LST (925) - Naval Cruise Book

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moving under our own power again. That helpless feeling was gone. The boys on the lO28 seemed a little en- vious as we roareed past at a full eight knots. After winning nine straight games our boys clinched the mythical basketball championship of Leyte Gulf. Tomorrow we would go over anl take that valuable Uncle Sugar cargo from the Colorado. May 27 With seven thousand miles of water ahead of us we started out for home sweet home. Our little convoy consisted of the Potawatomi towing the lO28, ourselves, and the Pawnee bringing up the rear in case our one kicker gave up the ghost. The speed of this trip would be determin- ed by the best we could make, and it soon became evident that everyone sleeping in crews quarters aft would feel like a piece of pop corn before we ever reached the States. That port shaft had a little whip in it which made things vibrate pretty ruggedly. Coffee cups just would not sit on the table, and though we didn't realize it at the time, our forty millimeter am- munition was falling apart back in forty-six gun tub. The only interesting episode on this leg of the trip was a scientific explanation of the beans and bottle theory by Green. Iune 7 ' Only four days ago we arrived in, Ulithi, and already Moyer has an- nexed the wrestling championship of Mog Mog lsland by defeating two six footers on the beach. l-le suffered a slight case of Hematomah of the right leg as a result of this engage- ment, but his confidence was un- daunted. Every vulture in the harbor heard about our condition and came over to see what they could pirate before we moved on. By this time we had gained the proper finesse' 'in brushing off these individuals, so we came out almost unscathed. Iune 11 Forty-three members of the crew Deck Division '

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safely below they were content to let us rejoin the seventh. lt has be- come quite apparent that an LST with a hole in it is no longer the in- teresting piece of equipment it was before it had the hole. Prior to our accident a fight had been raging to determine the fleet to which we be- longed. Now a fight was raging to see what fleet we didn't belong to and both sides claimed they had won. Leyte certainly would be a huntsman's paradise, for the buck was certainly being passed around. No one wanted to repair us. No one wanted to tow us back. No one want- ed to give us anything. Everyone wanted to come over and pirate what they could from us, and almost ev- eryone did. Gur anchorage was shifted to a very convenient spot only twenty miles from Tacloban, and our anchor was to stay down so long that it almost rusted away. A guest tied up alongside, and, l know it couldn't be, but it was-the lO28. Weiss, Yunker, and Tubbs -came aboard in order to be eligible for sea pay. March 3 We were still sitting. Several in- spection parties from different sources had been aboard and all regretted that they could do nothing for us. We were not under their jurisdiction they said, after looking at the hole. jenkins was run out of the galley for the first time today. My, what a changed man Hoover is! ln order to have something to do, we startedlholding captain's inspection every week. Eschenbren- ner had a reef pleet but got away with it. Fisher installed his one hun- dred and thirty-ninth buzzer as a -parting memento. T April Z Still sitting. The world might as well have ended as far as Ewing and West were concerned. The crawler crane crawled away today. Divers inspected our hole for the third time, and as usual we received numerous compliments on its magnificent size. The beer situation has been going from bad to worse, but Lovern didn't accept discretion as the better part of valor. On the wagon he says, at least until we reach the next port. The USG came aboard and provided some very enjoyable entertainment. Miss Lonie Alonzo sang a few un- familiar hits, and Miss Maite de la Vella presented a series of dances, one of which, a religious number covered with macaroni, was a real wow. There was also a trained wolf in the cast: Manuel San Miguel, the Venezuelan, from Brooklyn. April 19 Three days ago Chief Davis signed over for another hitch. Captain Poyle took command from Lt. ljurr today and tomorrow we go alongside the USS Dixie to give away our number two generator. April 28 After waiting two and one-half months, someone finally remembered we were still around and gave .the necessary orders to have us dry- docked and patched up. We went into the ARD l6 yesterday, and today their Union Organizers signed on eighty-five sand hogs. Mr. Smith tried to prove something, but his parachute didn't open. They're guaranteed: take it back and they will give you a new one. May 2 As of today we became the chief- iest ship in the Navy. There are so many aboard now that Bryan has two of them just shine his shoes. Ship- fitters from the USS Markab were making pretty good progress with their job of patching us up, and it was also decided to put our port en- gine in operation by switching rud- ders and straightening the propeller. May 12 With our .patch completed and our port engine all set we left the drydock for a trial spin. lt felt wonderful to be

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received the Purple Heart Medal to- day for wounds received during ac- tion against the enemy in Lingayen Gulf. The USS Gear took both the 1028 and ourselves in tow and de- parter for Pearl Harbor via Eniwetok. After one look at the Gear it was a question as to whether he should tow us or we' should tow him. We kept our engine running all the way to help things out, and on several occasions when the Gear broke down temporarily we almost ran over the 1028, but our luck held out and no damage was done. Iune 21 A one day stop at Eniwetok whet- ted our eagerness to finish this voy- age as soon as possible. The rest of thetrip was occupied with numerous games of deck tennis and quoits and plenty of sun bathing. After coming nearly three thousand miles, our tow- ing bridle snapped just outside of Pearl, so we went in under our own power. The commandant of the dis- trict sent us a message congratulat- ing us for the splendid part we had played in the war, and then sent us out to our favorite camping spot, West Loch. That evening when the Captain returned from the arrival conference every face on the ship dropped to the deck. After coming so far and building our hopes so high we found we were to go no farther. Moyer aged ten years. Iuly 9 O'Brien and Tomasso got their re- prieve today. Back to the States and a crack at V-12. Their transportation remained to be worked out. Iuly 12 A A reprieve- came for all of us, and this was undoubtedly the happiest day of our lives. Vu1vanized orders to try to make the States under our own power were in the Captain's safe, and the engineers began tuning up our tired old engine. She would just HAVE to keep running THIS trip. We didn't waste any time Sgv- ing good bye but shoved off that morning. A few days out and the weather began to get colder and colder as we moved farther North, and the wind was so strong that we had to keep almost full left rudder on just to maintain our course. No stars for navigation so Mr. Ullrich- and Cunningham wore the sun out every time they could get a shot of it. Iuly 23 Today we were supposed to con- tact San Francisco to make our ar- rival report. Mazrum and Tomasso fired up the temperamental old TDE and God was on our side, for in spite of a trembling hand and a wobbly key Tomasso got off our first and last long range radio transmission. Day after tomorrow, if all went well, we would reach the entrance to Puget Sound and once again see the prom- ised 1and. Iuly 25 Sixty-five miles out and the radar picked up a mountain. Bolin was in his element. At about 1530 in the afternoon we caught our first glimpse of the shore and what a sight it was. Even H. B. Smith interrupted his slum- ber long enough to come up and take a look. Tomorrow we will tie up to Pier Ninety-One in Seattle. Every- body will make a long distance phone call to some thoroughly sur- prised relatives on the other end of the line, and half of us will get ready to shove off on that long awaited leave. And what will happen to the now old 925? Well that is a rather difficult question to answer, but even the most sentimental of us are not too deeply concerned. Perhaps she will live- to fight in another warp per- haps she will be converted into a cargo ship, or perhaps she will be scrapped to make the automobiles of tomorrow. Her job is really done and so is ours. Por most of us the war is at an end.