at anchor and quickly retreat into the concealment of their caves. 3rd of May brought clearing weather and the enemy in force Un- was progressing satisfactorily. Then the Divine Wind fliamikazel started and kept on coming necessitating frequent stoppages of bun Scores o lap planes were downed on the picket lines- durin thg none got through. Ship after ship Cdestroyers, destroyer escorts T.CSl hit on the line. They continued to come limping into the anchorage with iulls crumbled and their dead layed out on deck for burial ashore The Nav was experiencing more casualties than the Army. . Y At dusk some Kamikazes kept on coming past the picket line. This time fall ships made Hsmoke' Ca thick oily fogl, each ship laying a blanket for the -'Ships to the leeward, each ship sending out its own sn'pke boats to fill up the holes in the blanket. Soon even the adiacent ships were blotted out of vision and all sounds became curiously mutedg the well-trained gunners stood helplessly by their guns unable to see and forbidden to fire in the crowded anchorage. The Bogeys passed overhead and were gone, the smoke stopped, Q11 hands sighed with relief, the discharging of cargo was resumed. .y The respite lasted but a few hours. Ashore the laps were staging a general attack. ln the air the bombers got past the pickets in force. As the Dutchess rolled up her white blanket of fog-smoke, word came through that small suicide boats were on their way to crash against the American ships and explode themselves into glorious eternity. As the fog thickened, and visibility dropped to five. feet, the apprehensive moments of waiting ticked on, marked only by th thud, shudder, thud, thud of the big guns. Word came in that the U.S.S. Corine CAK-745 at the edge of the anchorage was badly hurt from a suicide boat detonation. At length, the drone of many motors overhead through the fog announced the arrival of the Tokio Express. Despite contrary orders, trigger happy gunners through the anchorage opened up on the unseen tarkets. Misaimed projectiles and falling shrapnel whined by and landed on deck. The position of the smoke boat officer, Ens. F. E. Martin, U.S.N.R., and his crew totally exposed out in their boat astern awaiting more make smoke orders was unenviable, they remained sanguine as falling flak plunked into the water all about them. The bombers released their loads on the nearby Yontan Airfield, a few bombs landing on the beach. All night long the lap Air Force expended itself. Occasionally the fog Would grow .thin and silhouetted against the moon a doomed bomber would fly steadily on to his destiny. Immediately the Dutchessmen would cover them- selveswith smoke, a few bombs were dropped in the transport area. By dawn another hundred planes were eliminated and several more ships hit. During the night an attempted landing by several hundred laps was broken up by Iidval gunfireg however, a few successfully made the beach. At dawn it was with relief .that all hands secured and commenced discharging cargo. 1 Suddenly, the enemy broke through before the warning was effective. Cibove the fleet in sunny daylight a Nippon lazily weaved into position his dive. A hundred ships opened fire. Down, down, down came the lap. deviating smash into the cruiser Birmingham CCL-42l WTIOSG IOOW blew .:11'1'CII'1 explosition of fire and smoke and a hundred men were dead. or once more resumed discharging cargo-onlY to find that each 3 C10 miles behind the lines? was immobilized under sniper fire infiltrating laps. Eventually, the lap was eliminated Gnd Unlfxldlflg. ' In mid-afternoon, Army and Marine wounded from, the pge-f kip onslaught commenced coming aboard, some were stretc ,vera sobered, and apprehensive as damaged ships continuedto arrive, Bt , ,y , f 21 l
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12 t I .I N ysemarked the first time the Dutchess had continuously sailed eastward. As she steamed al ' thi l' ' one east by north ,into Ve rising sun, the Dutchessmen turned-to eradicating the grime of- war in- qluding the ubiquitous thick film of oil produced by the fog fsmokel generators.- During that short, yet interm' bl f ' ' ina e weel. at Okinawa, equipment had de- preciated startlingly-as if three months had t ' , N U . ranspired. The wear and tear on facilities and living spaces occasioned b h V Q O0 . y , me ial measures were indi- cated. So a prolonged field day Cclean up ship period? was launched, equip ggpent was overhauled, rust remov d d ' ' ' y was marked. In addition the militar Ib a earan f h f ' soldiera died of T b on Okinawa, and o Saipan, Marianas Islands, his body b ' d h A b ' ,, Senior Medical Officer with the aid films une as Ore Y the Army' o the Dutchess' oth t d t .30 Hospital Corpsmen labored unceasingly with the er' WO OC OTS W th casualties. Most of ere on e road to recovery when transferred ashore to the Port Surgeon I Acquaintanceships had sprung up between the Dutchessmen and ambulatory wounded, the Dutches I G s was sorry to see them go. Some of the officers and men were able to get a h D s ore for recreation-the in. five weeks of confinement aboard ship. When the next destination was they had earned some good times. A militant minority felt that the Dutchess' not yet begun to fight. wounds received in action P Chapter V if ' RESPITE FROM WAR- ' I SAN FRANCISCO- The long voyage home I6 da PoRriAND - PEARL HARBoR I I y t e closely packed pre ence of troops aboard for 27 da s y earing pp ce o t e crew had deteriorated re d e , ecks painted, inspections held, and rdeficiencies in the organization were squared away. The Dutchessmen, now .self-styled' battle veterans but still h he t d - ' ' yp na e military civilians in outlook, ' .didnt care for this period too much. However, once squared away and ship- Hshape, they bec 'I ' ' ame proud of the Gung Ho ships neat d . an military ap- pearance. -The route lay largely through the tropics, through the hot, dry, and . e e, Central P 'f' . ' s ren aciic There being but three passen b gers a oard-naval enlisted 'men being transferred to await General Courts Martial-the officers and men .fbund the ship quite spacious. As the transfer of the two LCMs in Saipan ileft the bi h t h .. X g ac CNo. 33 vacant, the Boat Group Commander was bl t l Sfqgersmo ' - W a e .o kers and boxing bouts on top of the hatch A basketball league got down in th e cavernous depths of No 3 Hold the upper decks offered bathe h rs aven. By the time the States were reached the Dut h y , c essmen .ere brown and fit. tr wn gra ually revealed the now familiar massiveness of' Head Oahu Hawaiian Islands on the 23rd of Ma th 1 1 As the mists of da d I 1 U 1 V Y' e lII1?'c l Gil toview the land once more. After two months in the Western Pacific Harb Or and the Hawaiian Islands seemed safe, and secure. Passingjip .Channel between Hawaii and Molokai, the 98 steamed on exchanging I . . 1th numerous westbound ships. Scarcely a four-hour watCh GHSUGCI the ' ' passing of a loaded ship and then another ship and then still h . f U. ,. Heavily laden ship, all steadily making their WHY WGSIWUISI., UP' Q chatnof ships 20 miles apart reached from San Franc1scO.tfD Glgua? It was this never ending conveyor belt line of munitions a . I for the assault groupS to down The ICIIO OU Okinofwq 'Luzon ' 1 I M5531 Lamar, Pvt., 39933168 Company M, 184th Infantry, ' 23 M? 1 'P 'si win V ,A .. I V 1 K K, A ' A, V' A - MW' wp. , A KW f ' 1 IA, 1 t I , .Ax N tagihxxs f,L32 9f4' j , ,,, . i -1 . y . I I 2 3 is 7' j. gf' in ,yi wir gi-:L If ., , , I , - ' I I - 'f i f ,gg -:,1fiz9f.1'y-r.-ravi. . .' I ' x -A V V , - I - A I ' ' ' X.
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