive to recover the Steward lc Roy Layton, who went the fall of Singapore and assisted in the uation of refugees from that port, activities of the Wardroom pantry, lc Frank Castleberry acted as chief of bakers, and Chief Cook Charles Brown the galley. Steward llc Matt Gainer ously worked his way up to the post of Steward in the Wardroom. at Lesser known than their Wardroom were the battle station assignments of Steward's Mates. At the first bristling of Torpedo Defense, the Steward's dropped-literally, in a few recorded stances !-their Wardroom duties to dash w the magazines, deep in the heart of the or topside to the ready service to pass the ammunition. They are drilled and are trained to be able to hang! the guns if so required. Little is said, howevai of the eager young Steward's Mate anxiety to throw the last shot into a sleeve placed topside personnel of a n carrier in momentary danger, and ing chatter about what might have pened. x Q Z 4 ' ' f f , , , ff Cf I f f ff ygf f f , ', f aw- 'if M1 W0 MW! W YWWWWV f ww W fy J UK. 1 f ci 5 ,, WW gf!! I f , 4 4, 1 f X , fn M Q W gwwff If ,dffgyf-14,6 y!M,w,ff,Q,m N c,fQM,4,f f ff , , f hlfgffg jf-Hff yi xfy, 2555 ,I f ' V2 'lZXi 'Wi ',,f 1 . Z , 'T 1 if: -wif' 'r Ng., W V, , Hwy Z YG f u v 5, f if ,QI 5 dmx. I-aymf-.1, i,'Z,g-.' jk f ff 1 1 2 'I ,g 12 'f f, f A ,, h X V49 zl A. ,- , ., .,,, , 3s,w1e,i: f y 'f ,in g p, 4 'ri a I A 1 ' 'sh di V . Af. ,, f 4' , fs? I 3 1 V - ',2 5' ' fi! 1 2' 5 1 , , ,,,- , G .' JG ,, 4 , .. gf ,X , ,b ,M ,H ., .,,. -H, , ,N ,X an ,K fs I k .1 2 1. ?, , Q A '45 14 , . 1, :aut Air Department Comdr. Frauenheim, the Air Boss Crightl and his zlssistzmt, Ccmiclr. Bziiiicla, Qlircci ilul 1 will? ,cz N T F L Y The original Flight Duck lmcil4ficlfl, C'rimrli'. Siiiirli lie Nlitnlivll Hi I ll I ig H ' ' , '1 un' .iiii ,I X4 fill Fighting pmpellni- thrust tlaylong, the plane tlirectors and handlers of the V-LD unit were the key to Flight Deck record - fw,,4Ki ff Y, 'Hg 1 il v I it til il? 3 , .jfx 1 . f, , ,1 1 , ', , 5 I V A 5 . ft ' 'V ,gqgyiif K ,,,, Flight Deck Chief Tex Sadler and Re-Arining Chief' Spotters VanDyne, Almond, Barrett, Stringer, I,ol'ttin, Penza Harry Coleman. lxlu-iian Cleft tri rightl. X X .xi - t tg, X ,, idmtt ,- r1U-K ,Ai 1 . -- -' If 4 xx ' ' ,ix . . ti 1' ctw 5, MH N ?V ,. X m if ...Nd R ,vu . X , X , WM' 323 313333133 I Q 5 jx SRX x N LAN . xxx QQ 9 Il 5.-1 'mm' ,I vid? J.. , 7 fp. V. gl i g x '15 fx? 135- fx,-rw ssh. vb . an Q. 'lf 'W' an . fi? -f.A..,.,, , am? nn... WWW 5 J 1 1 5 J ,H , Up wa 1 sag 'IQTZIHEC in rmietrictcnl QITCLIS was thc prwlwlcln wt. Illlligill' Clnnwrxml, wlwrc l,r. flzlrk amd I,r. ljgl Hughcn dirccrul aiutixfry .m dc ,M,,,,w-qpw 'wzqg-vw-WM,,,,i,ML ,f 5 rf' 'Q'-fy, fM,,,, , ,ggi WW, ' I Y ., . N N . . N CIM: XIWL, 'lg,,,1,1,i,11 X ,ml,,fJ11uf7H1wv il1xn'il,.nNwl1m-1, lmx IXIHUX .ini I! Iwmwmw, k1,xK5ff1.g I 9 m Mmgmwwaymxwxwmxmmmmx , 1 5? f, vw' X9 1 1 1 X1 111111 COI'Hd1'.iX1BIL1,iGY,OI16-H1116 :Xssistzmt iX11'Bo5S and V-2 013150611 'NWC 111181 NWMVVXX 'f'Am A 111' 'h V I M1-111151111111 5111111 LX l111Hc:1-pcppcrw-ci Will ' ' -' l I- ' f ' 1 A - g 111 .1 Ill 111-41 f11scl.1Lfc: was 1111111 1 1' tl - ' 1 1 . . U Il X M S?,1lI1Uxl1,l1lx 1,1 IIN. XXNIMM Xlmllixsynlth Sh 'FU N 9,7148 Xll-AX, thc h4ml wm'kmg deck spccizllisrs wlw xnnirwrzlkmcd :md UPCI'1lI'CL1 the cfmmpliwrcni ,'XI'l'CYfiNg Cicur. 1 i 1 fr Q x 4 l f V V if .k,y 'kyk Vxtk K Xkkxx X by X J in K x M Sim X. kk . Q K X ' I A , 1 AA I I ,IN AMA AUM K 4 . ,g.,, Nw Iwi xx.,ul.l fu-I IHxfllH--IIQWI.INlWll4lINx'.ll1lL'lIVlwH!.lY1 :hy-' pimwx c V X Ski' N if ciii 4 ' - i 'U . . si li. 1l'lvF , X ixili Lt U05 Yvalker Flight Deck Control. Lt. Perci' Li1lI'k,I'l1lI1g5ll lhck hmm I. I I H 'X I ' X ' 1 . so 9 Vi-NVWW 7 Afry W nm 7 The Bombing Engineers, mechanics who worked day and night fu keep the plum' zivziilqilwilily xhcci tice Q-1 duds. V-I-L rhc SlTl21ii,CH:IClCHf crew fJf'5I5CCi1lIimfS that lnziintziinccl 'mil in I . - , , 14r.llm.I .hm mtruuln,lwumhiii.l!.l1'll'1N- 5 lI'ti-HYiI1E:I fighter plzmes required hz1i'd-wmkiiig meclizmies. Y-T5 Fighter Engineers kept them in the air. R F? wiire wi'fu't 4+ WIHIIIUII uf, gum ifvrriii xvfilriiiit- xxi iii uiiimiiiwi .iumiiit tlii i.ix.iem if lit 1 , 1 1 , 4 ,, 1 1 R 1 'K Y wx '31 5' Lt. E. E. Rodenburg, Air Group Eighfs Landing Signz1lOHiccr. l.r. Al lk-muy' xwrlmmgl Ll plum' up tlnf gmmu thx' :1 landing .N Mic U . xx A MSF X A N A .. W 4' -1 ' W ' 'xwm,,4,, Y-sg. ' Y .- f -- If-' -N X XXX l X., 4, im M Q , X up. , S , 'fb , , 'AWS wqunwgnv N01 l,oadec,l for another cmcli :lr the lap, Il milnr glml IU, l l 1 r r , l ll' lllfflf Ml rln- l,.lun.'lm1u'Ulluvll rlu's'lwI'Cxl H115-T' lmu V , Q W QQ! f Nu Q ,Ui ,Wi K,,,,fHii,,f ,N , l,,,,Ll,,1,,5'x, rg-mv-,I mwlmwwr, l,I. Slulllvr'f11l11r111uQx, xvtvlqm ISU, nun .1 pl.1r1vtux .1 1.1:1.11fvg. . , .. , .. .fum ,gi flu . 'X w If 1, 5- m:p Y , A ' 14 9 flux mx IIN hmm F The X -2 OI'dI1LIl'1CCIN6I'l-ell group of tlnm-defy mg In NNN I e of the V-2 divisiorfs teams that ran with machine-like prccisifm was thy- Iiumlmmg H1-.lrmmm umm -- . , 'rio . . . and :mother was the lwghrer Ordnance gang that pzwkul the lla-llual 5 xumg-R unlm ilu zz lu .lx x I1'rrwpflW'mI'H R , Q I5 'Gi .SH K ,R . -mi ww--ar N xi . X -X X . -.3 K K - , .. , ., :X mx 3 , I S 1 5? X5 in g'Q . K 'Ts L Q ,. VV I ' K L 51' ub , ' his . bi x .vc ' X K , fs x QW X if fl 451k ff 4 : , ,M VM f 9- f fi 8 ,f w. jf ,, ll ll 3. ,,N V ,- 5 X. I ? :gn X Q 5 ' 59 We 'K X -ax 5, 'fa 'ff X1 xl xg M q w: x wg-L Wie wi X K X six, sxkl X X VVith stop-Watch, balloon and plot board ready, the Aerographers prepare to investigate wcz1tl1c1' A making 21 Careful truck of its ascent upstairs, clwckmg its progress lu' ll thCOd0l1fC X 1 XXX f as QXQX X A XX . X..- Aki Nix Q X 0 xQ V -we 'W 'fr ff if 1 ff y, 4 ff f ' ww, , Ml, 7, f ,MW 4 22 li f., ,,',, ,A 3 'K 1,1 , X , WN 'ff xxx? f V N f- X vw ' ,, v pf' fy 5 V V. Q: VQQEAX ' r f Q ' fir f . f X' A If '11 I f J , .,',x,,f A if f f 7,4 7fY4'MffLfv , f n f Xz ' 'Zz f Jw , X I , , ' f fywky '7' , 45 0 Q 1ffff'f 42 Hg ' , ,, f V X W ,W ' 0 ' , f f X72 ,Z , f M I V f mifyizi , , 4 1, ,fy 1 X , ,,,, ,,f, I f, ,f if wf f , , wif? Z. , , ,W Zfff if f , ' fu, , ,, ,, fm I ff f' Q9 fyf, x XNxx -. NN. 5. x 4 X X I ,V ,, l 4, , y f X W f f Q ' ' f..' ,Q-ai,'fn12fgfff ng , , Q 5 M ff 1, K, Ui ' ' ,ff:J M2f1f f -, B 'fQffv' f 'M ' - ' '1 f f f + 74' fy ,mr H ' gf My ., Y I , VL' ,. ,R,if'l?dg,v5 ,.. an '+- f My ,W 2 H.. M.: . Maw ., W 2 f' f' A QW 49474 . u p . ,, !:.,m,g. Q ,g,,,.., 'M W1 f ' ' ,U , M ,lfrwil XM :pf I .,,. gyfiw mxgynpwg 551 ' ' 4, , V ,, W , ,f., f, N,,5g1Hr'Egh, ': 1, 2 , 5, I i MF' X X -RN. . X Lt. C. K. Eaton, Photographic Qfficer. Lt. deB1'ettevil1e, Ship ACI Othcer. Lt. .lim Sm-zui, lfightm' Director Ufiicer Lt. Mcllhenny, V-4 Division Gfficer, Much of aircraft equipment is repziired here, the Aviation l'flccri'ic:il Shop. 'QWM W, f 7 ff, X JVM 3,4 4 Tommy Lyons clean of mocha Lf. Tom lizilliiz--, V15 l.',, il ,A r ' .. i ,A ' O'hi:1nc6- ' U 1 E5 WUUNL- lin. M, X. lhuu, .Ximtion li 80 i.. 412: M Q, N-1 E Plgmc mprnmm and xmmmlmmlxs make xwcesszlry repzurs. l'zu'z1cl1L1teRiggc1's keeps ccmsrzmt watch fm the silk umbrellas. 7'7? k Q1 k ,JMWMWWMW 491 f 3 4 1' f .. K X RY 1, 5- ' ' Ay.: fr: f 'V 4 5 L g Jg fx 4 f V 'Ulf' The Mr lJcpzLrtment's V-4 fixLlI71iHiSKI'LlfiVCj Division. :Xrresting Gear Cl1iQt'W. F.. Smith UYCI45C'C'5 ll rspnir jwlw. J -f-J UW?l'l1'f'!uwpI1.M XI fx. II r. I1.-A L Hn- vrIlS1ll1,ll plmtw Q :vu pnfxw-tl1.lrlv11x1m m,1'1.12M.lwpl1wtw x F4 5 b? 'S mid Russ Yoder, PholVI2c, Combat Veterzm. .-X11 zmmcxnlwly lim' ham QHLN M I lull shui ,lg ..-. f P f+-,pn-u- A'9 'f4vvnfn4w.,W.mg:,gQ4f..-A.f,-4e6,Yf:1. ,.,, fn M Aff ' Chief- Phufog1':1pl1cr'5 N12lfC.VlfJhHSUI1 c'm'nc 's lmvk :ulmrmrml alml k,m,m ky k A I will tum-rr xxurlu In plwrwruxw '11 X Q' 3 Fllikfq' , 1 , , mga, , ff f my zf ' f I 5 ff - Q ' , f x , if f sa , , ff ,f , M4 yf 47 1' , f ghgw ff gm 2 5 'V 1, ,4 v f 4 1' ,ZQQ 4 54 A 2 if I , f , i , ,, 5 5' sq aou' M V, fpfkjlik' ,, llghter Dlrector Lrewmen m llxe m lddlflilll to thelr puvlte suneboud whlgh fc lfUl'CS their own imignizx. -Xt P 156 stl ed plopellors on 1 qL11Cf HlQ,'l'lf deck lgIl1fS 1 ull m the UNLl1llX tremmug cmnlnzlt opemricm N. I E1 u if ? I L E 1 1, x S E N 1 W if Az I IR J , , i ,Q 1 xxx X I pf, Sify: K LE Xa fy 5 , X E 1 5 f 4? 'f X 5 ., mgf, f fm 1252? f 'f Z ui 1 5 , Z Q 7 ,K f y , f 7 f 5 X f Z I . f I f Q V f 1 l Z' 2 if f ' 1 ' f f f f f ,ff f V f ff 1 N N xx? XXX I Nkx Q T Z 0 7 ,, ,, WMM f,f'f,fff! I' f ff vwnf J ffmfff' ,f my 0 f f , M, 9, ff! ff! 77ffff W ff ff,, Chaplains I My--.Q-4 Q., K , , , Chaplain R. F. Delaney, quiet-voiced and pleas- ant, came aboard to relieve Chaplain Quigley. Chaplains Dreith Cleftj and 1 Quigley Crighrj,share a joke with Dr. Shortridge. Under a hot-domed sky, memorial rites were held for Raymond Clapper and Lt. Comdr. lYhitaker and others lost that day A ev ef V ,X i if E S f ,gX wz. V 41 ig li ,,X 1 i 1 X i W 5 E i EX I5 3. 'y'v f'f 2. ,SF '!. X w 5 3 1 ,ix 5 Q. . 15 sg FS gs :I .li 5 . Ei in ! 3 E 5 : 1 u lv I Q 1 5 1 Y, ,ig n . I I ,i- i I f, 5 3 53 E 15 iz 3 if 1f 5 l ,X 7, X X 5 , ' ! , V ! ,, fm ' f ff ff f ,M I ' fx , W U mf I , , , f X! 3' 3: 3 xi S Lf 9 S, , ,mfrfx I ' f , f T' X, ,, f f f f , , ,,j',f7Q ,, 'Q g f Q','jffkfZ,f' ' ff' Communications 2 E Q S 1 1 li ' Nxt 'I e 4, E If A X XX: D 47, 'amid X .XX.,XQ: . X1 , XXX S-:fi f. QSM . 'NN ' Xlyfifsi - X iw XX . ,X X X N , Sf XSL? X- X XX . XXX..'9' Q -X Xxx: . NfM3..XQ1i X. Q T X QQXQXTK, Twwwvlgi .XXX Q 'XX-gg ::- .X I ff f K X X X X X XX XX XX XX X Nx 1: XA X XX XX kk fe XXX XX. 3 X X r XX . X Q xx X XX X X X XX X X1 X X gl :MXH QA O- X-1 - X. xg.: QW 5 gig NX1g5bg5F?Qx5. xx. X -wx--k 'K Sw KN NYS X X l K 'iv-W SXVXWQQ X X N X RNS. -F 1 K l xx QXX xr X X r- vfw . X. 5 X 5 A Lii.QQgY5gq ,sgwp l . The gibberisli winking and blinking of the intense signal lights was lmut one of the respcmsilmilirics ul. rlie liusy signal bridge. J. . wx XX X . l 1 i X N Y kk fx g Mx 'XX 4 . v. ll S X i 3 l.Y. cifllllfllf C Inv. lg iyiglir i, iliiniiiiinu ,utiwri Ullicvi, Qlml I5.lXlUI111,l1l11llllUI1t1,k'.ll'N.lllnlllHg.lk'lN wmv runul in tniriil hvfQ,41f,Q.li..ii1, l,r, xlIlllll'tlIK'llx firivwl ll1f'l' I VV'i l W'- F , ' i R . l .L ..,,i. 5 E L , 1 I K i ix if , I if . - - - . Rwdzlr'l'cclmicig11ixflmmi Iiu'1i'wiluliiJl1XN. Radio Two of the Communication Depzutment. ' i ,qi . sew.-mqmbbli i r K E ,R .l .S ii il L! Ei Q! i E i i 1 1 ii The Captairfs Ofhce, ship's administrative hub. Chief LeBeouf and Lt. Blake, lfxcciiieivc OFHccr's Aide- mf'- Ihe mail rolls in from the Susics and Snls. Skillvil work mir. thi- pmilm-1 Ur' flu- lhvim Slwp. im I -.-..-.-.- . . 224- Siifikif 1 iizfli-'1!ii!iLl',,.l2i?lfll53 1.32 JY 5f 5i'!X!x 3317 fI+?Y.!f?5J! L? xl!! if. lX,i'i5fI,!f 1 vi W Ki? flirt 12512116 fx: f if 2.5 Cl sniff films 'Q pg aff xnxx ww 1m:mf:f:f.a 1 1: gi 3: f X xi Sw f X Q x 5 Xxx., X X X x X 5 Lx - N, x in YQQTFQY 556 S .QS X X : vm fx X X 11 Off, my wg,,' Q7 f U 4 I X f , , fix!! Y ,VV fmfuf, , Xfw f W, f f V, , , f!,1,f f , ,, f, , f f f ,fy J .Q 1 , f , W 1 v SN' X 1 X wxexxmx Q N383 is-'mx X be Vfffffffff, , , ,, N f -W W, , ffwwgg, ,,,, , ,,,, X i, ff' V j,,,w,mf ,, if Vw., , ,,,,, , f1,,,,,,, , f YVWMM f f Mfwfff, Wmffwf, Wff , W, ,,,,,f,, uf wwf ffWffWffff f fwfwm W, A 4 ff, f, A , , f f , M, Q f, f, ff ffff f, ,wwf I ff!fW7fff W, W , , ff ,,,,, W ,, ,M fff if X W fi ff X W ,WW , fl KW M f f W WWfff WMWJWWZQW WWC W! f ,, , ,UMWMWWWX4 f ff Wg!!! W ' , ,A M f470Zf W ff f f M V X! X f if Viffffzi fzwf,,,,,,,, , ,f , ,, f ,Jffff ff fwfwff ,, , wwffwfff f awww, , WMM, gMfwfwff,f fW,,,,,,,f,f ,,,, f fl! WH ff, f f ff yi wwmw Www Wm f ywffmf W , wwf W, , , , ,W , , wwf ffwff ,fWf,w, ,,,,, f , ,,f, y f , f,,, ,O ff ! Myfjgflkif' W , W X WWW ,, ffM,M,ff,' WW, WV, , ,, W WW MW, W ,N wwf W ,ff, , WZ, V! X Mwf f f XW4 ,, My fin wfffmf f W MW! fffnmwf ufwwfw f Wlwfffwowwm WWW ,,f, ,,,,,,, f, , ,,,, ,M ff ,,f, WW ,, MW ,,,, f Hf f M WCW ' fyff, , f ,, ,,, W, ff' ww, www f, , , ,,, , , f ,W Zz X14 WXCWW MM X ifffff, ,,, , ,, M ww MMM, M, , ,M ff, ,W , W ,W,,W,,, ,, , ,f WW , f,,f, ,,,, , ,, W , M, , HM, ,,,,,,, f W, ,,, ,,,f,,qf,, fm, f XM! fW,ff,f,f f , fffffflff WW ,ff ,W , ,,, ,,,' f ,, ,, , ,wff W W WWW , fWMWfw, Zgwwnmfw If Wfwwfwfff mf, Mnwfwfffffwfffmfw fffwffffwm fffmffwff fwfwwwfgmyffmf ff W WU f nfwwfwfwwffwf, VW, W W WMffWfWww ffwfff, , , WW f g 44fWWwmwff,Wf,,WW, fwff, W, lwwyyfwwwwfwwmw, ,W ff, ,, WJMWWXXMWW fwffffwf, , ff f, www ff f MfggwmfmWffffffwywfffm, W M f , MMWWMMW ,WWWff,,W,,f,,,,WL, -wwfwmwwffyfffffffffwwyJ, WMM '- wfwwwwwwwfw fmww, WWW, ffwfwfwwfwffffffwffw ww fff ' fffwwmffwwffWWWW, W wfffwwfmwwwfww Wfffwynwffwwff f gf, ,fm Wffwwff r ffywfwffffw f ffwwffff ff f Wy4ffZw! X f f ff f En . X X Xsxiwxx. x 1:31 O K t 1 . A , Al 'N'-. iffy 3' ,, , x 'W Wkytw adv 'FQ My e QQIF Kim fill 4 wi Mis Q-' h sgtisligiiwf N X H 1 'lyf ff, ff A '99UH91lyv,,,,M4,hv W 422558 fff f f XM K ,f f f f , X Z ff, r ' ff? f X A X f Am E ,N N N ex Xxx X Z4 5 X X X xx MQ, Q , :L Q? X XX Xgxvx 5? .,-,- ,gk 1:,, K Nwifffz iii' l53ftw5g',isv3-F 1 - ' x i X fi . a iv Q. 1 fi kxxc .,,x ,W X isis, A .yvx .XW S x Xx.X X X RX Xibgfsk gym X xxiw-'.:h f : NAME .X 'iii . QL XXXXL .. X . S61 5 GV X, f ,. 7?.' ,-kv. 'Q kF . A ' I-Wkvwlirm Q? 96- ... X x Xl F X :Q . 51 X Q .X X Q B. l X x A has WMV! mu -M wwf X.. szff-f Q: fi ,L L - mL 1 tx L WL L Q55 L F' Ls-of :Q xxx V A . Lt.,IOh1i YYz1ldO,HbX Division Officer. LhjimNYillizi1nS, l3 lDiX'iSillI1fJHik'L'l'. li. X' .l- Nl i Y1- UI' I71NiWffHOf:fiCer Lt. M, C. JOrgenSOI1,ccM,, Divisicm These f'E,' Division men directed lmiiiireeimiicc wt' thc slim! electrical system. Officer. v Q IHILT f The A Di ii n mziihmihecl and Jemrccl rh-11 Xill 1 ' ' ' '- -' . - ' . V s ri . UI L ii ll 5 miichimiy, twin thi- tuiluigyy1pi,,1..,-N fi, ilu- Lv-iliiuk . lille 14 ,t fx E 2 C 3 nw,,,..... Q i The Lighting Shop kept the ship under 2-I-hour sunlight. Mighty lzithes ran day and night in the machine shop. I v v I I 1 A- i i I ,f,.,,. , I ,A mv, ff ,- -z ' ' X , ii' 5 ,A ' I , 5 5' y -v tx r V, i s , Q 2 ' Y.,v X ' if 4 TAGG' K kit x,f i xi 1 i fym i , F s s - if 'WEN vt I 1 X 5 E23 A A s A- Y 5 if XX K ' W u ,vi X 9 s. K ,K Rn' H .J . it K XVV5 , I 'J A I K if i ,. , WWA X 'tffS1.x,,r ' , . f 5 1 F The l'in2ineer's HM Division, guardians of the hzitterv of tremendous turbines . V , . , - P . . . that packed the terrific nianeuvering power that the Cztrrier had to have for Hight :ind cuinhat uperzitiuns. Q 5 M... wm- I+11nr' 1xf:'- - 1 -Y -- , - 9' 6 Aiwgeiwkx 'bw- ' A cf, 'iw wif' 4 PH L 1 'QQ lx sux, ugtlm I 1JI1lSC'xfJf llll1KllL1I'wUf HHN nur uf HN ' l I'1'Ilf lvl!! Qlwuw Lixlwvlml pun 'asc' ,IU 4, W WM ? 4. K2 fi if U? A gf, f .ucv f. QL JP, D' X kin 11 ,,,1,,,,,1, 111111 ll 11 1 Nm., 11. 1 g11,1 , f1x111sf 1111x,1l111L1111g 14.111 U' T I kN QIIIIUIHLQ IVIIIQIILNUI'l'i'1W.ll1II1gL INUIUIN. vmnefry xi s N. x X X X -5.5 .ik 14 6 . V? .K A X Q5 A yu x N 2 x S . S 5 S X, X EQ , X Q R il is Sw 1.55 QF WW M011-nwwf ' 'K ,' Av 914 'WW ww, 9053 fff ff f , 1 . f -M I f 1 x X W S .. 0 W- X Nr, 'rf 'A-xvi-.mvx..w:X.gsaAr .L I I -Q L r 944 N lx 3 5 f, 'away-A Q5 'Sb ,wp - ,af mv 'i , .A .51 'S i . .xiii . .. , h h 'i .'k- ia .5 'E L N4 A Q I X M . , A X 2 r S! ' ' - ,bi K: L 1 ,A -.- mfg X: l ,as ,- - 1 hY,,,,,, x ...x. .Naam f ww X iw SX XN- X1 Q Q-X L' liiv.4l5Z5fllIld1-lliill -Q'flEll.lKEClIlQ1..lIll!m QY!!!C89Z!i!!.x'?f !l2SLll! RQHIZIIIIERFILELWG BIIGERIIUURRHLSEG QHUQQUIIYYU QQ main-J Q2 LRYTQERQ K ,Q ' cf. N 'Wh' ff I K H47 'f V , C I N 1 'G X X? 'ff - X . X' J- 1 ff X X X 'NN'i'X A 'M if X5 L wi XX XX X X hx X X x N K .NX gx 5 Sf- x 'X' SQ sk A N X X- -X F iXX dl A XX X X X- X Xi X X Q N 1. 1 T xx 'Qi XRQNQ M fy , -XA KXVXXSX if N: 353 fl ' ff A. ,TQ QQ X rx X Ax ,, ' X ,edit 1 11 5,75 if 3 XX X Xsx ' M fff I y i, ' W , J,,,,, I, g I VV ' if 7 fy, I If -153' sf www, 4, 1 L 4 W, 1 1 4' , f , f 95, , ' 2 K , , ff, W if G? ,pf ' ,ff ,f 7 ,ww '1 fwyiif ff 1 1 .51 i any Nh-X Xxx FW' ,Q ji: 1 wi , 3 x NBL ,X ' K 'Q :E if ' fri? I! ks X I i '--' ki A f' sw , Q, A N yi XX N46 X 3 X Q X -Y. X X'-I!0 K rx I xv K' it L Sf' x . U Q xx , U A D Q .- V XE: 'L ', : i i MX NJ! 9, JQ4fgf:?Hkk' I 0 J, x xv. 5 V -xxx , A ' .g,. 33:9 A X . , N XXX: as .Sei -E2 5 is E SS-5 r .i 1 -- D k an-5 Q,--ff - fi? X A 256:55-Q K iii '1 - , 'K . I E f f Comdr.VV.R.D. Nickelsonjirst Gun Boss Lt. Linenberg, First Division Qfhccr Lt. K. C. Somers, Second Division Ofhcer Lt. Joe Cahiul, Third Division Cfficer Lt. Hasburgh, Fourth Division Ofificer Lt. Robert Thum, Fifth Division Oihcer Lt. H. F. Brissic, Sixth Division Ofiiccr Capt. R. If Brown Q 1 I ll V I . g .. 'i'11ui, Scvcnrh Division Ofhi-4-V uugiwmzth Iqilsiwfli H72 Qti light tlidied ol lien of the sea, the Seventh Divisicm-tlie Bunker Hill's M miie det lclimcnt thfit nmnned the twenties c'Gun Tub V. F. Clyde, CGM, Third Division fi uiml Ilivi-iiuri Srznnlcy fzipp, Cvlf, First Uivisim HH 1 I Buhs M lv - . f , 4 'ff' f, V V , ,, ,pm ,,.,,. x, ,U Lt. Hockenbury and Shipiitter A'I1lC'I121gf:f2Il'f Cut lcf-tj make 21 routine Check on Wzltchg Lt. Comdrs, Kmg :md Rodee, lfirst I.ieutemzmt amd Assistant confer Cabovel, :md below, the Oflgllllll group ut Hull Department Ogicers , .4 , X A f 2 f X, X 1 ff .,f 4 ff ff Ky ,A ,ff ff ff, , ,', Y, X .,f,, f K ww K , L ,,!,,,,f I ff , VZ Q aww A W f X 5 Hjffwffl, 4 fgjfly gf' 'If Q, 4 327 2,10 '-'y N7 ' ff ff? ffggff, W .i A K f ff f 4' X,-.w f f ' f ' fffy Vfff' K if 4 ,573 , ,V Q? Lt. R. S. lfinkbine, R-I Divisifm Utgticcr l,r. R. l,. liusxwll, R-l Uivisimm CJHiccr Chigt' Iiuutsxwirm NI. Curley 4 WWW 5' 22 Qi if f 5 f Z 1 f If Z i HUIVS responsibilities cxrciiciccl to smith :lcriviricskfli the 'l':i'i,lm' Shop, Ilic I.JllIlllil'X, ilw lfiiipi-iiti'x .1mlSl11ptittc popular flcccluiik stzmcl :md Ilia' Mus Il-all IOX rs' SilUP5- the 6 3 : Y 4 1 9 2 I NX 4,4 ,fyfyf-4 ,, ,g A f, 4 in s X i i 5211 51 ZWWfZ?Wf2?7.WW2?7 ff! WM? W fff Q f x f f 'Q 4 N, 3 V X XS 1 N , 'E X 'wr I-wi' Comdn OV uv- Chemlulg CNICD. IL yyillmm lf. Nickel, QMCQ, l,t. Cciimlr. M. XY. l'lf2CHl1UUS6l', lMCJ we ll X , , V f , V V , ,. , l 1. , - 5 Q , 5,2 2 , ,f ffkfiff Q f , 75 VV ,VV Va XV VV V, V ff ,Q VW , ., ,f if , ' f Mf 'AM7'49,'N',', 1 , WWQVV y 'V ' .V s 5 Q V ,X LV i ,V ,. 5, M ,VVVV V VVVV V V,V. , VX V 5 ,.V. V ' 5' Q X , X- -P? . rf: - 'X We 1 lf ' 12' .9 i if ' . , l lj l a , Q i 'T l l C l f x ' 0 Z , f L f X X7 , fa ,N is ,E f , X f K OVW, , X xg 7 yy iff X f f ff f f . ' it , , X, , ,, ff - Q f W ff 1, ff .K X 49156 CV V ,L VV, JVM-fZQt?i?W 9jVMV ' Q12 ' mQ:f The Medical Department's Dental Stalfj The purple poison -standard heat rash remedy. Quick, efficient medical attention was always typical of the Medical Department: they always were on the juli when needed. l.1l........-n--Y Nclxmuricnl 5 1 , s 4 - Ng I . . k w B . 2 xx . -lv K Q -. 'V v - - 1 . A -N . . xx 'Ill Cflu 't f,llL'l'IL'I'H12Lf Bugler loung,z1spec1z1l1st gm Bm n H.1hm YIJIIILLI flu I H I 'ell H cr Mforpede Defense . LlL12lI'fCI'IN1lNfL'I'S . WY ' 'Y P' The Ship! 'wyzlys and Means Committee -the N2lX'igZIfiflI1 Dcp11rtmcnt 's qu:11'rcr111:1st crs :xml st r'ikcV':, :md . . . , the Ship's Band, an importzmt part of the division and hrmsrs at daily HSKIll-IT1ll'l1L'VS' SL'l'L'l1llk1CS.H 6 f f We ff ff X ' X mf, ff ,mf ff ,ff f , 7 ff!Qf,M ,f and 'W' ' rf., 2 ,1 Q, fl , 4 K V4 X1 ' f M' ,V fain 4 f f FV ,eil D. F. Scott handles the helm as lkeutemmt Blake, Uflieer of the Deck on watch, cheeks the sl1ip'5 course. Ov A., X X xx - ltmium V, Mlm, ,,, ,QW Ngnxnfmmr lmm ilu, Illllt ul flu NIIIIWNRHl1llHlNxllil1IlllQ um llr, lmlxu 5l11lIll. Ili 1 5 1 1 f a X X -1 X l N X asf-N X X ' ss. XX 'A XX , bmp X 2 A X N X -mm S' Q A -X A -X. W N Q Xi? if 4 21 il2lLiiA.lf2ll! . .. '-SM.?i1!J!IZllillA.liJll2ilX LRw?S'!f1lilRK!XR?AlflKQRlX aFES,EL!k.lllIIlI!f3KiK,k2?IJ K'!!s'!l1fL!I,8iNQ?3!mL??lU QRSKQWDWLEQJMITWES ERA! Lfliifmlpfiffl- x il, Q- ,4.mf mcamm X Q it X , W Ay f ff 7 I 4 ' ,J 2 H 1 Wg? w p, my NV? X f , , , , , U5 ,y , W' ff 5, fffff , ,, ,ul ,f 7 , K4 r f,77hQ' f W.-2 EW if Ivy , Q7 ' ., 'W '17 K f f , X The Maill Issue Room-shopping district nlmogml 1111 :Li1'cx':1f't c:u'l'ic1'. ' To the' men in the Supply OfHce fell the pcrplexitics of ' ' U lmmlr. Q Imzzrncum, first Supply UHicer- recordmg and zlccounrmg for the vast stock ofsuppllcs. with IA. Cmmlr. 'l'I14n-pg, hig rgligf. 1 i N Jx!':d!ir'knr 1 11. 1 TL. ,R ,A , r'j:i:gt1II 'A 'L ' , ! ,A,, U .A-,-.-.l.-,.A.,.,.M ,Fi ff -I fffiv If I-'f - ' I 1 5.352 .,..M , -. Ig I ...,..-..,J I 1' 33 Eg'-WM-M 13'-'xi-' E 5 2'5'?gifiz. L-' ,J A , I 5.37. . .-.--.1 if-i fx XI 5 I 1'fg,1:, I 3 ..,,4,- 1 E 5 ,,,.V,,f ,Z I-.N 5 If . LI,-I -. A 1. I . -f ,V 1 ,, .- 5 I Q yr' fyfiis S, 127 nlav fi V 241:-3 A SS . - A P, , I 3 AW, .II RI.--113: :HIL f-fn ,I ,,I,,, I 0,31 .Haig L. -6,-vi! , I g Jgfggg- ,-MI. :S I 2 2 s Z-z,:'vif9J1: 5 g 5f , ,i,j-f,1 51,312 5 W i P Puff' - , , , . ., . MI. nu- I I I iw' I ,, Iv: I I. aiu- H e' I I 'fm i I 4 :l19l' ,i I -: fs -3: I Q lag' CQ fe ? 2 I i ff Aff? Q 1 2 , , .1 I iz, '- Q: ' 1 31' , -'mf M -, Q I, Q tm -2 ,gg 5 3 wiv, '-ay. ., ..g'.-1 4 i'1'Jf f:. - 4 ,.,.-.3 . ,,:,5'.,v,, I -pq '..: tj lI,..'.f-,eg 1 .I-:gf-I-.', I lg, Qgf-2Q,Q,'.y1 5 I K It QL , , ,I 3 1 f as H iff. . fini H3 2 5 A-S I I PA-W-f-MMM-A-A-PA-WMI-AM-A-I-I-A A.-I-M f Q-'I-'fa- K-Iwasfm-1f--:-,:,:4-Y:.S:,:v:2f..4mLv:4.Q-1.,ff-Q,Q-IASL15 4 L.....k LI'T n.T .,.Q...''f.1IZf'.lffT.Il2flff'.lI2TliflfITffIQ'QQ.lIl'.fQff 'g f E ilfI,lT Qlifl.I.,T-llfff,..u.f. 'A',,.f.'fX1f'.,'Q,'.II, ,il RABAUL I THE GILBERTS I NAURU I KAVIENG I, II, III I THE HARSHALLS I TRUK I CAROLINE ISLANDS I TINIAN I SAIPAN MARIANAS ISLANDS I CAROLINE ISLANDS I HOLLANDIA I TRUK SAIPAN I TINIAN AND GUAM I BATTLE CAROLINE ISLANDS -I GF THE EASTERN PHILIPPINES - PAGAN ISLAND . GUAM o AREA AND MINDANAO PALAU I BONIN ISLANDS I PALAU I DAVA S I NEGROS I PALAU I MANILA AREA CENTRAL PHILIPPINE PHILIPPINES I CALAMIANS I PHILIPPINES I OKINAWA SHIMA IMOSA . LUZON - VISAYAS - oRMoc BAY - MANILA BAY , g .RQ xx X X K. --XX- jfmgjjnff mm 4 year nf a,f.fm1ff.f 077 lim Yap, 'CEICIII' lim Rll7l!x'r'V f'!1'f, ' wwf! !,f ll In 1, f , A . 1 A . -:new-cw.-.Q WW-4-----f--f--N -r - Th e Battl X1'y7' R.-,gl K ..,4 ..,, .. fl A' A' ' ,I ' H - ., I r:fr.,f,L,,.:,r,? S P, 3,4117 2, fu fm 5f,:,7,l377unC6J in the ff if itf1?iCof2r, war lize ' 'vlfvfll 1 r T 'isa' V-4: x F. 1 4 i'?fsf fi if lftc' ,ffffgo .fm iii Sqyzzzzffrofm. t was the rare privilege, too, of the U.S.S. Bunker Hill to operate during a transitional period that saw the growth of America's might on the seas. Her initial operations were characterized by au- dacity and courage of Naval leadership. With but a few ships and a sound attack, the fight was carried to the enemy. In unbelievably short months the result of a war-spurred America was seen in the tremendous growth of her fleet. A veritable juggernaut took over the Pacific, drove the enemy from its positions, and O swept in conquest from Rabaul to the Philip- pines. The dawn of 1944 saw the U.S.S. Bunker Hill charging to Kavieng-the most daring thrust into Jap-con trolled waters of the war. Through the Gilberts, the Marshalls, against the bastion of Truk, theuunsinkable carriers of the Carolines, this ship sailed and fought and won. We hit the enemy hard and often. This is the story of one ship's part in that conquest, not the story of a Task Force, but possibly typical of the path that many carriers took in the Fight for the Pacific. Emi: M, iw' T 'ig . galiffzi.f,nxe.r,4f-,xwxmafimxsaxaoaaoc RABAUL Dawn-November 11, 1943: the longest day of our life. It all comes back in the form of mental flashes drawn from a brain file of vivid plc- tures that now yellow in an ash-heapnof memory. We won't forget it. In AmCr1C9- Armistice bands played for holiday parades, and strings of confetti fell like well-wishes from Heaven. A cold wind swept the streets of Chicago, and a brilliant, warmish sun lay close to the heart of Texas, the lemon light of East Forty-Second Street was hardly enough to ward off chill winds that swept up from the man-made canyons of Lower Manhattan, and in Georgia the last locks of cotton were being packed into burlap bags by husky Negroes who sang about Glory and Hallelujah as they worked. That was back home. You have forgotten it by now. This was out here: a small force of carriers and destroyers streaked northward and west- ward through warm, tropical waters, their greyish stacks shimmering in the diffused light of a bright moon that sifted its way through a white skein of clouds. It was an hour before sunrise and you could hardly discern where the moonlight ended and the bluish twilight began. Sailors were going to their battle stations, pilots were climbing into their planes, the bell muzzles of dozens of ready guns pointed solemnly into the winey air of a tropical dawn. Everywhere there was an electrical current flowing and ebbing through the blood of a new crew that waited to light a new ship. Through the minds of these 3,000 men there ran a human movietone of mystery and excitement, they were waiting to meet an enemy they had never seen, an enemy they had sailed thousands of miles to face. Today was the first day, it was the beginning of time, it was the epitome of fanfare and trum- pets, of startling noises and sickening smells, of man's roaring mechanics made to fend off his enemies, of a small kid's willingness to pray-even after he becomes a grown man, gestive qualities: Japanese ships at anchor, hundreds of antiaircraft guns that lined the hook-shaped estuary, and dozens of airfields that, by dawn, would be sending hundreds of the Emperor's finest birdmen soaring into the Emperor's own unchaste sky. Rabaul. There'll never be anything quite like it. That day--that longest day of our life--stands out not only as the ship's first action, a baptism of fire to take its place among the great battles of the war, but for its defensive brilliance. On this ship Rabaul will be remembered most for the manner in which our squadrons and ships repelled wave after wave of enemy planes in one of the most vicious and prolonged attacks then on record. It all came about as an unscheduled side- show not many days prior to the invasion of the Gilbert Islands. Leaving our Pacific head- quarters we were told of the role we were to play in that invasion. You could hardly de- tCCt signs of approaching battle among the crew, it was still something vague and far away. Sun-bathing and flight deck sports- they Were more like reality. Battle was tomorrow, something that likely would never come. Yet in less than two weeks the Baby of Quincy was cutting her teeth in glorious battle against the enemy, having her flight deck drenched with salt water geysered up by near misses, and seeing her own children countered with death and destruction from the onslaughts of the Nippon tide. The day before November ll was strangely monotonous. Routine duties filled our daily schedule. Having never been through battle, the visions of our foe were somewhat unreal, almost nonexistent. At nightfall the atmos- phere tensed up, however, men about the deck saw loading preparations under way: huge bombs, deadly torpedoes, tons of air- craft ammunition-nothing could be left un- done. The Captain spoke . . . that brought us closer still to what waited us tomorrow: We're steaming up the slot tonight, he said, --the slot so famous for its battles for Guad- alcanal Cthe shores of the Solomons had been sighted at noon that dayj-for the chance we've all been waiting for. fTraining days . . . towed sleeves . . . lifeless target sleds . . . friendly dogfights.J We've been asked to help out on a little job at Rabaul, and we'll contact the enemy in the morning. 1QPhotographic planes had given weird des- criptions of this New Britain base, its land- locked harbor, its numerous associated air- fields. Rabaul-it was a fearful name, after all.j I have every confidence that each and every one of you will do his duty . . . It was just after sunset and the twilight suddenly held mysterious fortunes for tomor- row, a day that had seemed vaguely unreal. Pilots had been briefedgdinner was served. Though it was hot and sultry below decks, the battle supper was nothing short of a har- vest feast. Viewing the kingly setting, Ensign Charley Husted was heard to remark: I hope this isn't the Last Supper . . . For Charley it Was, his plane went down in fiames and he was forced to parachute down over the target into a storm of strafing Jap planes. Tomorrow did come. For breakfast all hands had beefsteak, and at 0645 sixty-nine pilots and their crewmen took off in twenty- seven Hellcats, twenty-three Helldivers and nineteen Avengers. Forced to the sidelines because his Avenger engine was skipping, Lieutenant Bob Higley saw his teammates blend with the dawn, thinking that he alone would have to wait and sweat them out . Before the flight had rendezvoused, his plane was in commission, however, he took off, a solitary figure in the cockpit of his plane, a typical American fighting man that he was- and that's the last memory we have of that gallant airman. He was never seen in the vicinity of the target, and it was feared that he fell victim to jackal Zekes on the lurk for stragglers. Friendly planes appeared overhead: Fight- ing Seventeen, our first fighter squadron that was now land-based in the South Pacific, had come out to keep vigil while the heavy air units winged their way over the target. Twelve of them, headed by Skipper Tommy Blackburn, who was later to lead his WHFFIOYS to a Navy record, landed aboard to refuel after sunrise. TheY Were Covered with eager handshakers who remembered them.as the Bunker Hill's own. Seventeen's Corsairs took back to the skies, climbing high over their mother carrier, and the ship took stock Of IKS own readiness to meet expeCtCd .laP91nFSe counter assaults. Live currents of electricity stirred every compartment, each gun statlon and every control station. The Calm blue water, the white-spotted sky, the stifling heat of mid-morning seemed to be precurSOrS Of storm. For the first time men were wear- ing their helmets of their own free will, and lifebelts were frequently displayed. Mental tension heightened when word came that our strike was returning, that there would be cripples, the injured, the dead, perhaps. Pharmacist's mates and doctors, marked by 'the red cross, took stations at battle dressing areas, the sight of preparations for the seem- ingly inevitable made your stomach tie up in sickening knots. Occasional reports of enemy snoopers stirred the battle stations, quickened the imaginations of men. It had to come. The Japanese never refused a fight, and, damn 'em, let them come . . . But first came our own planes. High above the horizon, like friendly billybees, our figh ters. Below them, accompanied by a throaty roar of heavy engines, came the torpedo planes, the bombers. You counted them. It had to be that Way: some were missing. They the landing soared closer and came into circle. The grim marks of L combat reared their ugly reminders for the first time: Radio- man W. O. Haynes, Jr., was slumped in the rear seat of Lieutenant Bob Wood's Hell- diver-a bullet hole in his jaw. jumped by Jap fighters, he had shot one down ke t others oH' by continually firing his gung, evgn after being painfully wounded . . , The gallant never die, we had heard somewhere . . . Lieutenant Cjgj Carby brought his Avenger in with 207 ,holes showing plainly and the controls shot away. Miraculously, none of the bullets had touched his crew. , l22 been notified that huge Jap attack forma- tions were on their way to wipe out our force. Word was passed out to the gunnery sta- tions, and the batteries were galvanized into readiness. Flight deck crews, unaware of the enemy's approach, were busily engaged in launching planesg the engineers below decks took orders for maximum speed on minimum notice. The Japs were coming. Far above the flight deck, in air forward, a sailor lookout suddenly stopped his search- ing glass. He had settled on a formation of thirty-three dive bombers headed straight for our formation. Lieutenant Cjgj Charley Sim- mer, recognition ofiicer, took over and con- firmed the identification: Vals, the deadly Jap dive bombers. Guns trained out, power drives purred and whined. In one sudden burst a veritable inferno went up on the starboard bow. Plane crews stopped their launching and watched the last fighter sent off sail down the deck and shoot down a dive bomber just a few yards ahead of the ship. The five- inchers' first salvo sent two more spinning into the water, flaming. The battle was on. The madness lasted for fifty-two minutes, a record for Pacific air attacks up to that time. Vals were joined by Kates and Bettys and Zekes and Tonys. A wild, ensuing melee stopped all time, while guns roared and men ducked violent splashes from near misses. Strafers cut open fuel tanks on already armed bombers lined up on our decks, the fumes of gasoline permeated the wild, smoky air. Hard- hitting Hellcats and Corsairs sent scores of Japs to their graves just short of the Nippon goal, and guns belched death over what had been a sober, placid sea. Let 'em come, damn 'em, let 'em come . . . And until mid-afternoon Tojo sent them into our caul- dron of brimstone. A combination of willing, ready men and leadership saved us that day. Captain Ballen- tine conned his ship through her first storm with the calm and genius of a truly great military man. Fighter planes-the Corsairs and Hellcats launched from our decks--pen formed like the veterans that recorded history has now shown them to be: Fighting Eight- een's Hellcats got thirty-four planes in all that day, Fighting Seventeen's Corsairs burned nineteen of the attackers out of the sky in a matter of several minutes-being led by Ike Kepford, who got four Nips that afternoon and started on his way to become the N avy's leading ace with sixteen confirmed kills, six Nips were shot down by our ship's guns, with several probables. These figures, coupled with the returns from a sister carrier and a CVL plus the kills accredited to our screening force, account for virtually all of the estimated 150 Rising Sunshiners who came out to destroy us. The formation left wakes that reminded you of a mess of pretzels spread out on a blue tablecloth, Fighter Pilot jack Crawford re- marked after he returned aboard that night. High above the formation, for miles, the sea appeared to be one enormous funeral pyre. The plumes of smoke marked the end of Japanese pilots and their aircraft. Our losses for the afternoon were reported as one fighter plane failed to returnf' Several near misses splashed salt water and shrapnel over our decks, but the Skipper whirled the Bunker Hill's rudders from port to starboard and back, dancing her through hails of bombs and tinfish. Night came painfully on. A white, full moon cut its way over a low cloudbank and perched itself in a latticework of fuzzy clouds. More than once the engine noises of Japanese search planes were audible from this ship, but they never found us. We were on our way back to port, having accomplished a big item listed among the mounting revenges for Pearl Harbor. At midnight the air was still, the sea was calmg the moon shown warmly on a slumbering, exhausted crew. GILBERTS id-November in a Southwest Paciflii Navy base was sultry, lifeless. Blistered palm trees resembled the inervated natives in that both drooped under the oppressive weight of noonday suns, and steaming showers. Small boats shuttled to and fro through the rippleless channel, hauling ammunition and supplies to the battle force that anchored there to prepare for another phase of the Pacific drama. We were there actually a matter of hours, and then the Word seeped out. The Gilbert Islands . . . Tarawa . . . amphibious assaults . . . Mightiest Naval force in all history to take part . . . Tarawa, objective of our Gilbert Islands invasion forces, is as equatorial as the Bel- gian Congo. In its entirety--at that time- it consisted of a lifeless-looking, palm-covered, coral atoll, anchored south of the Marshalls and northeast of Nauru. We read that its natives were descendents of other natives, and that they had been administered to from time to time by missionaries. Plans of attack was formulated so that the Japanese Fleet might have a chance to come out of hiding at Trukg a carrier force was to strike on D Minus Two Day, one day ahead of the main force. That carrier group included the Bunker Hill, which Was, later in this same operation, to become the flagship of Admiral Frederick C. Sherman. r We took our station a hundred miles off Tarawa on November 18. At dawn we struck, destroying what little airpower there was present before it could get off the ground. All day long our bombers, torpedo planes and fighters paid visit after visit to the chalky atoll, pasting it from one end to the other, burning its scant buildings, laying savage Waste to its apparent installations. The air- strip on Betio was wrecked, antiaircraft gun- ners were literally driven from their doughnut revetments. The next day more carriers joined in the savage raids over Tarawa. ,Cruisers moved in and shelled its beaches. At one point in , mafia A iodkouf qc. Jams of chicago, Fifth Divi- gignj picked them up in his binoculars. Bettys! he yelled to the officer on watch. The word sped to the bridge, and the weirdly haunting notes of the Torpedo Defense sent all hands to gunnery battle stations. Then came General Quarters, and even while the clanging noise still iilled our ears, our guns were spitting hot steel and blinding flashes into the calm air. Sixteen strong, these twin- engined Japanese torpedo planes ran hell- bent toward our formation. They reached the raging inferno in twos and threes, only to settle into the ocean, exploding and burn- ing liercely. Our own guns sent six of the Jap prides to their ancestors, our Combat Air Patrol splashed four more, and a screening destroyer was seen to drop another, for a total of eleven kills that were observed from this ship. It is doubtful if any of the Son of Heaven's valiant returned to their Marshall Island bases that night. God, guns, Grum- man and Captain Ballentine's seamanship saved us from a collision course with any of the Nippon's deadly fish. For days following the invasion, time moved slowly, we patrolled with devoted vigilance, and Tarawa-having fallen-was rapidly be- ing converted into an American instrument. Betio's airstrip was reconverted, larger and better, for land-based fighters. Time rolled on, and with the advent of December our crew jokingly referred to the Bunker Hill Island of the Gilbertsf' Several days later we started on a southerly journey, leaving our other forces farther north, where they carried out a devastating attack against the Mar- shalls . . . a piece of work that cost the American Navy one of its truly great air heroes Lieutenant Commander Butch O'Hare. While these forces blasted the japs on the North, our smaller force, comprised of the Bunker Hill, some new battleships and our future right arm , a sister Hattop, delivered pre-Christmas surprise packages to Tojo's boys on Nauru. Gur gifts included a thirty- minute workout with sixteen-inch shells from our battlewagons, we might add, .mm gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Our base never looked lovelier. Green hills, jungled valleys, palm-beached inlets and pot- bellied natives who welcomed our return with salutes from their outrigger canoes. The 0 -. f ' . ' Cliff Ko' 1 1 . . 3-R . ,. ,,,, ,,,.- - , ...., . j... -,Mp H . he . as - so 1 Y - 'A , 'rT! :L Y l gym? sal' ' V L X ik fi A?-' J i ' 4 ' .5 ii' ,,.-.f'.ii-i.'-' ..., -Q ,, ' 4 J - Q ff 4 V s f '- . , 1 ' -'.-- 'J' hp 1- Wi, .ff H ,D an-. - .A-F. i -1 , f 11 . X. at V I , Ili! . 'N ix Q.. 1' I R, 3 ' i ' f' . . ' we 2 I, .x i , , 1 .Y Q E. . if -fsfffliil sa i X ir, J X jf., , 'ff' , 'i .T 5 ' ' 1 1- '-r t,gfJ!tL'kv 1:25 20 I, I , K - I ' in Ti liifiiliid X , J . I . ' ' Captain issued greetings and well done to his crew, adding that he hoped they would get ashore on recreation parties, they de- served the finest of rests available, he said. The Air Group went ashore for rest and flying exercises, the gunners reloaded our vast magazines with new, shiny parcels of bomb-shaped TNT, oliicers and crew so- journed ashore for beer and baseball, and it rained to beat hell every day. December's 'teens were waning, and the mailman sweated and swore and delivered to the Bunker Hill enough mail to match a Christmas rush season in a medium-sized city. It was great to be alive once more, for Sally and Sue crashed through with lovely, lovely memoirs de Amer- ique, the least of which were not proxied kisses .from junior, mamma, or somebody else's twenty-year-old daughter. 125 KAVI EN G A Christmas party, that's what everybody talked about. Big turkey dinner, beer on the beach, cocktails at the club, Wl'10SC tropical decor was replete with jungle smells. It would be nice to let Admiral William Bull Halsey be Santa Claus-he was our South Pacific Commander. Admiral Bull was reluctant, but he promised a surprise. December 21, 1943. This is New Ireland, these dots represent Jap airfields. This squared-off space is a town, named Kavieng. We will strike shipping in this harbor. The Air Officer, Commander J. M. Carson, swept his hand over the briefing chart and added a few words, then he dis- missed his class, consisting of Air Group Seventeen. That's Christmas for you. Kavieng. First Apartment on the left after you turn down Rabaul Boulevard-just before you get to Truk Square. God bless 'em if we have to go get 'em at Christmas Time. We went. Christmas Day found the Bunker Hill deeper in enemy territory than she or any other carrier had been since Pearl Harbor. Back home you were lining the streets to see an extra special feature at the theatre, you were drinking rye highballs and giving way to bad cases of telephonitusg you were carv- ing the turkey at the head of the table-as the old man should dog you were wondering where the hell your son, your brother, or your husband was. If he was aboard the U.S.S. Bunker Hill, he was at Kavieng. He saw and helped launch and fiew with the V of blue-backed white-trimmed bombers, torpedo planes and fighters that swooped down on sleeping Kav- ieng and stabbed its harbor contents to death. He saw the reports showing a medium AK sunk, another heavily damaged, and several motor torpedo boats and barges' left burning. Your son Mac the Sailor heard about a ship- mate who didn't fare so well: Lieutenant Cjgb H. C. Carby, torpedo pilot, and his crew were hit over the target, forced down at sea near enemy territory. Efforts to rescue them were to no avail, but with undaunted courage these shipmates took over where Grumman had been forced to leave off' . . . Forty-four days later they were rescued, after having spent twenty-nine days in a rubber boat and the remaining fifteen days on a Jap-held island being hunted like Wild animals. Sailor Mac was there and he'll never forget it- a small force lost in the fathomless mystery of a vast Pacific, with the world and Christ- mas aeons away . . . That night the torpedo planes came out for us again. They searched, criss-crossed and redoubled, but the Skipper and Admiral Sher- man guided us at a comforting speed toward hometown base. The .laps gave up. The next day we had Christmas dinner. Sailors sweated down a ton of turkey, drank lovely iced-tea, cracked nuts with holding pins, ate pockets full of runny candy fthe heat, re- member 95, and crawled off to a quiet corner with pen and stationery. Dear Sally Cand! or Suej: I spent the strangest Christmas you ever dreamed of . . . His written voice trailed off into an Arctic dream, a dream trimmed with F our Roses and brown sugar, with tinkling wine glasses and lethargic mel- odies, with Sally fandfor Suel. Half way back to base the U.S.S. Bunker Hill lost steering control, turned exactly 1800 about face and set sail for Kavieng. The alleged lost steering control turned out t0 be a Captain's command, following an Ad- miral's order, following information that our new hometown, Kavieng, was aboutnding in Shipping once more. The Holiday EXprCSS churned back past the shadow posts of Truk. No one asked: they knew we would hit 011 New Year's Day. So the first day of 1944 we struck again, but this time it wasn't a surprise. AHEFY Zeros circled over the target, darting in and and out and around our formation, and, HS usual, meeting their ancestors dressed in charred flying suits. Big Sam Silber, fightfil' Sk1PPC1', flexed his fifty-calibre muscles and three Zekes regretted the day that D011 ,- ' ' - . L+ ... - M,,,-..- vdzi.-ff - :zz , f1 g-fafff:-ffif - N XX : 1 T--4 1,--f :f F we-1 i7 W 4 l l ff - XX 'Tig ' 1Sn5 X-L'?-sm A X '54, X --.. A fg XXX, 'ff 13+- W5 Ameche invented the airplane. Other fighters took their tolls, and the torpedo planes, bom- bers and lighters from our Air Groups left two cruisers in sinking condition. It was a hit parade day for Bomber Skipper Moe Vose's Helldivers. Only dark spot of the day came when it was reported that our shipmate Lieutenant George Freed and Chief Photog- rapher's Mate H. C. Sharkey were shot down over the target. They were following their duty to the utmost, and it ended in death. That we were leaving Kavieng the next day was not bad news to the Bunker I-Iill's crew. While eager to smack the laps, they were also eager to get a good night's sleep, a New Year's dinner, and some more mail from the S and S twins. We steamed toward our island paradise, a veritable New York, a pos- sible mecca, a damned good place for relax- ing. That steering trouble again. You won't believe it, but the next day found us headed back for what had to be our hometown, Kavieng. One bluejacket remarked that it reminded him of Baltimore: once he got there he could never get out. A January 4 dateline in American news- papers several days later noted tersely that a fast carrier force had struck Kavieng, New Ireland, for the third successive blow. Big headlines screamed about the Government's taking over railroads, while other heads told of American airforces plastering Germany. We guessed we weren't very large frogs in this big pond. Oh well, Admiral Santa Claus had said we were doing marvelously. We believed in him. This time the boys found a pair of destroyers among the list of arrivals since we last saw K-. Torpedo hits, bomb hits and near misses by the Bunker Hil1's and another carrier's airmen left both ships sink- ing at the harbor entrance. Losses of the day included Ensign Bugs Beedle, fighter pilot, who was lost to Jap fighters. His loss was partially revenged by stellar marksmanship on the parts of Don Runyon and H. F. Hol- man, a TBF gunner, who got a Zeke apiece. January 5, 1944. No kidding, this time we were headed for port. MARSHALLS It was good to be home again. The Skipper urged us to go ashore and do a bit of re- creating, and it didn't take but the one in- vitation to send the bluej ackets swarming over the side, into landing barges steered by bronzed, wiry coxswains, off to make a liberty beachhead. Intermingled with the few days of relaxation was the same routine of work-reloading supplies and stores, taking on bigger and better bombs, some of which the sailors were already inscribing with: From Gilbert to Marshall, Tokyo Rose, listen to this, it'll kill you, . A hot kiss for the betrayers,' the pseudo captionists went on into the night . . . which was generally sultry and noiseless. There was that mailman again, too. He sent letters from New York to our base in ten days and lessg he flew magazines and min- iature newspapers into our hands, and we read that our,Comma-ndernin Chiefhadmbeen i 1 ... -,,,.'.,-:i:1m1m.,.n...-.w--,,,f:u- . .,. .,... -aw, 0.3-9a.L,s.m..2..:a-1.-,e.'z. - a-visiting: Cairo and Teheran. We also saw that the Russian Army had moved n1netCCI1 miles on a fifty-mile front in five days, that General MacArthur staged ea surprise party at Araweg that the Apennines were blazing with artillery fire. Nostalgic reminders of Christmas came in letters that caused senti- mental hangovers. But most of all we could be proud that the New Year saw us on a wide winning leg of the war. It was mid-January and the Bunker Hill once more put to sea. Our force ranged north and east to join what sail locker strategians were predicting to be the greatest battle armada in the history of sea power. The Hrst plan we got a glimpse of was so vast that, in comparison, the Gilberts cam- paign was dwarfed. We rendezvoused with battlewagons and cruisers, more carriers and more destroyers. From horizon to horizon the sea gleamed with bright new men-of-war, manned by proud sailors. The'Bunker Hill's crew viewed these feats in shipbuilding with experienced, appraising eyes: they were now battle veterans who knew what it felt like to face the enemy-time and again. Some of the more composed were inclined to stifle a yawn, while looking at the ship's chrono- meter spin us onward, saying, uninspired, Another operation, another operation. Bolstering our role of importance in the Marshall game lineup were two ace news- papermen who boarded the ship in Santo, APman Spencer Davis, veteran desk man of the San Francisco Bureau, and Scripps-How- ard's and America's Raymond Clapper, whose columns back home were devoured by Presi- dent and partisan alike. You could see them on the flight deck, along the gallery walkways, up and down the island structure-making notes, chatting with the men, andhthen re- tiring to their rooms to write inspired storie of what America's youthful seamen and air men were contributing to a drama whose im- mensity staggered the layman's imagination, D Day in the Marshalls was set for Jan- uary 31, and out strikes began on the twenty- ninth. Captain Ballentine warmed up tg the S 128 .u.4',. , . ,M I .. ,,a,--..........-.,, .t . Q-u... I - ...-.1-1.-m,.g........,e..z,.... f public address mike several days before the gampaign began, expressing his appreciation for the enthusiastic and dogged support his men had given . . . We're going up to enjoy the trade winds around the Marshall Islands, he concluded. The Bluejackets laughed and bent to their tasks. The Old Man'll go anyway, they were saying among themselves, and we'll go right with him. J Just after 0500 on D Minus Two Day the first bomb left its bay from a Bunker Hill HeQldiver over Kwajelein and fF.beye, and once more the war was on. All day long the heavily-laden flying workhorses rose from our deck, and explosions over Nip-held territory reverberated down the main street of Toyko. Then came incendiaries, and then came holi- day colors-it was President Roosevelt's Birthday-and then came those awful head- ache hangovers that Japanese defenders were finding commonplace up and down their outer perimeter. From Kwajelein we moved north to Eniwetok, where it was believed that the wily Jap would be staging plane-attacks out over our sea forces. Cur guess was 100 per- cent on, for strafing Hellcats caught Eniwe- tok's runways shimmering with a combination of brand new Bettys and early morning light. Equal destruction was rained down on neigh- boring targets of Parry, Engebi, and Ulangi, and Tojo's first team never had a chance. The trade Winds felt soft and warm against watchstanders' faces, the hot breath of TNT' blistered the hapless defenders of the Mar- sha1l's hintermost atoll. Just as every successful operation must take its toll, so the Marshall campaign visited tragedy into our ranks. Thirteen memb6fS of Air Group Seventeen made Supreme Saff' 155068, and Raymond Clapper Hew t0 his death with the torpedo squadron's colorful Skipper, Lieutenant Commander Frank Whit' akefs H noted pilot throughout the PacifiC- AIWEWS there to gather first-hand information, Mr. Clapper had flown over the Eniwetck target area with Commander Whitaker to wit- ness a bombing run by TBFS. The Skippfifis plane collided in mid-air with his wingmfma -Q ' . wg . .-.4 134 s it-all 1 . i Lieutenant Cjgl Ed Stack, and all were plunged as a mass funeral pyre into the blue lagoon. Whitaker's regular crewmen, Sill and Toothaker, followed their skipper to their deaths, as did Stack's crew, Moins and Well- baugh. It was a hard series for the Bunker Hill, for also lost during the operation was Lieutenant Mark Mowry, devout fighter pilot f - - - ' ' , .gurzggg:::4:::::: ':i':,airi.,-..... - 4,5-gf? j , V, 1 ..::ggiE::.':: '- K X Q is ,, L .-...- , N-K W yd, . -rr--rwft --1-g-.,,,,.J-,Y .ma-.-,,.,,,M.. nie,-,., .-.. lfjfff ,-- F, 5, 533 f,-f'g',f',,, ,, qw. X- 'sf A f f 1 -. f 2? . ?1a?1'Wf I, Q.. IJ' st.:- 1Kg1,.:4-5f.'x uf Ativgglglfyllni T a 'Z Ip. - ' fi ' F S .l.,.a-:j5:1 f ' ,, -.'r'XN-,W l - -. -.-, .. -212.1 or D f ' -- ' .J v - , fi W---fo 'q , 4 -5. -V ,,a--.- p L, 5' C ' ' ,,Qi,Ql:' bgfl'-w,'T , f 1,,. .L , i . --9-1 -ie ' 4' as--.ii A b-.. - ,. ' '- 24.6 ',f ,---A , yi. N- - MT I lv,1,iFfj,. ,Elf 1 fx A -fn 'f' -- 4' f-'X-.-1-ay i -'sf' -ij' :Grier T . ix. H X 'Q 'Lg' tlligi' -ff V,,. ' -,I ia- A j 'iii f .- - ., r -,g f A-ff V, ,.. L. vw. nm, 5 ,, .1 A f -we 1 .f --.-rw .fi ff- V 2' . f f llf' ,ff 4. ff . t y-'KT' '33 . Q.. I ff fzygf Emlfplw -M Y ,, lj'-,i ig, gf:-if-f ,, W' P' Q f-Avy f'T fKri? 4W i'Agg,f?'af'ifi 'N' if ' . M' !,'-Qfry M ,, -A .J,,, 1,1 5 f' ,fa-.1 is ..Qfv?E?'S1'L 5Lg4:,?'i5-55, fidgf' i gg! 'HMS ..,a-Eff :sZ.,.,,.:1.,f y .'- , ,f ' .111 ,,-f' , 5 , 1' ' 'fl V? Q -'ff' 1 X115 - i f fe aaa: .iaa f 1 lk-f ' if .M I if ' ' 51 54Z?4i31:z'51'S-l,.f'pf ,f7fP5' .if-fm ' who became victim of AA fire, Lieutenant Cjgl Pearson and his crew of Emilianowicz and Titsworth and photographer K. H. Shaw, and Lieutenant Cjgj Arthur 0'Sullivan, with his crew of Grimsman and Nicholson. Lieuten- ant Cjgl Guy M. Brown was also a victim of AA fire, but with his crew, lived to enjoy one of the greatest experiences of his life aboard a rescuing destroyer, the U.S.S. Burns, which single-handedly destroyed a four-ship con- voy in a night surface action while enroute from rescuing the airmen. Our Task Force, which had been the spear- head of the Marshalls conquest, found an- chorage in the newly-won coral atolls. The force moved in and immediately set about replenishing its fuel and bomb supplies. Water-bound seamen stared goggled-eyed at the palm-lined rim that protected us from the sea, and they bit their fingers to see if they were dreaming when airmail came tumb- ling aboard in less than forty-eight hours after the battle force came to rest. Clf Sally could only see us now . . . D Uncle Sam's airmail service was turning the globe into a cross- roads cafe, and home didn't' seem as if it were more than a stone's throw from any- place. The American youth's bewildered dream of time and space was vanishing on thin air under the influence of Fast Carrier Task Forces and fairy-tale postmen. It was early in February that we learned that Captain J. J. Ballentine, father of the Bunker Hill, had been promoted to Rear Admiral, his orders calling for his transfer to ComAirPac's staff as Chief of Staff. Ordered to replace him was Captain Thomas P. Jeter, USN, class of 1918, whose work as Navigator and later Executive Officer of the U.S.S. En- terprise had won for him much praise among Naval ofiicers. Captain Jeter came to the Bunker Hill from Washington, where he had served on the staff of Admiral Ernest J. King. He took over command of the ship on,Feb- ruary 5, and Admiral Ballentine headed for Pearl Harbor. ' Before our eyes had stopped drinking in the sky-colored lagoon waters and before our imaginations ceased letting us chase Varga- designed nymphs down palm-frond boule- vards, somebody said a bad word: Truk! 53 FIRST TRUK We had no fears of Trukg only illusions largely fed our imaginations by our own ignorance of its contents. Whoever it was who Hrst mentioned this bad word must have been kidding, we figured, checking our life- belts and wishing we could go for a moon- light cruise in some safe place-Kavieng, for instance. The gall of our own forces as seen in anchoring in a territory conquered two days before was enough for one dose. But now they were talking about playing knock-knock at the gates of Japan's mythical bastion. Sure, they were only kidding . . . And several days later we were headed for Truk. Admiral Marc Mitscher's carriers never held their heads more proudly, and the wagons and cruisers rolled west. Prancing destroyers did improvised Congas on the sparkling whitecaps that are noted in the outlying regions off this Caroline hornet's nest. We were off to a big show, a big dance, and we had ample cash to pay the Hddlers. At noon on February 15, we felt that the striking might of the U. S. Pacific Fleet had been undetected on its trip to Truk. About 1400 we learned that Hghters had found and destroyed a twin-engined Jap patrol plane, Betty by name. This little feat set everybody to wondering. But by nightfall we again felt pretty confident about the whole thing. No bogeys came out to hamper our march. That truckdriver eating a late lunch of beef sandwiches and beer at the Bravo Lunch counter on Cermak Road in Chicago the next day probably didn't have any idea how we-some six thousand miles away-felt about the lunching business. It was all we could do to force down a half an egg and three swallows of coffee before dashing off to Gen- eral Quarters and Watching hordes of Amer- ican fighter planes take to the pre-dawn sky. Our stomach was in pretty much of a knot, for imaginations had been fed plenty of Pacific potion, some labelled Rabaul, some Kavieng and some Tarawa. But they took 0E-dozens of them. Flying in that one-two- one backheld formation, they turned snarling noses toward the haughty pride of the Em- peror's island possessions. Three hours later we were watching them return aboard, and a few minutes later they were telling of blasting Zekes, Hamps, Tonys and Tojos from the springy air over Eten, Paran and Moen airfields. Already the bombers and torpedo planes were visiting destruction to a lagoon full of shipping, and other strikes were rolling from the Task F orce's numerous Bight decks. The element of audacity and surprise was our ace card in handing Truk a shellacking that, in comparison, would have made B1-et Harte's Chinese poker-players look like jay- birds There was a drama at North Pass .,3 u raconteur's convention. Commander Dal Air Group Seventeen's dimunitive chieftai covered the target area for an evaluation r port, radioing to the ship that cruisers, d stroyers, a carrier, several oilers, and nun erous merchantmen were on hand for tl airmen's pop visit. He also reported tha several ships, including cruisers, were tryingi escape through the North Pass. Forthwit the Air Group Commander proceeded to clim directly over the escapists Cand this is world for escapistsj and invite comers on' c that will rank with the best of them in n - f stop them dead. Already battleships and several cruisers an destroyers had been detached from our for to proceed to this pass and cut off the exi of Jap escapists. While the wagons plowei nearer their goal, planes came to cripple th Nips. What the planes left was polished ol subsequently by the big guns. One fore thoughted Jap skipper was wheeling well ou of the danger zone, his cruiser blistering thi sea for home, when Torpedo Skipper Grady Owen moved in with his boys. Circling the doomed gray hull, Skipper Owen spread hi: flight out around the ship. He steadied their for their run, and running through the ina words of attack readiness, he mentioned thai they owed at least one to the Grey Eaglefi Frank Whitaker, who had left them so sud- denly at Eniwetok. Chow down, the attack command. Spen- cer Davis, AP correspondent, was in on the feast that day. He later Wrote of the IaP'S death, saying that the torpedoes sped toward a pinpoint center, their wakes reminding him Of lingers. They hitg the cruiser, there 2 moment before, rolled over and disappeared. Bomber Pilot Lieutenant Cjgj George GlasS, with C. W. Aunspaugh, his radioman, failed to return from the first strike that day. TWO more gallant crewmen went to their deaths: J- A- Applefeld, radioman for Bill Sheaiifmi and W. B. Gerrity, TBF radioman for Pllot G. A. Turnbull, died from injuries reCCiVed On their flights that day e records that day soared shattered 2 . ' cl Th , n J 130 ggi Q . k., annstiualafz. , ., f, ., , -kin .. , A, , Q 1 . . - 33v3-Qyzf'ggf'f'j-e'-f17f:e'r'A :r':+:-tff'rX'f'?'i-es--W .'.. .,,,,,.,,....a... ..., M . ,. ,, ,, .V . ,. ,, V V1 Ak , ,,,.K . -mn..-'gf......4 ,......... . .-.--1 ....:1-ff-f.,-.,.,.-,,.,.s.-.m1- -spin. -- - ..,, . ,ni , .,.,.,--sv -.T-,-Tm...- is -f-as-'W f- si .,.1..--- ... --... ,,-,.,,. ,,,,,. AMW-.. . ..,., -, .... .. ,.,.....-- . were soaring again before dusk settled over our force. The torpedo luggers slammed sev- enteen hits home out of thirty-nine drops, a record that still holds in Pacific warfare. The bombers scored nineteen direct hits out of seventy-three drops for an average of twenty- six percent--fifteen percent hitting is good bombing. Said Admiral Sherman from his flagship, the Bunker Hill, that night: First strike took Truk by surprise. Destroyed many planes on field, air opposition light. About three cruisers, six destroyers, and one CVE present and attempted escape via North Pass- Q -,,,...------ --. ,,,.....-..---- -i-....1--1-- - -- ---- --M --- ,.,...1----- -,,,....----1-. ,-.....-1-- ,,,.,.1.-l ........--- Vw- Yuggnvig ,-,, -------A ..,...- W., ..-. ,-.. H.-- W.-. .... ..-. ... .....----:--- , W.- ,,.,,,,,L,,,, L., M, .,,., W.. W- W.. - - .V .---....- ----v -.-. - -Y --- --- - - ----f-'f-f- 'f:'-If --Mi .fQffQQffffQIfQIiL V W ? H V..-i..N W-W A .L,,...-..--, ' . , 3-11, if-.,.'.w3+ r-'ri - Q... ,g i,--kxjgiy, ifife . -is- gm , 793, Y . . -E , 1 Vx.-45 -r.53E:.2f,ig,',,5:::Tgfgllqw - .... r A J. 4.,,i-Q ' 'Q-. .--- - 'j,,-I -- 7 -- ' - if --K1 M 'f if 'J GST' --E., f-in-5 h 't'1f' r 'M rn???FafiL,42:,,IQLgfgl.gf1 .. - --.W I Ii - ' ',221.s.-A-'l1'miTELtTiL4.-,Q aft, -23123: .- . .1..r..v:--PQ '- .L rv--fx' I N5L,J,,::s-.gg .L -' 2 v,..,.,. -' Mm.. 1 gn' ---dr fu---..-A:--GH' ,.f-'-':5t'f'rei..-- mi.- ?Fh:.- at-,J 'td' ' 't' -1, , 1:-rxQ -'H 'fm qc--. ,... I-flwfszff -1 , . , ,,.g-y, .-- ,hx-'QQ sgQ,.3,', . mq N-f ---:ATM - ' 1 N,.3.ij,- ' -.Shi - ' g -- . - -.-..- ia-an Q.. , -mg F -- .. ' .. ,, - ,- -' ' . '5-.i.:-. ,ff-f , , , ' , g . fl' V I V . 41. - ' .....--' -- fp ' . ,uit-ss-'W fra-- ,iv-ni' :Tyr F .prrr Mage?-frkrlf'-4 This group hit one CVE, one CL with bombs and sangk one CL with torpedoes. About thirty AKs in lagoon, many sunk and burn- ing. Attack continuing. Stand by for Betty attack at dusk. Betty failed to call that night-even after we sat up and waited for her.' The second day at Truk was a polishing off' routine. The targets were there one min- ute, gone the next. Lieutenant Qjgb N. B. Birkes, with his crewmen, F. S. McKenzie and S. S. Stump, failed to return from their hopg it was believed that they landed in the water just outside the lagoon. A rescue mission was unsuccessful, and quite probably they became prisoners of war that day. The Task Force turned eastward. Sailors began playfully to sing, Let's Meet on the Road to Majuro, and other parodies, Such as The Sleepy Saloon, the Tropical Moon. There were some great stories to come out of the Truk affair. One pilot was picked up out of the lagoon by a cruiser's OSZU, being protected by a formation of friendly fighters that strafed the pants off Jap escort vessels attempting to capture the American. Other stories were almost as fantastic, each of them corroborating the N avy's policy to make res- cues wherever at all possible. Pilots and the bluejackets talked about Truk for twenty- four hours running, and it would have gone on into another day and night if someone hadn't noticed a series of fleet tankers ease into our formation . . . and commence pour- ing into hungry carrier tanks the precious fiuid that makes Tojo run. At precisely that point, just when people were wondering how the soldiers were doing in Italy, it was an- nounced that something new had been added to our prospective list of imminent targets. After Truk, our first guess was a field day in Tokyo, but, as usual, we weren't exactly right. p FIRST TINIAN est of Truk, and its neighboring Caro- line Islands, and east of the Philip- pines-more precisely, Southern Luzon-there are a group of islands known in geographic circles as the Marianas . . . The Intelli- gence OHicer's voice droned on for ten min- utes before we stopped having visions of how American'forces had been brutally destroyed on Guam. We also thought of Saipan, of Rota, Tinian, mystic Japanese words. These mental fiashes fitted into a pretty logical picture. Our audacity in attacking Truk could not be repeated again soon, the Japs probably figured. But they didn't see eye to eye withfAdmiralRaymond Spruance's Fifth Fleet and Marc Mitscher's carriers. If we could fiatten Saipan, it would mean that Betty's coming-out parties would be fewer and farther between, for this allegedly was her favorite staging promenade. If we could destroy military installations on Guam-well, we promised to come back didn't we? It all made very good sense, and ,Sailor M210 felt that nothing could stop him now. Since .WC felt an attack coming on, we began looking around for a holiday . . . ' George Washington was born on February 22. That's good enough for anyone, and. Father George himself probably couldn't have picked a more likely Delaware to cross. 'The afternoon of the twenty-first Was typically Pacific. Thin wisps of white clouds, sky and water so blue that one found it dif- ficult to discern where the sky ended and the ocean began. Patrol planes of our own re- ported sighting a patrolling Jap Betty some thirty miles away. We couldn't quitedecide whether we had been seen, and, frankly, we didnjt care too much. It was going to be a hot time in Garapan tomorrow, Garapan being the proverbial old town in this case. Some time after sunset the snoopers filtered out and felt out our size and shape, so ap- parently the Betty had ,seen us during the afternoon. That size and shape must have been of rather unbelievable qualities, for one cpntingent of the attackers came too close for their own good and a battlewagon sent a veritable Fourth of July up to meet them. Two Bettys exploded, illuminating the ec- static faces of our gunners who waited for their turn. Five-inchers laid temporary dia- mond stickpins over the opaque horizon, the forty millimeter's lazy tracers arched in every direction from the formation's heart, while occasional bursts from the fire-throated twenty millimeters tore' a thousand gay streaks into nature's purple canopy. The attack lasted all night long, with the ,laps taking a hell of a lacing from our guns. The bugle screamed every attack for-mation's approach, curdling good American blood with the un- forgettable notes of Torpedo Defense. Before the dawn came fiooding westward out of God- send, more than a dozen Nippon, low-flying torpedo planes had been seen to explode from this ship. Admiral Mitscher's They can't stopyou now! carried with it a punch of 'ultaneous with the climb of a horde of' , . e SQ' if .f 'F ,-i. if confidence that American sea power since feltg that punch was rapidly he a genius-guided uppercut. Even as the enemy planes stillhoverq the outskirts of our formation the next: ing, our strikes rolled from our decks ir point precision. For an hour past sunris tell-tale trails of smoke from burning planes were visible from our superstru stations, but the American airman wa swering reveille with a terrible awak means of his own. Before dawn Sk Pete Aurand, Doc Davisson, Jackl and Bitsy Bice, of the night fighters, sl: from our Hattop and raced westward to the N ip fighters on the rise from their ianas fields. Their orders, Proceed to 'I and destroy all aircraft in the air and o ground, was a pretty big assignment manner in which they carried it out is a Bunker Hill odyssey. Sticking togetl a tight formation, as all good lighter3 do, these four horsemen reached Tinian Zeros The general melee that follow the laps hard, and it meant the loss of Q Bice, who was separated from his shipnr The Skipper polished off a Zeke and cha twin-engine fighter out of the fracasg Davisson got a Zeke, and Jack Bertie p a genuine coup de grace. Attacked by a formation of Zekes, with lead pouring int plane and belly tank, Jack shot one 4 before he himself was hit in the arm anf His injuries pained him so that he C011 muster strength to pull the release ti bellY tank, but he was strong enoug PFCSS his gun switches. Two Zekes cr! his sights, and two Zekes met the ki! death. Lost in a chasm lined with R ' B turned his plane for home, hardly dafin believe that he would make it. He did lt, miraculously enough, and ordnanc Checking his badly shot-up plane darned fainted to find that he had expended af total of 200 rounds of ammunition. FOI' he was later awarded the Navy CroSS, Suns and separated from his mates, n e 1 1 M, .,.1:eT,,.,A rin. 4 . .... ., , ,. , V . 1, mfr..-.Q 1:55 ugmn-521.18-Juffmn--magma.:-..1:.. u.u ' -- V- -Y 4- -7' - ...Li -i, 4 PJ ji. ,pri ,wa V' the entire unit was lauded by the Air Group Commander for 'their aggressive action in carrying out a mission thrust upon them through a sudden 'change in tactical situa- tion. Strikes that day visited Tinian, and the serene-looking sugar cane fields of that island fogged over with smoke and fire as the day Wore on. A fighter sweep dropped in on Guam, and Skipper Sam Silber reported meager AA fire over the former American base. Other attack missions sent several ships to the bottom in the anchorage between Saipan and Tinian, and combination bombing and strafing reduced fifty to sixty parked air- ,g-bp . V: lf,-kk' -112, A fill- i ?2ifiQQ1'E2I. qg,1:.,. 'Q me wif -1 sign - 'iw if U u fill TW-4 V Q ' . r. 1 p . iv 1 ,ll X-.gllizliil w ,. rl . , fi ', iitflfii i il 2' ,.. ,J ,M 1 1 plf E 5 2,1 Ewa' 1 iiiggc-1,39-fr hr, lllikl- l I li ','. llllli 'r- li F35 l 55521 nl +23 wx V15 T -P i lt! l ag In ,.liifw,ifi li ll. at H-i,.,f x1. -' , ,. . A , ,S ,.,, .. ' ,lg'uplv,' - 7477 'lr' . fs' W M PM if ,wg 'E' 1 Ei .15 l 1 QQ' ,Tx .4 5, 2-' wil' ,fifcg--1' T1 ill min I ful: i'i'i2fi W, 1 1 .lg fl 'til Q. 3 tk L 'iifilflflj f f .1 cf? ,Ef!29,T'2pT1,-.J?5pji3F'5 2471342 f' q .1357 lui .illililili 5' illihli- TH ,,5?f.agg5Zi'1. E,,.e,,-gf5,,,rL5,.,.,J,.,',,j5,.ggg xzwllill pqwlgi, 2 NLM.-1:5i,ggirig14iE.HA , r-:.:r-qymf-.+ff:wee,1.,f:ff-fjjfmri 1 L im 'f'- ,' cgi - - l-1 if'3.i-Tiif' ai 1 - 1 .- 1- xgl gfizllfglgii 1 , g - --f,1. :.: '.1f.-...fa , 1' ,ri 1 Q 'if was 1 -- y, L, 1 ,l 'pl l if 1 2 , 35,lgzlf-:.Q13m,f,!- - N,Q. ,,.,,,, 5' Q QS 1 fe., , Ii I , !,l in 1ylf,g.i,, , ,.4,,..wf. is, ,V . .M 3' y l i , ' l 1 l Mil 1Qf,f:YfJ' .-,,,.,5!. 'M' iff A Z 4, W -1'xw..i4lf'-- T l xl if li i iff' rififf-4375 . -L ' 'fini-i5'3'e-V -A i'1fff T' , F l ,'i,Qf,?,' 'li u V g1 5f9 j F- iUi'f7:i'fQ 1' i .Y lf il 'T .--Q. . -.N 2- T155 Witt -ww .. .. -vi i ... i , fam -, mul . -a-af:-P A -.,,,,,,f,,f-- ,,- ,wiv . ,isa.,.L,,h.,,,4qq-r 'H L, bd K, f .,,,,..- .. -- -- -- - ' , Qan-+ve, ff ! Y'j:'lf '-2.22, craft to smouldering Mitsubishi ruins. In ad- dition to Bice, Lieutenant Cjgj Forman was lost in the otherwise successful day of opera- tions. The formation steamed back and forth over launching locales, being disturbed only by several weak bogey attempts to probe our well-controlled skies. At nightfall we steamed quietly away. The Heeting days of February found the Bunker Hill lying at anchor in her favorite lagoon, Marshalls area. Her sailors swam peacefully from the deckedge elevator, while Mari'ne guards stood by to take care of Jap- Sympathizing sharks. Several days later re- creation parties were climbing cocoanut trees on the beach, exploring former Japanese hide- outs, and raising general hell up and down a sandy, Atlantic-City-ordered beach. i BACK TO HAWAII hat loud noise you heard in late February wasn't a coal mine caving in on John L. Lewis, it was a cheer rising from the quar- tered ranks of the Bunker Hill's crew, follow- ing the announcement that we were departing north and eastward for a few days, during which we could expect to hear a few idle strains of Aloha and Moonlight on Wai- kiki. Just a few days later you heard another dull thud, which was nothing more than a gang faint pulled by Air Group Seventeen upon learning that they were to disembark at the next port, return to a mythical USA. VVe, in turn, were to pick up Air Group Eight and return to the wars at a specified date. Hawaii never was too bad. In March of 1944 it was a Paris in the Spring. To lie on the grass under the palm-bespangled Royal Hawaiian grounds, to sit under the banyan trees at the Moana, to ask for a steak dinner at P. Y. Chung's and to walk down Bishop Street during a noon shower are pretty won- derful pastimes. Our more unpleasant en- counters included bidding Air Group Seven- teen farewell. But all in all the ten days' visit to T. H. was an oasis. Like all good U., things . . . A E if iw' PALAU nd in late March we were steaming west- ward again. The boys in Primary Fly were collecting dues for membership into a new club, the West of Tokyo Club. Yes in- deed, we were going to Palau, a Jap base east of the Philippines, southwest of the Marianas and north of New Guinea. The largest Naval force of all history shouldered its way to the target, undetected until late afternoon of the day before our attack was 133 to be launched. Commander Andrew Jack' son, Air Group Eight battle-boss, and Com- manders Ken Musick, Bill Collins and Ralph Shifley, skippers of the torpedo, fighting anfl bombing squadrons, respectively, briefed thell' boys on this target area. Rear Admiral Al- fred Montgomery, with flag aboard the Bun- ker Hill, commanded our particular task group. On hand for close-ups of the latest Navy daredevil scheme were newsmcn Dan McGuire, of United Press, and Elmont Waite of Associated Press. Increasing operations varied in method of attack and disposal of forces, but for the Bunker Hill it seemed that each succeeding strike was characterized by this news line: This ship made its deepest penetration into Japanese-held territory to- day, striking-- The eve of attack day, March 29, Japanese air units came out to heckle our might. Three or four enemy planes went down in flames on attempted torpedo runs, and the others de- cided that flying against the American Navy wasn't a sure way to grow old. High flying shadow planes Christmased the ocean with flare patterns, but the gray steeQ giantesses rolled on toward their objective. Long before midnight the attackers-those of them still claiming pay allowances-folded up their wings and stole ofl: into the night. A Jap defender on the Palau Islands, if he had been writing a letter home at dawn the next day, might have begun thus: Dear Mom: These Americans don't know when to quit. We keeled them at Rabaul, at Kavieng, at Tarawa, at Arawe, at Eniwetok, at Kwaj- elein, at-what else did we use to have, Mom? Every time we look up, the eyes of Texas, New Mexico, Idaho or Pennsylvania are upon us. Why can't these unhonorable enemies Cis that spelled right, Mom?D go back to wearing zoot zoots and eating goldfish? fLater he continuedzj Today they send in six strikes from carriers that we sunk long, long ago, long ago. fThat reminds me of a song, Mawj They sinked our ships in our h. harbor. They rifle our gun posts with god-awful rifling. Mom, I don't aim to take much more of this. I aim to . . . A dull thud probably stopped his letter. Only loss of the day for Air Group Eight was Ensign R. J. Hanzal, who was shot down over the target and listed as missing in action. It was a big day, with 209 sorties leaving our flight deck, to establish a new record in launchings and landings. The night riders came back at sunset. But they had little heart for a Hght. Red tennis balls from a neighboring task unit sent the bravest of them down for an eternal count, while others met similar fates at the hands f X4 of our fighters, earlier in the evening. Bogeys faded in and out of our area for several hours, while gun crews waited and flight deck per- sonnel readied their charges for the next day. It wasn't long before the formation was at peace again, lying fathoms deep in solitude and hundreds of miles inside the Nip's cele- brated impenetrable perimeter. Second day flights followed much the pat- tern of the first. Profitable targets diminished with each succeeding strike, and in the end it was revealed that nine Zekes, two BettYS were destroyed in the air, many more planes wrecked on the ground, six AKs, totalling 14,000 tons were definitely sunk, with 311- other one probably sunk, eight other shiPS bad1Y damaged, and other vessels defaced be' yond recognition-all accomplished by Air Group Eight. The Task Force had started home after its second day at Palau, when it happened to remember that the following day was a holi- day, April Fool's Day, and that it couldn't let the Bunker Hill spoil a straight slate. Ac- cordingly plans Were issued and Woleai was pasted from hell to breakfast in a withering attack that found no airborne opposition and little air power on the ground. Fighter Pilot Johnny Galvin, hit by an enemy burst, was forced to bail out a few miles from the target. A rescue ship put over a rubber boat, while the ship guns fought off Jap attempts to capture the helpless pilot. johnny returned to the ship, after taking a midnight sun trip through the South Sea Isles. Also included on the day's activity sheet was a two-Jap transport sinking, accomplished by two of our destroyers. . Our force retired eastward again, and the sun worshippers came topside to drink in the equatorial qualities of our daylight hours. The band offered concerts, noontime and evening, too, and crowds of off-watch seamen flocked to the flight deck to hear their fav- orite club stars. April was an easy, graceful month of cruising. v . , 1 UW: HOLLANDIA Later that month we began another little jaunt. It seems that General Douglas MacArthur, devotee of the old game of leap- frog, was planning a wholesale jump up the coast of New Guinea. Carriers and other war- ships of Task Force Fifty-Eight moved into the area to give the air and bombardment support that such an operation would call for. Center of the concentrated dose of amphib- ious landings was to be Hollandia, capture of which would cut off the enemy forces to the south and east, and establish air fields from which strikes could be launched against the Jap's westward holdings. Our particular mission was to provide air striking groups to neutralize the airfields in the Hollandia and Wakde area, and to pro- vide support for the landings on Hollandia, while furnishing combat air patrols in the same area. Any sailor of fortune looking for a knock- down drag-out air and sea action would have been disappointed at New Guinea those days. The Japs chose not to fight in the air and on the sea, and our boys went on to fly 409 sorties, drop 155 tons of bombs and sink an AK while doing support work. Shore batteries offered stubborn resistance at the outset, but the Hellcats and bombers drove them from their lairs. MacArthur's troops stormed ashore in gratifying fashion, showing every trick of the trade they had learned in becoming un- surpassed jungle-and-beach warriors. Air op- position to the surface forces was noticeably absent. The glassy, indigo waters off New Guinea might well have been Lake Michigan in July-those of us suffering from acute hallucinations could even make out the misty form of the Furniture Mart in the distance. SECOND TRUK Being dressed up with little else to do for the moment, we made a costly inspection of Truk on our retiring run from Hollandia. Jap scouts, having spotted us well before our arrival in the Truk area, sent out a sizeable force of torpedo planes, dive bombers and es- cort Hghters to greet us' at dawn. Our fighters contacted the Zekes some twenty-five miles from the formation and routed them com- pletely. The bombers and torpedo planes scattered for low-hanging cloud cover, where some of them managed to dodge our Hellcats. A half dozen of the planes, now low flying due to the clouds, burst out just to the starboard of our formation, from where they com- menced runs on the carriers. Screening vessels opened fire, followed by our own guns, and the N ips were wiped out-save one Kate that passed close aboard our bow, she circled back to fly between the screening ships when a vigilant 'Hellcat barrelled down on the hope- less Jap, and sent the enemy careening into the sea, burning furiously. . For two days our planes hauled destruction into the once vaunted Truk camp. First day's schedule called for particular attention to be paid to aircraft and servicing installations, as the shipping in the lagoon was negligible. Our boys did get two probables on AKs, with an- other one heavily damaged. Returning pilots reported fierce AA fire over the target, a factor that cost us several shipmates. Lieutenant Cjgj A. A. Foote, with his radioman, E. Cp Browder, was last seen entering his dive over the target. W. J. Scheutz, AMM 2c, gunner in Ensign L. G. Mason's TBF, and C. V. Heighton, ARM 3c, SBZC radioman, both mu ,. if 1 'af-. in v , p Y . th V m.,Mg is -wt 'muh My Qnikrpm--wlWW.'rA4,gff, .sf I L-ii A. ,, f . ,,. it V.. - ' 4 , p' . ' 'fm-L...g .b - .- 'J' P11 ' higfml 1 0---1 -. ff . .f . in - 9 -'P received fatal wounds on flights over that day. Four strikes were launched the next day, No personnel was lost, and the Nips did not try striking back. Activities during the latter part of April and the first of May, being closely knit to. gether, marked the end of the Bunker Hill's first year of commissioned duty. What had left the ways as a grotesque form of Bethle- hem Steel on December 7, 1942, had grown into full flower and was aiding no little in giving back to the treacherous Jap measures of the horrors of war that he had brought to us out of a clear December sky over Pearl Harbor back in 1941. We had come farg and we had only begun to fight. A 1 Returning to port we thought of the year's program, thinking idly that we could cook up something of an anniversary show for the sailors who had saw her through a plank ownership's period. We wished, rather nostag- ically, that we could go back to our May 25, 1943, site for a big show, back to the trap- pings and martial music that pervaded the warm New England morning in the South Boston Navy Yard. That day the Bunker Hill won its wings. She was draped in ribbons, and she was honored by state and nati0I1a1 leaders, she was the recipient of prophets' praise, and she was the new mother of the 3,000 starchily uniformed men who stood if .-.......,..,,, l ...-L -..ss , . ' ' ' l attention on her flight deck and heard Boats- wain J. M. Curley pipe the first watch. Shadows of South Boston gave rise to fam- iliar musings . . . days at Boys Club, when the crew sat restlessly through lectures telling of what going to sea on a giant carrier would be like . . . They wanted to see for them- selves. They had seen now, and perhaps most fitting of all kind words that came back over f a commissioning reverie was the speech made by a little kid who wore tennis shoes and newly-pressed knickers at the ceremonies. A representative from the Boys Club, Bobby Cameron-in the presence of admirals, the Undersecretary of Navy, a state governor and Boston's Mayor-stood up and tiptoed to reach the mike: I present you with this battle ensign, he said, oratorically enough, holding up a folded American flag. I want you to Hy it during your Hrst battle, and when that day comes, remember that God is with you . . . the enemy before you . . . and we're behind you. His audience, five thou- sand strong, remained suspended in silence a brief moment, and then its applause echoed and re-echoed over the rattling Navy Yard noises, out over the red-roofed hillsides of South Boston, all the way to his own Boys Club neighborhood. MARIAN AS The Task Force took a breather during May. A couple of new carriers and one that had received some States-side rehabilita- tion came out to join us and promptly were sent north for a shakedown strike while we rested. Meanwhile, we hear rumors of the next operation-an invasion of the Marianas- and decided it was no secret when we heard Toyko Rose predict it in her evening broad- casts. It didn't much matter to us if the .laps knew it or not. YVe felt we had reached the point where we could call our shots, and still do the job. Sole point of argument was whether the large-scale amphibious operation would bait out the Jap fleet. Many were inclined to scoff at the prospect of Tojo risking his men-of-war in a slugging bee. Fourteen op- erations ago, it was argued, we began chasing that fieet and it still had stayed in hiding. On June 6, Spruance, Mitscher 8z Co. put the show on the road, their sea-going jugger- naut preceding the transports, tankers, supply ships and escort carriers that were to carry out the landing operations. It was hot, made even hotter by a course that kept the trade winds on our stern. Second day out the news of the Allied invasion of Europe was fiashed to us. A worn atlas was the key to popularity, as we listened to accounts of American soldiers hitting the cool beaches of Normandy, and with sweaty fingers we traced the location of Caen, Farfleur, Bayeus-strange names to men of the Pacific. We heard a rebroadcast of the President's prayer' '... With Thy blessing, we shall prevail . . and added solemn, silent amens to it. A few days later the high command made a change in schedule that proved to be a strategic classic. Instead of making the first strike on June 12, D Minus Three Day, it was decided to send a jumbo-size fighter sweep in a day earlier. So on a cloudless, lazy Sunday afternoon the fighters finished their navigation problems and manned their planes, eleven of them buzzing busily to work. With them went two Helldivers, pil0tCd bY Lieutenant Commander Jimmy Arbes and Lieutenant Red Carmody, armed with.l1fe rafts to be dropped to any downed p11Of- The fighters carried depth charges to buSt up whatever they could find. It must have been a hell of a shock in the Saipan Jap 'O' Club that Sunday afternOOI1 as the Americans Hellcatted around and about the lush, green island. A few saki-drinkers did get to their planes and that was just what Fighting Eight and their playmates wanted. Skipper Collins bore-sighted three and his wingman, Lieutenant Cjgj Red Rosen, totted up two more in a few minutes of scrap- ping. The Skipper, however, took something of a beating from shrapnel whichichewed up his plane badly and peppered his face with superficial wounds, despite which he brought his plane back aboard safely. The sweep destroyed more than 200 Jap planes that afternoon, in the air and on the ground, and the depth charges made the run- ways sufficiently unserviceable as to guarantee a comparatively peaceful evening as we steamed in for the heavy punching. The CAP over the force also tallied as Lieutenant Cjgj Walt Longino splashed a Jill and Lieu- tenant Cjgj 'fRed Imel knocked down a Tony. Elation over the results was dampened by the loss of Lieutenant Don Carney, one of Fighting Eight's most popular members. His plane was seen to flame over the target and he was listed as missing in action. The three-day pre-invasion plastering of Saipan, Tinian and Guam went off with little opposition Snoopers sought us the first night dropping flares approximately ten miles starboard to our course but the effort was futile and D 3 Day saw ug 1-011 off six lethal strikes which beat down anti aircraft fire from heavy to medium to ex tremely llght as the sun set Two Avenger crews flew out their lives Lieutenant George Wildhack, his radioman and gunner Jlmmy Stone and P Witzke and Lieutenant Qgj F R Swede Swenson with Gunner R A Van Riper and Radioman D. G. McLean, failed to return from missions. The next day the battleships and cruisers moved in for more body blows and the Task Force carriers took a rest, excepting one task group that flushed a convoy of seven trans. ports, an oiler, a destroyer and five destroyer escorts. Methodically they were bombed to the bottom, sending an estimated 10,000 Jap replacement troops to death for their Emperor, We had a ringside seat as the big boys rolled up their sleeves and worked over the Saipan-Tinian twins. It was a picture many men hope to see but fail: the battlewagons maneuvering into lines, the flash of flame and smoke from muzzles and then the hit on the island, marked by a heavy, angry column of smoke. Men lined the decks, crowded the island perches to watch the great ships throw more steel in thirty minutes than our Air Group could carry in half as many days. Time and again spotter planes from the cruisers would hover over a spot, drift away from it only long enough to relay target in- formation and stay clear of the pin-point shelling that followed. Mid-morning we sailed through the flotsam of a smaller Jap convoy that had been blown out of the Pacific, wet, bedraggled ,laps cling- ing to planks and pieces of wreckage, huddled together in awe as they drifted through the world's greatest naval armada. Destroyers raced about picking them up and, later, de- livering them to various fiagships for ques- tioning. D-Day came, the transports and landing craft nudged closer and disgorged their loadS of ground forces As closely as possible WC followed their progress we heard that theY were four hours ahead of schedule-six hourS We flew strikes and photo missions over Guam, and wondered how they were doing on the beach It was hard to tell Like rawa, there was no way for us to lCI10 at the fight was bloodier and tougher the anything the Yanks had attempted to date e in the afternoon the Japs brought 0 opposition to the landing operation 8 4 .n . ' . , . ' ' 5 C , . . J .- . l O I' W . . . i th ' 'fl . . J i - J' ' 9 Lat ' ut cz n - . J ' ' J . . 311' i i U i nd 138 igiir ' the ship went to General Quarters. The four Black Chickens were launched as inter- ceptors and as the sun set the sky was streaked with intense AA fire from a task group south of us and in the wild melee a half-dozen Nip planes were seen to blaze their way into the sea. Lieutenant Commander Pete Aurand, meanwhile, was stealing a kill on his wing- men, as he buried hot lead into a Jill that had been rounded up by Davisson and Bertie. The night Hghters returned and the ship turned in. Somebody passed on some scuttle- butt to the effect that the Jap fleet is out. On D Plus Gne We refueled, flew some sup- port missions over Saipan, sent a reconnais- sance llight over Guam, heard that ground forces held a three mile beachhead and as evening came, there was still talk of the Jap fleet. The talk became authoritative the next morning as we heard that a Jap task force was believed to be about 750 miles to the northwest of us, and by midday we had rendezvoused with all but one of the other task groups and steamed west. Shortly be- fore midnight the Air Department was aroused and a search was launched. Another search was launched at 0700 of Dog Plus Three day, June 18, and the flight deck was spotted for a strike against the Jap fleet. Tension built up in the ready rooms as, hour by hour, pilots smoked cigarettes chain-fashion, played un- numbered games of gin rummy, and drank countless cups of coffee, and heard that the battleships detached themselves to form a battle line ahead of the task group. Tension rocketed through the ship. Gun- ners were told again that this time if an attack came in, it would be no haphazard blow. These would be carrier pilots, these would be the topilight Jap Naval flyers, and not the land-based Nips whose habits were to attack in steep glides and to pull out high. These were pilots of the calibre that put the old I-Iornet out of action in eight minutes, the boys that played for keeps. They'd been kept under wraps for eighteen months, letting the Nip Army flyers carry the ball. June 19. Dog Plus Four Day on Saipan, where the going still was tough. We launched a search at 0530, and again all pilots went into Condition Eleven, to wait. At 0830 a twelve-plane fighter sweep was launched to join other Hellcats in busting up runways on Guam which were reported to have been made operational again. It was easy to see what the Jap was maneuvering to do-launch car- rier-based planes from the west to attack us and proceed to Guam to refuel, re-arm and continue the attack. At 1015 General Quarters was sounded. On the llight deck, the fighter sweep had been recovered and planes were being re- spotted. A plane handler yelled to a Marine gunner: What's up? The Marine was adjusting his helmet. Three large groups-that's all I know, he answered. Boy, we herded them in over there, Lieu- tenant Commander McCuskey, just back from the fighter sweep, was telling squadron mates. f ,, gm'-I v1,,,.- -fu.:-,., 7.f.,.,.'-' hr t,..,A,,,, i,..ks-B... - - A-......., - GSU , .. .,, .... , 5, V -Lv.: aa.-.. .- ' ' 3, r- wi ms- 3525391 H.. - Y. A r ' , ., 'aYi.5.'. --if ' .... it .Y ' -. -Li. .. - l'1 ' .fax .-..H,-.f .... ., ,mf ,......,5 Y ..f ' Elo' X U ,KV 'jf ,Lam Y , ' A-W-. .-.-fsarsra-V '- 2G'Ms-N fifii' ., wr 'ra' A--',.,a'ggy-1, -fu 14 a-ff . '739'U?1UfS. ,i3f if f ' ., r, f- - ,,3.-,l -:Wi L.-3 5-5-5-7g,,Y l.7i,xivf5i'i5.EJ?,:x ' 1. V q I U-vi-mmf fist' I ,.., V ,. 1 -H' 4 -- ,-'g.,5,r- y pr., -,M1szv'raPL' .- if 1: V -......,, 1 ,gy Q ' ..- VF., Ifiylf N 'Q- -.Q ff4,j,,,,.1fx ,,.1w1--'L-ilfiffgggzw - 1 '- fi -' i..- .m,.-11.2-af' V.--H' Dt -9' Q 'Q ,af-1 sm.:4r.Qifgf.5ff.r ini ' at .f:1,,3ffwaw ry aimikw 9.fT'1f- I 'f '- 'A ,F3lfll21.jl'rf'.'4',l- ' . ..a lys- L ,-X: VZ, -X Ji ?5?':,' 1 Seqvgfii .3f.3.fif3: ,4M,,.6- wt, JfHl:ffb?'i'. i'g17fv5'wQIi' -gil, - ' , . v NA ,'1i.ri-4Lg1f.'Q,p,,,r.- 5Ty:J Ki ffl-F . ' - J f 1 in 1 Wifrfs'f:fw?'5geQ?l:i4mI5..'- 3... . .,,-nfs 'gf 'JJ 4 g .-' ww. Lv' -wg ,',4f,ff a-V' 'V-.,i1..fw,,gf. ii! Ol' Ron Hoel-he got shot up and bailed out. A can picked him up. I was chasing seven Zekes with my division. I was gaining on 'em-waiting 'till I was sure. Then wham! they started to scatter, and darned if they didn't Hy right into Van's guns-Vanderhoof nailed three of them-bing-bing-bing- GREEN FLAG. Planes began pouring off the deck again. 139 On the hangar deck, rearming crews pre- pared to load bombs that had been brought up from the magazine. Every now and then they saw a Hellcat grinding slowly around the traffic circle of the Wasp. It was Eddie Dooner, who'd scored at least one Zeke kill over Guam but had picked up small calibre AA through his engine and was forced to come back. He hit the water on his approach and apparently had been wounded or was stunned in the landing, for he was not seen to get out of the plane. Thirty minutes had gone by since the ship had gone to G.Q. Somewhere over the hori- zon, the Hellcats were mixing it up with the attacking Japs. Fragmentary reports drifted over the gunnery telephone system. It was nearly 1100 when the first enemy planes were reported visually at ten miles, and the task group off our port quarter opened fire. High above were the white etchings of vapor trails, tracing the paths of the hunters. Ships of our screen opened fire. Our own guns were trained, hovered as they traced a target, paused. Three crippled fighters were trying to land aboard the Wasp, on our port beam. Out of a cloud came a.Jap-every gunner on the ship saw it but had to hold fire to avoid hitting the crippled fighters. It was a Judy, a Jap carrier-based dive bomber. He made a shallow dive on the Wasp, dropped his bombs and pulled out, probably with a smile of satisfaction that died a- borning, however, for he had missed, and the Wasp and a destroyer on her bow opened up and nailed him. Almost simultaneously, our own guns opened up on another pair of dive bombers coming in on our port quarter. Both of them were literally blasted out of the sky, falling to the sea in blazing pieces, but not until their bombs had been dropped. On the hangar deck, re-arming crews had moved bombs amidships for ready jettisoning, and were standing by when the Jap made his drop. The drop was close, a near-miss that geysered water island-high, and threw ugly, hot shrapnel into the ship, blasted through 1 140 splinter shields, stabbed in every direction gn the hangar deck and through the skin of the Ship above the armor plate. Lieutenant Gordon Stallings, at his battle station on a forty millimeter director, went down mortally wounded. The two halves of a lifeboat lay beside G. F. Taphilias, Sea2c, instantly killed on the hangar deck. On the third deck, shaving cream and cherry pie were incongruously mixed as the shrapnel blasted through Ship's Store and the galley. Even as the attack continued, the re-arm- ing crews on the hangar deck went on with their task of jettisoning the bombs as others directed the care of the wounded. The prac- tice drills of months paid high dividends that day as emergency dressing stations treated the wounded. At one station an ordnanceman assisted the treating of a dozen men, before he discovered his own wounds. ' Meanwhile, fighters of the Task Force were wiping out the cream of Japanese Naval Avi- ation. Most of the fighting was done at altitudes so high that first knowledge of a skirmish came as a broken, blazing Nip plane fell into the sea. Twenty minutes after our guns had quieted, an uncontrolled Jap Judy screamed out of the blue and into the sea off the starboard bow. Our own fighters, al- though not vectored out to the main body of the attack, accounted for six sure kills, bringing the day's total up to twenty-one A check of sick bay revealed that more than eighty men were wounded in some degree aS a result of the near-miss, with only sixteen of them hit badly enough to be hospitalized. A brief resumption of the fight occurrCCl Shortly after noon, when a quartet of JUdYS blazed down out of the sun and clouds OH our starboard beam but failed to score with their bomb loads. Shortly thereafter the ship went into Con- dition One Easy, and hot coffee and sand- wiches made their appearance at the 81111 batteries and on the flight deck. RCPM Partles cleaned up the minor damage done below decks and the Gas Gang went over the gdg to patch up lines that had been torn open by shrapnel. Another search was launched, and the ship rested. At evening, the combat air patrol returned, as did all of the search but Lieutenant Cjgb P. I. Touw, with his radioman W. H. Hammer, and their escort- ing fighter, Lieutenant Cjgj Doc Davisson, believed to have been jumped by a, wolf. gang of Jap lighters. Although enemy planes came within twenty- eight miles of the force at sunset, they failed to close and the Bunker Hill and the Task Force steamed west after the Jap. Reports indicated that more than 350 Jap planes and their crack Naval pilots had been wiped from Hirohito's fast dwindling stock of air power. JUNE 20, 1944. The morning search of June 20 returned with negative results, and the ship continued to sweat out the chase as the afternoon search made its long Hight. Men exhausted by the battle of the previous day stretched out at their gun stations, sprawled on deck along- side the island. Plane captains dozed in the shade of aircraft that waited, waited, waited for V I P a crack at the Jap Heet. The sun began its slow drop toward the horizon. In ter-ship communication suddenly crackled in Admiral Montgomery's Flag Plot. Tele- types in ready rooms began to tick off the information. REPORTS CONTACT JAP FLEET 15-CON, 135-25E. CRS WESTER- LY. SPD 20K.', It was 1555. Pilots tightened their para- chute harnesses, eager and relieved of the strain of waiting, and were ordered to man their planes. The planes, which had been warmed up hourly during the waiting period, began roaring down the deck at 1611, fighters, Helldivers and fat Avengers, bellies full of bombs and torpedoes for immediate delivery. Their swift ascent into the air caused Com- mander Shifley, in his report of the action as Air Group Commander, to term a superb performance . . . and definitely assisting this group in being the first to attack the enemy fleet. In the gallery walkways, gunners and radio- men who weren't making the first strike, as well as pilots and spectators, cheered and signaled thumbs up to every pilot and crew going down the deck. Broad smiles were on every face, and a prayer in every heart, as the strike left to fight at extreme Hying range and to return in darkness. At the time of the launch, the Jap forces were reported to be 215 miles away, but amplification of the report placed them 100 miles beyond that point. Thus the second deckload of planes, brought up and spotted for launching in a seventeen-minute operation, was held aboard. 1 The long wait began. An attempt was made to relay reports of the action over the ship's announcing system, but the action was too far off for accurate reception. We heard that a search plane had spotted the Jap force and was still sitting over it taking pictures and relaying weather information. He re- ported two carriers, three cruisers, eight de- stroyers in one force, and another force of one carrier and four battleships. He reported no airborne opposition. The daylight left, and unidentified Planes sent all hands to battle stations. Shortly after 2000, two night fighters were launched to cover the landings. There was no moon and the force remained blacked-out. -At 2030, the wing-lights of the Hrst returning fighters appeared and the task group turned on its lights, looking like a vast, drowsy city- but willing to sacrifice the security of dark- ness in order to land its planes. The first three planes landed aboard with- out trouble. Then they came in alone, and in pairs. Wing lights of two bombers, waved off because a plane had not cleared the land- ing area, went past the starboard side of the ship and then, with a sputter of engines, sank lower and lower and finally were extingusihed as water landings were made. Several more fighters landed, then a bomber from a sister carrier came aboard. His wing- man followed him, came up the groove, took the cut and went into the barrier, his pro- pellor buried deep in the deck. Crews rushed feverishly' to clear the wreckage. Every second counted. You could look up, if you had the time, and see planes making water landings, destroyers combing the water with search- lights, picking up pilots and crewmen. But once clear, we took aboard a few'more planes. A bomber from one carrier, a fighter from the Wasp, another from another carrier. It was nearly midnight when the last plane dropped out of the sky and we recalled the night fighters. The sparse results which we heard of the strike seemed dull and uninteresting. Tension and shock filled every man topside. The flight deck crews were soaked with grease, salt-water, sweat. But their only thought was of the men who had been forced to make water landings. Few men talked. The horror of the night, the anxiety for the men who had carried the attack to the Jap, kept them silent as they cleared the deck that night, spotting for a dawn strike that would be launched in but a few hours. And it wasn't until that strike had been launched and recovered, the follow- ing day, that the ship realized the smashing blows its squadron had dealt in the long. sought chase. The Bunker Hill strike group had been first to sight the enemy and to attack, passing up a group of six oilers and three destroyers to hit a force consisting of a large carrier flanked by a battleship, two cruisers and several de- stroyers. Lieutenant Commander Arbes led the dive bombers to the carrier through a wall of intense anti-aircraft fire, putting his 1000- pound bomb just aft of amidshipsg his wing- man, Lieutenant Bob Horne, scored a hit with one of his 250-pounders and near-misses with his other and his 1000-pounder, doing a heavy-duty strafing job with his twenty-mil1i- meters on the pullout. Lieutenant Cjgj Ster- ling was observed to score a hit forward, and Smith and McIntyre tallied with hits on the after part of the flight deck. Lieutenant Art Jones dove his division on the carrier from the north, and with wingmen Pilcher and Huntsman saw one direct hit and two damaging near-misses, before belching columns of flame and smoke obscured the target. Commander Musick took his wingmen, Carter and Mason, in on a torpedo run fol- lowed by Jim Gagnon and Willie Folkedahl in individual runs, but were unable to observe hits because of their jinking and eVaSiVC tactics through AA, but Gagnon and M8809 reported at least three large explosions follow- ing the runs. Lieutenants LeCompte, and Buxton, seeing that the carrier was virtualll' doomed, threw their fish at the Kongo 012155 battleship. Their gunners reported that the torpedo wakes indicated sure hits, but WCTC unable to wait for confirmation. Lieutenant Logan Meathead Phillips saw his torpedo miss the battleship but go on to hit the port bow of a cruiser spinning behind the first ship. At the beginning of the attack, Commander Shifley and Wingman Jerry Rian fought Off 9' SFOUP Of Seven Jap fighters attempting to head off the torpedo planes, downing two' sending two others away in smoke, and thot' oughly discouraging the remaining trio. The Group Commander then resumed his task of getting photographic coverage, weaving in and out of AA fire at low altitude. Off from the main action, Lieutenant Beau- champ and his division were working over a destroyer, pouring hot fifty-caliber lead into it until it was burning furiously. The score as totaled by Intelligence officers: aZuiko class carrier heavily damaged by bomb and torpedo hits and probably sunk, one Kongo class battleship hit by two 1000- pound bombs and probably one torpedo, one Nachi class cruiser probably hit by torpedo, one Chokai class cruiser hit by a 1000-pound bomb, one destroyer left burning furiously and in sinking condition, two airborne planes destroyed, four others probably destroyed and another three damaged, as reported by L. H. Harman, Avenger turret gunner, Radiomen O'Brien and Langiotti of the bombers, and Lieutenant Cjgj Hank Sharp, who turned his .20s loose on a lone Zeke. June 21-D Plus What-the-hell, time had lost value. Through the day reports came over the announcing system of the recovery of the various pilots. It was the greatest mass rescue ever made of Hying personnel, and calmed earlier fears for the pilots and crews. Skipper Arbes came aboard, fresh from a seven- hour snooze he'd taken during his twelve hours afloat, Skipper Musick was picked up by the same destroyer that once before had rescued him, and two hash-marks had been chalked up under his caricature on the de- stroyer's score-board. Personnel of but four planes were missing after the force had thor- oughly combed the waters from launching point to target: Lieutenant Cjgj P. I. Jug Wilson of the fighters, J. R. Roberge, Lieu- tenant Buxton's radioman who was unable to extricate himself from the TBP when it was forced to the water, Lieutenant Folkedahl and his crewmen, N. H. Whitson and H. H. Hughes, Lieutenants Cjgj J. O. McIntyre, and R. E. Sterling, and their rear seat men, R. N. Vermette and H. W. Ashton. PAGAN ISLES We checked in at Saipan to see how things were going, found we weren't much needed, so headed northeast to dust oH' the Pagan Islands with a junior-size strike. A pair of sister carriers hit the jackpot over at Iwo Jima, reports giving Fighting Two a 67- plane tally, thus causing no little envy in the fighter ready room. Three days went peace- fully by, the usual patrols and a track meet va,- being the only items to disturb the Hight deck. Back again at our anchorage the ship was re-armed and reprovisioned,liberty parties plodded in ankle-deep sand for a crack at a can of beer, we made a two-day jaunt to sea to shakedown an Air Group ordered to an- other carrier, and knocked out more letters to Sally and Sue. agp. 1. fly' M SECOND TINIAN The pause until July 14 was refreshing, pro- viding us relaxation after the harrowing first phase of the Marianas operation, and priming us for the drive against Tinian and Guam, in which the Bunker Hill was sched- uled for a part. We took up the cudgel on July 18, pouring seventy tons of bombs on the island and repeating it the next day. The 1 11 I 1 t 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 2 1 L31 1Efll'1. 1 N. 1,1 'Q-1 1 1 111.1111 J 'I1,1l l HF? 1 11.12 '1'l'1 .JI .151 1, ,1 gf: 1.11 in .1 411 11 1 1: 11 11 11 F' 1 11.1, 11 ?11'L .il ilk, 11111 1.11, 111 ,I 211 11,1 ,M 5112 11, 1 1 1-1 WH 11, 1 A 115 l filgl 1111.1 1,1 1 .1. 1 111 1 11 '1l 1 Eff i 1.1. '11 1 1 1 11 1 S: Z ill: 1 5j1,' 1 11 11 1 1.1-1 111 1,1 1 1 111 l 1 11111 z? gfi, ,1 31 I 111'1111 1'1'g1.' 311 l l ,11' 1 11131 111 l lv 11 V 11,1 15 11, 1:1 1111 111 1111 .1 -111 111 111 1 li: 11,111 1111111f '1 4 21 111 11- 14,11 11.1 11113 1 1 11'1'11 ,11 11 1,,1 11 1, 1 11 1 :21 P H1111 1 111 1-1 1 Q11 1 1 1 li 1 lp 1,11 .5 ' 41 yjii ETL? :,l'.I , 1: 1 1 1 is 4 3 11 1.4 1 I 541 l 1 H l 14.111 :Q -5 131, 131 1 H .1 ..1l 1 evening show was the feature attraction, how- ever, as we steamed close enough to the island to watch the shelling from battleships, cruisers and destroyers of our force which took turns in lobbing death into the hills. We set a new bomb-lugging record on the 20th, the Air Group dropping many tons of explosives on the island. Landing forces hit the beach on the 21st and we flew five hops to support them, standing by the following day before heading for a performance at Palau. The fighters opened the Palau program July 25 with a heavy-duty sweep that found 12111121 111111511111 111152 ' --1 1. ui ,.., -1 - 1, . in 1 .1 ,f ' ,,1',f,y' ff , 1 , J ff 1.l!11l1l1ffj.1,111f '1f'1ff 74fafyffw X Ni ' 1 'J 1 X - N 111 ,f , f ,if'1fi51gf- s1 1 1f1,1 -1i 1 -s,1 - 11 1 1 'J i A W targets meager. The next morning another sweep went off with the strike group, directed at any shipping that could be found, as well as important shore installations. Lieutenant John McGuire found a 4,000-ton transport and promptly scored a direct hit on it, blow- ing it out of the water. One more day of flights ravaged Peleliu to all appearances, but cost the torpedo squad- ron one of its finest pilots, Lieutenant Cjgj Leonard Mason, and his crewmen, George Weinecke, AMMZC and Dick Dreves, ARM3c, who went down after their plane was set ablaze by AA. That evening we headed north. Something different in the way of anchor- ages was presented us when we pulled into Saipan Roads and dropped the hook. Off 144 H2291 .1::'1,. .1 .. 1 1 the port bow could be seen American shore batteries firing across the narrow straits to Tinian, on the starboard bow, and hands not occupied on loading parties crowded topside to see 'the display of gunfire. The battle- wagons added their salvos, which sent shud- ders through the ship. ggi 1.321 BONINS ' he pause was brief and the next day we pulled out, rode out a day of heavy weather that delayed the re-arming of a companion carrier, and August 2 headed for the Bonin Islands, 600 miles from Toyko and farther north than the ship had been for more than a year. We learned that Jima was Japanese for island, buttoned up our jackets, and went to work again, launching a lighter sweep and three strikes at shipping and installations at Iwo Jima. Fighter squadron hopes for air opposition such as Fighting Two had encoun- tered several weeks previously were quickly toppled, but thirty-five grounded Jap planes burned furiously from the strafing Hellcatters. Ensign Neil Tate of the bombers scored a direct hit on one of two ships found in the harbor while Ensign Czekala plunged the 500- pound bomb hung on his fighter right after Tate's, and the ship broke in two and sank immediately. All hands joined the chase after the second ship, scored hits and near-misses but the Jap skipper cheated them out of a 1 kill by running the flaming kindling onto the beach. Anti-aircraft fire was terrific. It took Lieu- tenant Jack Czerny, tall, quiet fighter pilot, the first day. The second day attention WaS directed at Chichi Jima and Ha Ha Jima where the AA if anything, was even m01'C intense, but through which the Air Group fought their way to a pair of transports which they sank and four others heavily damaged, in Chichi harbor. This was the outskirts of the Japanese Empire, virtual suburb of the Ni homeland- P It made no difference, it was slugged and plastered heavily, shore installations blown sky high, the town of Takinoura on Ani Jima reduced to rubble, and shipping taking a beating. A convoy found between the Bonins and the Empire by an accompanying force was slowed down by their air power and finished off by the cruisers, as a further thumbed-nose at the Nips. We returned to our home, after that, delightedly reading in the Press News that Tojo's cabinet had been sacked-with no little credit for that action going to our Bonins operation. There wasn't much scuttlebutt as to where we'd go next. The Air Group was feeling the strain of the strenuous combat . . ...i------'M--'M .....------'-- , A 3 .....-'81, 'H -- ,WM--..,, fb ----0-U . ww 1 I., '-A--..,,,i'ft+f :::.-'-.....L1 n pl. , ,i ' -1 bi,-,VV in Y -----Q Qi hx NJ. j?4!,aB1.-vzswliitl W -Z-gli f-lc' qhim ,Gig 5 .f'Vgy,f,ij5 1--l lflg,,w.i3iyllmra'fi '-T-A-1 gliilxri' 'V '11 Shiv-.x my afvffmii-mt f ...,1'. .1. vghfwg x lag, pl! 1, ,i , --- iw, f-lr 11:4 It f .4 ----- ssh 9i'n:.w l'l'f 2f '917:' ---- g-Qi ,'.t.iQN,' f'-w .1 Q ' 'S 2 'fiif 'T-:..' sky +Qi3'iiill'lA.lf ,iff L -i ., M H, , ., X 4' 1 ' 1 :',1-.:,:'::i W' -Pali. if ff ' .gas 111.45ff'1ff1:nf1elf-.fm 'fm - ': WlUf' 'iff ef A--1-. ,-,. ..r.,4-FN -' A' Q '1 A VWifi? A-i-,A-jf-if.,'2f?g.jifQ2Q-:gg-' 4-9' - 'W A .. -'f s' ..- - f N' .s ' -1 f-f-:Ili - -- ..., A A-as-cc. 'M v'e'e--e ..., : , : Q., Ji:-?i1-- f , aagu: G' W . ., - M ' z-fxfr-' A ' rr' ..,Mf51f'1N--:Q.IfT'i A ,B a .ff , if 1 1-2. .aa-T?f:'fFm?:'?w s 'ri-1 '- ' ' U v1'i?f1'A Af MJ 1 img, , ' r., ,, -Y gps Alffp V' ..,,. P ' wifi' . if 'L - schedules it had flown, and the mess deck's hottest dope suggested that the Bunker Hill might be dispensable to the Pacific war long enough for a trip home. It didn't look like it, though, as Rear Admiral Montgomery lowered his Hag and started home, and Rear Admiral G. F. Bogan came aboard within six hours to succeed him. It looked as though there'd be one more operation. August down south is hot enough anytime, but that steam-heated ,base didn't help cool the Bunker Hill's visit. Partly due to the weather and partly due to heavy operations for the past few months, the crew seemed to be turning lotus eaters en masse, inervated and content just to sit in the shade of a TBF wing. LJ' rv' il Y , 'Q gin? .551 ,Q 51 f, 'gf 51 l i I l it .... ELET ' 1' www-.Q V' A :Fix 1' I On August 21 Captain T. P. Jeter received orders to leave the Bunker Hill and to report to the Commander, Battleship Force, Pacific Fleet, where he was to be Chief of Staff. Our new skipper, Captain Marshall R. Greer, Naval aviator of the old school, took over his new command in a simple, but impressive ceremony on the hangar deck. In departing Captain Jeter expressed deeply-felt apprecia- ffl. Q. 'i ' GH, . d7fm..-- rl ...-SVA l , tion for the crew and their work under him, in taking over Captain Greer expressed his pride to be stepping into the life of the Bunker Hill. He quickly won the hearts of the crew when, in his deliberate manner of speaking, he pointed out that loyalty . . ., goes 'down . . . as well as up. A heart-warming feature of the new Captain's beginning came when he announced that he had stopped in Pearl Harbor and visited Admiral Ballentine, who wanted the crew of this ship to know that the Bunker Hill is still my first love . . . Late August. News reports reaching us were devoured hungrily by brothers-in-arms, Pacific Area, who read that American mechan- ized might was delivering death blows to the Nazi beast in France. 'Blood and Guts' . . . new paratroop assaults behind enemy lines . . . cheering throngs sweeping deGaulle's staff car as he drove from one French town to the next. Stories telling of the mademoi- selles entertaining GI Joe were hard to take out A this way. The nearest thing to Parisian fem- inity we had seen in months were dehydrated French fries-or can you imagine? . - - Anyway we were proud of the soldiers and sailors who had worked so magnificently to- gether in the European theatre, a job 610116 so well that General Ike Eisenhower had been led to say: We are here to stay . . . afi- SECOND PALAU But the Bunker Hill had to forget the mes- dames, and forget them quickly. We joined forces of the U. S. Third Fleet, shaking sea- going hands again with Admiral William Bull Halsey, who was going to take us on one of his little trips. It had been a long time since we saw Admiral Santa Claus, and all hands were busy speculating as to where we would go before the famous South Pacific Commander would stop to rest. Our first mission was to lay waste to and support landings in the Palau Islands, a job that began with several hundred bangs early in September. With the clearing-away program well under way, part of our forces steamed west to take part in an epoch-making strike: the return of carrier-based planes to the Philippines after an absence of nearly three years. Mindanao was the target, more specif- ically the town of Davao and its outlying air- fields and installations. On hand for the Palau and Mindanao strikes were the Hon. Artemus L. Gates, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air, and his aide, Captain B. W. Wright, USN. These officials had fiown all the way from Washington for an inspection of the latest Navy conquests, and, more specifically, to make a combat cruise aboard an aircraft carrier. The N avy's return to the Philippines was almost disappointing for its primed pilots. Sweeps over Mindanao and its adjacent har- bors, channels and islands netted no air op- position, and the fighters had to content them- selves with strafing land and surface targets. Bombers and torpedo planes soared in behind 1 46 the fighters, picking their targets cautiously from the clear, green-covered countryside and towns. Hangars and buildings in airfield areas were smashed into ruins, while other bombs were dropped among parked aircraft in dispersal areas. Harbors were cleared of sampans and coastwise craft, while a sub- marine and a medium-sized AK were also destroyed. It was almost a perfect day, marred only by the loss of veteran-of-two theatres Lieutenant Art Jones, former Ameri- can pilot in RAF, and his radioman, W. L, Oliver, who were forced to parachute from their burning plane over the target. higib ,W MINDANAO Southern Mindanao was still the target on September 10, and strikes were ordered in to level Davao town. Lieutenant C. W. Smith left the town in the dark by slam- ming home a 1000-pounder on the Davao Power and Light Company, while Lieutenant Red Carmody, Lieutenants Cjgb Jack O'Neil and Bob Horne and Ensign D. M. Blatz tore up commercial buildings over the business area. Everything from the Imperial Council Hall to Saleelv Pool Room was blasted, and retiring planes at sunset reported the city submerged in a pall of thick smoke. On September 12 we were back in the Phil- ippine area, sending strikes into an areaabout 150 miles southwest of Samar Island. Prize packages of enemy shipping were spotted north of Cebu Island, and two strikes WCFC detailed to concentrate on this prey. When the afternoon's work was over two shipS, totalling 14,000 tons, had been sunk, five ships heavily damaged and probably sunk, and five ships damaged, not counting Sam- pans and luggers. The bomb-laden planes labored long and heavily, and the fighter C0111- bat air patrol routed out and shot down tW0 Bettys for lack of something better t0 do- One of our screening destroyers chased d0Wf1 a small craft, and took forty-fourjapanese pris- oners. The captured Nips stared dazedljf 5 .,.g,, -' . sri ri. f about, probably never knowing what a stir they caused among American seamen, who curiously fought for a good look at their enemy specimens. QSEQL PHILIPPINES Gperations the next day continued in the same area, with strikes sent out over Legaspi, Fabrica, Cebu and Alicante. Strong air opposition was encountered by our lighters on their first sweep over the Legaspi and Negros areas. Our fighters and planes from another of our carriers joined up and were busily engaged straiing airfield installations when they discovered that a swarm of Jap Zekes had moved in above them. Lieutenant Cronin, with a three-plane division composed of himself and Lieutenants C gj George Groves and john Vanderhoof were working together, and 'Hoof' discovered that enemy planes were present when Zero bullets began passing through his cockpit. Miraculously unhit, Van- derhoof found that his engine was missing, coughing oil and threatening to conk out on him. Groves turned to cover him, and the two began a flight toward friendly waters. Vanderhoof was forced into the water about four miles offshore, with one Hellcat above him standing between him and sure capture. Groves provided the one-man cover until his gasoline was running low. He then joined the flight back to the ship, which had been radioed for a rescue plane. 'Hoof' pulled out all the survivors' tricks in the bag, spurred considerably by the sight of three Jap patrol boats combing the water for him but encouraged by a pair of Hellcats that were keeping him in sight. For six hours he fought the currents to stay out from shore and relievedly greeted the sight of the rescue plane, escorted by two night fighters. The cruiser pilot made the pick-up without diffi- culty but on retirement a Betty stood in to challenge,making no attempt to run until the Black Chickens, Lieutenant Commander Aur- and and Lieutenant Cjgj Connor, pounced down. The scene was enlivened by the ac- curacy of the Jap tail gunner, who scored scratch hits on both night lighters before Connor finally made the put-out. Over Negros, Fighting Eight was having the Held day that it had sought for so long. The japs fielded some fierce airborne resist- ance, led off by a four-plane group of Oscars attempting a run on the bomber and torpedo planes. Lieutenant Commander Ron Hoel's division put a stop to that, I-Ioel smoking one from a head-on run and his wingman, Jack McGuire, throwing so much lead into another that the pilot parachuted for his life. McGuire then got into a rat-race with a Zeke and literally flew it into the ground. Over in another corner of the arena Lieutenant Cjgj George Kirk set up a kill for his wingman, Lieutenant Cjgj Tommy O'Boyle, then jumped the tail of another Nip fighter, leaded it down with .50 caliber and caused it to crash, and then went on to make his bomb drop. Pulling out, he found himself in the middle of another dog-fight, burned one out of the sky and broke up that party. Lieutenant Lloyd Hein- zen had his division working up a good lather, too, setting the pace by plugging an Oscar while Ensign Czekala exploded a Zeke, Lieu- tenants I-Iobbs and Mendoza tagging a single- ton and a pair, respectively. Czekala, however, had taken some damage to his plane and was forced to bail out, but mounted a life raft dropped to him, and was picked up after five hours of sun bathing. The bomber and torpedo pilots weren't wasting time that morning, either. Lieuten- ant Les Ward spotted an Oscar below him in his dive and smoked it with a few choice bursts, part of a double play that saw Lieu- tenant jack Weber, following Ward, tag the Nip for a kill. Lieutenants Cjgj Pete Evanoff and Tommy Shea, and Ensign Ralph Fierce of the bombers also had similar experiences but could claim no better than probables. Lieutenant Cjgj Ernie Leggett picked up a Zeke in his dive, but couldn't quite reach him with his wing guns, so Lieutenant Cjgj johnny 147 i l xrfviq, l 1 131 0 3,5 EJ 1 1 in Fx! , 1 1 111 'll v , 4 ii. 1 z I I , V. '1 W If 1 ' 4 -1, rl 1 1 , A r, ' 1 1 i Peacock put his Avenger crewmen in pOS1t1011 to score at least a probable- Lieutenant Weber scored for a daily double by routing out a 300-ton patrol craft and pouring his bomb load on it, sinking it before squadron mates could get around to do muCh strafing damage to it. During all this time, other bomber and torpedo pilots had gone from one end of the island to the other raising all sorts of hell, firing ammo dumps, fuel storage tanks, blast- ing barracks and hangar areas and causing gasoline rationing to go into immediate effect with the destruction of the facilities of the Asiatic Petroleum Company. The early morning Hghter sweep, getting negative results on a search for shipping off Cebu, returned to Negros to paste a group of thirty Bettys, Topsys, Judys, Zekes and Oscars found around. Mindanao loomed darkly out of the sea as we pulled away from the area, the following two days dedicated to standing by to support the landings on Palau but not until September 17, D Plus Two, were we called upon, and then but to do pin-point bombing on Angaur, where troops also were going ashore. No-someone was kidding! Manila? Nobody was kidding, Manila was the next target, so we took another hitch in our belts, followed the progress of the Browns and Tigers in the American League pennant chase, and prepared to do some more slugging. The mail delivery was remarkable, destroyers sid- ling up to us a couple times a week with letters from those S 8: S gals. That helped. September 21. Admiral Halsey marched American air power back to Manila . . . The white-starred fighters, bombers, torpedo planes threw shadows over Cavite, Correg- idor . . . Promised to come back . . . Commander Shifley was nominated ship- ping evaluator for the entire force, and combed the area in routing out a total of 107 ships, at least forty-two of them ranging from med- ium to large transports and cargo ships, in and around Manila Bay Cavite, Subic Bay, Marivele s Harbor and off' the Capone Islands ' f 4 'tg Q A' lu.. 1 1.4 , The first fighter sweep caught the Jap with his planes down at Clark and Nichols fields, and the bombers hunted down a five-ship convoy outbound from Subic Bay, sinking two definitely and leaving the other three in sinking conditions. 4-fc Q F V , 1, ' ,31 'f , ' Q Q5 'ffm -Ji. ,K 'fl bb-f'7if.'f , , ,,., b I V . t iT ',:4V.,:, , J P Tfljilffj F . - ' gi':.'1'g.:L'5 1 , .N Q ,y -,.l,-,...,,,.., A , Q ' ff ..,g1i1:i..g1L,7i:,zf 5?'1iml??Q'l . 'C ' 1 1 I . 3 1 C f . ,f-M-. 1 .f C 1 5? :fff .. X ...M f-ff' '41 1 ' Q ' ff 'f 1 ...-...,.,, 'a-time ff' ,ff f f Jr -'wif IJ.-Q ff TJ -. ,,'5'- J' fi . . . fr' flffif 1571 L ' ,z 5 QM s .. V ix .ff 'fig if , ' ,.1.ff, -4e..i-sf f 9 ' .54 1 ir -4 5553 ,. jf-mLf3r f , ' ,,., . J. . , W if , 7 .. ,v 1- ... 11 , P .',..-,- , w. '- ' ., , ' -44:2 11.2 Vx, - ,., z- , V , f . ,- ,L.,1gf. ,,1'Lf2f-girifwii? f ffiilfifff' . ' gf ' ' -'53T:Ll'Q.-H.f.T'-'if A 'T 5'Tti.:?S-'lf 'J 3 . F -' ,,gss'gg.we1g,.-.-1 5.5 ,. - ,HLg..zY'.1JA1 .3 ,ff-If jf ,T ,...g12',f ,. If ,4 f , V, .,,,,,. , rgm., 4 , . ,, , f ......l.., AYV, ---.-.......-Q, , dp- Y-,. , A, A, ,- we . in I ,f ..........-...l,., 4 gg, -W-W'------m ' ggi if -'1E5------------'f: - A 7 La' i, e - , . ,1 --....,..,.-.--..............li........- ,Q , , ....-.,n . H . , I, -...m,M...M ,i . A, QM- A, , . . f , ,..-.-.-..-.....l......................i...?.. -.J -M----fm . A - ,- .-.H-W--..-....--..-.......lii.. .......,-.-... ,bv Q4 X' 11........S.......-........-...........,.......... L.. A.- rn. ..--. W 4- 4M , --.... .-Nw... -.......-.........-i...,...... ,wo-,N M.. .-..-. .... -H .5 .13 Q, xg -.-.Y. ..-wn.-....-.L...,Q,.i. W -.-nn...,.. --.......-................... I -A-3, -- ...- v,.,...,..,.... f.f..., -. s..s.-,.. Na-..-...,..-...--.....-.---....1. ,, -,... .--..,.,... ..- w5il'.5S'i2. Y-.. .f..v....n....,.......-........-...............-1.. -T-......----- .., . .Af ,F .sa .....r...-..., .f...-...,...... ,, , ...,.......,.l..-.......... The air opposition that did rise to meet the attack was swiftly slaughtered by ram- paging Fighting Eight. Lieutenant Com- mander McCuskey burned down three, Lieu- tenants Cjgj Topliff and Longino flying hiS wings accounted for a pair apiece, as did Lieutenant Cjgj Johnny Galvin and Lieuten- ant Kirk. Everybody was scoring and the word got around fast that Fighting Eight finally had hit a jackpot. Bombers continued their powerhouse pal'- ade across Clark and Nichols fields, while back aboard the Bunker Hill the tension was .Off a little as the Jap made no attempt to strike back, heavy rain squalls keeping the entire force well covered. Sole shadow over the day's operations was the loss of Lieutenalff R. D. Horne and his rear-seat man, Lesl1C Stinson, whose plane was hit by AA thr0Wn up by the convoy outside Subic BRY- A two-strike schedule was carried out the following day, hitting such additional targets e seaplane base and shipping in Llngaye , Where one large and one medium S1 5 . . ' as th ' ' ' H . J i Zed' - transport were sunk, and two others left in 1 148 ifjfi z- ii fr F- sinking condition. The heavy weather con The boys had just been flexing their muscles in the Luzon operation, it seemed for on even further stymied when Admiral Bogan We rode out C15 a typhoon and C22 the tinued and we retired for a fueling rendezvous. shifted his flag to another carrier. J , i September 23, flying ranging strikes over the Central Philippines, they really scored in high figures. Commander Shifley led a search- strike over to Coron Bay, on the western edge of the Visayan Sea and flushed twelve ships, the Helldivers leaving every one of them either sunk or heavily damaged, including a 10,000-ton oiler and a 5,000-ton transport. A companion strike over Ormoc Bay at Leyte also had good hunting, Skipper Arbes getting a direct hit on a 9,000-ton AK which was left sinking, and other hits going to Lieutenants Hardy, Conklin and Pete Sachon. On the last hop of the day the bombers sank two more AKS and marked another as a prob- able, while the torpedo squadron rammed home block-busters on another pair of large cargo ships. People were getting tired, though, and a look at the record showed that in the nine- teen-day period the Bunker Hill and Air Group Eight had been in action against the enemy on twelve of the days, flown 1,389 sorties and dropped more than 500 tons of explosives exclusive of the torpedoes thrown at Manila Bay. Photographic evidence showed that in that period the Bunker Hill's Air Group had sunk or damaged the staggering total of 108,850 tons of Jap shipping, thirteen ships amounting to 44,600 tons totted up as definitely sunk, 40,150 tons represented by ten ships probably sunk and the remaining eleven ships, estimated at 24,100 tons, heavily damaged. Oh yes, what was the name of that carrier that was coming out to relieve us? We're going back, eh? Straight dope? From where we stood we saw seven ammunition lighters waiting to come alongside as soon as we Cl1'0pped the hook in Saipan Roads Septem- ber 28. That doesn't spell relief for us or the Air Group, Mac! The cynics were abashed temporarily when We dragged the anchor to another port and storm of scuttlebutt in the next few days, finally taking aboard replacement aircraft and deciding that there'd be just one more op- eration. Down in the torpedo ready room some artist reflected the weary pilots' reaction with a blackboard drawing of a crying infant, captioned: My Daddy flies for Halsey. The staunch supporters of the St. Louis Cards picked up their thoughtfully placed bets, arguments opened up on the merits of the Navy football club, a few more letters were mailed to Sally and Sue, and October 7 we hit the road again. It was evident enough as to the necessity for the Bunker Hill to be included again in the lineup when we heard that the invasion of the Philippines had been stepped up, with General MacArthur sched- uled to return via Leyte. The belly butterflies did wingovers, though, when we learned that we were to hit Okinawa Jima, in the Nansei Shoto group. That was the Jap Empire, Bud! October 10 . . . A Hghter sweep and three strikes on shipping and shore installations, with a feature performance by Ensign Ray Baldwin of the fighters, who sank a pair of Jap submarines anchored side by side. Lieu- tenant Boydston sank another while Lieuten- ant Cjgl Al Prejean picked out a small AK and sent it to the bottom with a direct hit. The old masters of ship sinking, the bombers and torpedo pilots, weren't idle, either. Skip- per Arbes and Lieutenant Jim Keefe teamed up to punch a 6,000-ton transport to the bottom as Lieutenant Spanky Spohn severely damaged a smaller one, later polished off by another group. Greatest attention was given the airfields and installations that might be used in staging Jap aircraft to the Leyte area during the invasion, however, and the Air Group went over the target area with a heavy hand. Two of the fighters, Lieutenants Beauchamp and F eightner, recorded precision jobs on a pair of small transports, sinking them both. No air opposition was met, not even by the fighter sweep that ranged over Tokuuna Shima where they burned a score of tW1n- engine bombers hidden on a small field. En route to Formosa the following day the CAP tallied a pair of snoopers and when a mid- night G.Q. was sounded it looked as though a fight might be developing. It failed YO materialize, however, and the Formosa Hight schedule opened up as advertised. Well, maybe not as advertised. We didn't know we were going to be kept teetering between General Quarters and a razor-edge Condition One Easy for quite so long, for instance. The day began peaceably enough with the launching of a fighter sweep and a strike. Reports from the target were scanty but there were indications that one hell of a fight was going on over there. Air department crews munched doughnuts and drank flagons of coH'ee in considerable suspense, relieved only when they counted the sweep planes return- ing to the ship. Everyone was home. Each pilot hit the deck and taxied forward with the world's widest grin, and all but two held up lingers indicating the number of their kills. Commander Collins had bagged five, Red Rosen three and a probable, Whitey Feight- ner the same, Bill Lamoreaux, two and a prob- able, McCuskey, three downed and two dam- aged, Al Gocio, one and one, Ernie Beau- champ, three confirmed and four probables, Vanderlinden, three, Dan Rehm, a pair, Jun- gle Jim Hodek, one and a probable, Georgie Groves, his first definite kill and two prob- ables-and so darned excited he could hardly talk,Don Cronin, three and a probable, and T. I. Brown, the Lubbock, Tex., fullback, two damaged. Thirteen pilots had knocked down thirty- two Nip planes in a wild melee over Taien, and had seen sixteen others sufficiently dam- aged to be listed as probables-and most of them would have been definite kills if there had been time to sit around and watch them plow the dirt. In the meantime, the strike hitting Qhika airfield was grounding Jap air :mme over there, smashing a pair of hangars, mme Shop installations and other buildings with combat-keen precision. The bombers' Grum- man grenadiers, doing escort duty, were en- jgying play day too. Battle Boss Shifley added another confirmed kill to his string over near Matsuyama, as did Dick Degolia, Stan Czekala and Rog I-Iannenkratt. Intense AA fire hit Lieutenant C j gj Prentiss Newmarfs plane, which was seen to crash with neither Newman nor his radioman, W. W. Carr get. ting free. The day continued with good hunting as I-Ieildivers and Avengers beat up ground in- stallations, sank an AK, a sampan, a couple of luggers, demolished a radio station and fuel dump at Matsuyama in addition to cratering its runway out of commission. Ray Baldwin and his division leader, Rudy Gmitro teamed up to knock down a I-Iamp, and Okey Boydstun got another as the day's score rolled up. As the day wore by and the sweeps and strikes continued to bring back their scores, it became apparent that the Jap was taking a hell of a beating. Aground and aloft, at Chinchika, Matsuyama, Taien -every- where the Jap was getting badly licked- Charlie Phillips, gunner in Lieutenant Cjgl Andrews' Avenger, ripped off a ribbon Of shells to shoot down a Zeke in the general free-for-all that saw the second strike-sweep flight recording high totals. Lieutenant Cjgl Johnnie Galvin led off with three confirmed kills and two damaged, Big Gus Gustafson knocked down a pair and smoked two otherS, Petey Boyles racked up two and a probable, Marv High got two, Splash Gibbs, Paul Zerendow and T. I. Brown scored one aplece' and Cris Allen and Jerry Rian had probablCS' When the day's score was tallied, Fishfmg Eight had totted up fifty-one kills. Apparently well aroused, the Jap attempted to retaliate in the evening and the ship Went- to General Quarters at 1845 when Sight CHCIUY SH00pers sought us out. TheY found us--and went to Haming death as shiP gun' , , -A .,. - . ,Q ' Q' ii? -HW' ' . 5-gg' -E tire from the screen shot them down. Eight minutes later our own guns opened fire to port and from then on it was touch and go as we fought off repeated attacks and repelled planes nightlong. A total of fifteen enemy planes were destroyed by night fighters and gunfire from our own task group in a night laced with the crescent, red tracers that etched the sky. Twin high spots of the evening were these: At 2030, an enemy bomber almost blundered into the ship, avoiding the island structure by a matter of a few feet, his engine roaring off into the night and the plane silhouetted in gunfire. Shortly before midnight, guns again answered to attack, this time seeking planes that streamed the awful light of parachute fiares. The attack was accurate, the light brilliant and nauseating. Sparks and burning fragments threatened the deck and the ship lay bathed in the eerie illumination. Wle waited, a perfect target for a sneak attack. Gunners trained their eyes into the blackness. On the bridge, Lieutenant Cjgj Ralph Burgin stood at the ship's amplifying system, his voice crackling with cool conhdence as he described the scene to men below decks. The fiares fell closer and closer aboard and as their trailing lacework of sparks seemed certain to hit us, the twenty-millimeter bat- tery on the port side opened up to shoot the guts out of the parachutes and render them harmless as they fell with a hiss into the sea. The following day, after a midnight-to- dawn Condition One Easy, the strikes went over as scheduled but found little of the op- position met the day before. Ernie Beau- champ found a Dinah to swell his total, George Kirk got a Zeke, and a Topsy was the victim of Avenger pilots Robinson and Pittman, assisted by D. R. Smith, Pittman's gunner, and a 'helpful Hellcat. At evening the ,laps came again but were unable to penetrate the defense. The day saw the loss of Lieu- tenant CjgD Pete Evanoff and his Helldiver radioman, J. F. Jenkins, who bailed out over the target. The two-day toll of men lost was high: Lieutenant Cjgj Norman Red Imel, Fighting Eight's Character, was forced to bail out over the target after his plane was set afire by AA, and Lieutenant Cjgb Hank Sharp and his radioman, J. R. Langioff, made a water landing in their Helldiver in a spot believed inaccessible to rescue efforts. Formosa was again boresighted October 14, as a strike of twenty-three fighters and 10 bombers fought through opposition that spelled death to a dozen enemy planes airborne over Taien, and smashed twen ty-six planes aground, leveled several buildings, a radio station and gun emplacements. During the day, thirty- one enemy planes were shot down over the force, with our CAP and ASP accounting for six of them. One was shot down by ship's guns during one of the afternoon attacks in which the Jap sought futilely to tally on us under the protection of stormy skies. Dive- bombing Judys were splashed by Czekala and T. I. Brown, a Dinah by Gociog a Betty by Mendoza, a Nick by Rehm and a Kate by Vanderlinden. The attacks on the ship and the force reached full-dress stature in mid- afternoon, as we cut through squalls and storm, when Chaplain Dreith, making the play-by-play report over the announcing sys- tem, passed the word: Stand by for a straf- ing attack. All hands not actively engaged in the defense of the ship take cover. His words needed no repeating. The Jap strafers apparently lost us as a target, however, as the attack failed to materialize. An exhausted crew secured from General Quarters about 1930, and tension began to ease off. The next day information was re- ceived that the Jap fleet was again at sea, north of our force, postponing for the time the future schedules for attacks against the Philippines. Searches were launched October 16, while we heard Radio Tokyo boast how its fieet was engaged in cleaning up rem- nants of the great American fleet. Bogeys careened blazing into the sea a half-dozen times during the day, shot down near the force by our own Combat Air Patrol, or en- countered by the Hghters escorting the search planes. The first search fCominued an page 1543 X kt, 8417261 -q ETHOIIDZ 6 1 fwginazva :mm .Iwo Qgfafgug Zfbrffzam ' :vfllfake Q Wayan aa Ljfffariazza 3. -E Vg I N Q Jizfaz' a fa W1 pl vw JK Y M I - gzzzkuefokyi E j E? Qgjfwajalezgq I IEWQIZQZEMH ISLE. iigiuk-' .Femme Y 'l ,lxl b NJ 'I ' ' C, Q? Ill-is 4: 361955 .564 Qr aiine fy Za n df Zffyi If ' -, q if., SSM ' A I RJ '30 l Mmakefa Wifmouien 19 1a1'lditL may 15. cggmw . ,A ', I. ,K SC X t Q-Mymiqa qw I fH 0 A? Ireland eg. rf Q G I ougain 111716 G I 'e-nv- gr X Nif0i?ff'?Z'Zds 6 ff- T I 7, 5 wfim 0 Guadaffan? Syd! cfxfobaz . WL 0 'LH A I JK 2595 1 tn. KQXIIR- X 1' 3 i i bi ff ,1 he-fff - I WW Emu mn ,Mn 6 yi A l ililiiiiiiiiii fan, Fwzcz fs ffl J ff QQ 0 f Malta if Jignjjiigif' 'rliawl' ed ,ffawaii .jolmslon Q, F10 0 Cgff JZ 4 Eraangga lrlamic A M 0 If fc m ' Mago77ago Q, 0.3 ' La v 0 O O 5' .tilfii K' ' 11311 'GSK 'P- LSB 4 1 1 f if 520 Pacjcjlezzfre NOV. 1 V. 44 ' ' 'K ff . fx 5 4 , iw . , 1: 1,ll5?l19w ljifiillliil ,11sf-M22 'i2f 11:-1+11 1,31 2 ',1iifT1 lllllilldllzy i1l111 Ll 111-151 'V 1' 1, Eff:- l1.,1,1,l,,j , ,1 1 .1- .,-,a 1, , f1J,,. .QE,Sg3' 1.3wq1., ' ., l ,1 .Nw -f1,.f, 1, l j 1 1,,, V, if A 1, 1,111 Nfl 'I' 1l - lm 1ll,11:1' ,5'f'1l1f 1Wl',,,1 ' E ,,,, 1 ,1 ,1 ' 1I11 ll 13121, ,,:,,,1 i1,1,' 1,3f1, M, , 11 11,1 I1 flzlif' 11 'I 1'1,ll l. J-,111 l 1 W., 0 ll ,,u.,.l 1,. ,H l, , . I .,, --Vin -11,11 1111,w 1 11 1, 1 1 i ill H ,A 5 F ' l:i11,fl1,I:1 ,' ' 11' :'I.gig- ,, 151 41: ,1 .1 1l..f1 gi, ,,,11: he fi flliff ll1 V1 1 14 1 '1, ', ew W ',, 1, I,, bw: T'lr11, 1, '1111':- 1 1'1'1 1 1,ze1:'51j1, . 11 l'i1 ,I ,Qfj A 1111-1, 1 111 1, 11, :ll Milf' l'1,i,1,1! i ' WH wil' .1 5' 's ,. j2lfl 'S 'l ,Will-l IX: 'l1l'1 'Qi 1 1 ,l rf: 11 l--,, 1 ill, :ll al' E1 W E: 1li1'l I l1. l'1l?1l , 11.1 :,1 l, 1', pilfijg at , , ,, ,.,,,1 5 ,1 14 glfifi I1 511' S ri '13 lit ,l 17 -1,3 1 l T151.,1 Q1 Life' ,lip Y iff? lf. i 1, ,l 9.1, 1 1,1 -1 ,Ll ,, li 1 arm 5111 :if fT1 gr gif, , , lf -ii ' 5' ill, if : ES fl QL, l g lli x GH , 1 ill 5 li? lov 11 - s 1l1i i l tg 4 , ,1 ir. 5 11, , . 4: 1: 1 hour, when they would be relieved. Th flew their hops, they got their results, but became mechanical work for them. -111 San Bernadina Strait, standing by in strateg 'Ji Support of the Philippines landing at Ley1 and the following day Cebu fell under t g ff--f' ,,p. a hammer-.and-bomb blows of the Helldivf Z-'jf , ,,,,, f' A and Avengers and the rampagmg strahng 1,555 the Hellcats, with airfields and dispersal are ffdz 6 at Mahug and Opon center of the attack. if I t was Air Group Eight's last flight agai if 4 the Jap from the Bunker Hill, for on the 22 ' we stood by to support Leyte landings 7, X45 -,gif -y1, 4:1 e-'.' lf fC'ontnued from page 1.50 had negative results, and the afternoon search found all hands tense again, awaiting word of a contact. As the hours wore on tension mounted. Pilots went into Condition Eleven. A contact was made, a Jap Heet unit of two Kongo class battleships, a Natori class cruiser and seven destroyers which appeared to be fueling from the heavies. Lieutenants Boyclstrun, Al Prejean and Baldwin, flying fighter cover for Helldiver Tommy Shea, made the contact and the double-duo was greeted by heavy anti-aircraft fire. They relayed the information back to the force, which changed its course to close the range, but an attack was impossible because of the extreme range and the short period of daylight remaining. The escorting lighters on all search legs were scoring kills, totaling seven, including a pair of large transport planes under heavy fighter protection indicating important cargo. Searches the next morning found nothing, and we turned back to the Philippines. On October 18, tired, combat-weary pilots again flew, this time in diversionary strikes against Appari and Laoga airlields on north- ern Luzon, with intensive searches for ship- ping. Results were good on all counts as more than 25,000 tons of shipping were either sunk or left in sinking condition. Air Group Eight, however, was weary and more and more they looked forward to the day, the we were detached, with a two-destroyer esco and ordered to a base where the Air Gro would be relieved. Possibly the Bunker Hi, We hoped so. r n b were not called upon, and the following da 1 reef A ONE-SHIP SHOW. hattle-mates W the cudgelin g flat-top, were oft a souree cy' conversation during the long da qt steaming and fighting. They became a pa of us, living their own lives, going ahout th own duties, yet fighting the same hattles a feeling the same sweat. Always, when ti smaller ones came alongside, we thronged it eatwallts to talze a look at them, and tri: CThe ships around the carrier, guardians as e 1 , WEN A ill' illl S51 1 1x fl, .1 5-il llllli l' Nik l !:',ll!I!.1'fL, 1.1 lll 1'l' Lllixsll l ,. ' 1 ,A 11 , 11 1, 1,,'J ' '1 ii ' l'1l1' 1 lil , -L 11?f1 111 H5 ',',1f,1 1' , 4 ,X K , ,i lx , xl, M., ,Q ,.r, I J., l, .,1,,,x ix ,1.,.,1Qlm 1 fi, W1 ,!1 11 , Nl l1'1ll1'1l1l 211 ' l 'li1-'Ji fyff ,' N, 1. ,1X11,1-,ll ,5 ' l J. 743- ,,11,f - l1 ' ll i1 11lk111:,1 .'1,1. 1, .' ' 1, 1 '11, 1: 1,l1 1il111? 11f11:fy'f1,'g .,1,f,1 ' 2 1. lx 11,1 llll ,mi -11 nfs, 11, 'A' ,,1 1 ,1111 ilk' ,yr ll sf ,1 ,lil ff-fff 'ff 7,1 w E11 '1'1'll,1 Wal 1421i lllif' f 2 '1' A ff N -, E 'fl ll lil ill? . lf 1,!f,'lf'!fU,1' 7 W 1X Q2 ,K 1:11 1 f ,1,11,,fff,-'E l1 5 , 1 . 1, W 1-uf 'Q 3. fi' X NWI, ,1',1,,l all ' 1 I V, ,. ,, li 4, 3 1 Af 1f1'f 11,11 1 l'- -1 ' X A 'fi as 'K fig, gg: x Q 5 w ,, ' 1 11 -11 1 K, 1 ' X lilly., 'X ,Hs-eff '- K f 01? 5515 ...Q .11 ...Milf ffm-l11+1'131' fQ '1'1?Hf. is ' l 'gf tt' ,ggsggiulzgs-5'g...,,Q1n1, B ,?i ' 1'iE'i'-.. L I, 151 l' M 1 ' fl f Ql5Q,5:.fsx5,5,,i:.l:?AV I vw i k ,, . Q ,. 131, la xltvulisaxv V . 'F . Q -.E Y,j,j,,g5jf,1?L15v.g:s1,,2, Q 1 1JT,l1f .-3 jx., ., . 5 ,hx H , :I . ,fin N i,xX5,Ssx.Ex31.,1. ., ' K -,, 'H .E-1 ,,,1. - if ff-11 ,ii ,,.,-., ., f M- '-we ,.,.,.. ,.,,mN Yung, ,gn ..W,,n,. . ng 3-,ug-g',5..g:,':4J ' 'A' --::'1ii3Leuaw-zz,--. ' ,, N .--is -'11 0- - ' . sgmfb- D 1, M .gk by-.jg.T,p. .Ng . ...W .- -1:1q11w:A1,.11 ,, , if ..ug...,, 25 J, fl 'rt' 1 1. 'Q - iii ffw.f7ii:f'73!!!r'1,,. ' .-ff 11 swift-14 .ge ,,,,L , . 134- 153 ,1. !,'.a '5' . fre 1 Q -221. xiii. 5 ,. 4 L to figure out how they lived. Of them dll, no ship drew greater cheers nor deeper respect, 'than ez .single destroyer, the U.S.S. Burnrj No story of the Bunker Hill would be com- plete without a mention of its rampaging rumpus-mate, the U. S. S. Burns--the rowdy little destroyer whose presence in our task force always brought grins of satisfaction. That comraderie between the big carrier and the sea terrier that tagged along as a plane guard, or blazed away with salvos of AA when we were under attack, was deeper than the usual feeling between the mother- ing-and oft-times helpless-carrier and her defending screen. . It revolved about an operation during the campaign for the Marshall Islands. Our squadrons were carrying out a relentless, day- long attack on one of the atolls of the target group, an air field and its surrounding install- ations the specific target of the bombers and torpedo pilots. However, each torpedo pilot had been instructed to save one bomb for a concentrated bombing run on a 6,000-ton Jap transport that had been found huddled in a nook of the harbor. Lieutenant Cjgj Guy Brown, twenty-six-year old torpedo pilot of VT17, had made his run on the ground installations but heavy cloud banks prevented him from rendezvousing with the rest of the squadron to join the attack on the ship. He decided to make his drop alone. Spotting the ship down on the blue lagoon he made his glide bombing run through a storm of anti-aircraft fire, leveled off and started upstairs He then discovered that his bomb had failed to release-and that his right wing had been riddled by small calibre AA. Despite possible structural dam- age to the wing, Brown made his second run and saw his bomb drop close enough to the transport's waterline to assure damage to the ship. Brown's Avenger, however, was seriously damaged, its hydraulic system shot away, one elevator virtually demolished and a severe oil leak resulting from a hit in the engine. He informed his squadron mates by radio that he was Usettin' her down, and went into a long glide that carried him approximately fif- teen of the 100 miles in the direction of the carrier. In hitting the water, Brown's radio- man, Frank Nugent, ARM 2c, of Jersey City, N. J., received a severe back injury and George Sandburg, ARM2c, of Camden, N. J., the gunner, extricated him and together with Brown, got him into the life raft. The trio prepared for a long stay under the hot sun, taking encouragement from the circling Aven- ger of Lieutenant Paul Dickson, who droned over them for nearly five hours awaiting the Burns, which had been dispatched for the rescue. The carrier force, meanwhile, had been l. --:ij t 'hifi ' . p Q 5 , 3-J-3 V .. 1 '- :.:::: ' ,Z - L , i . .i .1 A. , A --------- ifw ifig :lv I J! ------- -M.,-F q 5. , AQ- Y.: 'Q-1 f . . is , Q---i-. - A TI ..'.:.4q ------ f .1 X. ' A I ' u ------- '--- - A N l A ' - . o ' M X f 'EN 'X 0 A ,-- X . if-'lfillrfl ' - X ' - - - ,,, 11-fn' - Q., f? '-4,-Q-V' 'A-' --f:?.i.,,'-1-,e..--fy ,E T'-q,..g e f J f+z.- 155 steaming in an opposite direction and it was expected that the Burns would not return to it until the next morning. Night came over the lone destroyer, returning from its mis- sion of mercy, and Brown and his crew hit the sack. The destroyer skipper, Commander D. T. Eller, USN, had given Brown his own room just off the bridge and as Brown lay there, he heard snatches of conversation mention- ing surface vessels. In a moment he was out on the bridge, fully dressed and asking questions. How many? Where? Do you suppose it could be part of the Jap fleet that had been baited out of hiding? No one on the bridge had even an inkling, but when the young Oflicer of the Deck asked: Shall I order Hank speed and try to slip through them sir? The Skipper bellowed: Slip through them my foot! I've been waiting for a chance like this for years, and we're not going to run for it now. As the Burns stalked her quarry in the light of a quarter moon, it became apparent that the targets were four Jap ships. The Burns closed to maximum range, the open fire command was given, and she let Hy with her heavy five-inchers. A tremendous sheet of Hame in the distance testified to accuracy and the Burns careened on, closing the range. 1.-nm-.5 .Jls.LN6:.0 l X 'Q wild melee of battle stopped all time, while guns l'01lI'CCl and mp, I58 z V 1 nis 1 nlllckul violent splzxslws hom Hull I I H ,F V, , Rabaul-its hook-shaped estuary was streaked by the Ylrzmtie white wakes tagging the Heeing zlpzmese ships. wang X , , , , I f MWQJMW V WWVW X, , F 1. M iw, A, I 1 M my ,, W --W, f -+-,fjfw ogy 'mm Vw ' fyff ff 'f' ff ,W ,, ,, X ,in ff , LA I ,V,, V, ,M , M my V, ff,,4.,,Z!, f V f 7' 'I ' ' .Jfjy 't , , M I I I ' , ,f,, , , , ff f it M ,M A ww ,,, f, , The sky wus pqjck mwkcd IW hm ,mti,3irCrg1f'r bursts, black smoke marked the watery graves of the Jap attackers 159 A pair of bombs dropped harmlesslyg Z1 mushroom of sea Water and chemistry geysered up from the once blue surfa A battle mterlude's sweet, restful peace between the ship's dances through hails of bombs and tmfish. 1 t , Q WZ K ,gg ,x'?,:i'ff i - f , 5 . I ,: xt ,E - I fi e.2f1E ' , if 51-5,2 f I .ASW er. 4, 1 'ffl Q V an . . . he 1 er lg Inq M i'W f f' - f By Unflfff PWS-1 . . . ..L,,,pj:3xiV Yelp' f,ff?,fj 3fT PEARL HARBOR, Nov. 22.-American invasion forces, backed by Q , is f . f ' Ns :Riu strong fleet and covered by a canopy of planes, battled today to crush two Jap.- , lf f-tf s K IAAV nesc outposts in the Gilbert Islands in the first phase of A mid-Pacific offensive Q .5 '-3 ,V . i i i ff' f if V ' t 'fs Y ' R the flanlr of the trans-ocean road to Tokyo. ,wf'fW' K f f f I X ,A ng, rtl' f lrttf g? fX'f if ip X 'll' f Our airmen continued to lend support, whenever and wherever called for from the heaehhead support command-and 'IRLIFHWL1 blazed. Jap Torpedo planes HCW hell-bent into our forinzition, guns spat hot steel to send them exploding into-the twilight sea. 161 1 1 A xfrffs 2 They came across the evening sun, low to the Water, night after night-to meet Z1 raging inferno from our guns Landing barges found difiiculty in mssin rc 1 U-F P E WU 1 lee at ebb rifle, :md M' -' -N '- ' 1 . ' ' fall back .mms aliul III their iictvimilmtion not YU 162 q-by 4 . 4 ' Bi' 's 5 n ' ' Q as A 5- .-, ,. ,- al 'D ' 4 . vm.. ' Y 'gf' , Q ' ' ' 1 'HF' ' ' f . - . ' - 1 , nr, M ' , , A , Q x 1' .. -, K ,E ' -. 3 U 6 ' A 4 .L .. , . 'Q if -, WV.. 1 t V n V . gl, Q 3 -,K , f 3 ' . 451-1 ' , ,F , 'X 4, bi Q Q 1 .fri A- , ' Q v H' f F fx -vm. 'qw-7 If -w f , - - - f 'f 5' hw' l QQi,,,.,- k N sd .A 1 gy I i, 5. D . 2 h , 1 ' , - 1' 5 . , . , f x -1 - , ,- V 1 8, x.:7,Q'xi1-fi . Fire X. Q K 2 yrs K ' Q Qi I . I 1.13, ,AQ Q ws. Z S 5 3 i K R Hi , ,A f f ,-5-Q..-lj Qtf 4. ' , 2 ' If 1 fwhxfi ,jf gf X i .F 'ii ' my H' 4 x g1'?34f'9- . -if ' ' ' , A3 , . 'O' - 1 , , S, r lx Xi . 5x muah' ' M ' ' L mv t .ij N I 1 , ' fx . '. ' X f' - , -H, if I- - 2 1 .- N wg, ,, f, ,, ., , Y Af ' .ff 1 . ' , ' ,, X . . A .1 if ir' ' QW! vw. 'U V. Qin' N Ax I ,L x f-, -,f -, aw - , f 2 . f Y '-A ,1Q ' in My S' Wt ,+R :fl AX 'X--Z , X Q S 3, jf-. mi gg i 1 is tx . i .,5 sy!! aifiax ., FX, , - 1 dl, A ,Q 5 K t, I 1 3 ,fi ,V.i'ih:.' 1 , K v , gil - - 4 . 1 K -x v, 'f-K I M X 'I J Fr 'g ,QWIQG ' A K SK 1 qi N + 1 E WL if ,, ' 1, ,' t I- J' . V -2, V fig., ,Q fflwglr Lx, f. A ' J E ml-52 , -4351, ifgbg, , -if . fl. 2 A 5 . ,A .w-Q ,iw ' ' Q-,..,.,Lf-V g f -,Q f'g. 2-1 3 mms! X qi X .Av 1 a, --T . eq' 1 , -- .2--' XX W 'nv,4f5rL.GQ ff ,.. :R-v gh'-A. ,E . sv. 5- A , A I 'I ,la awe: vc., X X H ., X X Q' ' , , ,y W, A -.Q 554 S XJ. .f ' f if 'FQ ,X A 'N Q: 3 G 1 .- '-V-T71 if ffl. .. is 'Q-tka i, -'fm Lhvu Q, avi E gnupg wi .xx W M,,. , .' , 4 5.0 K '- J' J' za QW 1' . . 1 6 ' ,b U 'B-iwfsgi, .,,,n4 A x R Q, g'z 1 . . i 3 u., V' ,V ff . . x -, . o-I if , 2 2 ... , 3511 - , x . . , F, . an If Hgk . .QQ , I 1 .- 5 1 4' ,Q Ngxzg-w Q , .1 Cfugwa. 4 ,A A V In .Q 'su X. -'IYM ,V ,ll V . Wa , , ,J ,QR ., A yi, . Nt, Q x C .. 2 Six1:,,Af. xt b VX fs ' X ,, ,um ,aww , ,E , ,. , ,E W , J G .i1fl'54 'A 1 5 -f if 1 - K a fy M2 R NR' , ,414 . A ' Qzlui., X k + 4 , 2 L., ,- , ' 2 3.-,,,-K 1 a , , gsm itt. ' - Y- N' . i f,1 ',, . Ark, xg. ef, , . za. 5 '- 1 A' ' A 5 , '2 ' i ag , , - . 'X ,, 4. ' W , 5 5 I ' 5 vm Q H Q x W' Q R 1 v 9 ,M Q Q ,,,,,,.,,, X I. , , , K-wx Ai sf 435 ,W x I O 1 ,h 5 S I ,N ,Ly XX Q 4 fa I 5 V -1 V , XXX , A I fx 'P Q Nolld lv Mus f f rh LHILHIH ll lxu1L1w,1UN1,lwm l,Hl,1,, Umm- x to dll XX A Q N X, i RSX X55 X x .Q X Nffdeix i lx X Q XX l'he Air Group staged a hit parade for the Kzivieiig -laps, raking the hzirhur with ll devzistziting stcni-in of homhs :md torpedoes. ILS. STRI AT VIENG ,U !,M,,Qf,! VV afar , of fffjwf wif Q f M6 V ff, fffwio No kidding, this time we were headed hack to port! 165 Syvum., . I O 'IAPS CAUGHT WITH KIMIINUS UFF' IN MARSHAIIS RAIIIQ It was Illhy in the Mzlrshzxlls, amd we rained dest . BY CHARLES P. ARNOT liwajalcin Island. wel-Q nm-lmw-.2 on I11n1wcrf,k'5 lmczxghcs, SIIIZISIIIIIQQ them four by footmcgzn 'United Prem Slaff Corrs,-snnndc-nf. IIEOTC H1811 Zi. 'CIOZCD Dig' SCNQLOIH hot Iyfgufh Of Iyljgfcrcd the ha I .. ' C ABOARD A II' S' AIRCRAPYI IIIIIWCIIZIIIIITICII. a munbm' of snxulll Nlzlrslmllvs hmtcrmusr MOH. p SSS defenders Ofthe Ifufm X. X TWXEQQTNXSNNWTYNX XXXWNQTX-fx ii Tiiigg X X1 'irffpsgflsf X ss ssss A s A X N X gs NQ X . -Q -slifi X N N- s 1 X QNX59 NKSQXQ-www . i firsissh RQ iv r vsjsr is my N, if X X AX KX- X X -f5ss51.gig..e?sN5 s . x X - r A-X sxssg x 1' W gif 'HHN 4:2 The smashed runways were the ship's best defense, and the Air Group bent to its job with a hearty will. Strafing Hellcats Caught Eniwetolfs runways shimmering with a combination uf brand new Bettys and early morni ng light 'W Wm, Wfwf f ,M M W, .,,Qyf+,,- x ww My ,, fmffw-, V f , ff ff I 7ff',,'f 7, Q! lm QP' fff f Mzff , fly!! fix , Vfyfy, fy 7,f,,'VffZ5ffyf,ZZzyfj2 ,Zf,dffa!fyfxf!yyyf, , f f Hz lfgf- ff ff ff WW! f , I up X' fffi' . f f 'f f f f V ff X f , f I , , f,,, f f , fam f l ,,,f ,f lf W V? I , fl' 'Vw ,Wf ff I , W I ,,,f,f 'JXZW yf ,ails-sxif' ,W 4,1 Strikes rolled from our clcck to visit linizm, :xml logged r 170 - - - . , 1 hre- luf scrumckluukurmgg sugar Cllllt' lwllls wltlm snmlxn -Wd J' fd CfT21llSfJf snmkc- mnrkccl primzlrx' I'Zll'gT,L'fS cm IIIH- , f rhc lmmlucrs lmcgzm 11 IHIXJCISIUI1 parzulc or 1 U xQXxgXXXexx X X wiv X X Xe NXXXXXXX' if XeeX X X ww, xXXNXXQXXX LX X F x Q . , Nsxe A X - X xx X . XA: ' X - XF QXTX iXS'9Xgx X Q .. - X. .X 'KX X6 SXX . Six ' X XX e'XXxXqx QXSSKQXQXL 5XSSxX 5 XX xx QQQQ5 X NXQ YQXNXXXXN NXXQXXQN Axmk QSXX Ae W QQ ,yxXQwQXNXwXxXXX'eXXeX X X X X i NX XNWeXNNyQw5Nxx wwxe XQ.Xeex,QX X X X L. i, X L XX ' i X . Q Nw e S sexe Xxffi X Xe ww XA A XX A -X . .g 5 g S 5 ex .XJQX .X 98.55 X Y X Profitable targets diminished with each strike as Air Grou F-1-if p Eight made its Combat debut at Palau- Powerful Amerlcan Forces A t I-Ioll re anded andla Base 172 N 7: .k-, . f' Woleai Was pasted from hell to breakfast in a withering attack that found little opposition aground or aloft. if of . x ,aggfk W fiftil X . ge r .1 ,se ,-,wil f Y ,a N? ' if V r. -Q X ,fs lt- ,V--Q: i A iowa K A+ -pu-vi X X X X wi iv . X QM . X to S .Ri ix. LQ -rs it nqpyjtyh I i lt Il , I! I, l ll I l 1 l I l s l. I l l ,l it . .. -, ,' -' - FG 'lNlzA'tl1 'Hllz l' lt. We provided Striking groups to neutralme Wlakde airfieldb in support o enera i ie 1 ur 5 o incia assau 173 l 1 NV X. , UQ .X f N HR .WA xw, wjgx 4 NSVN Q Sys N. f-mm' Q1 X 'N NW awww X .: U - X ,Q .X Warshlpe and ca1r1erQ combmed thelr strength to gxve all I l F 1 P I I i I I I 1 I I I I I I I I I II I I1 I I ! I 'I T4 I3 Jap Ships Sunlz, 141 Planes Bagged In Big Guam Battle 16 More Nip Craft Hit 1113-Day Fight By RICHARD V. HALLEB lt!!! Correspondent lnfl News Service PEARL HARBOR, June 13.- The powerful Pacific Fleet car- tier task force which battered Jonanpso house In Hu llnrlanao 2-Qs K X,s ?S1s E tom during furious engagements covering a three day period in- cluded one destroyer and three corvettes. In addition, two oilers and seven cargo ships were sunk. Five escort ships, three de- stroyers, one destroyer escort and seven cargo ships were damaged. The bold attacks of the carrier based planes, carried out within 1,500 miles of Tokio, cost fifteen American plane s and fifteen pilots and crew members. FIERCE SKY FIGHTS. The opening assault on June 10 nrnflm-ul flnmlnu .bv Lani..- Prelude to invasion-a return trip to Tinian ' D D s ' - ay at aipan: transports and landin craft 1' - ' - - - ii, g C lsgofged glfrund forces while we How support missions. In' 176 'I I AA NIP PLANES FROM TASK 3 ESTRUYEDIN R u. s. CARRIER FORCE FURCFU 0 FAT AP FLEET BATTLE DVER MARIANA lsEEs mms J , Aawfw 'ww L.4.,+ H Th h ll f' PXPX fire the Bunker Hill st1'ik6 gmup Hwgged E116 Jap Fleet in the Philippine Sea' mug 21 Wa cf 1nrcnsc:A . A 177 rw I I 'I I I I 1 1 I I Powerful Carrier Force Hits Guam, S l Tl O alpan, lnlan lf. S. PAt'll It,' FI,EE'l' HEADQUARTERS. PEAR HARBOR, CARI-A powerful carrier task force, presumabl launching scores ol' planes. bombarded Saipan. Tinian an Guam in the southern Marianas last Saturday, Adm. Che- ter Nimitz reported yestz ay. FIERCE GUAM BATTlE IS ON, BERLIN RADIO erlin broadcast of a Tokio dispatch yegterda A B violent battle of several days was in progress for poss of the Pacific isle of Guam, with the Japanese g I fighting to stave off attacks by an American naval foim A communication anent thisi - fighting is expected from Japanese , , ' headquarters this Saturday, sand ffffn Gkunawlflknfan Iihewgliaflgglas Another pre-invasion cuclgeling opened :is we returned to sol' l78 ew-,Y 4' A teen up tinzini for tlic gnnphiliioils forces. d 1 ii0n SOII ion 5 had VM 5 wafQ'g ' ..,f t Guanfs Orote Peninsula was bedeviled from the air, its runways bzittercd and its instullzttions smashed. BY D-minus-unc Daly, only ll few huts and the skeld on of ll Shinto Shrine still stood on Guam's landing beach 179 X wh MN, N MESM M0 . .J ww-- , ' I , KV f f ,, - , lg mpg? My , wwf' , f ff fn , 4 ' , ' ff 4 f , 0, f ff' f WHZW ,' ,, X ' Z ' f J f JVM vga! 1 f X f I 7,z,f,? 'rpg X-ju , 'X' Q ,ff,g4fif4 ,X M , , Ziff x , ,722 J. f A , X' www 'if Q V X' 1 , ' haf 1 g ,, ,1 I W M ,W , , X , , ,fl , 1 off '. ,fx ' . ' . -N M , xv. X ivilsx X TN x Rx N -Av k vw .mgff X Q AX Nijxxxxx X A 1 X A X -5 X . 5 W N A x Nh 5 .S xxx X xx. gkx -nn.. . K xkkk +2 5, . X X N, B - X fx N, . KSN x K VN ygw X Q K x -,X X an ii KNQ IN XX N f Q ' ' I' M 1 Z Jap Fleet Flees as Yank Armada 013635 Assault on Palau September-and our mission again was t0 Strike Palau I , Cur orders were to lay waste to, and support the zimphilmious forces landing on Pillilll lf! ., ll thomugh-going, precision jo b of dock-Wzilloping was C11 183 V A, . uf 'X , 6,4 iifge ...J ' EX il n if X xV A . K X W fx . X . X. .. -. 3. f X .. xxx X XXX X MM .A 'R gig XX X A. Aa, X X xg X X 'i ' X ' K Nkfwl X W if ' . Q . 1' .if 41 xsg ,,g1.QQf4. Q vm. '- ss . Q .- - ., , .,wf+.g'5 X -5 ' x fl .Q XV 7 'iv vw' ff Niki -if Ei YS 1:5 k i .Md S k Q X .X NX XM. ,gl X. N . Ng, X 4- 19 C 5 X l . Y' . .Mi - Y gg 5 -N .gl X ,- X X w. x .igsfxx A W be g Qjw . X A . . . X .. .1 in if lied for and promptly delivered at Davao. x., W' J W1 X Q. i ai if iff 9 i l 1 ec noiti of fc-lm lslxlmls, 1 1 5 fl i American air power centralized Davao, on Mindanao. N 1 i I i Q Q a A I , M rrrr X E x M 5M ww we N N. Wx , i - X F i Ny Q I i I n il N I I 1 : xi wi-5,- VY if Shi? 1 gf Q . 1 I L 2 aw. X Qxx 5, .X i 'f':'5 '-ff - Prize ficka res of enem f shi in f werf- V 3 1 - p' 5 y pp 5 L 5 mfr I I me riiws cuiicviirlultul on this PIC?- 184 V i 4.4 .. . ,M ow X H4 wsgagg x 4. ,iii NA XX ,wax ,,, -X545 Ewa 3 N BBQ, .wr -- MUN ' .-cc.Xxx.t r K hi, X 1 A-X Air Group Eight roamed unchecked over Samar, in the first American return to the Philippines At Leyte, the attack herded a Jap cargo ship onto the beach and crewnien swurmed over the sides. rv' ,f M' Wm New , f XWQ' 4 ,,,, X gg? yjfggwve ff fan f 0 0 Qj?7 f?fi49W' X 1 I Q wif My Q 'A -ef eg-W, diff fig f f ,, I, , ,Ly kgzV'lfvxQLkf.gf,fcyngrf if QWQQQH iw yv Am , i , fy J f ,Wm , U M9- ff ff fjff-.X T fjfjlgwl , f fifjfvn ffaizw 'firm , 1 if ,, , r f VM I, ,I 7 f v W H , f f- , ,f ,, , pn., fri!! fy, Ay' , f , fb 4 f fr 4 ,f sf, f , 7,0 fx nw s ' I X W Xi 1 f ,f fr ' M, , ff ff , M f ,, ff'7!,M , gh ' , , ,ff N ' X jj Of f M 6 if , f, ,,, A, M M9 101 ' ? 4 f N I ,r 4 Z . 5 ., f f Q 6 O fi ,'l ff, ,f 'Muff , f , , ff W ff' V , f ,, ,, f f' ,, nf U4 fr, f I, f , ,. large Jap cargo ship off Cebu took three hits and sank. An attempted escape from Blanila-bombed into failure. NM wma F Adwkt df? fe SS 5, .9 ,, . K K wat 8.4 . f . x X N:- 0 X xx - X ' X. N. 2' 1 t X .Maw ff . it X x Xe xx 5 9 3 Over Negrus, fierce air opposition failed to himler the precision lmxnlmimg Uf'1liI'HClLlS, ITZIHQSIVS :md l521I'l'llCk3- i B 4,-,mmnuwanu-q.,m+-3-.q.-,,., KA A i i i r if X nw ly.g:5Flx's' ,X Q. . N 2 XXX' N aj-gi 1 x xx. X. 5:1 1 X 1 I fiat :Q x X' W Q yrs. N X A X ,SX Q RFQ. x Q 'X N A 1 X-A is s, il . . E5 S if K. 5 .X ff! ork over Manila but found a minimum of airborne resistance. The Hellcars buzzed merrily to W 187 i l 1 i ii gl l ii N i 1 1 i i i I i i W i 1 i i 2 E ffffa Af 'ugh f, f ,ai , fy, ff 7 Leyte, Where General MacArthur was to stage his return, was the site of Concentrated bombing to beat down enemy strength A, A ., -f A x,,miggiXk3Ktgw . ., . li xl, ww A, M White-stsiiveci wings threw their shziclows on Manila . , :md UVM it-S 1,1153 Wim,-C the lumfing was goOd- 188 Okinawa Jima, in the Nansei Shoto group, was October's first target against dwindling Jap strength . . . and Air Group Fight punched airnelds and shipping to cut off reinforcement of the Philippines. , I A mf K i 4 pf 1 4 R v i s i l l quartet of lap merchzmtmcn were ferrettcfcl out of their Okinawa cuvcs amd put on the bottom l9O Straight across Formosa flew Air Group Eight s E Et i 1 E . . to reach more shipping huddled on its coast I At Luzoni H iiroundupn was made to kl10Ck Off . - d hi ing missed previously . . any scattere s pp 191 v K i 1 ' 1 1 4 , , i ' 2 i V r , r , i 1 a p w 1 V I 1 i I P 1 W 1 , 1 I ii 1. , . W I , 5 4 1 l I I v 1 i I , 7 1 r r E, 4 I I I 52 1 F 1 ,V ,V E E 'I 1 V -3 V -5 1- K My 1 an K Z mm ,N ki' I-film 5. If ' ' in-'T , 'YYQ jim' Ll! -1-jlggflrx-L74--A-V . f , W, l 5-11:1-I A I -- I .W-.fmII my I iii-ffm'-T'1 ' ' V I Lrg- -x ' -.111 '- . 4-4.g,:jq .. v,,. 4 -. .P I.-g I ' I.: ' 1'-I-2? , V 4:3-if vi.: .If .gg I gba--4-.1 L-I.,-fd Yi 2? , I, I '-.. 'J v I .x- I l . 's- i: 1? V 'L , 'Qm C171 -IT I e , .2 rsh '7 -'1453' I ll DM L 1 ?7a:1 E'f I I S-:K-:iz W N -.,:','.-:if ' ,?:g:... I , N wang Ps-If X .Hai 1 Zta. W KI: y.I.- I ft WJ. Ag. , I n.. 5- .pr 25. I 331- MSX' I 'P . 'I ' ' Q ' 5-K' 1: JI. .- I T. Nw- .- I '.. ,W ' QQ- ,uI ' ,a'.-..1.'. 1 4- 5.- 4. 'fl M' .'l.nlt -, ,S I E ... . . I N .- I lan'- -if , ':'. 1 I :,'..I .-f.':.' , I :ji I- .-I Y M. , -if-Q. 1 Ei-1:10-f' - 32- .,fA::S -:': ,.1::g'. , -.-.13'.'-Sf. b'ifQ1f'f-.11!'.:-I , - .jx-.'5:L:Q'r..'J TING SEVENTEEN - FIGHTING EIGHTEEN . BOMBING NTEEN - VFKNJ 76 - FIGHTING EIGHT - BOMBING EIGHT TORPEDO EIGHT I ,,,. MII , firm, 1, , H H, 3 wr' If , mi .Y 'gs . L , w x w I P I i I I l I r N 1 W l , E V fs N1 W 1 1 i i w 'i ii ww H 5 ei 1: M oi 53 U iz 13 dl., -k 'Nadi QMMQF X X mf o- I-ffffif f Jeff! J X Q X Xxx 2 K SI' X. AX? 4 ogy X S -imy:w' X x6 X :X-,gfw - XV X X f ' X X X O f X . 3 Q X x A X Q, I X S N w xx ex X , X 'E .AY I YN . xx ,xx s MN f'93sQ9 X -o , 'rfif' K 5 fx XX wiki 'QFHQ :7 ', f Xaf 1bfiN,f' f W -' z.f. - M FQ I1 fa X : S9 e wsxfxwm 'ft?.SY1- - . Mia. x, ku v w e Q? feXw-0 sh 4 2-w:-zmazi: N f Q -Ha 4: 0 4 ., 2 Fw WS? , ,M vs Q X x fx f. , .- ' ' -mwwksz jfwv fi 'A . egfffmfi .. W4 MMG, S249 fri., f W N JM. N , fxmow X V 5' QXQM e VQ from QS few ,, of ,- 6 v bww w Q VQV M, we V f 1 . New W v f mag f 9 7 w J oma ' ' 'hddwffb f' .V 1, L7 Q The Avengers came down and across Kaveinglr hotji ' I, ' rzng arbor io loose tlzexr belly-load.: fy' dealh. I k E gg Q In 1. ffff- ,--.1-'yy'-r The Their Y' v,. . ? is if' X' W i are -Q, x E, i i ,fi . F f ' Q, mia F , . . .MN ,?4' p .. he Bunker Hill IS proud of the men who flew up from her deck for it was her good fortune to have a pair of hard-Hying Groups aboard during her first busy year. Seventeen went with the ship in her baptism of fire at Rabaul, Hew hell-for- leather against the Jap in the Gilberts, at Kavieng, at Eniwetok, Truk and the Mari- anas, passing the burning torch of achieve- ment to Air Group Eight. Well-schooled, fired by indomitable determination and hard- iness to fulfill work-horse Hight schedules, Eight flew past the milestones of a hot year of Jap-smashing SH and Plane strikes and became one of the first Groups to Haunt their star-spangled wings over the Philippines. The Air Groups were an integral part of our life. We knew them beyond the glamor and glitter of their calling, sharing with them their own victories and disappointments and sweating out their every foray into enemy strongholds. They were the men we worked for, cheered for and yes, prayed for, as they went about the fierce drudgery of their tasks. To them go our thanks, deep, honest admiration, and a sincere pride in the records they compiled. W- -Mer..-. H , '- ,, , AIR GIQOUP 17 ..,jw '! W., c,,,...,.........,-.,- ..,. ,,,. ., .. 'TI'---..,.,.....,M.,..,-A---Je ., , B 1 X, CY I . , , gffi 5 an .f Iv u r- .Lf N 'K l- .f ' 1 1 a' t 'fi . I 4 1 . N T5 A .. l f ,. 1 l 2 J. J ,, Y ,in e 4 ,-,f r .ef X' xl J ,r ,Y 1 fa -' made an achievement o every command performance Savage, audacious blows at enemy stronglzolals were the assignments ana' the victories of the Bunker HiIl's yfrst squadrons, dir Group Seventeen. lp.. Y Y ,f11,.wi-te-::afa:.-. 4.-wave.:.,i e.:Y-..v....-2.n.e-:112f.vu1f,-,..--ie.E-n-q..'ee..,,,w1-n.fw-:.v.-ev,.4.-.-.-,nf-4......-.-. ommander M. P. Bagdanovich was one of those rare men whose ability to enjoy life cannot be beaten. The first Commander, Air Group Seven- teen, possessed a hearty, hard-driving nature that was the answer to the organization of the new Group and, particularly, the gearing of a maintenance unit to the squadrons in line with Bureau orders reducing the comple- ment of service personnel. His forceful personality had an impact on the Group that knit it into a well-run machine administratively as well as operationally. W7hen he left in January, 1944, he turned command over to Commander R. H. Dale small, red-haired Hellcat specialist who held the post until the Group's return to the States, leading them in the destructive raids on the Marshall Islands, preceding and supporting their invasion, and on Truk and the Carolines. Air Group Seventeen was the Bunker Hill's 'first love. From the earliest days before commissioning, the ship's company at Boston and Quincy heard reports of the Air Group, J J ..-.4-1 an-..-.-.,.... -f..-fv.-M. .-s..-.Ye-.....:f-Y V -,-- P1-.fwq-,-416: ,A-:eg- e::-.-: W . Y received second-hand accounts of the game battle it was putting up to make the Corsair and the Helldiver fit for carrier operation. And when they Hew aboard, headed by colorful, sincere Commander M. P. Ba89H Bagdanovich, their problems became the ship's and it was with high pride that the shakedown was completed with definite Proof that where others had failed, Air Group Seventeen and the Bunker Hill had won: the Corsair and the Helldiver were going t0 be all right, operating experiences had proven lf- But the rest of the Fleet did not concur 011 the Corsair and somewhere between the East Coast and Pearl Harbor orders were received detaching Fighting Seventeen. So they Went their way, returning but for one day f0 the ship that had mothered them, but in that one d-35' Paying in full every bit of love the Bunker Hill had given them. They went their way, and few aboard Wfll ever forget the memorable attack--our 5f5F'i when they roared from their South P2556 base to conduct a slam-bang air fight GH Vals and Kates threatening us And as the . - . ' , Y Continued their rough tactics, their hell-for- leather Hying, they set a Pacific record by shooting down 154 Jap planes in seventy-nine hot days of combat, including sixty missions of escorting bombers in the New Georgia, Bougainville, and Rabaul sectors. They scored half again as many probables shot down, their Skipper insisting no plane be reported as shot down unless it actually was seen falling in flames, they never lost a bomber from a group they escorted, they sank seven Japanese cargo ships and seven- teen barges, another record for a Hghter group. When they returned to the States in March 1944, they had thirteen members who had shot down live or more enemy planes. Lieu- J - --- - f--- ----- -.....a...........q.,,.,.,.,,.,,,,,,,,,,,,.,,,,m rm il... ,, .. Y.... -a....,-,.. ..-......-......,.,............... ',--- ,-af -ff A ' ': - ...1 f: - if f 'fl'Af11'fIT'h '...'T .17 1 ' A if 'E if1ig:Sfiit:xt, '4 J . , F' ' .gi e Q3iQi.'IlT..'ZL , .er wx .,:. ,. Aix!!! NN X 25 Q . ' .'?'i'iTEIZ, p . ff ' ' 1' 'sys if 1' Pjxpiff: N v'f,J X 1 f' l A fi Q . ' 9 A gl v x g f, .- I .W of , V .V 1,5 ,f a C111 X I K Ci! ,bmi J L ij Q J , ii , 1 ' f ' . Q ' .- i 3 ' -5. . 1 , ,L ,J , l f 3 X ff f --l iai, F - L- fli er X A xi., 'gps ,wif -,iff - I. - ' 1 L Tir , V A ui -W 1 I T Q 'Ti lffw ig- I 3: ,arf s 1271 if-:' ia r , . f N ' , V A le Q, , ,-, -rf , f 7 ,r I 5, 4, ' 1 ffzj,-.13 ,.rQ-251. 4-:f.fi1'-. V ,.-,g.,'.i-- ' - .faf-f a . we ff 1 ' ,W 'J .ft 'WST f ai l ' f '. -A .a S4511 ' L A i i ' XX 5 iffffl 5 L L f tenant Ira C. Ike Kepford, former North- western University halfback, paced his mates and for a time the Navy, with sixteen planes credited him. His Skipper, Lieutenant Com- mander J. T. Tommy Blackburn followed with eleven, the Exec, Lieutenant Commander Roger Hedrick, nine, Lieutenants ChenCW0Ch and Tim Giles, eight, Lieutenants Cjgl Earl May, eight, Paul Cordray, Mac Burriss and Danny Cunningham, seven, Bobby MimS afid Butch Davenport, six, and Lieutenants Jim Streig and Eddie March, five. ' We Were proud of them, proud of thell' record, just as we'd been proud and grateful for their work at Rabaul. They belonged to us, and were our shipmates. They too did their part in making the Bunker Hill the great ship it is. When they left it was hard to believe, as it so often is, that anyone could actuall take . Y their place. But Fighting Eighteen did just that. v. all A NEW FIGHTER OUTFIT Que day Fighting Eighteen was a new squadron in training-the next they were tossed into Pacihc combat, their half-com- pleted drills, their carefully scheduled growth, tossed to the winds. They were given the tough assignment of replacing a highly- trained fighter outfit in another Air Group, Seventeen. Lieutenant Commander Sam Silber, the husky, effervescent skipper of the squadron, may have felt that his men lacked the polish of a finished unit, but he never admitted it. Sixty days after they were commissioned, they were flying Combat Air Patrols in the South Pacific with but a nucleus of combat-exper- ienced men. The Skipper, Don Runyon and Willie Ambrosia had been in the African and Guadalcanal campaigns, with Don having logged time on the Sara and Enterprise where he had accounted for at least live Jap planes. Lieutenant Bob Dibb also had been on those two carriers, and had a Navy Cross to his credit. Jim Billo had served on the Big E, and Lieutenant Cjgj Jimmy Monahan had been on the Saratoga and in the Aleutians. Lieutenants Bill Kelly and Chubby Maness, and Lieutenants Cjgl Dave Mandt and Jim Pierce had been in a patrol squadron in Tahi- tian waters. A lesser man than Skipper Silber, and a lesser group of pilots, might have had qualms about their readiness for combat--but they exuded confidence. They became the ship's favorite that Armistice Day at Rabaul when they roared into the teeth of an heavy attack on the ship. When evening fell, they totted up the score: thirty-threeVa1s, Kates and Zekes. They didn't stop that day, either. Through the tiresome Gilberts campaign, the audacious raids on Kavieng and the intense Marshalls campaign they continued to fly with the poise and assurance of a squadron blessed with every item of a training syllabus. And they provided cover for the bomber and torpedo planes that was air-tight, many times refusing cinch', shots that would have meantsquad- ron glory, but which might have meant ex- posing the bombers to attack. Lieutenant Commander James E. Vose, USN, VB Seven- teen commander, said of them: They've given us the best escort coverage I've ever seen. And it was the radiomen of the squadron who wrote, upon leaving: When We first got the word Fighting Seventeen was leaving us, there is no use to deny our stock went down 100 per cent. It meant losing a squadron that had been with us throughout our training and shake- down cruise. Fighting Squadron Eighteen? Hellcats? What were they like? Xxx ' ,mmm ,, ,,. ,, . ,, rxw ,.....i,......,,, ,,c, , xxx, f, W. ,, ,E ----Q---.----. .... H.-. .... ... .. L- N'-If-,,,-hgh vi ---.........--., .... A., .. .. .gr,,X,N Lv'-fffff A -W' V Alf 'T' ,Imax .vm , - ...M --.. .......-., W, , 3 y is A 1 , fiyrl' -.H-...--g... -- i .4 ' ' hai.-i .. .' j: 'i it - I f ,Cl .Xia ii. ,arg ,I .f.'.f5.'f'L43,Q-1 V er-, ,Q 4 S5fK'im1f'5di'f x,:wJ3'iff.2v'X. Qi, 1-5:f r.f .28-' 'MQfiif'51'lwi Lt 53 5 171 -39354 X-if NQHQFT' 0- f ,M pgzr.. ,,.,Qfu Xjj!LfMi,fgi,.gf1:1gQig:lgg-mn gQEfg??f,ffa,,,..,,,. I -wi-mil, aw --.. .- as are-as if f i Y: :.g,,,.5,,! r :5ip:,3i5g.?Qr,v :jd -7f',..,4f'QqE?,,5?,,.M,K,W1-rl.,smgrgxf,-,-nw-, --ww-9-6' 1512141 ',-wfrfre mw1Jf'W'W .fa--1. :lff : 41'?1a2s -,,,,'.,, , ' ' -e , --.532-3'ff,5.Jw.:. ,T.,y1jgt?'.f-,rm gran: . iwinfz.-w,.4f-fe-1... 'v :f ,. .- - .. ..- , ,, N- .., .,, N, .tt-.53,. I-,' Y, --f k ,,..-1-,,, f -. I -45.4-2h:g,, I - nfnxgggflgfj-Qi1L,g3y,5,4gH,j-,5.Ef', ?:j51n,.J-1'd:',:2S,,7,,,.w,:,w .1 Mwf, 'f-:4- -'V ffegsggfwzif-'ff ., +fa:ffe.,,-J.:Q5-:?Lr'-7- . ..,. ,..ff- Qv ., . nf. -- a . , -1, .74 ya 14 ,i.y,'C'-q '--N5-:hw ,gf -1, 4 -..-- ' 9, '4asfe:f1, N Ween--' ca 7:-a12fQr:-- it 'n f li .,- -' s.-e'155ff43'j1 '!iT'i:'q97'7'5f:fP7'52 f'4 'f' U1- f ' '7-', 1-A m GS ,y . 'ff' a , -'f'1?v.3 - '6x ..: ., J 3 'tf Z... as g,:,:,,. ., 43. WYZY , .V F ,--- X, -,,.f...- -If if nggfjyf- pifff 255,- wul dj, v3gf,.1i.,,, JW. - :.,,,,,,,:..,x,.....f:, . -5, 3 . g, VL, , ,,,.,,---- ,,,. .-.1 a . . i ,. Fellows, we watched you at Kaneoe saw you in the air day and night, yes, we went over the sleeve just as soon as it hit the ground after gu-nnery runs. We sweated your first landing with all of our hearts. It was said more than once: 'They're trying harder than any outfit we have ever seen.' a 198 Then came Rabaul. To a rear-seat man in a dive bomber with a couple of pea shooters, a fighting squadron means everything-and that's what you were. We've all seen times that you could have broken oH' cover, gone down, dropped a Jap, and picked up more personal glory for yourselves. It would have been easy to dive off range and not have drawn all the ack-ack you took at Kavieng, Kwajalein and Truk that could have concen- trated on us. You have received praise from many for your job, but take it from us-the fellows whose necks were saved more than once by your protection-we know you're the best damn fighting squadron that ever went 'up- stairs.' Thanks. No greater praise could be any lighter squadron's. - ,. W fa 'fx s VT-17-TORPEDO SPECIALISTS orn in Norfolk, weaned on the dust and grime of Chincoteague, and schooled at the feet of a pilot's pilot, Torpedo Seventeen Hew as a monument to the inspirational lead- ership of its first tutor, and to its own esprit de corps. Only two of the twenty-seven men mustered at the squadron's commissioning, January 1, 1943, were combat veterans, and Lieutenant Commander Frank Whitaker, USN, their silver-thatched skipper, therefore took them to the auxiliary field at Chincoteague to paCC them through a training mill experienced by few squadrons. They learned to tear down their engines, to load bombs and ammunition, and to maintain equipment. Night flying WHS almost routine, and weather was seldom an excuse for staying aground. It was arduous, it was a program under which a weakly-led squadron might easily have cracked. But even that possibility WHS not present, because the Skipper was always out front, doing the tough jobs first and alwayS doing more than anyone else. His own C11- thusiasm, magnetic personality and gentle un- dm-standing of all their problems was always the guiding light. Thus when the training period was over, their morale equalled the peak of their tacticaQ perfection. The first dividends of that training program came in their record on the shakedown cruise: not a single plane was even slightly damaged during their practice of carrier procedure. Torpedo Seventeen went to combat and put to good use that grueling training, as well as the novel attack signals and division recognition calls which the Skipper devised. He was known as Hobo, as was his First division, the second division was Box- car, and the third, Caboose All were a part of the big train whosehome was Hobo- town and who rendezvoused at Round- house. The mess hall was the inspiration for attack signals. The Skipper's familiar Chow Down, spoken over the intercom, was the spine-tingling call to the attack. Dinner is Ready, feasted their eyes on the sight of the enemy-the attack was to start. And that stern study of their specialized type of flying and perfection of tactics early brought them laurels in combat. It was ironic that the climax of their initial combat period came after the Skipper had failed to return from a mission-the Skipper, who had schooled them so well. The day was bright, the target-units of the Jap fleet. The squadron had been flying without spirit, almost automatically, so hard had been the blow of the Skipper's untimely death. Nearly every man felt that Torpedo Seventeen no longer existed. Their Skipper had been Torpedo Seventeen. But they manned planes dutifully and went to the attack. Led by Lieutenant G. N. Owens, upon Whose shoulders as Executive Officer the squadron command had fallen, they stalked a tail-turning Jap ship, found it, and Owens called to attack. Perfectly timed, excellently executed, the attack was a triumph of flying and fighting skill. Radios Were jammed with the cheers of the pilots as they SaW 'Shell' 1 torpedoes run true and blow the enemy out of the water. As they returned aboard, it was easy to see that Torpedo Seventeen again rode the crest. The long hours of study, the grueling training program, had left their marks on every one of them and they once again felt that they were doing the job each one had pledged himself to do-carry on for the Skipper. Lieutenants Cjgj B. F. Buck Berry, S. G. SuQlivan and Del Schatz came aboard with Wide grins and on deck, excitedly told of the attack. Lieutenant Cjgj D. H. Termite Robertson joined them, then Grady Owens. Together they moved off the flight deck and toward their ready room, still shouting at each other, comparing notes. They had won more than the skirmish, that day. They had proven themselves that they were still a squadron. The esprit de corps inculcated in them by The Hobo flamed anew. Once again their laughs were loud, the bantering keen, and they kidded The Duch- ess -athletic, chattering Lieutenant Cjgl G. A. Turnbull, assigned Lieutenant E. H. Lieder to the bogey watch and continued the high-spirited tomfoolery of old. So the ship knew that Torpedo Seventeen was the squadron of old, now led by Owens and Lieutenant P. E. Dickson as Exec. No story of the torpedo squadron is com- plete without the inclusion of the radiomen and the gunners whose work so often goes unsung and little recognized. The average twenty-year-old man in the tunnel or turret seat lives in the reflected glory of his pilot and no pride of accomplishment is greater, no allegiance firmer, than that of a pilot's crewmen. In the ready room post-battle bull-session the pronoun used in describing an action is always Uwe. 1 Torpedo Seventeen's bag tells the story of harmony between crewmen and pilots in much more emphatic manner than words. Tales of fighting their way back from raids are numerous, and the engineering gang that had to put the planes back in commission can attest to the ferocity of many of those scraps. The young career of VT Seventeen was a triumph in many ways and stands as a tribute to the courage, devotion to duty, and the cameraderie of the men who comprised its roster, and to the man who inculcated those qualities in them, Lieutenant Commander Whitaker. '- Eid bw- KQT ,y f, THE FIRST HELLDIVERS Bombing Seventeen made history. Its pilots didn't look like history-making figures, any more than any other bunch of American kids who had gone through the Navy's flight training program. Several of the kids shaved but once a week, and that was required just for its effect on their private pride. The squadron looked like the usual mixture of types, with perhaps a heavier mix- ture of experienced men than theaverage. But it made history, nevertheless. It was the first squadron to take the be- deviled Curtiss Helldiver to sea and prove it a carrier dive bomber. It was the first squadron to take that dive bomber into combat and prove its battle worthiness. And, with but a few others, it was the first to draw a bombing bead on such beefy Jap bastions as Kavieng, Truk and the Marianas. Perhaps it was that mixture of combat veterans in its ranks that made Bombing Seventeen stand out just a little bit over other squadrons. Lieutenant Commander James E. Vosie, USN, a case-hardened dive bomber of earlier Pacific days, was its skipper until his transfer in January, 1944, when Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey Norman, USN, his sec- ond in command, took the post. His Exec- utive Officer was Lieutenant R. P. Rip Kline, veteran of the Enterprise and Guadal- canal duty, where Lieutenant Al Frank and Lieutenant Cjgj Bill Foley also had served, after stretches aboard the Saratoga. The Hornet had contributed such beribboned pilots as Lieutenants Bob Friesz, Frank Chris- toferson, Gus DeVoe, Nig White, Phil Rusk and Nels Maguire. Lieutenant Bill Adami was a Wasp survivor. They coached the yearlings and gave them the wisdom of their experience. Willie Palmer, W. L. Flip Gerner, B. J. Red Dog Shearon, R. L. Temme, the Thompson broth- ers, stubby H. W. Worley and the rest of the squadron novitiates took that Wisdom and added it to their natural youthful zeal to become masters at the Martian art of bomb- lugging and ship-sinking. They had trained Well, first as members of the individual Bombing Seventeen and Scout- ing Seventeen squadrons, and upon their mer- ger, as a single unit. They mastered the in- tricate SB2C, which they swore required the help of a licensed plumber, and passed on to other squadrons the benefits of the lessons they llearned when they took it into battle. Their targets felt jarring thump of tons of bombs dropped from the yawning bomb- bays and if they had been disappointed in the amount of shipping to drop on at Rabaul, the Japs obliged with a layout in Truk's sprawling lagoon that caused Gerner to yell: It looks like a checkerboard down there! Typical of the cold efficiency of the entire squadron, Gerner and F riesz looked over the field and found a dive bomber's top target- a carrier. They put their bombs through its deck and retired. Bombing Seventeen, like the other squad- rons of their Air Group, left the Bunker Hill tired, wise in combat, and deep in the esteem of all who knew them. .gm THE BLACK CHI CKENS Sparked by an eagerness for action that was entirely too rare to their liking, the men of VF CND Seventy-six worked the night shift regularly, but their extracurricular HY- ing proved to be their greatest asset to the Air Group and to the ship. NAL The Night Fighters flew aboard late in jan um-y, 1944-five young flyers sporting Hell- Cats specially designed for night aerial com- bat. Leading the detachment was youthful, ambitious Lieutenant Commander Evan Pete Aurand, USN, skipper not only of the Bunker Hill's detachment but also of two similar units on sister carriers. With him landed Lieutenant Cjgj Norman Doc Davis- son, his Exec, and Ensigns Robert Bice, john Bertie and jack Connor. Within a month, they had seen their first action. They had been scheduled to fly an intruder mission to open the first raid on Saipan and Tinian and their takeoff had been delayed by the all-night air attack on the ship, thus finding them over the target after sunrise-and heavily outnumbered by inter- cepting enemy fighters. In a brief but hot flurry of scrapping, they knocked out five Jap fighters. Bertie totted up three confirmeds, two of them after receiving serious wounds to himself and heavy damage to his plane, and for which he was awarded the Navy Cross. Skipper Aurand added a Distinguished Fly- ing Cross to a Navy Cross previously won while a divebomber pilot, for his part in the action, and Davisson the Air Medal. Bitsy Bice, however, failed to return. Combat missions at Kwajalein, Eniwetok, New Guinea, Guam, Iwo and HaHa Jima were logged by the night fighters in addition to the monotonous night watches which they stood while the ship operated in combat areas. Those watches led to an odd type of carrier duty for the Black Chickens of which no small part were the conversational free-for- alls that developed. Their Ready Room Log records one thusly: The pin-up of Lena Horne opened a discussion of her singing. We then kicked around the following topics, in this order: jazz music and orchestras, -the art of the performer in music and acting, the theatrical profession, radio broadcasting, misrepresentation of the news, journalism, the realities of war, patriotism, political per- secution, death and the fear of same, pro- hibition. I was going to remark that the conversation has been noteworthy for not even touching on Women-but just now. . . Additions to the squadron during its time aboard were Lieutenants Cjgj Paul Kepple, and julian K. jollife. Bertie and Connor, it might be noted, had achieved the rank of lieutenant, junior grade-thus dropping claims to being the Navy's oldest ensigns- and the new rank did not sway established seniority privileges, such as who did the engine tune-ups or who calls for coffee. One thing the night fighters did have was squadron administration. They were admin- istered by a full-dress set of A-VCSD officers. In fact, for each pilot, there was one admin- istrative oflicer! Clixplanations that they also handled the detail work of the units on the other carriers never did carry much weightj Lieutenant VV. VVild Bill Cunningham led off the desk jockeys, followed closely by Lieutenant V. S. Mitchell, Lieutenant Cjgj C. M. Martenson of flying destroyer fame was listed as the Fighter Director Officer, and Ensign R. D. Slobodin the ACI officer. The extracurricular flying that the squad- ron did majored in lifesaving procedure par- ticularly effective for pilots downed in target areas, and many were the missions carried out by Aurand Sz Co. giving an assist to dunked pilots. Many of the missions, too, were conducted in the face of gunfire from Nips seeking to isolate the pilot for their own purposes. Squadron casualties, besides Bice, were Doc Davisson, missing in action off Guam on june 19, 1944, and Joliffe, missing at sea May 2, 1944. I 201 AIR GROUP EIGHT .K Z HQ JA, ,mL.t..e...,. .. . 2-it-sw.. ..-W ...MJ - X J N--g...e,,..- ,.... M- x , ,. Li A -1.,.,.e, A. .,,,,-f 1 5 g ft 9 g ,' i 5 l ., if a ,ig I 1 1,53 J' X'-if 2 X ,fl 1 I- 1 ' ,f I K S, f! Masterl performances etch: their combat career The missions Q' Air Group Eight earriea' squadrons swy'tly across the Paeihe, age .the Yap Fleet ana' into the Philippines. can-nnaumunmmn.-x-vasanwm,-g2.u.mv-Q., mumuwvwaumxmmuuvffmavmhunyf-aw-ae.7ive-.f.rw-,,-,-f.q-.1g1..s.- ommander Andrew lVlcB. Jackson J USN, aeronautical engineer and vet- eran of duty in Scouting and Fight- ing squadrons, moved from the Fighter desk of BuAer to become Commander, Air Group Eight upon its commissioning in June, 1943. With his squadron skippers, he paced the Group through its intensive train- ing and fiew it aboard as a highly polished team. He led it personally on ten combat missions before being promoted to ship's Navigator, when he turned over the command to the erstwhile Bombing Eight skipper, Com- mander Ralph L. Shirley, USN. A precision flyer whose wingman vowed he kn Commander Shifley leld the Group through most of its long tour f d o uty, always was found where the going was tou hest and g the anti-aircraft fire the hottest. ew no fear, 202 1 4 can-,C in Autumn of 1943, but the Bunker Hill had to wait until March, 1944, to meet Fighting Eight, a union that was to become terrifying news to Japanese airmen, Sailor soldiers, sampan coxswains, beach gunnel-S and several umbrella salesmen who were mis- taken for paratroopers. The formal meeting of the air group and the ship was short and without ceremony, Red Imel said, When do we eat and where do we sleep? and the pains of introduction were over. Fighting Eight and the Bunker Hill were inseparable friends, and each was to complement the other as the days and weeks and months of operations were woven into a pattern of destruction and conquest. Fighting Eight was a collection of vigorous individuals moulded into a powerful, con- fident team. Its history covers eighteen months of colorful behavior, and its trail- counting training grounds and combat forays -stretches half way 'round the world. What began as a nucleus of several veterans and two-score youngsters back on the tidewater sourlands of Virginia shaped into a galaxy of aerial stars in action: men who took the bombers and torpedo planes in to the target and brought them back, men who sent hell- driven attackers hurtling into blue space and blue water, men who rode the routine com- bat circuit during the days of monotony, Warriors who gave everything they had when the chips were down, some of them never regaining any part of what they offered. . . . In the beginning there was one man, Commander William M. Collins, skipper of Fighting Eight. A Virginian, taciturn, re- sourceful, energetic, the man who was to show them how to be ace gunners and the pilot who was to fly them through those Hrst months of painful shaping, the captain was to lead them on attack missions into enemy skies. He was to see his boys Hy unbeliev- ably long hours, take chances that for the time would not seem worth the risk involved, suffer from monotony Cas all warriors some- times dojg he was also to see them S119-FC generously in a glory that had nO 1'CC0fded Sa equal: wiping out an entire Japanese Naval 311' fleet in a single day's work. Commander Collins envisaged these hardships . . . and glories . . . and so he sought to build Fight- mg Elght with hand-picked veterans and in- defatigable newcomers, starting back in June of 1943 . . . It was spring, all right, and the day in Jacksonville, Florida, was hot. The new skip- per of a new Fighting Eight, Commander Collins, had just finished a squadron com- mander course at the gigantic Naval Air Base out from Jacksonville. He had spent several weeks considering his rising responsibilities, knowing full well that the Navy counted on him-and counted heavily-for 1942 and -'ffgfi '1,gfQxifffe iFf? X, -,D-i.,-K 4 , ' is 5,e.pi.:,5:'fg y,',r7'33,,M3V M. 'V fri.: pg' 1 i i 3551 K ' ii 'el sl X ,. il , il 221235 711.3 f.,,fgt tf 1 n J if if 5 at ,Q , A. .K 3 l eng ll' diff --'-. E wil-fpf i.-f e-Al V3 N V H5 V ,gQw1,giigia5:,? f ag, 3 4 ' f. 1 J 'g,,,'l p ff 'i f i i i it 1 f . .. 1 4 Q5 ' : I .Q ' ' ' 2 ,a , 5, ,7 , iii, 1 H 9- 1 X , fx-5 I J :Qlf 1 ' .4 'M'-- ' ' i - . 4 . ua , ' lf 1 'fi ' , .-4 'hi if -, . , 4: r YQA 5 Z L6 N... A e l f '-tif s X .T I: V I- I i Q ,AA X I Q,- . f 5 ll '- V' W., 1 . l li-fir! Y V' 3 'I e - i v i 1 .w u u V , 'W KST- A V, Q , ., ' '.,. i IW ' 'l lf -- '. ' Q I, mm- I ,J 55.1, Nvvvii imvfxi ,P ' - .1 fiiiiili ill f :ww .r , I -SJW 4, 'f,..,f,j, Ji, WV, !Yj1,Ei,f,,!w,,xw, , - L'f'll'l ',f'filn 4. .1 'ma a W , ,Ml 'wldriili 1 '- 1 m.yp,,g .ig , i 1' ,, 5'- in, ll ff ,ff-. e 1 lgfzlliif! ei. F ri- 1 i . x X ir S 3 af 5.5 Pg, X .1 ' v o if i . X' 1 r Y i +- v 3' ' ff Vi . .3 . X 7,4 v..w,,if3Q4, A .1-lf E . I Ai Pvt gif- f r 1f' 5 ' 1 LTU i - f I J wifi' pggkf -e Q .K 1 ,LM . g In lb, , I ' V La. X New Q 1 .1-A? -V Y Eu iii-elsif .T J s if ' l , ' , rw- ' ,' QL, ip' ,L 4389, ' '3 '?47iga:r.a, early 1943 had been costly months for Ameri- can aircraft and carriers in the far-Hung Pacific, where inferior forces were meeting around-the-clock schedules in stemming a Nippon tide that threatened to engulf nearly half of the world. One day before leaving Jacksonville Commander Bill met a battle- wise lieutenant who at the time was an in- structor at Jacksonville, Lieutenant Scott lVIcCuskey Qnow Lieutenant Commanderi. After several hours and much conversation, Commander Collins had persuaded lVlcCuskey to join Fighting Eight, a task that wasn't too difficult in view of lVIcCuskey's checkered I e 4 is i I il l l l 5 career as a Wildcat pilot and Jap-killer par excellence. It wasn't long before Fighting Eight looked like the beginning of a squadron of aces. Lieutenant Ron Hoel Know Lieutenant Com- manderj, also hand-picked by Commander Collins because of his varied experience as a pilot and his obvious qualities of leadership, became Executive Ofllcer of the outfit. Fol- lowing Hoel came other veterans, including Lieutenant Howard J. Boydstun, Lieutenant Edward L. F eightner, Lieutenant Donald F. Cronin, Lieutenant Lloyd P. Heinzen, and Lieutenant Robert A. Hobbs, all veterans of Fighting Ten, the famous Sundowners squadron on Guadalcanal. There were also instructors who joined the ranks of Fighting Eight and the remainder of the squadron complement was filled out with new ensigns from graduating classes at Pensacola, Corpus Christi and Jacksonville. Veterans and recruits, Fighting Eight be- came a bona fide unit on June 1, 1943, at Norfolk, Virginia. From there out it was Pungo Point, a training field located near Virginia Beach. Daily schedules called for eight-and up-hours of flying per day, and simulated attack sweeps covered Eastern Vir- ginia, stretched into North Carolina, and occasionally gave Bermuda a damn good scare. Perhaps most lasting of the nostalgic attach- ments held by Fighting Eight was the social side of their highly business-like life. Week- end parties covered Virginia Beach like an American pup tent would cover a Jap soldier, social expeditionary forces ranged as far afield as Washington, D. C., where at least one- third of the Capitol's three million office sec- retaries were influenced in one way or another by Fighting Eight's ambassadors of good nature. Not one of the Hghter pilots will forget the parties conjured up by the Skipper: the eats and drinks, the company and the music were unforgettable. It was during the off-hours that the squadron took on a per- sonality, evolved its characters, and accum- ulated a wealth of material for reminiscing during the long days and short nights of a Pacific war. , . . And then they went to sea. October, the skies were blue, and the trees at Pungd formed myriad patterns of Au tumn color. They took their cruise boxes, the charts and squad- ron supplies, their personal baggage aboard a sister ship of the Bunker Hill. Fighting Eight had gone to sea, and for the next month they went through that period of carrier training known as Shakedown, Simulated attacks on the ship, friendly dogfights overhead, and precision-made interceptions of attacking forces. They flew until the sight of a landing signals officer made them dizzy, they exer- cised until the sound of Pratt-Witney en- gines became as hum-drum as trafllc noises on Times Square. It was all part of a Navy fighter pilot's training , . . ,-fr' If vibe- ff -ffjii.g...f-g,igi---' 553- 3 if -wv'i--iZfif'i,f-fa-riff ,-fl' Fighting Eight reached the Pacific in late Autumn of 1943. Unavoidable delays helfi them at bay until Spring, when at an Ameri- can Naval Base they joined U.S.S. Bunker Hill. Within a matter of a few days after they came to this ship, their Hellcats Were roaring over enemy territory, carrying the fight for control of the Pacific skies to the very backyard of Tojo's airmen. TIICY wrecked land installations in the Palau gr011P, they struck the fear of God into the hearts of stranded Japanese at Hollandia, they flew peacefully, almost monotonously, over the once-vaunted bastion of Truk, they opened the battle for the Marianas andipaced a leg of the greatest carrier-borne fighter sweep in the history of warfare. That calm morning of-I Guam in June, Fighting Eight took to the air and participated in routing the Jap Naval air arm, they patrolled Guam fields as if they had been born there, and when the sun set on fleeing Japanese fleet units that day, more than 400 Emperial supermen had been burnt from the sky and their blood had splotched with crimson the unbelievable vastness of a perennially blue Pacific. They struck Manila, too, and Mindanao, they bombed ships and strafed sampans after Nip- pon pilots quit the air, and they fulfilled a part of an American pilot's dream when they flew in attack formation down the Philippine capital's Dewey Boulevard. Every fighter pilot visualizes a dream day, when the Hellcats are freed to tangle with other fighters AND they run INTO Jap fighters. Fighting Eight watched, with rueful eyes but little bitterness, as other fighting squadrons amassed higher totals of planes shot down, even watched when other fighting squadrons of the same task force, but with different target assignments, were able to find Nip interceptors to shoot down. Fighting Eight's day came at Formosa. The sweep and escort hit the jackpot and their story unraveled as they landed back aboard. Lieutenant Commander lVlcCuskey rolled up the deck smiling, and holding up three fingers, Beard held up a pair of fingers, Skipper Collins held up his hand-five! The sixteen fighters of the sweep found the brawl they'd sought and in a racing, dancing, action- Packed few minutes sent thirty-one planCS burning down out of the skies. The escort returned, with similar reports. Over the par- tially cloud-covered target the warriors shot ra total of fifty-one Japs out of the homeland air, tO a loss of one fighter for the squadron- Returning observers reported that the Naval aviators were without equal that day, and that Fighting Eight was golden boy of the premature Fourth of July celebration. In addition to an outright challenge of Japan's most celebrated airmen, the fighters flew a cordon of airtight protection over the bombers and torpedo planes, whose pre-Christmas sur- prise packages rocked the island from sunrise to sunset, echoed across the 100-mile wide channel to China, reverberated on the streets of.Tokyo and rattled the scared Emperor's spine. With what was becoming milk runs over the Philippines, Fighting Eight closed its Pacific chapter with this impressive paragraph: Planes destroyed in actual combat: 153 shot down out of the air, eighteen probably destroyed, forty-eight damaged, 277 planes destroyed or badly damaged on the ground, a total of 2107 actual combat sorties were flown by the squadron personnel in 192 strikes against the enemy, and this does not include any part of the 986 combat air patrols and anti-submarine patrols flown. One of the unique features of Fighting Eight's record is that the squadron turned in an enviable bombing record on the side: 43,450 tons of enemy shipping, exclusive of small craft, sent to the bottom, 31,700 tons heavily damaged, probably sunk, and 60,200 tons damaged by fire, explosion and strafmg. A total of fifteen fuel dumps were destroyed by the fighters in attacks against enemy-held ground installa- tions, which included violent and effective airfield bombings. Pace-setter for the fighters in planes shot down was Lieutenant Commander McCuskey, with fourteen. Commander Collins and Lieu- tenant Feightner and Lieutenant Cjgj Dan Rehm came second with nine Japs each, other aces include Lieutenants William A. McCor- mick, George N. Kirk, and John R. Galvin, with seven planes each, Lieutenants Harlan Gustavson, Donald F. Cronin, and Lieuten- ant Qjgj Ralph Rosen, six, Lieutenant Com- mander Hoel, Lieutenant Cjgb John W. Top- liff, Lieutenant Cjgj Peter J. VanDerlinden, with five each. TORPEDO EIGHT Shortly after noon on Friday, May 13, 1943, a rough-dried Ensign appeared in the oHice of Commander, Air Force Atlantic Fleet, NAS, Norfolk, and a yeoman told him that he had been assigned to Squadron VT-8. Do you mean Torpedo Squadron Eight? the Ensign, fresh from the laundries of Corpus Christi and Opa Locka, asked in bleak amaze- ment. Yes, said the yeoman politely, and the Ensign departed, ready for the laundry again. Seventeen days later, on June 1, Air Group Eight, was oH'icially commissioned. Lieu- tenant Commander William M. Collins of Fighting Eight, acting as Air Group Com- mander, designated Ensign Warren E. Lunde acting squadron commander of VT8. With Lunde at the commissioning were five other ensigns assigned to the squadron. During the brief, informal ceremony, as they looked in- quiringly at each other, all of them must have felt strange. None of them had ever flown a TBF-the Grumman Avenger. On hand, too, were thirty-five enlisted men, being carefully shepherded about by CASU 21, and on June 3, arrangements were made for them to be transported to NAAS, Chin- coteague, seventy miles north of Norfolk, where the squadron was to train. Skipper Lunde flew to Chincoteague in an SNJ to make arrangements for the growing outHt's arrival. The next day at 1600, five Avengers took oHf from East Field, Norfolk, and forty minutes later on the Hat, green coast of Vir- ginia, Torpedo Squadron Eight, boasting eight oHicers, all ensigns, began its long, sure flight toward become a reality. Torpedo Seventeen, temporarily operating at Quonset Point, R. I., when Eight first arrived at Chinco, returned on June 6 and some of embryo Eight received their cockpit checkouts from those officers, who were looked upon as veterans. In those days, almost every new ofiicer reporting for duty was of a higher rank than the acting Squadron Commander. Skippers changed so often that not even the oflicefs knew from breakfast 'til lunch at whom to smile. Lieutenant Cjgl Melville LeCompte took command on June 11 and reigned with such paternal, not to say stern, decorum that he was soon addressed by his awed but eager underlings as Father. 1 I The Father had scarcely unpacked his baggage before great changes were made in the squadron program, as it were. Fifteen crewmen were packed off to gunnery school at Dam Neck, Va., and little niceties such as morning musters, duty sections and flight schedules began to be included in the hap- hazard daily routine. New pilots and crew members reported aboard almost every day, by the 26th of June, at 1100, when Lieutenant Commander Andrew McB. Jackson, Air Group Commander, arrived to check squadron prog- ress and announce the coming of Torpedo Eight's commander, a fairly well-coordinated outfit had been achieved. But in the minds of every oflicer and man was the question: What sort of person will Skipper Musick be? The answer came from its logical sources, on July 1 the following entry appeared in the squadron log: H1345- Lieutenant Commander K. F. Musick reports aboard to assume command of Torpedo Squadron Eight. An SNJ had been sent to Norfolk to pick up the real skipper and his gear. Lieutenant Cjgl Ed Franze piloted the plane and had not even completed the dis- crepancy sheet, after landing at Chincoteague, before the stocky fellow in the second cock- pit was introducing himself to the men on the line. - A few minutes later Know wearing blouse and cap? he had relieved Father LeCompte of his temporary duties, shaken hands with the goggling junior officers andhastened t0 a muster of the enlisted men, where he spoke a word of greeting. Then the work began. Lieutenant fjgl Bob Oscar, formerly aboard the EnterpriSC, reported for duty on July 3rd, the sole mem- ber of the squadron with previous combat experience from which to teach the tough and . q . ggi . ,qs . Q, timeless lessons of war. As Flight Ofiicer he worked ceaselessly to give everybody the word. On July 8, when Lieutenant Lewis M, Ford reported aboard as Executive Officer, the squadron had reached its complement, Soon the roar of torpedo bombers had risen above the constant hum of Chinco's terrible mosquitoes, the owners of nearby poultry farms lamented the fact that their hens no longer got enough rest to lay eggs. Day and night the squadron worked. Those fellows who were fortunate enough to have their wives with them-Wildhack, Folkedahl, Gag- non and the rest-rode to and from the air station in jeeps and carryalls at all hours of the night and day-to Pokomoke City, to the Channel Bass Hotel on Chincoteague Island, to apartments and small houses all over the countryside. Unmarried officers and men slept in unpfartitioned, barn-like struc- tures which afforded no individual privacy nor collective security against roving hounds, bugs or thunder showers. There were many of each, but the fellows seemed to like it. By the end of summer, after days of solo familiarization, section, division, squadron and air group formation flying in theTBF, after weeks of glide bombing attacks along Virginia beaches, torpedo runs against rocks in the Chesapeake Bay, group attacks against visiting British warships, after numerous emergency landings, tail chases, 20-minute mail runs to Norfolk, sun baths on the parking strips, minor accidents and hair raising es- capes, after countless trips in a deathless carryall to pick up the laundry in Pokomoke city, after night flying above fog moving in from the sea, the breathless weekends at Ocean City, Washington, New York, after hand-to-hand combat drills and endless volley- ball games Conce the Skipper ripped the seat right out of his pantsj, and watermelon parties in the pines, after Ensign B0bbY Pittman had eaten more oysters than any man alive, after mistakes and lessons that Were hard to learn, misgivings, adjustments, triumphs, after a ten-day Quonset Point work- Out-Torpedo Squadron Eight came K0 feel the urge to get one with it, to go aboard a carrier, to test itself and prove itself, to do better. On August 16, three days after returning from Quonset Point, the squadron attended commissioning of the U.S.S. Intrepid in Portsmouth Navy Yard. On September 30, at 1300, jam packed into large Navy buses, the squadron shoved off from Chincoteague in a torrential rain and soon found itself in the Atlantic, bound south to Trinidad. The shakedown cruise was successful. Only one torpedo plane was lost during the month's fast-paced operations. No personnel was lost. But the most memorable phase of the cruise was not the flying the boys did, but the carni- val spirit of their liberties. The night at the Macqueripe Club, at Port of Spain, when Dave Carter wrested control of a bull fiddle in the orchestra and Meathead Phillips went swimming in the gold-fish pond, it was clear that this outfit was not so wrapped up in itself it couldn't have fun in a big way. It was evident, beyond the surface lunacy, beneath the double-talk of poker games, be- hind the spontaneous gaiety of the ready- room or the bemused calm of the more sober members, that these fellows had learned to live together, just as they had learned to fly together, and that one day, when aloft to fight together, they would again succeed. The carnival spirit never left them, never let them down. On December 10, 1943, having been stranded by an accident of fate on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal, they lost no time in setting up shop in downtown Panama City, with Fishcake Sewell prais- ing the Lord and Buck Buxton passing the ammunition. In San Francisco, temporarily stationed at NAS, Alameda, the squadron perfected an- other skillful blend of steady flying and high- powered schmaltz. Then, a few days after New Year's, 1944, the squadron moved west across the Pacific to NAS, Puunere, on the island of Maui, T.H. For the first time since it had been commis- sioned, the entire Air Group found itself really operating from the same field. The life of 'Torpedof Squadron Eight began to merge with theilarger, more significant life of the air group. But the spirit was un- -changed. Now the friendships which had been exclusively of the individual squadrons ,grew to encompass allthree. Team-work be- tween the squadrons developed as the day .approached when together they would rendez- vous, turn further westward, meet and con- -quer the enemy. On the afternoon of March 15, Torpedo Eight flew aboard the Bunker Hill somewhere south of Pearl Harbor. - u 5 Egg LM gvgkwg res e a iz fm 1 ' , i .Q ,M Q X ,Lx 5,-1-,xv jf. '-F42 . l -. K 'F 'HU MS . . iiiiiis i5S9?1ihs?Z5???fi?-'i'5Yif5iii'?75?fiiaiif PA ff PA ,Q ei l F., are W, - ':51S'f'oL 'lf' - Ii U v:-, ' -., '7ETu.'X'.'Q '1Zf? jf llllsifnfig., 'ffl ll ' ' Jr i l?-L ' Q 'l ' Ii ' l Jig gli ,'-' '14 ' ll? ? ',52i'21f' Co ,I M X - . . ...ga Lf. ar.. Q... .mfs M 440' it P l 3 I iq ' my ,if i .,.1 gg 7, xg f T5 ar.. ips -R'-1 . .I 9 N lr-N. 1 f 'Q . ' ,.p1 -- . Q as WAW 'MWF f if - iw ,fa 4--is ' fig, li 1 J J lr 5 il : ,fr '- 5fi'.-ig 'i' 5' 'S 'fi' ' -4- - -gkt ill j : -QB-gg'-'wrf'X9' 'ilk' H, ? r w. Nwxlfj La-it L , f Z vs, ' ,Q mil V 3: 1 will -i ri ft' mlb J -' f i qw ii' ,,.,i,-,-,, , me-4,4 g 7 .4,,,., . ,,,.,. wrt., .X ,gm ., 5, ,, ,pq ---- 4 ,3, . !HH'l - ,f'ff:2', Life. ,.-: 5Ff1gg l '-new e- .a,-a - - . f fr: 51-P' :2 ' ffl?-2,11 iff' f The men of Torpedo Eight were ready- sand they knew. they were on the spot. They Were carrying on the most famous name in Naval aviation, a name sanctified by the heroism of the original Eight at Midway. .And they were following in the footsteps of 'Torpedo Seventeen, which had set a record .for hits in the great operation at Truk in February. , Then-the Hrst strike. i The greatest task force of the war was 'charging through Qthe seas off Palau, 3,840 miles from Pearl. Interrupting the frantic .last-minute preparations in Ready Room Two, the Skipper stood up and quietly as-ked for a minute of silent prayer. Heads bowed and hearts quickened. FQ, a second all eyes rested proudly on the Sr per. They knew they would follow him any. Where . . . - Palau . . . Woleai . . .Hollandia. , , Truk . . . Those prayers before each strike had been answered. Torpedo Eight had not lost a pilot, even though every man in the squadron had felt Death's chill breath flit past him at least once. The Marianas--Death's holiday ended. Youthful Swede Swenson and George Wild- hack made the mission from which there is no return. J The others carried on for them. There was no time to think and mourn-the Jap fleet was coming out. The squadron's most agonizing days fol- lowed. Sitting and waiting. Memories of what happened to the original Eight when it attacked the fleet. But the humorin the ready room was still sharp and spontaneous. F ire Chief Haley, when he wasn't taking watches apart, dared anyone, particularly Lunde, to prove that he flew into the water. at Hollandia. ' Rugged Len Mason daily ran the deck , on Bill Gillerlain in double solitaire, a game which also made the moments pass for Ernie Leggett, Andy Andrews, Jim Gagnon, K. K. King and Johnny Peacock. ' John Shonk and'Will F olkedahl alternately dozed and read. Fifty Jap fleets could have been coming outand it wouldn't have worried John and Will. Eddie F ranze and Bob Oscar argued abOl1f the influence of the Norman invasion on Eng- lish literature. Robbie Robinson and Sheep-Dip Pittman extolled the merits of Texas and Wyoming ranch lands. - Fish Cake Sewell and Meat Head Phillips compared notes on the plantation belles of Mississippi and de goils of Long Island. Dave Carter drew groans every half hour by playing the recording of The Mor1kCY Swings by Wilmot Houdini, the calypso king- Buck Buxton perused the works of James Farrell. Mel LeCompte and Ole Johnson listened while Art Teitelbaum dreamed up gastronomic delights. Shortly before 4 p.m. on June 20, the word that Torpedo Eight had been both hoping for and dreading was flashed over the tele- type: Jap Fleet Sighted! The first wave was on deck: the Skipper, Carter, Folkedahl, LeCompte, Gagnon, Bux- ton, Phillips and Mason. Minutes later, backed by' the greatest fiight deck crew in the fleet, they soared off the bow on the most important mission of their careers. . It was another night of destiny for Torpedo Eight. With the bombers and fighters of the Bunker Hill, they reached the enemy fieet first and made what Commander Ralph Shifiey, Air Group Commander, described as a perfect attack. Intelligence later credited them with a min- imum of three torpedo hits on a carrier, battleship and heavy cruiser. But they had gone far beyond the normal range of a TBF. The inevitable began to happen. They heard the Skipper say: Well, boys, this is where I get out and walk. Don't follow me down. His wing lights disappeared in the dark- ness. q They fought back through that black night with prayers on their lips. Meathead found his own force and made his historical call: Hello Rebel-this is Meat! Informed by the ship that the flight deck was fouled up briefly, he took to the air again: Rebel-this is Meat.-Goodbye, now! And he moved over to a CVL where he made 2 perfect landing with but ten gallons of gas in his tanks. Carter defied every written and unwritten stick landing on another CVL after his tanks had run dry. The Skipper and his crew parachuted and Were picked up by destroyers. LeCompte landed safely. Gagnon, Buxton and Mason wound up the long journey in the water and spent varying hours in their life rafts until they were pulled up to the decks of hard- working tin-cans. At the final count, Folkedahl was missing. Hope for him and his crew never has been abandoned. Torpedo Eight had met the test-and passed. You can't measure accurately the damage done to an airfield nor can you be sure whether the thunderclap kissing a bomb ex- plosion is an ammunition dump or oil. Tor- pedo Eight's bombs thundered from Palau to Formosa, ravaged Jap installations that had been planned and designed to stem American might. BOMBING EIGHT Cn the bright Spring morning of June 1, 1943, an eager group of young Naval Officers huddled together over coffee and doughnuts at East Field, Norfolk, Va., and opened an impressive manila envelope bearing the imprint of the Navy Department. En- closed was an ofhcial order authorizing the commissioning of Bombing Squadron Twenty- eight. As senior ofiicer present and act- ing squadron commander, Ensign Robert L. Spanky Spohn arose to assume the weight of his new office. Let there be a Bombing Twenty-Eight, said Spohn. His words prob- ably will not go down in history. Spank's reign of terror was short-lived. The very next day Lieutenant Commander Ralph L. Shifiey, USN, arrived and took over his rightful command, and the squadron repaired to an outlying base called Creeds Field sit- uated in a geographic division of Virginia l termed The Dismal Swamp. There, aPtY , rule of carrier aviation when he made a dead- outfitted with thirty-six brand new SBD s, 209 the squadron inaugurated its training, con- tinued, after becoming Bombing Eight, at neighboring Fentress Field which was to be the base for the summer. On the side of experience were Skippers Shifiey and Dew, six battle-scarred veterans of the valiant Enterprise, Red Carmody, Les Ward, john Ritchie, Bruce McGraw, Benny Shefchik and jim Keefeg and the redoubtable Flying Mustache-A. D. jones-back from many a Mustang sortie against the bloody ferries. As for the rest, the majority was composed of ensigns fresh from fiight training but none the less convinced they knew all the answers. It was a herculean task that confronted Skipper Shifiey, and he inaugur- ated an intensive training program with the emphasis on bombing and gunnery. Right from the very beginning one man emerged from the crowd to become the driv- ing force of the squadron, big, energetic, en- thusiastic M. D. Big Red Carmody. A veteran of some of the Enterprise's most grueling battles, he had the word on carrier operations and an incomparable ability to drive his point home. He and Les Ward toiled unceasingly in fiight, in lectures, and in bull sessions to mould an integrated squad- ron from the divers material at hand. They had to learn to fly alike, think alike, act alike and gradually with Red's ringing ad- monition, You've got to play it smart as a by-word, they began to round into shape. Early in December they were off to the war, or so they thought. However, due to an un- foreseen chain of circumstances, they laid over in Panama for a week and naturally embarked on another final whirl. After furthering Latin-American relations for several days they took departure again, but the ship hugged the west coast of the U. S. and docked at San Francisco, just in time for the holiday season! In 'Frisco the squadron threatened to dis- integrate entirely, Lieutenant Cjgj jack O'Neil recalled. The human constitution, it became apparent, could stand only just so many farewell parties. We managed to hold out through the New Year, though, and on January 6, 1944, we took sad leave of the U. S., headed West. After some nine months of training we were off to the war. But still another disillusionment was in store for us. Before we even came in sight of the fabulous Diamond Head the squadron was launched and we moved to Maui, the jewel of the Hawaiians. Bitter as was the initial disappointment, this was the luckiest move yet. It made two things possible. First, the polishing of a squadron grown stale from lack of fiying time during the farewell tours of the previous two months, and most important, it gave us our chance to move aboard the U.S.S. Bunker Hill, the finest carrier in the fieetf' At Maui the bombers dug into intensive training operations free- from the distractions of such worldly billets in San Franciscoand Norfolk. Meanwhile they sent emissaries to the Bunker Hill in the person of Arthur jones, Don Johnston, Perry Huntsman and Wilbur Bigger Ballance, who operated with Bombing Seventeen during the Marshalls and Marianas operations of February. They came 'back with glowing reports and the squadron climbed aboard on March 14, 1944. The rest was easy. After a couple Of group gropes, Ctraining exercises to the un- initiatedj they set out for the first encounter with the japs. On March 30 Skipper Shifley led the first of the strikes against Palau, the strategic Jap naval base in the Western Pacific. F ortwo days Bombing Eight pounded shipping and installations with wave after wave of Helldivers. When the smoke had cleared away conservative estimates gdVC them five ships sunk and many others badlY damaged. It was an auspicious beginning: and transformed the squadron into battle- tested combat pilots, baptized under fire. Heartened by its initial success, Bombing Eight began compiling one of the finest records made in the Pacific, marched their bombS across Hollandia, jinked through the Dubl011' Eton slot at Truk, and paraded on to the Philippines. After the Truk attack Lieutenant Com- mander Shifiey received a double promotion, advancing to the rank of Commander and assuming command of the Air Group, leaving with the unswerving gratitude and loyalty of every member of the squadron. He was succeeded by Lieutenant Com- mander James D. Arbes, USN, who fitted in the picture as smoothly as though he'd been with the outfit all along, and immedi- ately took over in every respect and proved to be a superlative commanding ofiicer, and to win similar admiration and respect. On the 16th of June the most exciting news of the war leaked out, the build-up for the Bombers' greatest strike. The Jap Heet re- portedly had sortied and was enroute to intercept our force. Immediately began a series of searches hunting down the little yellow men. Late in the afternoon of the 20th the Jap fleet was contacted and a deck load was launched from the Bunker Hill, including twelve bombers. It was a dramatic situation. Skipper Arbes and each of his men knew the hazards confronting them, the range, the impending darkness, the calibre of the op- position, but they flew off confidently. And K -'z z' V., -f. 1 ft '- QW? f 'W-wr . N, iv- ' f ,fs .-Q1--,, 2.213.341-f.. .K I wg PX, 15f:.2vi ' ,f H' f ggwi'-212. af ' -, v. . ,:,1,fs1 -, ' A -. .2-T71.'f -t' 'ifhrfz s. Q, '- X 5 3511 -.ggi-5 if, , fz. , N . 4 f . sw X? 'MQW' s XM.. if ' ! 2 ' -- .!- 11 5,5 3 I-aj-ia-.',1 HQ E , S, gal Pia' -3 -. , Q3 X i xi f4.x.,,gsi35., f. .- A 'X , , ev 144, nf,i'!55i:.5ff 5.15 -,. ,.,, 3 7 Ab, ,- -f Jgf 52X2Lff'L:.'f'1'1 fx ff . cw' , f ' .. 1-vs 33- M .' i 1 ' 4- ' Q- 3 -' if.- 'f.-'i f U .f X I ' . lg uf 1I5J?Q1'3ff'7ali7,'f 'N ff' ' if ,,f, if . a ' f ff 6, 'fa--'fr 'K-T':.s y -rw .J .' f . V , v,f,,C,'fg,yi . ' 5-1Ej i.fg-if:gg,,E5.' 5, - I A r jt3J1jrfiLfri:3,1ff wwjgi' .. - If ,- ,, ' .gf s . . 1. , , ff-21111. ' ' sy-f. - ,fglf--,,. f 1 7 4 -- -, ,f rw -an f -.aria-,,. ' 1 i Q' - ' ' .j ' ' If 4.-if I N' '+A' fxlffif' fp: I 5 W -N E 4 W' 'J ' ' - ' n-M-Q 'ti -- ' 4 f' 1 4 f 3 .. i Q.,'.., sf, 1 :1 if .rv-W'g ',,.2,, i-- , ,..i-,..- . 'TVHFQF' f 2 ' f2il i'i '-Q 7 ' , ,J . V ' -gafffl. A it - NX ,V . NM.. , .,, , .ryk it was a black night aboard. With almost no word as to results, they had the discour- aging tally of not a single bomber returning to the Bunker Hill at the end of the attack. On the 21st the scene cleared a little. Ken Holmes, the only man to land aboard a car- rier, returned early. Then all day aviators and gunners were returned via the vigilant destroyers that had rescued them from their fleet of rubber boats. The count mounted. The Skipper returned, then Jones and Pilcher, Scheff, Horn, Sharp, Mooty, all with their rear-seat men, and fin- ally Perry Huntsman and his gunner, Houston, who had spent more than fifty hours in a life raft under the broiling tropic sun. Photo- graphic evidence showed incredibly good re- sults. Out of twelve bombs, VB 8 scored nine hits, six on a carrier which was probably sunk, two on a battleship and a very dam- aging blow to a cruiser. As in every victory, it exacted a heavy toll however, as six men failed to return: Lieu- tenants Cjgj C. D. Smith, Robert E. Sterling and James C. McIntyre, and their gunners K. E. Barttelbaugh, ARM1c, Harry Ashton, ARMIC, and Robert N. Varrette, ARMQC. It was one of the most successful dive bomb- ing attacks in history and the squadron takes pardonable pride in the men who participated. As a kind of anti-climax the bombers flew a strike against Pagan Island in the Marianas group on June 24, returned to the Marianas to support the Guam invasion and for three days rained bombs on the key point of the island-Orote Peninsula with its air craft and military facilities. It was not a glamorous assignment, aimed at gun positions principally, but it was a workmanlike job of destruction. On July 26 they returned to Palau for a two-day operation, moved on to the scene of their first endeavors and attacked another two-day strike on the Bonin Islands, only six hundred miles short of Tokyo. By that time they thought they'd seen all the anti- aircraft the japs had in reserve but the Nip had an unwelcome surprise at Iwo and Chichi Jima. The sky was literally black with AA. Then a return to Palau to soften it up for the landing forces, and Ward's division found a DD that they were able to damage despite the bad weather. Jim Keefe was shot down, but rescued before he'd hardly gotten wet, with his gunner, R. I. Whitaker, ARM1c, sustain- ing a slight injury. As September wore on, they hit Davao, ran into heavy AA, and saw Art Jones and his gunner forced to bail out. They moved to the Central Philippines on the 12th and 14th, sank two ships, heavily damaged an- other, damaged five others, ranged far and wide, hitting airields on Leyte, N egros and Cebu, with Drone Weber hitting a daily double when he shot down a Hamp on the pullout from his first dive, in which he did not drop his bombs. He found a PC a little later and sank it with a direct' hit, with the entire flight as audience. Fierce and Ward smoked some airborne planes but couldn't claim conflrmeds. Back to Palau to support landings on the seventeenth, followed by a full dress crack at the Philippines, hitting Clark Field, Subic Bay, San'Fernando, and other assorted targets. It was in the attack on Clark Field that C. F. Jukebox Carrico, ARM1c riding with Al Mooty, shot a Zeke off their tail. V Y A few days later Benny Shefchif lighted off a 10,000-ton oiler in the attack on Koron Bay, a hop characterized by extreme range and intense anti-aircraft fire. Over in the Visayas area they racked up three ships sunk. It was at Matsuyama and Shinikiku air- fields in Formosa, October 12, 13 and 14 they mauled hangars, barracks and other in- stallations as well as blasting a lot of small AKs. Mid-October was marked by the searches for the reported Jap fleet, long, tire- some patrols with the navigation board being both a bore and a thing of hope as it showed the course through the search. On Gctober 16, Tommy Shea found a unit, comprised of two Kongo class battleships, three heavy and one light cruiser and eight destroyers. Unable to get his message through, the news was bottled in his cockpit until he returned to the force, too late for a strike to be launched. . . . AND SO DAY BY DAY It's three o'clock in the morning Not time for the last waltz with you Good Night Sweetheart . . . This is dance macabre . . . War . . . Mars dressed up and plenty of places to go The lilting, yet jarring and irrational of Reveille resound throughout the bouncing off bulkheads and blasting sciousness into the most remote corners .tif this mass of steel, twisted into feline' gi-ages fulness by the sweat of man's brow .1 .1 L The pilot swings down sleepily from his bunk, cringing slightly when his feet touch the cold deck . . . The plans for this day+ minute by inexorable minute-were conceived months ago . . . A green cloth-covered table . . , Smoke-filled room. . .Stars on shoulder straps sparkled like the stars in the Pacific skies . . . These stars above us once looked upon an enemy triumphant . . . Now in their timelessness they witness his retreat . . . Hey, what'd you get . . . 240? '. . 1. Right on the nose . . . Brother, Pm the greatest Nav' expert in the Navy .' . . From the island, the scene is eerie . . . Fascinating . . . Flight deck crews are only silhouettes in the gloom . . . Then, The Voice . . . Gabriel's trumpet on Judgment Day . . . The third, and most important senat- ence, START ENGINES . . . Sputter Sigh . . . Sputter . . . Spit . . . Roar. . Louder . . . Purr . . . Scream . . . Steady' . . . Swift streaks of purple flame from exhausts . . . Crescendo . . . The of destruction has finished tuning up Shaded lights appear along the flight . . . As if by magic, lighted wands beckon, motion, stop . . . A plane forward . . . The pilot is dimly outlined the red glow in the cockpit . . . FLAG . . . Tail up, stick forward, throttle . . . Perfect takeoff . . . . . Then another . . . Red and wing lights flash on . . . The sky in east is paling . . . The rendezvous Then on into the Unknowni. . . E h ff, nf, I ,mf ,, 1, , A fn- ,M 1 ' f X V , ,, ,f,, U, ,J ff 4- ,V 1 wwf. , , , ff' , ff! f f ,ff,, w fx f . . 'AN' I 'NY H 'if 'lt Y i f wig 4 1 ' V7 ff' ,LW , -,grziffai-4-Q, 6, 240: V f f-04 A X f 5 , , f ,Q ,f , f W., 1, ' ' Nu' , , -ZZ, Q!! xwkg x X L Commander Dale and the administrators and technicians of Commander -Xir Group qeveiirgen Y ' x D The wake of a fleeing Jap ship tells a frantic story of the hunted. Fighting Eighteen, their inexperience challenged, answered with slam-bang aggressiveness and deadly shooting ff? 4' t Shu-1 4 W? ff W W' X I rt - if fa '51 1 i Z f, 2,37 iff '2 ,, , , . f 7 42 2 Lt. Comdr. Sam L. Silber, VF18's Skipper. Fighting Eighteen's Insignia. Conecientious mechanics and Qtout hearted gunneie teamed with Bombing Seventeen Q . . . battle-busy pilots to make the Helldiver the Heet's accepted carrier dive-bombe 410 , ff f' A 'Q' 4 K -QL, gg 255141 , Z f 1 Q W 4- 1 wwf WW 1 f Q4 'fffff ff, ff ff? 9 Q1 Af f f , f f P! ffff 4 Q ff iff Q f 'X f f MW f , ng, y f V f Q fs. '6f 76 QM' : K 4 f f fy, Q Q ,W fe f 14 X05 Z V 4' Q I wb! L t . Torpedo Seventeen s PIIOIS, who bombed fmd torpedoed their wax :zeroes the Pluhe to leeordw f The turret gunners, radiomen and mechanics of Torpedo Seventeen, share-holders in the squadron's record. A dummy torpedo run during shakedown helped sharpen ship gunners' eyes and prepare them for combat that was to come 3,9 5 0 ? f 5 f - 5 1 3 PHI CKAUL1 X11- 2 'nur' ' Q Q, ,.,,.......,QQg.. .,.1 42 ff ,Xf , Lt. Comdr. Frank NI. Wvhitaker, 1910-19-H. Lt. Grzldy' Owens, VIKIT lfxccutivc 0 h h t xrret unners :md rndimneu finished rhc dz1y's hops. A touch of horseplay eased t e nerves W en L g X41. E M i 219 VFN76-Lt. Comdr. Aurand's brood of B1ack Chickens, the carrier's specialists extmordinaire. C0mdl'- 139145011 first led Air Group Eight - . . followed lw Ccnmir. Shificv, first VBS Skippe 220 'wi xl! +7 Q 1. '1 Q3 S, 1 P ' A Pqx .1-fxxi My 1 A ux xl mu wcrc I 2 I I J n 1 1 K U. s. s. BUNKI-IR mu- Nfl I Z-II, IJISI 'fl 'IUI X gltt it Z' Xiu 'X .. ..'-Q J , QQNSIDER ovaamiims OF ww Allii ,xiii GROUP DUFill'lG THREE nw ovigaiititri .Just cwlivtstilii Ab iifxvirie team ,lost SKILLFULLY ANU ENPEDITIUUSLY umiuucteii A Am IS GROUP 5 IS TO BE CUf.lulliNDED ON ITS CARHIEFY OPERA' TIONS X watt time TO ALL HAN113 x f C 'I' G I DJIL' Q strit mo T' BUEQKER HILLQ AIR GROUP -3 , xo. A -15... Ho mglEDE1N.vV AiflintticimlswlcomlmeaIsuplDi.,btcn.plMu,Aefuicon,sonmoonlcAG' VT vr vs gig? Gig 1'5 V .F gg 5 Fighting Fight! Hellcat lnsigiiiu. i, 4 1, it l 1 l l l 3 l 5 l 2 iiggw e , Y 1 , . - 4 .- t aim lot a lay before they tulxe off. 3 The MtQQ'iiQ1m5 ffivl1H-Iwalriff-BfOW'W'mbe photo 6 p p 223 Skeins of vapor trails marked the pursuit of hunter and the hunted. Aloft and aboard, Fighting Eight was admired as a smoothly-run, efficient squadron of Hellcatters Qi' 'J XS QQ A X dl: xl SX K 4x-X - ,QNX-' , Y. iw. - Q f tp 5 XSQXQQXX.. X. 1 X if X 551 ' AASN X N-XXX N 5 S S sl, WEA' wi 3 its ! 3 .QW ' . ia PN ES- .N X .Q Lf- Cafmwdy, VBS Executive oincef. Comdr. william Ciiiiim, ws skipper-. Lt. Comdr. Bombing Eight, t 7532 me i , R ., , QA f M ,, N... ., 9 James Arbes, Whose men He VB8 Skipper. ,MV ,,.,,, .f 0 dm X3 Q , 1 .f X. my X -,ow ,S if-.f,v ef f 5o3q,s,gf,5Wgt,-Q Q, , Lt. Comdr. KICCuskey, luzllny-faced Jap killer. W their Helldivers to one of the Pacilios highest carrier squadron tonnage totals. 1 'P ff I tw ,ef ,ml -' f , 737 2 u wg i TR Admiral Montgomeryf' made the awards for Air Group Eight's outstanding part in the Battle of the Eastern Philippines. wisvwnig , , 6 'fzf 1 T The pilots of Torpedo Ri ht vet . . f lc-h g , erftns o wor orse bombing schedules who earri If E f sn X, 1 Xfw'X 4, 3 tg f. rig 5' X . W , S- f Q ,' lvl 2 3 5' Q L i 5 5 5 v i ig X x T ' git I . ir,J X- -sg M A r o is s Q X, ww. il 9, s ed Well the torch flung to them . . . . . . and their gunners radicn z l l . , , A y rd, , J ien inc mee ianics, also worthy of credit for the squadrons YCC0 ' U 5'-X X 'x K-. X. , '95 5 1... . .,. h N- xx y h ... ,W Nay- K 'sg X .K Q. xl X LeCompte, Sewell and Carter don helmets zmtl luring their mu lwztttlw LIl,W-IU-fllC-IlllIILIYC lwtlwe am ANI' htm. ny? X If ,ft s l .Q f ' '- flf X X Z at X 3 'Mix Lf- Andrews of Tofpedg Eight breaks out a big smile as he racks up a thouszmdth landing and poses 221 if ,yy AXA nn I if X f I , fa , 2.64 with his crew Rx XXX f f 2 9 A wwf X n .A fyf-fy! , ff iv ff I A X, 5. ' .. 4' ,- Al ictory has its inevitable price. And meaning of victory IS more thor oughly searched than when its price ncludes the loss of human life. In effect, 'i f ,- I . .n 4 gf ,v 1 I' .flw vi a. . 'LJ' TN. Anon, ut. . ,, .. . lt '-mf. . 1 . A n nf Quant of the Earth and its waters in a strange way W, , ,,, , .sux ------or--. . , nl, .N e , We never quite understand it, we're never 1 l quite willing to believe it. It's all a. vague never is there a time when the I 'omeone gave his life that someone else night survive, and that somebody who lied might have been spared his fate one noment earlier . . . or one moment later. The Grim Reaper moves upon the face vain. SGZNC-.lb-'L..,'2ffl...oil--'f'...:ffl V,.c Lf... f,,,.:i'. . - .e - l ' A. A' . K K KILLED IN LINE OF DUTY Seward CCB?-irper, .QMM 3c Jack W. D Vine Ensign, USNR aYm0nd - l,Cl'f, ea 2C Ralph L. Gunville, Lieutenant fjgJ, USNR John S- Osakowlczr, SK 39 , John W, Hayes, Ensign, USNR Henry C. Carby, Lieutenant fjgl Carl A. Johnson, Ensign, USNR Robert W- Beedles Enslgn Frank M. Whitaker, Lieutenant Commander, Mark P- MOWYY: Llelltenallt . USN Warren W. Delesdernier, Lieutenant Cjgl John K. Pearson, Lieutenant ogy, USNR Edward J-, Deener, Lleufefleaf C183 Edward D. stock, Lieutenant qjgi, USNR Peel J- Wlleefl, l-leufenem Gel Andrew soopolifio, Ensign, USNR Ralph C- Revnelelen ARM 3C Winnnn H. Ransom, Ensign, USNR Clefenee Al Metlfen- AM 2C Gordon A.sn uin ,F tLa n ant, USMC Ralph A- Ven Rlvefn AMM 2C Wa ne o. snii hgitonniinnnfig eiisN Rebefe E- Wagner, AMM 2e Y t , Raymond L. Clzfpper, War Correspondent John Stephen Flathmann, Sea lc, USN MISSING IN ACTION Dewey O. Tallman, ARM 3c Robert H. Irving, ARM Sc Wesley P. Terry, ARM lc Quentin R. Welbaum, AOM 3c Frank L. Toothaker ARM 2c Charles L. Titswortli, AOM 3c Charles H. Sill, AMM 2c Kenneth H. Shaw, PhoM 2c Wesley J. Morris, ARM 3c Edward Emilianowicz, ARM 3c Laseph A. Appletield, ARM 2c illiam B. Gerrity, ARM 3c Taumo O. Pikkaramen, ARM 3c Wallacegl. Shuetz, AMM 2c Carl V. eighton, ARM 3c Andrew C. Dills, ARM 2c Charles E. Polk, ARM 2c Jvseph R. Roberge, ARM 3c Gwrge F . Taphillias, Sea lc Eu J. Bieber, AMM 3c Chard A. Kaster, Sea lc 'ee Morey, Sea lc A Sugarman, Sea 2c , , Norman W. Imel, Lieutenant fjgl, USNR Prentiss CnJ Newman, Lieutenant Cjgl, USNR n Peter L. Evanoif, Lieutenant fjgj, USNR Walter E. Carr, ARM 2c, USN Harwood S. Sharp, Lieutenant fjgl, USNR Arthur D. Jones, Lieutenant, USNR Robert D. Horne, Lieutenant Cjgj, USNR Leslie B. Stinson, ARM 2c, USNR Walter L. Oliver, ARM lc, USNR R. H. Higley, Lieutenant C. J. Husted, Ensign Clinton W. Thompson, Lieutenant Cjgj Charles R. Lavenson, Ensign Alfred F. Smith, Ensign . Earnest D. Williams, Ensign Robert W. Bice, Enslgll Newton B. Birkes, Ensign James H. Forman, Ensign George H. Freed, Lieutenant c George L. GlasS, Llwfeflaflfi 03, Arthur P. O'Sullivan, Lieutenant fjgl 229 dream that happens to someone else, w sometimes think. Without exception the men who made the f Supreme Sacrifice on our cruise left their places in the role of a true shipmate: they were doing their jobs at their places with the unwavering devotion characteristic of heroes. They had given their time and talents to their country in a tight that prom ised to be long and hard, and in dying they gave their final energies, their everythmg for a life they had hoped to retain in peace We salute our shipmates. In paying final tribute to them, we pledge our most intelll gent powers to forbid their having died in Robert J. Hanzal, Ensign George A. Wildhack, Lieutenant Franklin R. Swenson, Lieutenant fjgj Donald E. Carney, Lieutenant . Palmer I Touw, Lieutenant fjgj Robert S. Benshimol, Lieutenant Qg Norman L. Davisson, Lieutenant Cjgj Robert E. Sterling, Lieutenant fjgj Charles D. Smith, Lieutenant Cjgl James O. Mclntire, Lieutenant Qjgl Willis H. Folkedahl, Lieutenant QjgJ Leonard John Mason, Jr., Lieutenant fjg USNR John Benton Czemy, Lieutenant fjgJ USNR Nicholas C. Salvatore, AMM 2c Ray S. Buschow, ARM 2c Charles M. Pointer, ARM 2c Stanley S. Stump, AMM 3c Fredrick S. McKenzie, AOM 2c John P. Witzke, Jr., AMM lc James H. Stone, ARM 2c Daniel G. McLean, ARM lc Herbert L. Schacht, ARM 2c William Hammer, ARM 2c Neil Howard Whitson, AMM 2c Hollis H. Hughes, ARM 2c Harry William Ashton, ARM lc Kenneth E. Bartlebaugh, ARM lc Robert N. Varmette, ARM 2c Claude W. Aunspaugh, ARM 2C Robert H. Grisman, ARM 3c John M. Keith, PhoM 3c Leonard W. Nicholson, AOM 2c Glenn L. Reding, ARM 2c Ray Charles Sharkey, CPhoM Julian K. Joliff, Ensign F 5 .., . Vn p 3 1 The f,i!Dcrfy Parry wi!! fczwc lim .9'1'f11'Mm2v'! C:f77i42fTC7f1tN hese VVere th efl ctions fa ,ff s you find from the typewriters of the men covering the Pacific War for the people back home, and our feeling for them, well mirrored our battle course as well as the pride we felt in being their hosts. Perhaps that is why that particular section is the lead of this division. The summary of the overall picture of the Navy's conquest of the Pacific and the march back to the Philippines has a place in this record to properly evaluate the role of one carrier in the tremendous field of Pacific operations in 1944 that saw American might roll 1234 ' 12 5.-in' ' HQ I mr Q1 back the Jap whenever and wherever he could be cornered. There's probably no experience quite equal to what the Bunker Hill refers to as the Quincy Days, when the steel hulk wreathed .X in pneumatic hoses known as Hull 1509 became a Navy ship and its crew moved aboard and began to draw sea pay. Rod DeCamp ranks with the pros to draw this book's only local-boy by-line. Some names once familiar but easily forgot- ten will be found in this review of the extra- curricular activities, so important in the character of a ship. ,...afe.-.. T, 2, J.. ,.:.,- ,1N-..-f,,,-N- ag. 1. 4 5- ,.L.-' U -lf '1i.'ig.ri.,5f vw Law-1 irj :.gxAf,A-,g K g f lf Z 2' ' ,,,........-.g,...,..,.,.,..,..fg Q4 --NQj.5-AQ! 1 fx, W. ,f -.,,..........,..u,-f . , iuW 'V m ' N' 1,4 QM 1. f MH'----1-f---'1' li43Q'l73t i. X23 , 5 Elf' lil?--af 'v-W-c H rf-1. X ff..-4. M, 1 'tf'e vt It ,ftgg .,'t 3 U -iAfi': Q? PJ rilgffg x-vwxf fl .jf Z1 f 1 ,af -QQ,.a,fis,.4,a,...fiQff,.f,.t..zwfs.4,euffcsa't Ap, J,-9 dau!! 1- Jfji .011 :M,,vf,p' ...rf ,A ,. A Field Da Among Bunker Hill War Correspondents 55s..MM325.,fib-:x..55ff3.sx?Qx.A.sf.Cwis...:Ts--53493ibf'E1..f.f1is-fB..fiZfsa:15ff'b...fikftffbfTI: BY SPENCER DAVIS Aboard a Carrier Flagship off Truk, Feb. 17-CAPD-A powerful surface force de- tached to bottle up North Pass and sink cripples aided in exploding the myth of Truk. The Naval striking force, greatest ever assembled, hit in ten precision strikes over a two-day period. United States carrier planes flew more than 1000 sorties, dropping approximately 1000 tons of bombs, torpedoes and incendiaries. Only Toyko can say pos- itively how many of its subjects lost their lives. At the height of the first day's raids, a powerful force of battleships escorted by cruisers and destroyers separated from the main force to bottle up Truk's North Pass. This strategy led to the sinking of a cruiser and a destroyer within ten minutes in the maiden action for this nation's powerful dreadnaughts. Both enemy warships were sitting pigeons for the battleships after being roughly handled by Avenger torpedo bombers and dive bombers and left dead in the water. , 3 . BY ELMONT WAITE Aboard the Carrier Flagship-Central Pacific--CAPE--1t's the nameless who are winning the Pacific war. This is a ship nobody's ever heard of- yet in less than six months it and its planes have: shot down 109 Japanese planes, aided in sinking two cruisers, three destroyers and 13 cargo ships, damaged two additional cruisers, seven destroyers and another 13 cargo ships. This carrier is only one of many new war- 232 ...gfnKf:..iiff:,.... 5...tQ?fu.1if41fffX...:iJi.s.iffl.f.C'?' ships that have steamed into action out here in the last year. A Her Hight deck has been splashed with salt water more than once by geysering enemy bombs. But if this ship's name could be mentioned, not one American in a thousand would recall the brief story of her launching last year. One impressive reason for her fine score: She was deep in enemy waters and the loud speakers suddenly boomed, Large group of enemy planes approaching . . . The hundreds of gunners, plane handlers and seamen on her flight deck broke into a spontaneous cheer at the prospect of action. There was another cheer from everyone on deck the night that Lieutenant Commander Evan P. Aurand took off in the darkness, chased a Japanese snooper plane so far and so fast he almost burned out his engine and returned to make a perfect carrier landing in the darkness . . . 1 xx .-,, BY RAYMOND CLAPPER I Aboard an Aircraft Carrier, Somewhere in the Pacific: Few aside from professional Navy people can really know what is involved in being the skipper of a capital ship, espec- ally of a new carrier such as this one. A month after this ship was launched, the Captain set up offices ashore at the shipyard. From then until the middle of last year he and his staff worked at outfitting the ship. eWhen outfitting was finished they marched the crew aboard . . . This ship had its first action on Armistice Day at Rabaul. It was in action on ChristmaS Day and on New Year's Day. As one of the erew pointed out, We hit on l'1OlidayS.n I said the next holiday was Lincoln's Birth- day, We don't wait for that, the gunner said, We'll make our own holidays. The question of leadership was discussed by the chaplain the other day. The chaplain said a majority of the men on this ship had never been to sea before they set out last Summer, and that an even larger proportion had never been aboard a carrier. He said few of these aboard were aware of the change that was taking place, as the green Crew shook down into high efficiency, until they had their Baptism of Fire at Rabaul, when 150 Japanese planes, including many dreaded Betties or low-flying bombers, were fought off with heavy losses to the Japs, and not one man pulled away from his post during the engagement. 'dia egg 9' BY PHILIP G. REED Aboard a United States Carrier Flagship off Palau, April 1-CDelayedD--CINSJ: A mighty force of carriers, battleships, cruisers and destroyers shouldered their way to within 500 miles of the Philippine Islands in a three- day display of shuddering power to clamp a giant hand of death and devastation on the Jap bases of Palau, Yap and Woleai. The attack also marked a new phase in the vast Pacific war when units of the Central Pacific Fleet which has been prowling through the Waters of the middle Pacific for weeks attempting to bring the Jap navy out for battle. The combined juggernaut which is spearheading the Tokio drive was infinitely more powerful than the armada which ,hit Truk February 16. The concentration of American naval might costing more than a billion and a half dollars was again thwarted in its attempt to COYHCF the Jap Heet, as the Jap high command, mind- ful of Truk's downfall under one crushing blow, turned and ran at the first sign Of all approaching hostile force. BY DAN McGUIRE Aboard a Carrier Flagship, Carolina Islands , May 1-CDCl2lyedJ-CUPD: Planes from thls huge carrier task force which battered Truk Saturday and Sunday met aerial opposi- mon OUIY 0116 Clay, but the flak from anti-air- craft fire was so heavy one pilot said you could get out and walk on it. Despite the intense fire, however, American losses were small. And the vessels which went ln so close to Truk that its islands were clear- ly visible, were not even damaged . Hundreds of fighters, dive-bombers and torpedo planes took part in the two-day assault and pounded the installations at Trukin to rubble, particularly Dublon Island, one of the main points of the big atoll. An intelligence ofiicer, Lt. Charles Tenney, said the town of Dublon was leveled. The task force planes alone dropped more than 120 tons of explosives on the targets during the two-day attack, which began at dawn Saturday. ff, 'llc F. - 311 BY GEORGE E. JONES Aboard a Carrier Flagship off Luzon, Sept. 21 CDelayedJ-CUPJ: War's jagged light- ning can strike twice in the same place. It happened today at Clark field, 40 miles north of Manila. Here, nearly three years ago, American flying fortresses were caught and smashed on the ground. Pursuit planes were wrecked before they could take to the air against the rising tide of Japanese in- vasion. Today, American planes came back to Clark field and visited identical destruction to Japanese planes now based there. Carrier- based fighters and bombers caught the enemy entirely by surprise, not only at Clark but at its satellite fields and other airstrips in northern Luzon. That was a contributing factor to the over- whelming success of our bombing and torpedo attacks against shipping in Manila harbor. Enemy fighters were able to offer only sporadic resistance in the air. The Japs at Clark field were completely demoralized, according to returning Amer- ican pilots. Said Ensign William McCormick of C502 Aldine St.D Chicago, a Hellcat pilot: On the first strike, we saw two fires spring up along the runways and installations. There were two columns of smoke, going up to five or six hundred feet in altitude. JE, : Q1 It 1 N 9- ' .. l 5 1 3-if WE LOOK AT THEM ar brings out unbelievable talents in a man. It has been known to make an ordinary fighting man a writer, and some writers have been hailed as conquerors on the field of battle. Here's what we mean: in the Spring of 1943 four press correspondents armed with type- writers and mechanized by means of a jeep drove into a Tunisian town looking for the American Army. The town, until then an Axis possession, surrendered to the newsmen. On the other hand we know of a newspaper- man who spent nearly three years with the British Eighth Army, He came home on leave, contemplating a book on Monty and his men, only to discover that a soldier had beaten him to the job. One look in the book- store window on any corner will convince you that many fighting men have turned writers. Since marching away to the wars, the Bunker Hill has mothered her share of war correspondents, some of them famous, some less well-known, and some whose by-lines you don't remember from one story to the next. These press representatives had an opportunity to look at us and write about us, now we're assuming the author's pose and we're going to write about them. They've stood shoulder to shoulder with us in some trying hours, their job was to keep the public informed as to how the war was progressing, and their commentaries have become recorded history. Stories of successful attacks, of surprise tactics, of air battles over land and sea. There have also been stories of personal tragedy, of valor and bravery, and a host of unbelievable epics that censorship, of neces- sity, must preclude. These men have ex. posed themselves to the same dangers and hardships that our men must face, in time of battle they court the most dangerous localities in order to see the story in its most effective light. If you will check the files of authorized war correspondents, you'll find that their casualties run high. Most of the correspondents that came aboard the Bunker Hill were our friends, even after they departed for other stations. They have told their stories with a sympathetic effectiveness, always bearing in mind that the public back home consists of the mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters of the kids of whom they write. There's a big difference between sitting at a desk and writing about a war and going to the war as a part of it, these writers have found that difference. And their personal glory is only an infinitesimal fraction of the largely thankless service they render. Spencer Davis, of the Associated Press, flew over Hellcat-dominated Truk the day Navy fiiers exploded the myth regarding the Jap- anese bastion, and he knew of what he wrote finger-like pattern of torpedo wakes con- verging on a Nippon cruiser. Raymond Clapper, noted and respected columnist for Scripps-Howard, lived with the crew and successfully captured their preoccupation with battle, and he wrote of . . . floating up 21 river toward the day of battle with effective realism that is seldom achieved in wartime reporting. Clapper was our most distinguish- ed reporter-guest, and we somehow suspCCf that his world-wide popularity was a result Of his honest simplicity in talking to people and then writing about them. Newsmen first came to the Bunker Hill while she was still a gleaming hulk of steel and welding torches. They followed her thr0Ugh shakedown doctoring, and they came back t0 when he sat down that night and told of the, rejoin her when she came West, as most young Ships were doing in those days. W. L. White Wrote of heruglaring acres of spruce on the flight deck and he rounded up her pre-com- missioning heroes in an article for The Reaa'er'.v Digest. Perhaps you read Flattop: Where Courage is Routine. He was our first notable correspondent, and he promised to come visit us again. One day in the South Pacific a young pho- tographer joined the ship, showing for creden- tials indentification slips from Lyfe Magazine and ZW-Davis Publications. He came to be a permanent fixture on board, and members of the crew soon came to think of him in terms of what it takes to make an excellent pho- tographer: crazy as hell. He fiew as much as three hops per day over enemy-held ter- ritory, snapping pictures of sinking ships, burning airplanes and airfields converted into Tojo-held infernos. Twice he came back in airplanes that showed shrapnel marks as big as brickbats. But W. Eugene Smith got the pictures and you saw them in Lie and other publications, including this one. Raymond Clapper was our extra-special guest, because we had read him for years. We had heard that President Roosevelt con- sidered him one of the better reporters and commentators of our time. He won the crew's heart, hands down. We often saw him down in their messing compartments, eating with them and chatting away merrily. He bragged about having his picture made with the warrant officers, and he could call a num- ber of Chief Petty Ofiicers by their first names. Four days before he wrote his last story we chatted with him out on the flight deck, abreast the island structure. He had counted the Jap flags painted there, made notes on the ships the Bunker Hill's airplanes had sunk, he told us he wanted to write a little article about the fine record we had. Later in the afternoon we saw him in his stateroom, writing a story about how a crew feels when a battle approaches. He related the story our chaplain had told him, the story Of a tail gunner who had a prem0I1ifi0I'1 Of death. I can't quite forget that man . . . ' Clapper wrote. C It was just several days later that we walked 1nto the wardroom at noontime. An aviator came in and sat down. His face was expres- S10U1CSS, as if he had just heard something he couldn't believe. Turning to us, he said: Raymond Clapper and Frank Whitaker got killed over there this morning. Lieutenant Commander Whitaker, often referred to as the best torpedo pilot in the business, fiew Correspondent Clapper over Jap soil on a raid. Two planes collided in mid-air, there were no survivors. And America, the Navy, and the Bunker Hill had lost one of its dearest friends. He was out here getting the news for you, and more than once he remarked that he was prouder of America than ever before . . . because of its youth, whom he was meeting in abundant, vigorous portions all over the world. Spencer Davis, AP desk man in San Fran- cisco before packing his typewriter for war transit, told some good yarns about the South Pacific. They call her the gray ghost . . . he wrote of the Bunker Hill following her reveille routines at Kavieng. He saw us through some pretty tight pinches, and ofiicers and men alike thought he was the best writer out since Count Leo Tolstoy. But Spence had a crush on foot-soldiering, having hitch-hiked over Guadalcanal, Bougainville, New Guinea and other fantastically poor touring grounds. We last heard of him when he was on Biak with General MacArthur and a group of soldiers who had their backs to the wall. Typical of APman Davis, he was the only correspondent left on the island . . . just as he had been the only touch-typist i-n the guise of a newspaperman to fiy over Truk during one of the strikes against the Jap base. Washington is a hell of a place to spend a war, according to Phil Reed, International News S ervice reporter who came to the Bunker Hill for a visit last Spring. He had been on duty in the Capital for some time, until one day, half disgusted with the weather and its effect upon ten million people living in a town built to take care of 500,000, he took up military visas and set sail for the South Pacihc. About this time the press abounded on the Bunker Hill: Also present were Elmont Waite, Associated Press writer, and Dan McGuire, United Press man who stayed long enough to get onthe Navy pay list. Dan's whoppers were characteristic of his good nature: . . . flak from anti-air- craft fire so thick that you could walk on it . . . .Of an action off Truk, when Jap torpedo planes attempted to attack our carrier forces, Monty Waite wrote: . . . Then the Hellcat dropped like a hawk from far above, and the torpedo plane literally dis- integrated and vanished in one quick blast. Flame and smoke arose momentarily from the water. That was all.. . Colorful language, as we look back on it. He was bringing to John Q. .Public pictures of what Mr. Public's kids are doing out here. Another visitor to the Bunker Hill was United Press, George E. Jones, outstanding for reporting the Navy's war. His datelines became familiar sights back home, just as his dynamic sentences hit you: War's jagged lightning can strike twice in the same place. It happened today at Clark Field, forty miles north of Manila . . . That was the day Hellcats roared down Dewey Boulevard, and Filipinos ran out into the streets to Wave at returning American pilots. There was William McGaHin, Chicago Doib, News correspondent, and there was Bill Baldwin of the Blue Network who recorded one of our battles, complete with actual sounds and the bona fide quavering of his voice. Lloyd Tupling, of the United Press, joined the ship late in October to become the most recent of the growing roster of Bunker Hill's Gentlemen of the Press. . . . They come and they go, and we still remember them, something they said or the way they looked in a tin hat. Their job is a long, often times boring, frequently dangerous studyg their thanks are few and far between. The press is more or less taken for granted- until it makes a mistake. You never actually realize just what a service they are perform- ing, or, actually, just how much they influence your lives. New words, they give you: flak, robomb. They introduce you to today's heroes, and you feel as if you know the heroes personally-but you seldom think about the guy who introduced you to them. Right this minute he's probably off on another mission, seeking out one of the kids and getting his slant on the war. 1 From The Fargo to Rabaul By Rod DeCamp QFormer Qua t . .-ff.Ns..oe.4tes.fif-..,..fr,.ftk,,g..s,f,..f,im -Wherein Are Found Some of the Little Things That Make Up Carrier Duty ,hat's-where it all began- the Fargo. Although officially known as The Receiving Station, Boston, the former wool warehouse down on Beantown's Summer Street will, in Navy talk, always be known as the F argo. Renowned for its chow, elevators, canteen feminine employees, Sunday dances and brig, its chief claim to fame was its locale, pro- nounced Bahston. 3 It was in the pleasant atmosphere of that peer of receiving stations that the embryonic crew of the Bunker Hill gathered and forth- with proceeded to spawn rumors anent the activities of the ship, even though, at that time, the ship hadn't even an island structure to call its own! These rumors largely con- cerned the lapse of time before the ship would be commissioned, and beyond that, it was any man's ball game. Even at that early date, the inaccuracy of the scuttlebutt was some- thing out of this world! A solemn rule of the house, enforced by Boats' Wheeler in his more lucid moments, required that all hands be made to arise and partake of breakfast. This arousal required 3 goodly racket, generally produced by the vigorous pounding of a wooden slat against the steel bunkfjframes, accompanied by such merry rhymes as Let's go, let's go-let'S 121811 and stow, let's- etc., etc. Much praise is due the cooks for their thoughtfulness, however, in providing such matutinalihre-quenchers as tomato juice and other liquids calculated to calm a digeSt1VC SYStem quiteifoften in outrageous clam01'- With a substantial breakfast tucked away, the hardier spirits moved about purpOSCfUllY, 1' ermaster, transferred to V-7 Programj .ia ...!.wQ,.41xi4f' ' A X cleaning up, shaving, washing and attending to other duties of the morning. It must be regretted that all the spirits were not hardy, nor were they convinced yet that they had definitely arisen, for large numbers crept cravenly back to their sacks, and it was noted with some misgivings that the future crew of the Bunker Hill had an amazing faculty for going to sleep after a meal-even on top of all that good New England food, too! This affinity for the horizontal position was discouraged by the occasion of Quarters for Muster each morning, and certainly wasn't helped by standing at attention through the playing of The Star Spangled Banner, executed with agonizing slowness and fidelity to detail, to say nothing of the British and, as I recall, the French national anthems, also played in honor of Naval personnel of those countries, also present at the Fargo. The lads spent the remainder of the day attempting to evade, with varying degrees of success, various exercises and lectures, some necessitating a march to the Boys Club, which meant going out of the nice warm Fargo Building into the cold street. Then too, there was the ever-present danger of being instructed in the sooty art of fire-fighting, an exercise guaranteed to ruin clothes and dis- position in gaining first hand knowledge of the heat of oil fires and what to do about getting them out in a hurry. One of these Hre- Hghting classes shot a day all to hell. The dangerous period lay between the dis- missal from Quarters, and the opening of the canteen on the ninth deck. During this time one had to stay beyond the reach of Wheeler, and other of his ilk, who seemed stubbornly determined that the crew should do something other than sleep before liberty commenced. Once open, the canteen offered a splendid refuge wherein one might sit comfortably assimilating malteds, cokes, coffee and ham- burgers, while discussing the relative merits of the young ladies behind the counters. Gnce inside the sacred portals you were safe, and even though VVheeler might drop in himself for a morning shot of joe, it was an un- written agreement that there would be no unpleasant scenes. One could thus relax until a similar, though shorter, alert that occurred in the afternoon. By that time, Wheeler had shot his bolt, so to speak, and found it difficult to remain awake himself. Thus it came to pass that much valuable sack- time was logged during the long afternoons, marred only by an occasional training film in which a cultured British voice explained the various types of Italian surface craft, and just what should be done about them all. During the day the time was well marked by the crowing of the announcing system, at an appointed time each afternoon emitted something that went like this: Now the faw to eight ahmed gahd lay down to the ahmed gahd room. About ten minutes later, this announcement was supplemented by a slightly grimmer version, in which the announcer said direly: Now the faw to eight ahmed gahd lay down to the ahmed gahd room or GO ON REPAVVTP' This seemed to constitute an end to the whole affair, as no more was heard regarding the ahmed gahd. At this point in the day's activities there were three definite classes of men in the build- ing. The distinctions were unique in the history of classes, for they were not based on money, antecedents, color, education, former occupation or previous condition of penal servitude. They were governed by the pos- session, or lack of, a small oval disc with a number stamped thereon. The numbers were odd and even and on alternate evenings were good for one hell of a time, in and around the environs of the Athens of America, Home of the Bean and the Cod. They constituted the Liberty Cards. The first, and far and away the most for- tunate class, was the one that actually rated liberty. The second was comprised of enter. prising young men who didn't rate liberty, but had grimly resolved that they were not going to spend that night in the Fargo Building, Many pounds were sweated away of an afternoon, weighing the chances of success of one or another particular scheme, Wonder. ing if the matter would come off without any hitch. The development of a hitch would have the dampening effect of landing them in the brig for various lengths of time. After an absence, the unfortunate ones would reappear upon the scene, healthier, less pale than the rest of us, no signs of dissipation, with a shorn pate-evidence of having spent some time in durance vile. The last class composed the group who did not rate liberty, and had no intentions of doing anything other than washing a white hat by way of an evening's entertainment. Before supper, the most favored class would fill the washrooms with merry singing and low insults. Row upon row of eager lads cheerily gashing their faces in an effort to outdo the next man in the ruddy smoothness of jowl found so attractive by New England's young ladies. This orgy of cleanliness would end only after every hair was in place, teeth brushed within an ace of removing the enamel, shoes shined to mirror-like perfection, and an honest effort made to brush the extraneous matter from the blues. Then the neckerchief, tied with care never lavished on a civilian tie, and tucked beneath the jumper to avoid collecting various bits and drippings of the meal, and so-down to chow. Some, im- patient of solid nourishment, would waitin the liberty chit line comparable, in their patience, to school kids awaiting the bell that sets them free on a Friday afternoon in Spring. Scarcely the first notes of the bugle sounded than the hounds snatched the chits and fled down the passageways toward the elevators- Some spurned mechanical aid and raced madly down the five Hights, out past the hard- pressed Chief trying to make a show of inspCC- tion of all hands, and onto Summer Street where they waited, buzzing happily like 2 swtfm of bees, to infest the first, second, and at least third and fourth trolley cars to roll glong. By three or four in the morning, 9, gogd deal of the energy had been dissipated and the yoggg bloods began straggling in, some afoot, some afoul, some by streetcar, some with Shore Patrols, and those fortunate or fore- sighted enough to have any money left, by cab, This happy routine continued for many weeks, but at last the fact that the Bunker Hill was soon to be commissioned made our going aboard a mere matter of days. One Spring afternoon we evacuated the big, squarish building and marched down the street into the Navy Yard to board our ship. To former carrier men, the aspect of the Bunker Hill was nothing particularly astonishing. But to the large number of the crew that had just lately come from behind steering wheels, desks, ploughs and typewriters, the out- landish looking vessel was something to conjur with. In the first place, a person standing on the hangar deck felt absurdly small and just didn't believe it! You felt it was the misplaced main floor of a manufactur- ing plant. It was simply too large, too open and too long, to be a ship and one looked forward to heavy seas with something akin to lack of confidence. Why the damn thing overhead-What is it, the flight deck?-will in all probability rattle loose! Oh, well-l Our slightly bewildered new crewman had little time to philosophize on the aberrations Of modern naval warfare, as he was hustled, willy-nilly, bag and baggage, below decks, tripping over welding cable, from time to time, dodging showers of sparks, winding a way from compartment to compartment, through devious passageways-thoroughly convinced that, left to his own devices he would like as I10t perish down there, before Hnding his way out. The locations of the sacks, lockers, heads and chow lines were ascertained in that order. . Despite the size of the task and considering the infinite possibility of any milifa-FY 01 Sanization for organizing a chaos, the embarkation of the crew was carried out with a minimum of fuss and dislocation. Meal.time meant waiting in the inevitable chow line and, of course, the inevitable udfaggingn for, as one philosopher rational- fzedi if you can't impose on your friends, who ln hell can you impose upon? With this bit Of immaculate logic, many persons daily avoided the dismal ordeal of waiting in line that seemed to grow ever longer. Perhaps 5 .ni iv X l-eff s lo f Le the most efficient group in this activity was the Marine Corps. Well disciplined, compact, working as a well-trained unit, the Seventh Division developed an infiltration technique that was the envy of all who had the dubious privilege of watching its execution and, as it turned out, many were to be so privileged. One Key Man would somehow bore into the line, in extreme cases, the Key Man waS observed to wait in line as much as five or six minutes before mess was sounded! Placing himself in a conspicuous spot, he waited- and like moths to a flame, his comrades in arms would spot the tell-tale green uniform and casually drift over to him. Whaddaya say? lVImmmm? Whooze got the chits? Izzat so? 'e did? Hell with mmmmf' Yuh. With such gem-like conversations, the new- YI . 5 A .-r i iq i comer was Hin. Nothing could match the aplomb of a Marine approaching the Key Man. In fact, he rather condescended to be drawn into the line. No eagerness, mind you! The chow is probably rotten anyway, but what-the hell, it's part of your pay, Mac. Dependent upon their esprit de corps and organization, other divisions entered into the spirit of the thing and poor in friends indeed was the man who 'could find none in the line to give him entry. -. sf K TT iff --fe ' 'flair 4 V' . . ., ?'z ff-iff' ' ,. :'y. i me -fs -fi me fail QL Q 'ct Liiffsxl' , fffffl QR rEf 'f'1gffff f 31 A' ij JN J. :T '55 32 'Nif 'fffl 7'iFf.'1?7,'fi , : ' -f fl I - 'ii' J . iff 'fifwk ilfi.,4if,-' fm: -, X' ws ff if 5 : Qld 'S' ya P, ing' .Q ' -if. if' ffew: 4 ,.4. 1. . f Nw' !'W-.. 1 'f'x A g ,ff ' if f. ,f's.'iX-.f1.'fi .5 ' 1 i . 'fi' If f F' i f 'f X W iii- flip is f-- i r ff: i Yfififfi 'QS-Z Pe -. ' 4 3 Y ' Rx :xi , ' . . Q: Wmffi-1' g'FT1.mir'.,, i'r ' I ' 'i A 677 A 'l x 2 , 4k,,,-ff? X00 ,L my i 1M,,ff-- - I A' X. 'LJ Q 1 u f i aaie a 4 1. as - x 4 , We could not, in 'all fairness, in a discussion of lines, or queues, fail to make mention of the godlike characters who would go directly to the head of the line, and smiling blandly, bowing slightly, step gracefully in front of one as though it had been thus ordained since time out of mind. Some dark day, defying all his high placed friends among the MA's and other powerful interests, I shall cut down one of these supermen, catching him just under the ear with the edge of a mess tray-a. hot one. V A After acclimating himself to the confusing atmosphere created by pre-occupied workmen, amid a steady din punctuated by the ear- shattering roar of an occasional pneumatic cutter, our new man found himself curiously Watching Navy Yardmen fouling the air with cutting and welding gadgets. Alas, as it turned out, this was the wrong thing to do, for soon he had a regular task set for him, namely, watching welding and burning but with the stern rule that he must watch until said operations had been finished, and in Company with a CO2 bottle Weighing in at 51 pounds but increasing from hour to hour, When the watching got monotonous for all concerned, he and the Welder would sit and watch each other, casually discussing the baseball scores, Spinoza, or the relations of man to Art. If the conversation became too deep, they might, in a moment of weakness, Hee the cares of the war-torn world, and find escape at the cinema, some carping individual having intimated that the bulk of Hollywood's efforts were escapist in nature. When not employed watching would-be pyromaniacs among the welding crews, our jaunty salt often was called upon to effect the moving of various stores, sometimes food, to storage and refrigerated spaces below decks. Sometimes, unable to resist the pro- vocative Navy labels, he was known to sample the contents of such boxes and cans that might readily be opened with the tools at hand. This spot sampling is an important and Widespread system in the Navy whereby the enlisted personnel ascertain whether or not the goods in question merit all of the energy expended in such transferal. A goodly amount of food finds its way into other than the intended storage spaces but as the eventual destination is the same, this booty is regarded as the legal reward of a hard-working stores party and, it might be added, the diversion of such edible goods requires an inordinate amount of ingenuity and guile. Of chipping, scraping, wirebrushing and sandpapering, there was much and, of course, the inevitable painting. Soon the ancient and bitter war between the deck seamen and the painters broke out with renewed Vig01', the painters crying angrily that the whole of the Navies of the United Nations couldn't suf- Hce to keep the deck divisions of this ship out- fitted with brushes, such was the carelessnr-BSS of the men. The painters felt strongly about the manner in which the seamen--With malice aforethought!-left brushes in pots, with and without paint, and then proceeded to forget about the pots entirely, leaving the discovery to some benighted soul on his WW ' fg ni, ' .wif 1 rf' if' ' ' :f , '51 wget a drink of water about two in the morn- ing, On the other hand, it must be noted that the seamen, by unanimous agreement, asserted that all of the shortcomings of the deck divisions devolved directly upon the divisional bos'n mates, and as it is heresy to Speak other than harshly of bos'n mates, the matter must go at that. In this manner, it came to pass that the Bunker Hill slipped into ways traditional with Naval life. The men soon found little places on the fantail, on the gallery walkways, and in odd spots below decks, in which to spend little snatches of time in the horizontal position, for which position the crew seemed to have developed a remarkable affinity. The Chief Petty Uflicers settled into comfort- able positions, drank prodigious amounts of coffee and told outrageous lies with perfectly straight faces, and the junior ofiicers became scarcer and scarcer when it came time to censor mail. The ship was contemplating going to sea. The last liberties were more than slightly alcoholic, as everyone endeav- ored to make up for an indeterminate period of time that was going to be lost. We'd have done more had we but known! Boston was finally left behind ina haze, and after the ship had been at sea for a day, it was found that the underway routine was considerably less hectic than the in-port routine had been. The event of immediate interest was the embarkation of the Air Group, an event which gave some concrete meaning to all this Vast expanse of deck. In the bright haze and occasional squalls of Tidewater Virginia, we fought the Battle of Chesapeake Bay, charging to and fro near Wolf Trap, all hands crowding the island structure to watch the amazing show of a flight deck in operation, positive, at first, that each plane would never make it. The flight deck of a carrier is, and probably always will be, the most un-Naval thing in the Navi'- Isis more like a football field than a ship, with the definite suspense, the colorful uniforms, the uproar, the strange hand and arm signals, the occasional applause and cheering for some nice timing, and of course, The Press- BOX-that reviewing stand on the fifty-yard lme-Primary Fly. The payoff is the way that people stream out onto the flight deck after a flight has been landed, and the action 1S over, identical to the manner in which spectators stream out onto a football field after a game. Except, of course, that no one offers you a nip. Norfolk, the most abused community on the face of the earth, was found wanting in some particulars connected with liberty, and many harsh words were spoken regarding it, but it was noticed that a very small minority of the liberty section stayed aboard. One bracing Spring day, Point Henry light- house was left abeam to starboard as we headed for the Gulf Stream. Soon the air became warmer, and the incredibly blue water of the Stream yielded clumps of char- acteristic weed. Flying fish broke the surface and were eagerly pointed out, with some amazement. Smoothly the Bunker Hill sped along, testing her myriad mechanisms, ad- justing and examining, training her crew, getting to know her squadrons, finding con- fidence as a ship. The shakedown had as a terminus, the island of Trinidad, one of the most historic of the British VVest Indies, and something in the way of an adventure to many of the new young men of the crew, most of whom had never been out of the States. Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, British West Indies- all were foreign and therefore slightly mysterious names. Consequently the crew collected souvenirs of all descriptions, currency being the most common and coconuts the most edible. A swimming and beer party allowed the lads to scurry about ashore and the returning boats were heavier by many cocoanuts, bananas, limes, mangoes and papayas-all in various stages of maturity. Une extremist put an end to a sort of contest that had developed on the trip down. The more rugged members of the crew had broken out and sported sheath knives of various sizes, ranging from something resembl- ing a bowie knife to a smaller piece of cutlery that would have looked better in the kitchen. No one who could lay hands on anything remotely resembling a knife was going to stand by and watch this display, and so it developed into a sporting event. Now the high points ran to the man who Ahad the most original or outlandishly bizarre knife handle, custom built, with plastic as the favorite material. Into this savage atmosphere our extremist friend one day brought a native machete, in a huge leathern scabbard, and it hung to his knees, making the other deck-edge commandoes look like small fry! He wore it for several days, just so that there would be no question as to who had the most rugged hunk of cutlery aboard, but it must have gotten the better of him as it is seen no more. We often wondered how in hell he got through a hatch scuttle with it on. jj, -N yfama.. 1 V -......,,,,E-5 iv d f i ,Q ffxwfhma fl . .. r J' A J if vi C ,ff fgfi A! 'C' . I X n ,-. .,, , 'f i Q TT., A ml f-B ,A .433- ..'1,Tiv'A K swim 3? g'M '-Nw Q .1 W Avi -i-...ll . H u.....--f'---.,,c,...... i ,Me wdmg ,,, tk M, M, 'H-If-.--5' ' 'E-ff 4'-M -..-f-' , A fl i ri illfl . , If . -M-as . sf ' :A -I - ' ff' Aw ' K - , pq. Aj, I 1' ' Q , . . K i ,Jw ..VQil,L13-, .H 4 - +..-- Q ' x , I ,lA ,A - . twig,-'ff ,,7,,... A .V ,, L I , .1 - , ag: VA. 45, Ah., - 1 - I , , ' K, HQ . ZX ::, ,.f-as ,' 'AA .'-A-nw: 'A'--its f 1 4. -L, A A I s.aAv.v.-i :sew-'Pfrr-A AA . .A - X , I-'..2:QY.f,:, 235Zli5,:3g3i5gg'th uigr'-ffSM:+5, ,,Q5, fr. -' , , W . 4 wHH5'?Zi ..'g:'1'2EiFAWf ,i 1, ff' A- A A 4 ' ..,,.f A A 1 'rf ' x .,i,S-49.2, A :--f ' C., , 4 ' ,,. i.As2A,3?f1zg- Q W 1 .wifgxi-Pff'AA ff' 'fav' .f v ws ...L ,,yf7:gqi-,gym .,,..f-P. .. '.,f,fAs:n, 1g.,1'. ' A' ' A f - P i il-. ,L'.Y:1g', f'iE':7 . . -- '. .1-ah, ,lx - '-- - ,. A, , if. VA- Y: , .A ,,i..'-,:,-r.-A33 .A warm Q N 'r 'fi' ' 1 ,. r, i..,'5gz.v'1'f:wgA A .l jf ' ' jAz ,Aff Q Soon the requisite time for operations was up and we left the quiet, green island of Trinidad, gliding out through the same chan- nel that Columbus had used four centuries before, more recently frequented by German U-boats to the extent that it had become South America's Torpedo Junction. Headed now toward the States, the ship was ridden with a strange malady of the sea known as channel fever. Symptomatic of this disease is an immoderate urge to sunbathe, a pro- nounced hoarding of currency, a remarkably cheerful mien, and a sudden concern over the cleanliness of one's blues. Once again Boston was the field of opera- tions, this time the stay to be short. Some of Fortune's favorites got home on leave but it was the briefest of leaves. Each liberty was carefully spent, and it may be said that the crew of this ship made a name for itself in Boston. In spite of the excellence of Boston as a harbor, as a liberty port, and as an excellent place in which to execute one's task of conl suming a certain amount of the world's bottled goods, the time came for our Hnal departure. There were, of course, those who were loath to leave, some intimating that we needn't be in such a bloomin' hurry, this was going to be a long war, etc. But it was farewell Boston, and Salem, Roxbury, Field's Corners, Quincy, Scollay Square, good- bye to more Irishmen than there could possibly be in Eire, to the cab drivers, those stout fellows, and to the Navy Yard workers with their fiendish pneumatic chisels and burning torches. No more would we borrow ten and end up at the Ship's Galley at the end of Summer Street, watching some ass put the fiftieth consecutive nickle in the juke box for the inestimatable delight of hearing I've Heard That Song Before. Assign this ship to what home port they will, the Bunker Hill will always be connected with Boston, at least as long as there is a sailor that lived aboard her in those entertaining days and can still tell lies about the liberties that he threw there. ' So off we were, to the wars. At Norfolk, our Air Group came aboard quickly and with- out fuss, and once more we headed down into warm water, not to leave it for more than year. Gperations at sea now were routine, ,every man I-it into his job. There were some nCW faces, some of the old were gone, and WC whiled away the time as we headed for the Panama Canal. Arriving at the city of Colon, .-r i sf.. seven days out of Norfolk , the ship was rigged for canal passage, and the crew was decked out for a brief liberty. Scrambling down the brow and toward the gate, liberty-bound sailors found rows of taxis Cvintage, 1922- '27j waiting passengers. Every cabbie got a full load that night as they took the boys into the city, where was staged a ding-dong, jumbo- size liberty, compressed into a few hours. The next morning the Canal passage was started and throughout the day, navigation experts cropped up minute by minute, The big blue-gray carrier bumped, slid and sweated her way from Cristobal to Balboa with several inches to spare, thanks to the unerring eye of the canal pilot who had a special bridge built out over the flight deck from which he did some of his trickier conning. After a one night stop at Balboa we headed out into the Paciic, a three-ring aerial and Naval circus descending on us as we pulled out. Army lighters made sizzling passes at the ship from all bearings and angles, PT boats raced madly about, churning the water and laying smoke screens. No one was qui-te clear as X M ff fx? ff lei 3 .f N5 Q e, 45' ri? X9 AQ: . 'L' XX' V -.if 'r' , S 'Q J. 5? a '.,f-I 1 V N 1 I' fu Q., 4 H! ,.l1,!, kv!.. m y if f A in I 1 'T ' X im? Q , 5 f ' 1 X 65 4 . f if 'ii' K t' J f a f ' I X K' i W 1' V X to whatirn hell was going on, but the effect Was startling and impressive. Most of the planes managed to Hy under the deckedge elevator at least once, convincing uS that the pilots had at one time or other been Man- hattan cab drivers. After we had Wearled Of craning our necks and gaping, the, Plfmes formed up and Hew off in a more dlgmfled manner. The PTs executed a few fancY turns, blew off a little smoke and raced by, the crews waving us good luck. 'We had one more States-side stop, San Dlego, where there was a last chance to get 2. good drink of cow's milk, make a few phone calls and do a little shopping before the honeymoon ended. Our first taste of war Caine immediately in the persons of the CBS, W o turned the carrier into a transport, Camping cheerfully on the hangar deck, so we all settled down to a showerless voyage and got jolly well stinking together-lbut literally. One pleasant morning, Oahu loomed over the horizon, a mess cook dashed below, and in five minutes everyone's whites were ready! The thin bright line of the beach became more distinct and soon we were pointing out Diamond Head as though we had seen it before. Leaving the swept channel, we slid slowly into Pearl Harbor, picked up the pilot and solemnly gazed at scarred Hickam Field, found our berth, got lines fore and aft and the bull-horn dismissed the tugs. The gang- ways were rigged and began disgorging the CBS. Away they went, their hands no doubt itching for bull-dozers. Everyone longed to dash madly ashore, sprint out to Waikiki Beach, ride in on a twenty-live foot breaker and spend the after- noon drinking rum and cokes under a palm tree, observing the pretty ways of the natives. It was later that we learned the bitter truth. One day a carrier force slid in and we gazed at the veterans of a RAID! Now no one could keep up with the scuttlebutt. We did finally leave the enchanted isle, our stay productive of an accumulation of various articles made of native print cloth depict- ing the lives of the natives who Hacpliarently did little but dance the hula and d e away the day riding outrigger canoes. Someone carpingly pointed out that much of the stuff was made in Hollywood, but he was un- doubtedly an isolationist. We left, feeling not too badly about the Whole thing. Underway, the watches settled down to routine periods during which one must re- l main awake. At night, the fact that the human constitution needs eight hours sleep kept raising its ugly head, but night rations and hot coffee helped fend off the insistent arms of Morpheus. Phone talkers soon found that there were other talkers on the line and lively conver- sations ensued, keeping everyone on the line awake. They talked, they sang to one an- other and to no one in particular, and they profaned the pure night air with stories, laid in Boston. They insulted one another, they screamed incessantly for night rations, for hot Joe, for time checks and for their reliefs. The Qookouts specialized in subtle insults and good natured griping. The throttlemen were more sociable, but then, they had light to work with. They read books aloud, quoted poetry and semi-clean jokes for the benefit of the other throttlemen. They too, sang, altho the less said of this matter the better. For some time, the impression was created that Number Two Throttle was host successively to a medicine show, some trained seals, and Information Please. When' any of the foregoing diversions proved dull, there always remained the classic dispute involving the relative merits of the Hellcat and the Corsair. Friendships were broken, ugly words flew, new alliances were created, in the heat of discussion. None of the impassioned disputants knew a damn thing about aircraft, but the battle of the air in the Pacific was won and lost twice every mid-watch., . During these lonely, dark vigils, the radio gang sweated and pounded' away at their mills in the radio shack, which is not a shack at all but a hollow, in a mass of radio equipment. To stay awake, they made gal- lons of coffee fit only for the digestive tract of a bronze gargoyle, laughing bitterly when spoons dissolved in the poisonous black brew. Meanwhile, the Officer of the Deck scanned hell out of things with his glasses and ex- changed gentlemanly lies with the Junior Officer of the Deck, who in turn scanned other things. Finally the blessed relief arrived, 315111 groggy from the soggy heat below.. The mid-watch eased wearily below, tired, hungry, banging and stumbling slightly into their bunks for an hour or two before GQ. ' No fiend of the Inquisition ever devised a, torture more exquisite than that experienced by a man hearing with painful unbelief, the Hrst cheery notes of reveille. Holy Mack- eral-it can't be, it was only ten minutes ago . . . Somehow he does, or doesn't manage to stay awake, and when GQ is secured, stumbles below once more, faced with a problem that has no adequate solution. If he goes to sleep, he misses breakfast and he is possessed of a hunger that no mere words can describe. If he eats breakfast, he will be unable to get back to sleep with all that food inside. So it went, with variations onthe theme, the theme being four on and eight off, with a few extra-curricular activities thrown in to relieve the sheer monotony. One fine morning the lush smell of vegeta- tion was wafted out to us and some time later we anchored and were welcomed to the Channel Society . It boasted a recre- ation island, with cold beer. At one time the going rate of exchange was three ice creams for one beer, though I have no doubt that this ratio could be bettered. The place was a success as a South Sea Island and the lads collected everything from coral forma- tions and cocoanuts to a baby octupus. We all ate ice cream, drank beer, swam in the salt water, and played baseball, returning aboard in a hot, sticky sunburned mass. On a nearby island dwelt crafty CBS, Wh0 made many odd dollars by fashioning native grass skirts and selling them to the natives, who in turn sold them at somewhat increased prices to the crafty sailors, who packed them to take home and exhibit, telling the most outright lies about how they got the skirts. Then, son, there is the story of the wierd and unusual manner in which I spent the Armistice Day, 1943. No parades or speeches, no having a 'day off.' We were on our WW to discourage some Japs at Rabool, or Ra- bowel, take her cherce. We sent in our gtrike and got back the biggest damn air attagk probably ever seen in those parts. TWO hours of sheer hell, but we shot Japs down like clay pigeons. Fighters got some too . . . Biggest damn . . . Yeah, there were a couple of other carriers I guess, but the at- tack, two hours of sheer hell . . . At Rabaul, someone neglected to read the script. More than one plane dove at a time and this is strictly against all rules. It was impossible to see everything at once. They order these things better in Hollywood, where the planes dive in a nice orderly sequence, which permits greater ease in observing, and makes the shooting simpler. One of the rare sights of this war that will always stay with me is that of the crew as it presented itself for GQ that day at Rabaul. All hands were equipped to abandon several ships simultaneously. Each man bristled with knives, Hashlights, coils of line, Water canteens, packages of chocolate, life belts, tin hats, sun glasses, gas masks, and of course, the invaluable rubber packets in which we waterproofed our watches, wallets, playing cards and other necessities of life. We all settled down as comfortably as pos- sible amidst all the necessary equipment, expecting at least three days of GQ. I think that some of the boys were a bit disappointed when the bogies all retired and we secured. After' Rabaul we did more or less settle down to a routine. The Betty attacks even became a matter of routine, if a bit exacting. V After a while we got used to the slightly terrifying chattering roar of a plane during the short instant prior to its run down the deck, got used to apprehensively watching the bomb-heavy planes take off and lose al- titude until they left a sort of wake on the surface of the water from their wash. You also got used to, but always wondered at, the way the Hight deck crews handled the heavy planes in 30 knots of wind, with huge Props spinning murderously all about them- 1... ,..- , You Watched them crouch down and grab deck cleats to avoid being blown away as the Hrst planes took off. You marvelled at the timing, at the teamwork, and wondered how so much could go on over such a large deck, involving so many people with so few acci- dents. i Not as colorful or exciting as the flight deck is the small, completely artilicial city beneath the hangar deck, where the common denominator of all activities is the soggy, penetrating heat. Nowhere so much as below decks is one impressed by the fact that this is a war of machines. Wandering about, in- vestigating the innumerable hatches and trunks, one realizes how completely depend- ent the carrier was for all of the necessary power, propulsion, refrigeration, fresh water, air, etc., upon the technical skill and atten- tion of a large section of the crew that has to work, eat and sleep in the constant heat below decks. Even tho he has stood no watches the previous night, the coming of morning below decks is a time to try a man's soul. He awakes to find his pillow and mattress sod- den, his head foggy, his mouth tasting as though an owl had spent the evening therein. Here then, we have man at a low ebb. The sudden white light hurts his eyes, he can't if li ,Q Q il ' 1 , 12, 1' li si fr 2. 5 ' ? 1: ,gl , 152 . 3 ,i X, I 1 ai ,E 1 ,. , f , 1 '.,: rf Il ld 'l gl S A ,i 'Q .1 lf: f .iz ry 'jf- rg ,L .xr 5 1 'a 'w .i if , ,, ll ,, N xg in ,li I-- lla T' 1 '1' l , , 1 F ri 31 l lm 1 1.1 .V if if .1 5, l . 1 . 4. 0 ai lv 'F li i 1. lf' ,. l 4 1 it li 1. l if . xi , 5 , V fl ll sl . 1 i ,N 1 1: '1 1 al , '11 l 5, l W I I 1 is Q , 2 I l l l 1 s , 1 1,32 'li' , eil! ' ' 1,112 find his shoes, and one sock seems to have gotten off by itself. Moreover, he is now convinced that the owl was moulting. Over- coming a paralyzing inertia, he manages to sit up in a crouch, banging his defenseless head on the bunk above. He is just about to attempt a landing on the deck when the occupant of the upper bunk hurtles down, stubbing a great toe upon landing. This oc- casions a nice display of four letter Anglo- Saxon words questioning the antecedents, legitimacy, perversions and general appear- ance of the person who maliciously left those shoes on deck. If morning is the lowest point, the hour or so of coolness just before dark is the highest. Everyone has showered, donned clean clothing, and climbed to the ,flight deck and exposed platforms, watching the sunset and cooling off. At this time of the day, the flight deck seems strangely removed from the Pacific, and an atmosphere of a street in a residential section of a town en- We Went Through x M - 1. 1 1 i ' ri- r, N '-1 Q. Q, 1 ,fs 4-t 'll 1' 4:-, ' 'wf,'Ja,1..dl,iE1i'fQYf.3.-51.-i.:.-.tf,mf.,u.,if,,lQ'2p.fjg..f'L:.-.cfL.ff,E..gQ,.v.,L.,, A Summary of the Bunker Hill's Role in The Pacific Conquest of 1944 hen the Bunker Hill entered the Pacific in September, 1943, the complexion of the war was vastly different from its appear- ance some fourteen months later. While our forces were on the offensive in the South and Southwest Pacific, it was many months before the enemy strongholds on the New Britain and New Ireland were reduced to a state of impotency as we were to find out in a very convincing fashion. In the central Pacific the Navy's activities had been confined to carrier strikes against the Marshall and Gilberts, Wake, and Mar- cus. In this great central expanse of the velops the usually grim and active flight deck, It is the sort of atmosphere that exists after supper, when people sit out on front porches and visit. Small groups gather and wander up and down the flight deck, getting a little exercise. They discuss the coming operation, or the last one, or the chances of going back, all of the current batch of rumors, interspersed with an occasional fact. The war seems years away and has no significance. The sun drops, touching the huge clouds with vivid oranges and reds, against a background of delicate blues and greens. Somehow, the sunsets seem to make up for a lot of things. Gradually the blues and greens merge, darken, and the stars begin to gleam. The groups gradually break up and drift below, to bed, to a few card games, to read a bit, to get off a letter. A few souls stretch out, soaking up wind, and stare straight up into nothing, wondering if the sky back home looks like this. Pacific we had not captured one inch of territory since the outbreak of the war, and from this area the Japs were continuously scouting and dispatching submarines to dis- rupt our supply lines to New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Australia and New Guinea. The strategic islands of the Marshall and Gilbert chain were a thorn in the side of our route to the South Pacific, causing our ships t0 travel several thousand additional miles. Some of the bases that we used in our early days in the Pacific were right up 011 the firing line. Funafuti, where we were to anchor shortly before the invasion of the Marshalls, was still very much of an ad- vanced base. In fact as late as November 1, 1943, the Japs were still bombing it from the Gilberts and Nauru. Espiritu Santo and .15 f 246 g ,,.' - Efate, islands in the New Hebrides, and anchorages for units of the SoPac fleet, were as exposed to the dangers of enemy air at- tacks as Eniwetok, Saipan or Ulithi were some fourteen months later. For our first combat mission we were as- signed to the southern interceptor group for the invasion of the Gilberts. It was our role in company with a sister carrier, to strike at Tarawa in advance of D Day, and then take up a position to stop reinforcements from coming through from the west, and to meet the threatened promise of a fleet en- gagement. This was planned as the first step in a vast series to clear the enemy strong- holds in the Central Pacific and blast a route to the Philippines. Une of our many claims to fame rests in the fact that the Bunker Hill is the only carrier, in fact the only ship we know of, that participated in every phase of this vast undertaking up to and including the invasion of the Philippines themselves. Accordingly, we departed Pearl Harbor, the middle of October, and proceeded south- ward. A few days before we dropped the hook, the Saratoga had made a very daring and successful carrier strike at Rabaul. The harbor was flush with enemy warships gath- ered for the critical battle of Bougainville. So fruitful was this mission that Admiral Halsey elected to use the Bunker Hill and her sister carrier for a repeat performance. The battle of the Southwest was entering its decisive stage. Uur landings at Bougainville were meeting fierce resistance, the ,laps were pouring aircraft into Rabaul and New Ire- land to stave off our growing strength, and the fate of the southwest was now hanging in the balance. The morning of November 10 we weighed anchor and headed for Rabaul. Of far more lasting importance than the enemy shipping destroyed or damaged in Rabaul Harbor was the character of the air attacks launched against our small task group in the afternoon and the manner in Whifrh if was repelled at such a high cost to the laps. It was the first major naval-air engagement in which aircraft carriers were involved in Over a Year. Up to that time the Iaps had had fine success against our carriers with the use of a relatively small number of planes which lent a good deal of credence to the theory that the aircraft carrier was far too vulnerable. On this occasion the enemy came out en masse. It was estimated that three carrier air groups, consisting of about 150 dive bombers, torpedo planes, and fighters, took off from Rabaul airfields. For one solid hour we underwent the most sustained and concentrated air attack of this type of war- fare to date. The enemy learned a very expensive lesson that day, namely that the era of successful daytime air attacks against our first line car- riers were fast coming to an end, and that damage to our forces might now prove out of proportion to the expenditure of planes involved. The new Gruman Fighter, the F6F, met its first real test against landbased planes and far exceeded the fondest expecta- tions. After as full a day as any Task Group ever had, our forces retired to base where a few days were spent in refueling and reprovision- ing. A short while later we took up our assigned task for the invasion of the Gilberts. Volumes have been written on the battle of Tarawa. It is not our intent to go into any detail on the landing operations, but rather to sketch the broader aspects of the invasion in so far as they affected the carrier and formed the pattern of future operations in the Pacific. It is essential, then, to point out that this was the second time CGuadal- canal was the firstj in the war where, be- cause of tremendous distances involved, land based aircraft could not furnish the indis- pensable air coverage. Thus a new and vital function was assigned the aircraft carrier, which she so ably carried out up through the invasion of the Philippines, of supplying of- fensive and defensive air power for the am- phibious forces. Whatever the foremost ex- ponents of airpower may have claimed for offensive bombing, the fact of the matter, as Tarawa and subsequent invasions in the Cen- tral Pacific have borne out, is simply that no amount of bombing will root the en- trenched enemy out of his foxholes and pill- boxes. Bombing will knock out some gun emplacements, destroy installations, disrupt effective communications, wipe out external supply lines and even tend to keep the enemy under cover during the day time, but the final battle must be won by the foot soldier. Tarawa clarified this issue. In reduced terms, the function of the aircraft carrier in the naval-amphibious team is to get air superi- ority over the target as quickly as possible and hold it until landing fields can be pro- vided for self-protection. Shortly before D Day we arrived offTarawa. Enemy air strength was quickly crushed and from then until the Marines broke the back of Jap resistance we subjected the tiny island to a fearful rain of bombs. Our job was far from completed. For several weeks we patrolledthe waters off Tarawa and Makin whilefthe Seabees rushed construction of air bases. The enemy's repeated threats of fieet engagements, which we so wholeheartedly welcomed, never materialized. The Japs in- stead relied on a new mode of warfare to break up our naval concentration, the night air attack. With frightening regularity the big twin-engine torpedo planes appeared on the horizon shortly after dusk and com- menced their attack. For the most part these planes came from Kwajalein, Mille and jaluit after being staged in from Truk. This form of attack was used very extensively during the year-long campaigns in the Central Pacific. When the final figures are added up, it will be shown that the enemy losses in planes and flying personnel as a result of these at- tacks far exceeded the damage infiicted on our naval units. When the finishing touches had been put on the occupation of the Gilberts we retired to await further orders. The first link in the long chain from Pearl Harbor to the China Coast had been forged. judged from an overall standard our losses were not heavy even though it was generally regarded as the bloodiest page in Marine history. It was an indication, if indeed we needed one, that the ground battle to come would be severe. In some respects, it was a little depressing to review the operation in its entirety and realize that despite this great concentration of Naval might it had taken us close to a month to reconquer a small chain of islands so many thousands of miles from Japan. In the oper. ation to follow our naval-amphibious tech- nique improved so that our air power was correspondingly more effective and with our ever growing strength the tempo of our drive across the Pacific stepped up so that we were able to maintain a comparable time schedule in the face of greatly increased enemy resistance. For our next operation we 'were once again assigned to Admiral I-Ialsey's SoPac Forces. Since our strike at Rabaul, the Army and the Marines had secured a firm foothold on Bougainville and from airfields there the harbor at Rabaul had been pounded to the extent of denying it to the enemy as a focal point for shipping. The main port of entry had shifted to Kavieng on the Northeast coast of New Ireland. So effective was our mastery of the skies in the New Britain- Bougainville area that, in conjunction with our light surface forces, we were able to cut off the chain of supply to the South of New Britain and New Ireland. Increased activity in and out of Truk, the hub of Jap defenses in the Carolines and South Pacific, led Ad- miral Halsey to believe that the enemy was planning a major evacuation of Bougainville. A few days before Christmas, long range Army reconnaissance spotted a force iof Jap cruisers and destroyers leaving Truk for Kavieng, so the Bunker Hill was ordered t0 intercept. Whatever the material accomplishments of our three successive strikes on December 25, January 1, and January 4, may have been, the vast majority of our ship's plank owners will attest that it was the most nerve-racking experience to date. In fact it is generalb' wpeled as one of the most daring and haz- carrier operations ever attempted. AS Smlll as our task group was at Rabaul, this we was smaller. Whereas at Rabaul we were within hailing distance of assistance gem friendly surface forces if needed, at Kavieng we were some two hundred miles north of the nearest assistance. The few Ships that composed our tiny force were the first ones to penetrate this area since the outbreak of the war. We were as exposed to a large scale air attack as we had been at Rabaul, for the airfields on New Ireland were still operational and it was only a matter of 3 few hours ferry hop from Truk, Eaeh time as the ship faded into the night after a tortuous fourteen hours of daylight the The Second Era A X -Cs.b-aff Juli sri! :i.45f.1...i-f 1.5 A .z'f.4,sff 11,52-1' Power Tactics Take Over As Fleet Strength Grows With the promotion of Captain J. J. Ball- entine to Rear Admiral and the assump- tion of his duties by Captain T. P. Jeter, the second era of Bunker Hill commenced. During the first era our efforts had been directed primarily to reducing enemy air and naval power in those areas that formerly belonged to the Allies. To most of us, and then only to the incurable optimists, it seemed hardly possible that in the short space of four months, after our departure from the States, we would be engaged in an operation designed to cap- ture pre-war Japanese territory. The Pacific War was beginning to open up with unfalter- mg rapidity, and our second era was to wit- ness the relentless march of the U. S. Navy t0 the Philippines. . Of all the amphibious operations conducted ln 1944 by the U. S., none proved more com- Plefely successful from every aspect than the S1gh.0f relief emitted from all hands caused Z T11101' Cyclone in the immediate areag then fny to be met with the announcement a ew days later that we would try it once more. After our first strike there when we found a CTUISCIB. an escort vessel, and a few AK's, all of which were heavily damaged or sunk, the laps kept the port clear for our returning planes. The mission to Kavieng ended our operations with the SoPac Forces and from then to this day we became an integral part of the Fast Carrier Task forces. It was only a few months before all enemy resistance col- lapsed in the South Pacific and Allied efforts were concentrated on the New Guinea and Central Pacific Areas. f iflfl-13.1. 45 Afie.. f ,fi if.4'.4...4f -Ln!-4...51-Q..6 invasion of the Marshalls. It had been generally conceded that the operation would be rough and that with twenty-live years to prepare defenses, the enemy would exact a heavy price in men and materials. In this campaign our strategy showed an ingenuity and flexibility, rooted in experience, that some of the others lacked. The enemy was waiting for us on the Eastern fringes of this great chain of islands, but we outfoxed him by plunging the dagger into his heart. We by- passed his outer string of fortresses and struck at Kwajalein, the strategic center of the Marshall Island group. The Bunker Hill was in the vanguard of the invasion. After launching the first strike at Kwajalein, we took up a position off the Jap staging base at Eniwetok, some six hundred miles from Truk, to act the role of interceptor to naval and air power that might be sent to reinforce the Marshalls. For several days the island was subjected to a merciless pounding that ren- dered it totally useless. As we returned to join the body of the fieet, we were delighted at the unexpected speed with which the conquest had been effected, and perplexed at what would now await us. Already in this campaign we had established some kind of a record by coming closer to Truk than any other surface ship had come in this war. It wasn't long before we were to discover what was next on the program. In typical Navy style, the scuttle- butt increased in tempo until it burst like a storm as the day of our departure grew near. Once again the scuttlebutt was right and the U. S. Fleet, under Vice-Admiral Raymond Spruance, was headed for the keystone of all enemy positions in the Central and South Pacific. While there was much that we did not know about the Marshalls before the invasion, there was little-and very little--that we knew about Truk. Over a period of years this heart that supplied the main arteries of Jap conquests to the South, East and West had taken on the significance of a Gibraltar and Pearl Harbor in the newly acquired Japanese empire. Lack of reconnaissance, and the fact that it was a staging base, made any estimate of its air power only a rough approximation. There was no doubt, how- ever, that this was the strongest enemy posi- tion that our fieet had approached up to that time. In essence, it was to be the great test of whether a powerful island fortress with an unknown but large concentration of air strength could be attacked successfully by carrier-based planes. After fortuitously eluding Jap search planes, the fleet steamed into position for an early dawn strike. The fighters swept the airfields and shot down or destroyed more than 200 aircraft. With the main defense arm of the enemy utterly crushed, he was helpless to ward off the dive bombers and torpedo planes that followed. For two days the several lagoons, packed with merchant shipping and a few combat ships, were just so many shoot- ing galleries for the naval aviators. It is interesting to note in connection with this raid that the battleships, for the first time since Savo Island, were able to bring their sixteen inch guns to bear on enemy naval units and they did not fail. By the afternoon of the second day, the planes were running out of targets, and the fleet's withdrawal was ordered. We had ob- viously stunned the enemy by this daring and thunderous stroke and, on the principle of crowding him and pursuing him before he could regain his bearings, the fleet was dis- patched to the Marianas. This time we were not as fortunate and the afternoon of the day before we were scheduled to launch our strike an enemy search plane picked us up. Shortly after twilight, the Japs launched a series of torpedo plane attacks that lasted until dawn, when our fighters shot down the remnants on the way into Saipan and Tinian. The immediate results of the attack on the Marianas were pretty much a repetition of what had happened at Truk. Wholesale quantities of aircraft and ship- ping were destroyed, but, perhaps, of greater significance was the proof that our fieet could withstand a land-based aerial onslaught from strong enemy insular possessions and fight its way on to complete its mission. The combined operations against Truk and the Marianas had a profound effect on the course of the war in the Pacific. Aside from the fact that enemy losses in shipping and planes were so severe as to force them to abandon whatever lingering hope they may have entertained to hang on in the South Pacific, it established that the waters of the Central Pacific were no longer an exclusive Jap lake. For a matter of more than tW0 years the enemy had shut off our access t0 the Central Pacific by its string of so-called Uunsinkable carriers -the islands-that dot the map in that area. American aircraft carriers with the superior Hellcat fighter, literally tore that string to shreads, and opened the locks of the gateway to the Orient. Simultaneously with the Navy's forages int0 the Central Pacific, General MacArthur cli- X 525 . ,, . ., ,L ,., bZ.' L . maxed his series of encirclements in the South Pacific with the occupation of the Admiralties, a Small group of islands lying to the north of New Britain. This move, in conjunction with the occupation of Eniwetok by Admiral T urner's forces, bringing as it did Truk with- in bombing range of Admiral Hoover's Sev- enth Air Force, effectively isolated the Jap strongholds of New Britain and New Ireland and sealed the fate of the enemy in the South Pacific. Our over-all strategy was now tak- ing shape with one arm in the form of General MacArthur's forces stretching northward to the Philippines, while the other arm, in the body of the U. S. Fleet and accompanying amphibious forces, closed the vise from the East. The Army on New Guinea was now ready to take a long hop up the coast to Hollandia, on the border of the Dutch portion of New Guinea. Such a step would encircle large enemy forces to the north of the present allied positions on New Guinea and success- fully avoid a prolonged campaign through the dense forests and jungleland of the coastal regions. As a preview to this major opera- tion, it was decided to send a powerful Am- erican task force to Palau, the last remaining great enemy naval base east of the Philippines and the hub of supply lines to the New Guinea area, for the purpose of further crip- pling the Jap Merchant Marine and with the intention of neutralizing this base for the campaign to follow. In many respects the Navy Department publicly regarded our attack on Palau as the most daring and strategically significant attack up to that time. Nevertheless, the manner in which we handled the enemy at Truk and the Marianas had instilled a feel- ing of genuine confidence aboard ship that We could more than match anything that might be arrayed against us. After a long steam through waters covered by enemy reconnaissance planes, our fleet blasted its way to the target, only slightly more than HVC hundred miles from enemy airfields on the Philippines. After giving it bombing treat- ment for two days, we returned to assist in the execution of the Hollandia invasion. The hop from the Allied position at Saidor, south of Wewak, to Hollandia was so great that the Southwest Pacific forces could not adeClUatClY cover the invasion with land- based planes. Accordingly, the ever-growing carrier strength of our fieet was called in to Support the landings. The weak resistance offered, both in the air and on the ground, was further proof that Jap supply lines to the south of the Philippines had been all but severed by the terrific destruction of their merchant marine by our subs and planes. With the occupation of Hollandia, General MacArthur was in a position to move against Jap air bases on the islands to the north and west, and to bring his Air Force to the perimeter of the Southern Philippines. In point of fact, by this one bold stroke General MacArthur won more territory than he had regained since the outbreak of the war. By summer of 1944 we reaped the further benefits of that campaign. The Japs on New Guinea became desperate because supply lines were completely broken down and they were starving. They could barely live off the land and definitely could not Hght on what could be produced. In truth, the war had taken a mighty surge forward. It was quite apparent that the next naval amphibious operation in the Central Pacific would be the capture of the Marianas. As the only logical step in our drive across the vast Central Pacific, there is little doubt that it was equally obvious to the enemy. Yet our schedule of operations, which was already months in advance of the original conception, was moving at such a rapid pace that the enemy was not expecting us when we arrived off the Marianas in the early part of June. As the campaign developed, two pertinent facts tended to bear this out. The Jap fieet, which had already been committed to the protection of the Marianas against invasion, was steaming in the Philippine Waters with a view to a possible surprise attack on our forces off the northwestern New Guinea coast. l ' 2 1 1 I 5 l 2 2 3 i l -2 E X f . l it 1 P i 1 1 I l -.W ......-....,.. I... . .d. , . 5 - . ,M M I 1 l I 1 . i g., ij. U Q,k,..f' .5 ,J hifi: 1, f Clearly it seems they were expecting a con- centration of American naval might in the northern New Guinea area to assist a likely thrust into the eastern East Indies as a re- sult of the invasion of Biak, early in June. Point two was the large troop convoy head- ing for Guam, which our task force picked up and annihilated. The invasion of the Marianas followed the regular pattern of previous amphibious opera- tions. The three key islands, Saipan, Tinian, and Guam, in this chain, that belonged to four major powers in the last fifty years, were first subjected to intense aerial bombard- ment with particular attention paid to Sai- pan, the site of the flrst landings. The battle- ships were then brought in to shell with murderous effect strategic installations. When the island had been sufllciently softened up, the troops stormed the beachheads. From all appearances it had the earmarks of a routine mission for the carriers once the enemy air power within reach had been crushed. The Japs on the other hand, for the first time since Guadalcanal, had made plans to combat the invasion of the Marianas with the use of their fleet. Because of their geographic location, within bombing range of Tokyo by our Super-fortresses, and because they are an all-important link in the chain of supply stretching from Pearl Harbor, to the Marshalls and Palau to the Philippines and Formosa, the enemy considered them of sufficient significance to risk exposing a vital part of the fleet in the hope of outmaneuver- ing us and dealing us a staggering blow while We were engaged in supporting the landing operations. In short, the Jap naval brains felt that the long-awaited moment of great tactical advantage had arrived. For two days the opposing fleets jockeyed back and forth. The Japanese tactics were based on striking at us with their carrier air groups while keeping their fleet safely out of the range of our planes. In order to achieve this craftily conceived scheme they devised a plan of launching from far out and, after attacking the American Fleet, landing their planes at Guam, refueling and rearming, and then striking again on the way back to their carriers. To augment their striking power, planes were flown into Guam from the Caro. lines, the morning of the all-out attack. Thus the American Fleet was to be caught in a, gigantic aerial vise between the island of Guam and the Jap carriers. The opening phase of the greatest air en- gagement of the war found our carrier-based planes striking at Guam. By this action we not only denied the enemy the use of the landing fields but destroyed a host of air- craft poised for the big blow. Vals, Kates, Judies, and Zekes lined the overcrowded strip and others were circling the field looking for a landing spot as our fighters swept out of the skies. In the meanwhile, Jap carrier-based aircraft were on their way to the U. S. Fleet. For the better part of nine hours they were engaged by our fighters. At the end of the day the Japs had lost more than four hundred planes and the cream of the flying personnel in the Jap Empire, at a cost of twenty-five planes and minor damage to a few surface units. The following afternoon, the enemy was spotted, fleeing to the west. A strike was immediately sent out which definitely sank one Hayataka class carrier, one DD, and two AO's, and probably sunk two carriers of the Hayataka and Zuiko class, one DD, and one AO. In addition, damage was done to one Skokaku class carrier and one CVL, two BB'S of the Kongo class, and two heavy cruisers. A true assessment of the full significance of this battle of the Eastern Philippines iS not yet possible. Like all battles of great strategic consequence, only time can reveal the exact measure of its importance. It W2S a source of tremendous disappointment t0 all concerned that every ship in the enemy fleet wasn't obliterated, yet the staggering losses to their air groups, and the realization on their part that their fleet was hopelessly outclassed by ours, doubtlessly had a PTO' found effect on the Japanese Imperial com- mand in their conduct of defense as we drew closer to the Orient. . 'ir . :- ,,,,,'.. Q... , A .,-an ..-,.-nun pam . .,,0-.M-,,uq:Lw4d 4-Zvi Uhff , 5,,,,,! na f- ,, ,Z ' ,XL fm 3 gfiff ,fry ,1- .ff nf f ' N rw Huhr xwU . . rm' VkL211'C lwchimi yum. :X ' , ' .- ' X Slfrmw lim N Clm1lv,cl1:u'gm111 E TQrn 2 UN,M,! ,,',-11441 ,.1,H,M1,1, lHN,1,,vW H1 11191 N 7 The Pacific could be all that its name implied when you sprawled indolently and let its Warm sun relax you. I . t , X I if , f r ziriscziczicrllrnggh-1pfg..Q,,. in-port wzttctflw cffnnlaimccl the l-CZIIAIIVCS Nl-S1111-llllflllllg with clutv. :Xml umlcrwgnxf, ilu-rc was the lllmgnr lJcn'li'S Ulwilcll 254 Pyvg-ng W I ,, 7' On rare occasions, a dangling line actually did produce results. Chief Buzitswziiifs Hate l z1i'low liezives the line iii mmpetition. 'J' e--o ' Q -.nl x 'A 'Sq'-if V 'W 1-4. - is 1. K?-f' 'N-. wwf! I 4. 41 K as . - - , . ' V le '1 welcome respite frrmi their shadowed quarters. .-X trim of Hzmgzii' Ueek men find siin-lmrliiiig topslc 1 255 The quality of private horn tooting fortunately was bettered ln Smoker entertainments bv such acts as ehunky Al Floyd? tapping toes, :md the Jive of The Filthy Five. Mm Q 'XXX K X Q1 ' t K K t Qt Q: 'QSX fm' iwmf-L L if ag ft ss i,...s4--um SV? 'E ji 4 5 1 1 x Q xx '5 A 1 , .f li Mil ,.,-- km ,mu King Neptune, with the Royal Princess and the Royal Baby pay a formal call on Captain Greer on the bridge. XX S, Captain Ballentine posecliwith l944,s King Neptune Highly inipurtaintee getting the slime otfa pollywo and principals. :intl clune witli enrliusiaisinl 258 Qr,. . ., . ., . R ' ff? 3 Q1.1 -. ,,' --X . A ,. lt. . R R i f TVX' r as eer X lip 1? l H Xifh 'lilly XIX I 2 i l g ' ff ':'1f,. mi -R i ll eel i fy i. .. f se e r N Y 4 , , Y K xxfgssi ,exfbsgibk-xx J xbfl w zzfflffff ,, ,, , . . , ff' ffff '330-:,., if us, '-',4p- ? , ' 'J R59 fl 110 ff , ' . Q ,f - N 5 , . frm 1' ff 1' j ,Q f ifllcyflmwi iixjmfd ' jxyibd' N757 IVA f'.fwk1. ..?!!'A1lc l1f Iffllll aff fMf 1' .ff rn!! 4 Q64 ,733 J fl' ill-'i' ,V , 7? i . f , ' i i l' X V I U ,. t ,,.. , ,,:,!i,,nIY X2 . fhnf 1-11 IAA: L iff, , Ay,g,,,4,,,,.4,1,,6!-all? ,,,,.Ml!0U Ulf, ,Iwi f6l A my r ffz. - r - e f ' ,I 1 ' rf 1, , I V ffl. If 9111 W 1 yygfff,-y ,gf I , . if xv lygff If Xfffmfl f I M , SM !.f,y,,,,fJ'ad3Q, ff,,,,m MWUM ,. FE Qxwxzxw - f .J aw M hzs lwflrgexiya .yor tw . fkarf 1161! K!.,??Q'KWf.i fgzzff 7 rv 11' fztfffl Arn-f 4, fx IYLVQJ 1794 !Ill1f!'l!,,LJlff, 11 fy 611131 ww! f 11,-f, 151 W, fx 1593 '7.,, X W Y J 7 ' W1 ll I - ' . ,V .5 12 .35 a::w.,m,.6yf1f7g1f . A115 me fffn ffm. Awfffphzffh fn ,nuff mf fc: 11611 mff, A ,gif ,N my fy AA, ffm, nf, 1:4-,,f ', . f , r 1 Y 4 4 -,f... t at f , , .-.y . lift! t X3 f 'nrzzwhyfvffzxfiezffzzfnmwfy WM? fffzfffxbffwffnz wwf fy ff1x'.7nf.1f'v. fm Cffwfwn Af mm fY?i'!l 1191! a ofzwmifg' 1114 mf T 'if 1 1 V, 'r . 'X 1 '- ' if A .fi a.lfs15.'2z7.G5Qmt.3:.701115 fy z1n'?1ff 514121 ZAIVMVJ nmfadff nz mf . WA Rf nf 11 ff farm: lllf af? ff: f .irxf 0251! fb .Mkfaf fdaiAwfww1111z41'f.M41!J?fAlknfmfwfwzfrvffdf,ilmly ff .N ,- ' if fu- 1 fri 3 J aff, ff7,.2f4- j UM' . fwivfifw mis nraw' under 26941121 rw 0 was .mera .. iszvleamrv ' g , I gy ,fwiffikf , .. W, .A f. ., . - Q , X, L A K ,, I xf' ,f3.1 ff'f1wz !J71f.4!l' liwftlllkff fwfr! .auf Q6 19544 ' M V ff, , f - ' . ffcy6fi111zfu-f1r,x . . 9 Eiuler of flu- liugfimi fflfniu X Chl' Sh llb k 'fi t di loma of the Domain of Neptunus Rex and citizenship therein. The highly-cherished e ac certi ca e, p The thin line of distinction between a slimy Pollywog and 21 trusty Shellback is, in reality, the width of the Equator. In ceremony it's more like an Apache harvest festival held for the CXPYCSS purpose of comparing notes on the latest methods of Scalplflg. The Bunker Hill's line-crossing rites were pag6af1fS of color effected on October 26, two different years, of COUFSC- ifhe first ceremony found ninety per cent of officers and CYCW 111 the role of Pollywogs, ranging from the Navigator fC0m' mander W. B. Mechlingl to J. M. Wilhelm, fireman second Class, whose battle station was the smoke watch. The SCC0nd ceremony was not so one-sided, but just as deep a tribute fo the Royal Ruler of the Deep, old Rex himself. Sgt W , Wwa 2 ww Q ff 4145 259 A grim crowd-1944's Royal Court. xi' i 3 X . Q- La. X . x Another Bunker Hill Institution was a sandwich that monot- Vlell known citizen of the ship harassed by the demands of onously included a pressed meat guaranteed to glaze a soul all hands was Ship s Cobbler Grads with deep discouragement. Actual executors of a job well done, Wheelhorses of the divisions ind woik chsciphn Ill lns thc Qhitt Ptttx Ufhccis who show how, bark at lurking bottlenecks and in general curry on the risk of kctping tht nun in top fighting cfl1C1LI1U 26 ipsum-nn X MSF' -may -mf Q-want' ,,..-4--' . A-S-ns--....,. My institution that had the COITN'Z1C1CI'iC ut' 11 frzxtcmity lmuse was thc tlunim' CDFHCCVS, liunkmmn fm thc l u'c's The best little ol' lmmrulc booster' in the VVUI'lL1 l'l12lil frmn Susie: Cami 'nr Sulfj. , Fighting Eight's cagers, as hot afloor as aloft. Air Group Eight's volleyhal. team. The Bunker Hillysf basketball team- The crew's undefeated volleyball team. U11CfHuYCS with his Smrflhg hVC- 'll11lCI'll :mtl clrills pzlitl clivillcmls in inter-ship gill 262 YQ my KYNX. mg Q X 1 im X Wx x if x xi Q N XXX S X X X Q W ,x fill: :XC Q Vw x, X Q WN NX -,gli .X x E 'X ,, X . X Qjxw XXX x x 1. L 3 xg 3 ,fy W, X, ? 4 ,, ,fn , ,, a ,gn .K 1-3.34 g w .. , ,., ,..L , A ,,.X X. - X r k , S Q xx XX L X ?S-mxixfx N xbxsx ix QM .72 Q xr. I ,,f 9 f fywyff , , A ',l X ff ,Zu V, ,,',f!, fymqg f U I C 5 li W 8,11 'B ak fx ,, ,. ,, YWWV1 Another of the crew,s volleyball lineups. The XV:u'rzmt Qffcers' volleyball team. . 11 -,N li-H ,V E I. w I I Q 1 - ' ,xxm t gh PUIVW 'ff CVCW H1104 'ULU WM thi FUEL-ff-W-ll fwmls, wlth l,I. C fnmlr. Q z1r1wm'I111vl uulclnmg il lusmg Ofhncxb' flfflm If-4 -- -49.- wif The Ship's Ofhcers' volleyball team. The Bunker Hill boxers totted up 11 good record. 1 I I w t KS Sfgw., X, 'M x Mt its f-ar N-A h 'S th Divkicm in one of the track and held meet events. , , ,. ,x - 3 Y gX1y-Cwmlp ltlght vs. t e . SVG 265 f e Punrillo, lfliglwr Deck Cuxswzlin, swept tw vicrury rcgulzlrly to lmlcl the lO0, y:11'ci dash Champions Zfwfr ,, ,, , ,, MM, l. ,X ,L WJ: V Q, f. if 4 f WWC, ff Z n 'f 5 ,ff 4 H w N ,x X rw w LL 1 Humku1'H:ll Vmu rc X if X V M 'IH ltf K L 11 um-'lfIhu1'H 1 wl1zplwx:n- In x 1. . N ' my 3' - T 'c ' E. 4rQf x, ,, Q., Chow, a favorite sea-going sport, fcmuml rm sczwciry uf- SYCZIIQS in thc Xy1lI'L1I'fl1bl11 . i 2 ? 9 ,:v.,.w:zvwfm,,,, L x 1 ,V ,M 1 x fn' IN f l 1f: I7Nf'w'wl11I.ll'w, wl1f:1'c:-Ntmrznm t:ulmI1 -A-, ggwmmwl , XX ,,l, Xiu w ,,,l,t , , , , I xll.,,,Ul wrin-f1.IkNl1zlUkhUmC' , lr xr. , r ,. ILA ,....-rfv A,-401 N ,Q N Q .Sami N Lt. Comclr. Zurik, the family doctor, loved to give you the needle, especially to Air Boss Frauenlieim. ,fl ff fi U- Ili l nr pfii'ctli fur telic X'vZ1l'l'Zl,Hf fJHicfei's, wlieru Cfliivl' lNfl:uc'liinisl llurvlitulil :mil flmin-li Ql2ll'lK'lllL'l' liesluliimri nlalilx' were Im 270 ffff ff ff ff t 1 f f F3 5 , Xt VVar Correspondent XY. Eugene Smith, I1 Bunker Hill favorite, returns from ll coinhzit hop with his story in :in alert czinierzi Two institutions of the seueezi bos'n mate and his pipe, and beards. 2 us? X X S V .gy ,, g ,- -b- I I -1 li 'E ,YJ . PM . Ut tain Ma,-Shall R, Greer, USN, Commanding, Commander Wallace B. Mechling, USN, Executive Oliicer. C0-Erlitors Wallace C. Mitchell, Lieutenant, USNR Eugene E. Brissie, Lieutenant, USNR Bzzsiness flflrzrmger Bernard H. Ridder, Lieutenant, USNR Ediforirzf .eifssismrzfs Edmund L. Moriarty, Lieutenant, USNR, Slattery, Lieu- tenant, USNR, Harry Eeehan, Lieutenant, USMC, Rodney DeCamp, QM lc, and Chaplain John J. Quigley, Lieutenant, USNR. Pizofogrezphs Russell Yoder, PhoM Qc, USNR, and photographers of the U.S.S. Bunker Hill under the direction of Photographer C. Warren Lanz. All other pictures are U. S. Navy photographs unless otherwise credited. Publieeziions Advisor Chaplain Floyd Dreith, Lieutenant Commander, USN. Additional credit for cooperative assistance is due Lieutenant Commander D. C. Shortridge, CDCD, USN, Lieutenant Charles deBretteville of the ship's company, VV. Eugene Smith of the Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, Dilman Ferris of Yank Magazine, Dan McGuire and George E. Jones of United Press, Spencer Davis and Elmont VVaite of Assoeiezled Press, Phil Reed ofIr1ferrzezfz'071ezI1Ve'ws Service, and the late Raymond Clapper of Seripps-Howard Newspapers and Unifeez' Features Symzlieezie. Production of this volume managed by Mr. C. Gordon Brightman of the Jahn 8: Ollier Engraving Company, Chicago, Illinois. This book was printed by the Rogers Printing Company, Chicago and Dixon, Illinois. Reproduction of contents in this volume, either wholly or in part, is expressly for- bidden except by written permission of the Bunker Hill Publications Committee. Copyright, 1945 Wlritten and published by and for the personnel of the U. S. S. Bunker Hill, Capel .'?-i?Tf'P'.z N ,. , f . - ' EIli-t'1'a1':- Fa as fn . ff '-- - ' ' -:.-...-fm :J f-...ic f - 4---1-N 1' -.4, s 3 1 3 4 , J I Q i K 5 1 1 v i 5 1 5 F F J E 9 i : 1 e Q Q . a E : E . 3 1 5 ! i 3 s A 1 1 E . 3 4 i 5 i e u 3 3 u I r E i Q 9 E m fx .L nf, 147- , , 1 ,. -. f ,M 1 'zu f i 14-5 : 5 . .ax H 11 -' A -1 6 . a A .,,x. 5' f ,ff X 'il - 1 .5 ' , . 1 ,- .59 1. ' f Q. , -5: ,,, e' J ff i wi ,ra J -! Sf! -5 H, , .zu J ' r lv ., T: 4 '4 li , 'nf I A x gm' K ,- . V 5 ,, 1 ' -1:1-P4 - V.,.'.v 'V ' 5 ' 4 ,,4':15- 74, 'K' ' 4, ' . ., 7 ,f,w'f4, ' -' 2- ,fl '-.A ' :fi . , W l .gf .Aw 2 ,t ..., . V. ,U .uk . , J , if I fd' . . , JY - ,Y '. , Q3 ., . - 1 1 ' :Mu ' ' ' Y ' jc , ' rf 1 - f r A M' LL N V., 2 . '-- u, 'fl -.. . 1 6 V -. 4, M , f . 5 . Q 'L ' .- ga Q . . 1 .g.1,. .. fm , 1 M f.. D , ,V ,Q -,. , MW, A - I Q vi. .H ' k 4. .4 'U 't 'QE 35-Gif Q' f Q -4.49 - ..f AKQLWXY . , ,' V -. M '9- ' Y + x at .. .. -,. ,-gr 5, WP' ,ur 'X Xt- '-
Are you trying to find old school friends, old classmates, fellow servicemen or shipmates? Do you want to see past girlfriends or boyfriends? Relive homecoming, prom, graduation, and other moments on campus captured in yearbook pictures. Revisit your fraternity or sorority and see familiar places. See members of old school clubs and relive old times. Start your search today!
Looking for old family members and relatives? Do you want to find pictures of parents or grandparents when they were in school? Want to find out what hairstyle was popular in the 1920s? E-Yearbook.com has a wealth of genealogy information spanning over a century for many schools with full text search. Use our online Genealogy Resource to uncover history quickly!
Are you planning a reunion and need assistance? E-Yearbook.com can help you with scanning and providing access to yearbook images for promotional materials and activities. We can provide you with an electronic version of your yearbook that can assist you with reunion planning. E-Yearbook.com will also publish the yearbook images online for people to share and enjoy.
