Bunker Hill (CV 17) - Naval Cruise Book

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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. . .

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