Consolation (AH 15) - Naval Cruise Book

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•i; f[ Alter two days of our first stateside liberty in months, and the transfer of our patients, we sorted out those of the crew who were to de- part on leave and steamed out of San Fran- cisco, south along the rugged California coast- line to Long Beach, our home port, where many transfers and a rash of marriages began . . . we remember the philosophy of Chief Bos ' n Peterson . . . There is nothing quite so wonder- ful as bachelorhood, the shipboard Navy, Japan and unrestricted freedom, he is quoted as hav- ing said. He convinced himself so thoroughly that he even requested shore duty in Japan. His bride? Annie Erlinger ... so, maybe he wasn ' t convinced. Also we remember the many other unusual and interesting things that hap- pened such as the time the First Lieutenant ' s yeoman was so anxious to hit the beach that in one of his well known absent minded mom- ents he forgot to put on his clothes. No, he didn ' t quite make it, some good shipmate shook him out of the trance just before he reached the Officer-of-the-Deck. Home again, officers and men who had seen so much and who had shared so many experi- ences at sea received orders and began to go their separate ways to all parts of the world. And for the ship, a change began too. Her hospital staff began the staggering job of sort- ing, classifying, wrapping and stowing the mountains of instruments and medical equip- ment. On April 12, Captain Wirthlin was de- tached to take command of the U. S. Naval Hospital at Ouantico, Virginia. Captain W. S. Lawler then became the officer in command of the Consolation ' s hospital. For the flip ' s com- pany began the seemingly endless chipping, painting, securing and the million and one jobs to be accomplished prior to the inactivation of a ship of the U. S. Navy ... for now the

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the time they left the ship. They smiled among themselves later thinking of the one little lad, oblivious of his chums, trying hard to fashion out the problem of eating his cup of milk with the chop sticks he had so carefully brought with him. He and a few others also found that chopsticks were not effective for eating ice cream . . . and the men remembered warmly the surprise and excitement of the children whose lives, although happy, are com- monplace and routine, when movie time came and perhaps for the first time they saw a Walt Disney or Terry Tune Cartoon come to life on a big white screen. It was a rewarding and not easily forgotten experience. The children spoke very little English, but there were two words they could speak and these were all we needed to increase our pride for the expressed appre- ciation . . . the words? . . . Thank you! The trip back to Inchon was without incident and we arrived there just as the First Marine Division had completed their shore based hos- pital and placed it in commission. Embarka- tion of units of the First Marine Division for transfer to the United States had begun. On 3 March, we proceeded to Yokosuka to debark patients that were to be transferred to the Naval Hospital, Yokosuka, and embark those that were to make the return trip home with us for further treatment stateside. After repairs to the ship by the Yokosuka Navy Repair and Over- haul Facility had been completed and stores had been taken aboard, we departed Yokosuka on 12 March for Pearl Harbor and home. The Golden Gate Bridge spanning San Fran- cisco Bay was an eight month dream come true and we were glad to be back. The Army band was playing on the dock at Fort Mason and anxious loved ones were there to greet husbands, brothers, sweethearts and friends. 0

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Connie was home and in the months ahead lay the task of preparing her, after her many years of service, for decommissioning and tak- ing her place among the ships of the Pacific Reserve Fleet . . . the waiting ones. Through these pages various pictures tell the story of our cruise — events on board and on shore. There were weddings; celebrations and parties; many hours spent with a deck of cards or 14 chessmen; long hours spent on watch — in icy waters one week and torrid waters the next; hundreds of helicopters to bring in; engines and equipment to repair and service; patients to patch up and send back to duty; supplies to hoist or carry on board; visitors to entertain; letters to write home; reports to complete; count- less meals to prepare and serve; bulkheads to scrape and paint; decks to holystone and swab; — all this in addition to keeping up morale and maintaining discipline. We accomplished all this for ourselves, our shipmates and our coun- try under pretty trying circumstances, consid- ering that we were not engaged in a full scale war. WE WERE THERE — just in case. And as is the situation with men who live for the just- in-case, like firemen and munitions-makers and doctors, we had had our share of jangled nerves and disordered, restless minds; we were puffed with sleep and a lot of us had put on needless weight and had decided that we could never turn an honest eye on grade-B movies or on muddy waters, or even on a deck of cards. But we had been there. We had held up and done our job. In the months that we spent in Inchon we had some serious casualties. Marines up front were discovering mine patterns that hadn '