Denver (CL 58) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 32 text:

officers as orderlies together with interior guard duty constitute the mam duties of the sea-going Marine However, they have also acted as orderlies during the several Sum- mary Courts-Martial which have taken place on board the Dcmcr. The standards main- tained bv the ( ' inrir Marine Guard have shown the efficiency so necessary in the suc- cessful operation of a warship. Commanding the Denver ' s Marine Detach- ment at the war ' s close was 1st Lt. W. H. Frey, formerly of the Twenty-fourth Regi- ment of the Fourth Marine Division. Second in command was 2nd Lt. Joseph A. Bell, who came aboard from the carrier U.S.S. HiiMcocl-. Unforgettable to former members of the detachment are the names of Maj. R. M. Ash and Capt. W. T. Kuhlmey. Leaving the Denver, Ma|or Ash joined the First Marine Division. With this division he lost his life in battle on Bloody Nose Ridge during fighting for the airstrip on the island of Peleliu in the Palaus. First Lt. R R Miner of the famous Second Marine Raider Battalion was the other officer who served aboard the Dcmvr. Gunnerv Sergeant Stanley B. Place, one of the Marine Corps ' most colorful NCO s. was in direct charge of drills, and it was through his untiring effort and the sweat of his men that the Douir Marines became molded into one of the Fleet ' s topnotch de- tachments. Gunnery Sergeant Place was well qualified to impart knowledge of the Corps to his new recruits, for he had served Marine Garrisons throughout the world. Other outstanding NCO ' s were Master Gunnery Sergeant H. Sample and Platoon Sergeant John Wassil. The smart military appearance and cour- tesy so evident in the ranks of the DiMiyt Marines will always remain a highlight when this famous ship ' s name is mentioned. PACIFIC LIBERTY LIBERTY in the Pacific was conspicuous i mainly for its absence. During almost three years of Pacific warfare until V-J Day, the number of liberty ports for the Denver could be counted on your fingers. After by-passing Hawaii, the first stop for the Dnu ' cr was Bora Bora with its beautiful blue- green water breaking on the beach and the colorful jungle beyond. All hands were granted swimming over the side, but only the PO ' s and the officers were allowed to go ashore and investigate the native village. The same arrangement for liberty was the case at Noumea, New Caledonia, where the PO ' s tried their hand on the French girls with high school French, but they did not get very far with it. While other ships were busily engaged in running the slot, the DtiiiiT steamed down to Havana Harbor and made an at- tempt to sink the Rock with little success. Here was nothing but jungle and a beer stand. The only good attributes of the place were the wild oranges and cocoanuts free for the picking and the occasional plane rides the men were able to pick up from the air- strip. It was here that CruDiv 12 became known as The Hollywood Squadron ' because the crew went into whites promptly at leOOdailv. {28}

Page 31 text:

removing fuses from projectiles and trying to keep powder cases from shiftmg — the sick bay boys swabbing up broken ether bottles — and Sammy Gould in the canteen up to his knees in broken Coca Cola jugs. During the next four weeks the ship ' s personnel roamed the beaches and backroad of Wakanoura in search of souvenirs on their liberty days. Then, on the fifth of October in 1945 at midnight, the Captain awoke the ship with the pleasing announcement, The Dtiu ' tr has just received orders to return to the United States on the twentieth of the month. The DcmtT departed Japan on the twen- tieth as scheduled, heading east. After a two-day stop at Pearl Harbor, vhere the boys vented some of their pent-up steam, she left, streaming her 1040-foot home- w ard-bound pennant, supported by aero- logical balloons. On November fourth she arrived at San Pedro, California, and moored in continental U.S. waters for the first time in more than seventeen months. After four days of liberty for the men she headed south to the Panama Canal, which was transited on the sixteenth of November. The liberty in Panama City and Balboa was second to nothing the men had ever been through. The trip from there on in was uneventful, and on the morning of the twenty-first of No- vember, the Denver arrived in Hampton Roads — home at last. While statistics are not always too inter- esting. It IS believed that a few facts will round out the story of the Denver at war. Rear Admiral R. W. Hayler flew his flag as Commander Cruiser Division Tw elve in the Denver from August to December, 1944, when he was relieved by Rear Admiral R. S. Riggs, who remained in the Dcm ' cr until April, 1945. Her war-time commanding officers were Cap ts. R. B. Carney, R. P. Briscoe, A. M. Bledsoe, and T. F. Darden. At the orders of these four officers, the Dcm ' cr ' .s gunners fired 18,249 rounds of six-inch, 22,746 rounds of five- inch, 65,993 rounds of 40 millimeter, and 32,074 rounds of 20 millimeter projectiles — and that is some shooting; under their watchful eyes and guidance she steamed slightly over 150,000 war-time miles — and that IS getting around. Her mileage record is relatively not as high as her shooting record, but her men are willing to attribute that to the fact that she got where the fighting was going on and stayed there until it was over. DENVER MARINES UNITED STATES MARINES are found aboard every capital ship in Uncle Sam ' s powerful fleet. The Diiuit Marine Guard, though small in number, definitely established themselves as one of the most outstanding organizations of this fighting Cruiser ' s complement. Manning two quadruple forty-millimeter anti-aircraft guns, the Dcmir leathernecks proved their mettle. During the incessant Japanese Kamikaze attacks in the battle of Leyt e Gulf in the Philippines, the Marine guns were a potent contribution to the heavy machine-gun battery. Duties of a sea-going Marine are not so glamorous as those of a Fleet Marine who stormed the beaches of many a Jap-infested Pacific isle. Serving high ranking Naval {21}

Page 33 text:

Tlic Detachment W ' assil, Johnston, Hering, Place, Greenman Lt. Frey and Lt. Miner Inspection hy Lt. Frey Marine AA Creti ' Present Arms on