Denver (CL 58) - Naval Cruise Book

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Easter at Grande Cflptijin Bledsoe Denver BmiJ at Sxthic Lt. SclmiHc ami Duffy on GraiiiK ' iO}

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

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Espiritu Santo saw the first decent liberty port which the Dcmvr put into. The recrea- tion facilities were quite good with tennis, baseball, football, and handball. The swim- ming was excellent and the cat-eye hunting was unsurpassed. Duffy ' s Tavern, South Pacific Branch, was quite the place to go for a beer and an occasional stop at the soda fountain. This base was fairly well built up, with an open-air theater for USO shows, because of having been an outpost of the Palmolive Soap Company. Purvis Bay, Tulagi, was merely Havana Harbor all over again only worse because of being so ad- vanced a base. Again there was nothing but |ungle, cocoanuts and big black natives, not too friendly. On the second voyage the Dcmcr finally made it to famed Hawaii where the men had their last taste of liquor for many a month. On Eniwetok, which was nothing more than a coral reef, they drank beer on the blistering beach, swam, and got fungus infection. From Eniwetok it was then back to Purvis Bay to indoctrinate the new second cruise men into the rigors of liberty practically in the jungle. Manus turned out to be the Christmas spot for the year 1944, and a hot one it was, but there was lots of beer and the recreation was good. After Manus liberty came Grande Island in Subic Bay. This had been a former U.S. base before the |aps took it over. Our original guns and ammunition xre still there along with numerous booby traps which got three of the Mc ' iilpihcr ' i men on the first day. Manila liberty began first with a con- ducted tour which turned out to be rather unsatisfactory entertainment. However, the succeeding liberties were nothing short of amazing. Manila was filthy both morally and physically. Her streets and women were dirty and the whiskey was dynamite. It tasted like a combination of turpentine, lin- seed oil, and gunpowder, and it had the same effect on a man ' s stomach. Some of the men were able to get out to the Santo Tomas prison and met a few of the former prisoners. When the Dniivr arrived at Okinawa, the Navy was just opening a recreation spot on the island of Tsuken Shima in Buckner Bay. Daily liberty parties traveled back and forth to the beach via LCI ' s for their ration of three cans of beer each and a wandering tour of the Okinawan tombs. Most of the men were satisfied to )ust look in at the entrance, but a few of the more adventurous crawled right in along with the skeletons. Wakayama was one of the final stepping stones on the way back, along with Hono- lulu. Liberty in Hollywood and Los Angeles was a bit different from anything out in the Pacific, but It did not take long for the DcmvT crew to get back into the swing of a real liberty port again. O ' }