General Leroy Eltinge (AP 154) - Naval Cruise Book

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We sailed to the China coast, up the Yangtze river for a few miles and then turned off to the Hwangpoo river arriving at the Nanlcing'Yusen'Kaishi Mail Wharf in Shanghai on the 28th. There was a liherty port! Along Nanking Road and Buhhling Well Road were curio shops galore, And you could jump into a riclcsha or a pedicah and go out to the night clubs of Canton Road or Yu Yuen Road. There Were the White Russians with their vodka. Yes, there was plenty to do in Shanghai-every street had something new for us. We fought our way through the crowds and enjoyed it all. Especially New Year's eve. But it couldn't last forever. We sailed on january 6th, hound for Manila since we hadn't taken on a full load of troops at Shanghai. But when we got to Manila there were no troops for us so we took aboard a few merchant seamen and the next day, the 9th, sailed out of the harbor, past Corregidor and Bataan and headed southward. We sailed south of Luzon, through San Bernadino straits and then over to Seattle. That was the trip we had the Eltinge Top: Aiiring Bunting Left fo rigfzf: Coifay Hoiei on file Bunn, H M. S. Ceyion, Wangpo River Chinese funks Left to rigizi: N Y Pier, Shanghai Buinhoaf on Waiigpo River Eyegiass Lifverfy, Waiigpo Siyie

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Panama Canaf A starboard anchor was pushed through the side of the bow by the pounding of the waves and the starboard forward bulwark was nearly carried away. What a storm! We were glad to get to New York. We were met at the Narrows by a Welcome Home boat that had real American women aboard and even though the day was cold and damp everyone was topside for a look. As we went along the harbor and up the Hudson River our returning troops were saluted by the whistles of all the passing ships. We tied up at Pier 88, next to the battleship Missouri on November 11th ready for some good liberty. And we did have good liberty. We stayed in for 18 days, part of the time in the Todd yards at Hoboken. Liberty was granted two days out of every three and it was a lot better than Karachi, even Union City. But finally our orders came, we were going to Shanghai. We left on November 29th with a load of replacement troops and civilians for Panama and some civilians, including UNRRA workers, for Shanghai. The trip to Panama was uneventful. However, on December 4th, after we had made the transit of the canal, we tied up at Balboa to debark troops and we had a chance to find out what Panama liberty is like. It's good we discovered. And so is that Milwaukee Beer made in the Canal Zone. ' Cn the Sth we sailed and headed northwest as we were routed to pass north of Hawaii. Then we went down past the Marshall Islands, the Marianas group, and Ckinawa. Near Okinawa we celebrated Christmas. Midnight services were held the night before. Cn Christmas day we had a huge dinner followed by a party in the troop mess hall which was appropriately decorated. ' 2

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