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M. 4.,.1.. , THE BLUE GHOST --., T f- 'N' 'VY -.. ff, .1 tif Ui K 6 ff Vt ,,,,.f, 2, fff J - , fa. 1 1 U, ' 5 an-'Wfz -'- , ff -, x 1 ., ,Aff -.:.,v,,,.. ' , . 'S . :i3'., 41 ' IZ .. Ag 19 V ' , ' . .zwgfr-' , I I ,4 ,-1rM.,f,MW: in ' , V' I J w ' 3 ' -Q R ,fi ' A f gi i. XX 2 ' W Q N7 -' V f, X , f 5 1 -ak , , - 'T V ' ' , A D I' YA: ' . , .ff ww.. . f 1 ' N - X, 'XX , - ,1 4 ,Y f, k I W wcxxgx E sg Q 1, K , . Q A .. x M wN,X V 1 V, f f? J , ,,- 1 3 if X, V-35-if ,, Q X- V H QA ' f www wi ,f 'P- M ' . 'Lfff ' 4 ' if , f, , A' 1 , 3.22 H, - f ' -W , , , . pf WL ' f1:f2.f.' , , R- A ' f . V 'ws ' N. W - X , ff QQ my NN . X C ff! X 8 -I .N-'like 5 ' 0.1 W wk, ,g,,j fv 5,1 ,I x V '4 'M-I-X-. ....., Msg. .M ' 1 .W amxswr' V' 5 'N-. .WM - 1 I . 1 9 - IM , 3 7 i YK 4 ,. W - - Xmy Nwwf R -'hun-dmv' fx ' . w '93'-V' ' 50+ L Y z . . qmwwr- X ,,gN- X XM. x M I THE BLUE GHOST A PHOTOGRAPHIC LOG AND P.ERSONAL NARRATIVE OF THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER U. S. S. LEXINGTON IN COMBAT OPERATION by EDWARD STEICHEN Captain, USNR fret., HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY 'A' 'k if wr if if if if if if f NEW YQRK -'f- ,, COPYRIGHT, 1947, BY EDWARD J. STEICHEN All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form. first edition v 'PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 'A' 'lr DESIGNED BY LT. RICHARD GARRISON USNR 1 .fr THEN AND NOW 7!1-6 dzvwei as an instrument for waging war and as an historian in recording the war. Carried in planes flying over enemy territory it becomes the eyes of the military planning staff and is considered a reliable-and is sometimes the only accurate-means of obtaining informa- tion. An army deprived of aerial photography would be like a blindfolded prize fighter in the ring. When military plans go into operation, combat photographs made on the ground and from the air record without emotion or prejudice what the lens saw. This accurate and speedily recorded instant is of immediate and permanent historical value. Following an unsuccessful attack on our carrier, the U .S.S. Lexington, by three enemy torpedo planes, there was considerable variation in the descriptions of just what happened and how by competent officers who had observed the attack. Later, when the photographs that were made on our ship and other ships in the task group were assembled and studied, it was found that most of these eye-witness reports were inaccurate. When a report from the Pacific reached the Navy Depart- ment that carrier planes had sunk the japanese super-battleship Yamato, some kept on saying Yes. maybe, until the photographs of the action arrived. ln addition to serving the military forces the combat photographs vividly supplement written reports that serve the press and through them the people of the nation. No event in human history has had as many cameras looking it over as VVorld VV ar ll. lt was not a centrally planned or organized project but by the sheer force of their numbers and their eager. reckless enthusiasm combat cameramen piled up the vast and ponderous mass of photographic documents now stacked away in boxes and filed in cabinets. lt will take decades to find and unravel the tactical and the human stories they contain. ln the great overall image of the war this book represents only a tiny, tiny fragment. ln a sense Y , M 1,1 -, . each fragment is the image of the whole and in the combat gamble of life and death a tiny fragment of shrapnel can snuff out the aspirations, the ideals, and the life of the boy who had just become a man, with the same finality as an atomic bomb. The terror of the atomic bomb is the terror of war . . . the monstrous multiplying factor of death. One of the several fine photographers in my photographic unit, Lt. Victor Iorgensen, was with me on the carrier U .S .S . Lexington for this operation. We usually photographed independently and in different parts of the ship but on occasion we worked together, alternating as cameraman and helper. On some of the interiors he worked the camera and I held the lights, then I would shoot the pictures and he would handle the Hash bulbs. My own photographs in the book are supplemented by some of Vic's, some we made together, and a few by air-crewmen and photographer's mates with the task force. On some shots I used a Kao aerial camera, I also used a Speed Graphic and an Ikonta, but most of my photographs were made with a Medalist camera. Vic's favorite camera was a Rolli- flex. The occasional cropping on some of the pictures as they appear here was to conform with Lt. Garrison's overall plan in the design of the book. The footage for the Naval Aviation film project referred to in the text was later made into a great feature motion picture by Louis De Rochemont under the aegis of Twentieth Century-Fox and went out to the world as The Fighting Lady. Some of the finest footage in the film was shot during this operation by another of my young officers, Lt. Comdr. Dwight Long, working on the U.S.S. Yorktown, and our film cameramen on other ships of the task force. To Rear Admiral I. G. Clark, who was then Captain of the Yorktown, goes a special salute for the great way he backed up our photographic projects. The skipper of the Yorktown made The Fighting Lady possible. For my days on the Lexington, I am grateful for the warm cordiality extended to me by Rear Admiral Felix Stump, then skipper, who later furthered a distinguished career as flag oflicer in command of a victorious carrier division at Leyte Gulf. To the Exec, who later as Captain Bennet l V1 Wright commissioned and skippered the carrier Sicily, and to all the ship's officers, the airmen and the crew, a warm salute from their oldest shipmate. I shall never cease to appreciate and Wonder at the courage of Vice Admiral A. W. Radford and of Artemus Gates, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air, for taking me into the Navy. We will soon be celebrating the second anniversary of V-I Day, and almost four years have passed since the happenings recorded in this log. I can assume that the Nation's Flag was flying proudly in the breeze when the wounded Lex was leaving the battle area . . . yet I do not remember having noticed it at the time or having heard anyone else mention it. I do remember the Stars and Stripes draped over the bodies of our dead . . . remember how the flags flattened, fluttered, and flapped as the canvas bundles slid away and hurtled down into the water. I remember the smile and nod of the head from a pilot up in the cockpit of his plane about to take off . . . remember the long talk I had with him and hisheartwarming dreams and visions of the future just before he took off . . . and never came back. The memories of the infernal noise of gunfire, of tracer shell patterns in the sky, of flaming planes plunging into the sea in dramatic explosions-these seem remote and unreal, but the memory of bulldozers nosing the volcanic ash over the long rows of canvas-wrapped bodies of Marines on Iwo lima remains a starkly clear and stifling reality. There are some voices that are now talking glibly of the next war . . . here in our garden humming birds dive and zoom over long rows of blue and purple and white delphinium . . . Ridgejfeld, Conrzcfczficut, 4 Iuly 1947 V11 f Q 1 f , 4 :M wx 1 f 3535 f f 1. , 1 V N ' ':,!l15,- 1 .- 1 s - Q., . ..., - . . X 4 v -, f-' .-, i-' 'M . '-'rlifl iw' X X .-wg v .5414 ,-14--I, I' M. K 4u,' -' H +:4 '- Mg, ' A . , , M W ' 'ig P1 '. mf. Jw.. ,,. -, A wg.,-fd . 1 ' ' I-2 51 ' 3' - 'Wi' 0 V In by ..::,,4.,,... . Q . ,I ,fffLgSf,v'i.14gYf:i 11'- f ' jvvgwfw' f A ffvlw' FL.. S inf. 3 1 V -a,3'2v,'mf',,f:,l-1,1 ' ,q:,..yw..,W I , , N , ,, ,,. Q, , ,,4f-gyvrff' , A ,,'+-Mya' ' .1-.V , , '. . 40 sw ,, , f 'fx -.N 'Q ,ff ' , -W . iff' ' , 1-F + ,r 2'1iy' X Wfrvgf'-'ir X -1 -, '1' A ' A ' 'N ,g'g f.,1 gym .,33A.u. , 3 . X, . f 'f'sg:' W , . ., . l3.j,ig,, as 4255, 5, .ey - Q - ,' 1 vzvw W ,. ,H '- .-- U 1 ?,T'5'i ',:'Qff4PftfL :f z..AhP3',..f ' ' 3,4 :A-ff X f Jw -f'v,?- ,,.',1::x,.J1fMf. w' -' ' W'-' 0' . ' , 4,15 ,gy nv qi., 414 iff Q V1 'Q if 'Q A ,V 'M' s ' Q.. vu.. 1 vw- 'Q- , . ,353 , -... ------ . , -441-A-.br --.7-1.-.-4--,.. , A,,,,,-,,-in-.4-g A - - - - ---- - - - -- . ' PM - ---A-2----.--..J..n...4.....,,,.,- AA- S Q ' .-......,, i 4 . .. ..,. . ,JM 1 CAPTAIN FELIX B. STUMP, USN 9 fv This is on the U.S.S. Lexington at Fearl Harbor. Hawaii. Captain Felix Stump, USN Cclass of IQI7, in command. On her previous strike she was the Flagship for Rear Admiral A. W. Radford. The Admiral and his staff are now transferring from the Lei, to the U .S.S. Enlevfprise. I find out that the great armada of Warships We saw in the harhor as we flew in this morning from San Francisco will put to sea tomorrow. Admiral Radford tells me he has spoken to Captain Stump about us and that Comairpac fthe Commander Air Force, Pacific F leetj will assign Iins. Victor lorgensen and myself to duty on the Lexington. Through the open hatch of the Admiralls ofhce comes a deep-voiced good-hurnored growl: 'cWhen you call on an Admiral, I guess you put on a tief, A tall rangy inan steps into the rooni giving his black tie a sharp tug into place, and I am introduced to Captain Stump. The war' he came into the room, his remark about the tie, the simple directness of his manner and his friendly grin, assure me that Admiral Radford has found the right spot for ine. Put a colonial wig on the head of Felix Stump and you have a ringer for Gilhert Stuart's portrait of George XYashington. I M M - - f- ,wg AM,-1 W We are shoving off early tomorrow morning, says Felix Stump. Better get your gear aboard tonight. This calls for a hurried trip across Ford Island to the Yorktown to pay my respects to her skipper, Captain loc Clark, and to look up Lt. Dwight Long. I also meet and have an indoc- trination talk with a handful of more or less experienced but ardent and enthusiastic camera men that have been assigned to this coming operation. Spurred on by the driving energy of Dwight Long, these boys are to shoot footage for our Naval Aviation motion picture project. When a Naval vessel goes to sea, the Captain leaves his comfortable spacious quarters Coffice, bedroom, galleyj for a tiny cubicle, his sea cabin, up on the bridge in sight of the flight deck and the open sea toward all horizons. Felix Stump turns over his quarters to me, which means not only personal comfort, but space for laying out our camera equipment. Vic and I spend a good part of the night discussing our plans. A carrier is a conglomeration of many amazing things. To begin with it is a sea-going home to nearly 3,000 men. It is a combination of vast spaces and a series of tight passages, steep ladders, and dizzy catwalks. All this, when you become familiar with it, is simple, for everything is as logically and minutely planned as a watch, but to a newcomer, and a landlubber at that, it is certainly bewildering. In the morning this great armada of carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, supply ships, and tankers gets under way. Anaircraft carrier is a flat-top to the battleship boys and a ufioating airdromev to some of the feature writers. The Hight deck covers the entire ship from bow to stern. On the starboard side Qlooking something like an afterthoughtj rises the superstructure, dubbed the island This houses the command centers: pilot house, navigating bridge, Captain's sea cabin, Admiral,s offices and bridge, radar plot, fighter director and air control stations, engineering and damage control offices, radar and radio gear cabins. Up through the center of the island rises the smokestack. The whole superstructure is topped by space-searching fingers-radar antennae. Looking down at the Hight deck from the bridge for the first time you are reminded of the straight-away on a race track, but 2 i .. i i -1 , ,i -f QI .J Zi I I-'Q ei .Z 11 1. Q if B , ,I ., 2 ff U V' tit: .,, aw- .,f:.w:,.4.. .uk I il a il in T when in a plane at 12,000 feet and about to make your first carrier landing, that flight deck looks more like a matchstick. Below the flight deck the hangar deck is large enough to garage a hundred planes as well as great machine shops for repair and maintenance. The Lexington is 890 feet long: stood on end alongside the 70-story RCA building, Rockefeller Center, New York, the Lex would be higher by forty feet. Each of the three elevators that move planes up and down between the flight deck and the hangar deck is about the size of a tennis court. The flight deck crews handle the planes for the take4offs and landings, and the 4'mecs fairplane mechanicsj maintain and repair them. The air oflicer directs all flight operations from the air control station on the island three decks above and overhanging the flight deck. The landing signal officers are stationed on a small platform extending out over the water on the port edge and after end of the flight deck. A safety net of wire cable mesh is stretched under this platform 'cjust in case. When planes are about to land, air control orders Prepare to land planesf' when all is ready it's Land planes, the appropriate signal flag goes up, and the landing signal officer brings 'fhomen the planes by waving bright-colored, tennis-racket-shaped paddles in a pre- scribed series of patterns. When a plane approaches the carrier in the correct position, the pilot is given a signal that he is riding the groove, and just as he gets over the deck the signal officer gives the cut,, signal, the pilot cuts ofl his engine, the plane hits the deck, a tail hook catches one of a series of steel cables. stretchedacross the deck, and brings the plane to a quick stop. If the arresting hook doesn't func- tion, the plane is stopped by one of a series of cable barriers which usually means a crackup. VVhen a plane has been damaged in battle and its normal controls disrupted the landings are violent. dramatic, and sometimes tragic. If for any reason a landing looks like a possible crackup. the air officer presses a button which releases a loud strident wail that warns everybody on the flight deck to expect trouble and to take appropriate precautions. Fire fighters and the arresting gear gangs get all set for any emergency. 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S51 ,K 1 99-4 'U xg ,- is 1 O DRIZZLY WEATHER-AAIR CO TROL STATION AIRUVIE. l l4.1Lil l'l' DECK l COMMANDER B. W. WRIGHT USN mr A W is a living thing to Benny Wright Like the Captain he has been with her since she was commissioned As air officer he took off and landed the first plane on her flight deck I-Ie is now the executive officer of the Lex has a fine concept of human values is soft-spoken gentle- mannered and has the full co-operation of all hands. Second day out he suggests I might l1ke to look over the ship that he would show me around The deck IS being made ready to land planes so I tell him I d like to has e a close up look with my camera at the landing signal officer s hangout When we get there Lts Dave Butler and Bud Deering are on their platform behind the wind break The Exec chuckles ox er my enthusiasm heads back to his job The planes are flying in the landing circle I kneel out in the safety net About fifty feet down below the net swirls of foaming water rush by Directly above I have a worm s eye new of Butler waving his signal paddles to a plane I cannot see until it comes in overhead just before it hits the deck Through the finder the plane is silhouetted against the sky Click I am pleased with this setup the boys have been overlooking I shift position for a less vertical angle hear the call that the mcom in plane is O K point my camera in a Hash the whole finder is filled with the image of a reat dark onrushing mass instinctively I press the button am knocked fiat in the net and the tvso signal officers land on top of me A few feet from us hangs part of the tail of a plane From its 11 if -' ' 1 '- WZ 5I1,m..fLi:wgA.K 'fxulfj ,Emu ' ' QAQ HELLCAT CRASI-IES-LEFT NW ING SXWIPES THREE OF US IN SAFETY NET L fu- f-g:,g..uA QBQ TAIL LEFT BEHIND-PLANE ROLLS ON-CRASI-IES INTO GUN GALLERY . AQ. I qcjy THE N FALLS OVER TI-IE SIDE AND SINKS--TI-IE P ILOT IS LOST fo 54.9 NAVY WQPTZ 1 QDQ CLOSE-LTP SHOT I MAUII AS PIANII I,l'RC1l-ll1lD CDVILR VS crushed emereieuev uns tnula. eusullue gushes put mer the edge of the deck like Z1 small water-full. Butler sz1ysf'Let's get the hell r1t1tcwl'l1e1'e. lYe get l hezldfr11'tl1elJ1'ldgeg fm the way l 111CClCUlNLl1'. XV1'lfYl1ll he Qjmhs lux' hgmd. uslis. l hm' Que Wall. frltl-lllllCI'?N l tell liutler: url4l1ZllVV2lSl1 vrettx' Close w t . . l . Sl1ZlYC.,, He comes huela with: Klum, yfwu lust ezuft have ll eluset flue. 7 l ' 'l ' th X l .'.Q f f the wilut. The fuselage :md wings of the plzme went over the YN e .ue tepresset mem e uss l 1 side, hir the gun gallery. seriuusly xwuutliug three uf the gun erew, then plunged into the 'wglter and sfmli. The pilot never gut out uf the euelapit. .Xuximus eyes from all pzu'ts of the ship sezlreh the water and L1 destruyet vainly e1u'1'ies uh the segu'eh. 5,3543 Nm EW' Q THE BOARDMAN IS DISCOURAGED Planes from the Lex and other carriers are up every day on the looliout for enemy planes or submarinesg we call our planes searchers,', enemy planes on similar missions are called snoopers.v ln addition to his routine duties this sailor is also 'iboardmanfl Planes returning from search Hights are met by the boardman as they taxi forward past the island. He holds up a blackboard on which is challied Hr-Xny Contactsw So far the pilots haye always signaled No, The boardman is discouraged, says, c'Avv nutsl ltas just another phoney warf' Plane handlers and mechanics talie a lively interest in their pilots, proudly dub the fighter 14 f H fx ' FIGHTER PILOT MANS HELLCAT squadron Hlbistol Paeliin, Airedalesf, Long harangues about the merits and skills of the various pilots lead to bets on how many planes the favorites are going to shoot down in this operation. Where We are foinft has u to the uresent been Hseuttlebutt which is Nav for rumor, s weeu- E as P l v Y I lation, and gossip. We now get the Uwordw from the Captain. Topside gets it over the 'Lbullhornn and numerous Hsqtiavvkfboxesn carry his words below to all parts of the ship. He tells us we are heading for the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, it is to be an amphibious assault on Tarawa and Makin Islands. Anti-submarine patrols are intensified. is .'vn4,'. , N, , ....- .. . . 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V 'X 5? lx K , V -1 ' A 'f 2 ,1 4' ' ,f 2'-2,25 ' Wy ., 4 -V 1, , if 4 51 E I AIR OFFICER SUTHERLAND-ACI OFFICER GROSSCUP DISCUSS MILLE PHOTGGRAPHS 7649934 for our task group planes will be Mille and Ialuit, the largest lap air bases protecting the Gilbert Islands. The Lexington? planes are to concentrate on Mille, knock it out of commission and intercept Iap planes that may come down from more distant Marshall Island bases. Some of the talk about eagerness for action has folded up. There are serious looks on faces that plainly reflect an inner questioning. Down in the ready rooms the pilots and aircrewmen study maps and photographs, are given their final briefings. The intelligence officer is handing out information about the enemy and some of it must have come directly from enemy-held islands. Does it come from our submarines? . . . I-Iave we intelligence agents and radio senders on the islands? . . . I speculate but ask no questions . . . these things are in the domain of atop secret. A new kind of stillness hangs over the ship tonight. Will We surprise the enemy? . . . Does he expect us? . . . Will he give us the Works? And how about the Marines that will land at Tarawa? Some say it has all been planned so minutely and will be carried out in such a big Way it will be easy going, others think it will be tough, plenty tough. I'm glad the families back home don't know about this great amphibious assault that will begin when we strike at dawn tomorrow. 21 T fu!! 1' N 1 f d Q 1 . fi if 1 f. 'x ,, 4: A. . v .A ' ' .ff ,, ' ,,.,, 4 ,au ,Ls f 1 1 : .2u c , 1, . 7 4 1 7 , - ggi - gf' 'J' ,f . 1,2-I -f ,, ,- -:..' R1 .:, f4 ' rf -, I x.-:fin Q E hw, . , :Ref Hy- 11 'T gg,m: 1': fm fr ...- 4 y xc 1 S -. -f if Mfr . J' , a n , W.Zx.,vj:., , 'V I . V . . 0 - , ,N I J. 1 , I- :Pi-1 , 14, - ' '-,gnnqza1,.-.L , . A s , ! 1 5 I I If 4 l Qu . 1' A -..zgnx Y. . i N1 . X -f-A A 1 . 1 1 1 X 5 , 'L , ' x - s xl v. v! I! f w w 1 U V.: 1 1? 11 8 h 'Q 4- ' .. I V 'N I , L :V .V 9 A1 E .Z 'I , , V I I1 .. 1 1 I 'f 2 , A :lv .-4: , , 5 l. I 1 zu K n .. I WI. . .-- - Ln KU' H ' N X K f 4 , V' ' I I I1 fh, ,.. V X X-1 . 1: A Q A S u W. 5 ,rf , Q- I' I .qv Ki 112:-3, C r- ..'., hem wi' , .x ,... V-,YN mai' wAr,v..w, 1 H5 A,...,- , -1 F s f, paws, . ,- 5 z 4 A ..., 'U' . t.7fl, 'f, .f ' f ' - I qv!-l 1--5' V 5' 'L'.?Tf'3.- Q ' ,F-'iff '- Af- f , . , , f , , . .5 -'P-f3.,Zw' J M iff- .::.-, . :,..-. ls 1 vs -v ' '.f,.-fn xt X n 1 1 1 Q f , 3, 5 ,Wi MILLE ATOLL-BOMBERS PLASTER THE INSTALLATIONS AND RUNXVAYS ON THE ISLAND naw f iff! f Mx ff ff ff A .X X f , , f , , f X, If 5 ff f,,Q,ff,! - ,,, VX, ff f W f V 4. f , ' ,7 fm 'Q X - f M ff ff HANGARS 1 ND SIERVICQE BUILDI GS ARE FIRIED 35 , ' 2 w L, ll 9 5 , 43 Y LANDING SIGNAL OIIILIJR XX AVLS OFF A4 FIRST RETURNING FIGHTER PLANE 'mf I 'N-. 'XIX w..QN THE NEXT PILOT GETS SIGNAL HES IN THE GROOVE-BUT LOW 28 SBD LANDS-SPOTTER DIRECTS IT FORXVARD-ANOTHER PLANE MAKES APPROACH IQ November. Our planes hit Mille on schedule at sunrise, the surprise was complete: not an enem lane in the air, none able to take off. P We made four strikes today, strahng planes on the ground, plastering runways, hangars, fuel dumps and administration buildings. Main hangars were demolished, machine shops, power stations destroyed. Mille is out of com1nission for the time being. 21 November. At last the usual 'cNo Contactn report of returning search flights is changed' Q 9 K K Q 3 one of our dive bombers comes in, taxies forward, and the boardman almost collapses when he gets 21 vigorous YES signal from the pilot. One finger is shyly held up by the smiling aircrewman, indicating he has shot down a lap plane. og 1 . , ROUTINES OE PLANE SPOTTERS SUGGEST BALLET RHYTHMS 1 The Captain has pilot Lt. 6'Cool4y Cleland, and aircrewinan VV. S. Hisler ARM3fc broadcast ription of how Cleland chased a fast p an got into position to shoot, when his guns jaininedg then inore chasing and inaneuvering, C1211 d h' their story over the ship,s public address systeni-a vivid desc Tap twin-engined Betty for twenty minutes, caught u C d ff g S e an put is SBD into a sharp banking turn, brought his rear seat gunner into shooting position. Hisler delivered a couple of bursts from his machine gun, the Betty swerved. broke into Haines. exploded and crashed into the sea. Everybody on the shi 5 is vrancinsf d C d l i i g prou an e ated that an aircrewinan has made th H t e rs score. Hisler gets a ten dollar bill covered with autographs, a rize set b h' p up y is squadron for the 30 to l Inst llltlillllltf amtl vclliug julu, lmt L1 mu' spctft XY. S. HISLICR 'I'lfl.l.S 'lllll SHIP HUXX ll l'l1l',l.5 lu DI-lklkll LJKJXX tw ll ,lu 1 MMU, lh11'SI rcur scat gunner tu slum tlwwu ll Imp plum. 23 Novctulbcti llncwtltcr full day is wut. Our plums are ull lmmc, tllc tlccla is spottCcl.111ltlQx'c1'x thing lined up :mt s ups mpt tl 'ing in thc stzlrlit slay mulmftttl. lt is 21 small XYiltlcz1t', tighter Clfjtllb Ylllllllllg out of gms, unulwl l mczttc llls carrier tllc Ljsmnzc' 134152 lslc gtslas pC1'lNlSSlfJlW tc irctl tlccli crcw. neatly purlictl zlft arc mfwctl fmwgtrtl in tllc tlgtrlmgss tcmClC1l1'Ll lztmling space. lt is ll swcglring, SXYLXII b, R F 1 k l l'L'CfJl'Ll is sct tm' rt-sputtiug tlmt tlcclt. l l ' l X fm' tm11w1'1'fm', wlmun wg pitlt up ll l'2lLllU cull :mtl tulla with Ll plum s 1 umm ztlucxml. 'l'l1c wm-tl is rcl11x'ctl tu 1 XVl1c11tltcvltczu'tlmtzt littlctQllmx lislustfclcftsitting up in tltc sliyf' glll tht- plglms X lf' fipffk If - 2 ,, lj, fe U, 3,1 ff f W, , , ' 'f f ff f af Q ffm-,H ., ,fyfkqxfffwgfrygja f ,, W.,,f ,, X X ,' f' X , f f ,f , f , 7 f 'Vw f ,f -, ., f f M721 f 5, dawg ,f f f f 4 !7'5'!! 4 fgfff ff ' f I ' fffa-X, , V ,XJ Of ff w'w,ff, 'mf ,., 3 2 W Q 1 X fi fr! af- uv- THE CR EW THAT CHEERED LAST NIGHT NQXV E XPRESSES SOBER UNDERSTAND1 NG 32 ,, ff, 4, X WN. THE LOST F4F FROM THE LISCOME BAY mt l The lost pilot explains he has never made a night landing on a carrier, air control phones him a few basic instructions, then he Hies in a landing circle around the Lex. We can hear the plane but can't see it. He must be making a good approach, two waving flashlights indicate the landing signal oHicer is telling him he is in the groove. Suddenly a silhouette appears over the fantail, the Hashlights signal-cut, he's down, his hook catches the third cable for a smooth stop . . . a perfect landing . . . the deck crew cheers in the first demonstration of any kind on this trip, they swarm around the plane. Lt. Wells, the pilot, is taken to the wardroom for chow, his plane is sent down to the hangar deck where it is entered on the records as: From Heaven-One Baby Airedale. 24 November. As enemy submarines have been reported in these waters, I have been coming up to the bridge before dawn each morning. This morning, as I grope my way around in the semi- darkness, the quartermaster points to a sudden glare of light on the horizon. A nervous speculating and theorizing as to the cause of this glare takes place between some of us. Soon we receive an alert and are rocked by a message that one of our CVE carriers has just been torpedoedg the name of the carrier is Liscomc' Bay: yes, that lost F413 we took on board last night was a plane from the Liscome Bay. Later in the morning comes the grim information that she sank twenty minutes after being hit, that the torpedo explosionwas followed by internal explosions of her own ammunition, that Rear Admiral Henry Mullinix was among the two-thirds of her personnel that-were lost. 35 ff H X PILOT AN D .- 4 at f ' wg ,, 1 ' Qfz' ,, .Mi 1 'fra na' K .f,..', . gr N ' gf- pr W - ,ra 3 as f . , . 1 A ff if ey ,QW f 4 . . r . , . ' , '. 4.-.,,-ssrf ., . .J-'N 'Q - f - , ,,.. 1 -......Lt --. I J ,,,, .,..-.w ' ,,,,.-, ,.,.... ..w..,m- 'U' .,, ..,.....-...M -fr.,.,.f-w....,..--- - . ...A--N '9v f, vw-4545 . ' T ' 'NJ' Wm 1, wx , ,nv-b'cvK':.. I i 1,3-lwfrm. T V ' . ,J .WUT ,Aug-,,, THL GO SIGNAL-A GRUMMAN HELL -'Nu' . mtl CAT, THE ANSXYER TO BUTCH OT-IA RES REQUEST FOR SOMETHING THAT WILL GO UPSTAIKD A - LAST PLANE IS OEF-SPGTTER NSITS ON THE BREEZE 38 WHEEL CHOCKS ARE CARRIED EORXVARD READY FOR RETURNING PLANES Affection and admiration for the airmen grow deeper each day. Anxiety when they take off, fear for them when they land, I cannot brush aside. I see them take ofl and return again and again day after day, and yet a strange notion persists that this whole thing is impossible. There is a cool impersonal dignity about a pilot seated in the cockpit of his plane, something of the tight alertness of a hawk, and the smooth hard force lines of a bullet about that helmeted head on which eyes and heart focus so sharply. Brancusi might well be the sculptor to create an image in polished steel, an abstraction and a symbol, of this Fighter birdman. Twelve VF-16 fighter planes are now out on combat patrol, fast, tough Grumman flying machines . . . twelve lighter pilots, a trained combat team, alert, keen, itching for a chance to mix it up, shoot it out with the damn Zeros or uZel4es. 39 y , PATROL -PLANES OVER OUR SPACE PROBING FINGERS-THE RADAR ANTENNAE , v 1, These are days of watchful concentration in radar plot. All flights sent out hy the task group are tracked and reported until they return. Their positions, distances, and altitudes are plotted and charted on illuminated plotting charts and drums presided over hy the radar fighter director, Com-A mander A. F. Fleming, and his staff. Our radar heams feel their Way into the sky in all directions of the compass, and as far out as one hundred miles. VVhen additional 'ghogiesn flittle hlursj appear on the radar screen, they must he identified as friendly or enemy planes. At ro A.M. We have a flurry 40 I Amd PL! ml-1 . -,-,,.- ,,,...--- W i... ,i, , k X if , I ,.w,, , ,..ms , ,... , W ,Q9i:s1gQfa19v-4-J' ,J44Jv4L- A WW an 'Q R.. . -W f-uf...,,,,-.nga -'95 ' .- i', ' 1 X24 k'4:'5x-5:f'55iQxMQ I gyxwww' 4 f--.-sn.. -., 1 l 1 qv. V U v ,gr . V., ,,,,:.1,.,.,........,4.....M.,......,..........-...............V A - QL Y B Aww L 5 A 5' ' ' , .. .,.,,.... ..,..,:...I:-1 A- .,a..-.--.M--...'uvw.4g.f-r,eEif,, A-L--5--fy-ff-'av--lk:-A------1 U R DQENERAL QUARTERS- ALL HANDS IXIAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS G.Q. QGeneral Quartersl is called. The holsun pipes, the hugler blows G.Q., and the loud harsh hong-hong-hong of the general alarm is sounded. Now Comes the noisy rapid Clang and clatter of shoes on metal decks as everyone dashes through gangways and up and down ladders to his hattle station, putting on and adjusting metal helmets, Hash hurn masks, and life preservers. Every lookout on the ship concentrates on the sky towards the north, gun Crews rub their guns, cheek their mohility, the hig five inehers seem to he snifling the sky in all directions, and then interminable minutes . . . waiting. Radar plot reports that Buie's planes are near the laps. 42 I X T TT A A f A X X X X X X X X X 5 . XTQN X 5NNX I X X4 .X :X SX X435 X'Q'g:g,XX.JQi, T X X X XX f f f . 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R X E 1 c i 1 Q Q T4 S 1 'T 1 r From the bridge the Captain looks down at the empty deck, the expression on his face indicates deep concern and reveals affection, as well as the pride he has previously expressed, for his airmen. The men in the gun galleries around the flight deck turn questioning faces up to their skipper. From radar plot we learn the laps are now 45 to 50 miles away, flying in formation at r9,ooo feet. The fighter director radios Buie that he is about 4,ooo feet above the lap planes and that when he sights them, to NGO GET 'EM. Now the images on the radar screen break into a scattered jumble, we spend the next fifteen minutes sweating it out. Then the scattered little blurs on the radar screen assemble into orderly patterns and the orderly patterns are identified as friendly bogies, our planes. The taut expression on the Captain's face breaks into a smile . . . his boys are coming home. Soon we sight them, they drop in to the landing circle, then land. Buie comes up to the bridge to report to the Captain 3 trying hard to appear calm and casual, he verifies and amplifies the fantastic story as it was revealed to us by the magical little blurs on our radar screens. He estimates that the Iaps outnumbered his outfit two to one, thinks it doubtful that any of their planes ever got back to wherever they came from. One of our Hellcats had its rear elevator rudder shot up, put out of control so that the pilot could not have made a carrier landing, he bailed out and para- chuted down just ahead of our task group and was picked up by one of our destroyers. Air intelligence ofiicers interview each pilot, crosscheck their observations. The Captain sends his report to Rear Admiral C. A. Pownall, in command of our Task Group. In this action between I2 of the Lexingzoffs Hellcats and 21 to 23 enemy fighters and bombers, Zekes and Haps, I7 of the enemy's planes were shot down, four more listed as probables. As we did not lose a man, the score stands I7 to o. To communicate the lusty enthusiasm, in evidence among the deck crew, to all hands below, the Captain has each pilot come up to the bridge and tell it all over the public address system. It is a press agent's dream of a million dollar all-star broadcast. Not a single word of bravado or heroics from any one of these boys, but a crackling humor that Bob Hope or Fred Allen might envy. Not one of them would admit that he had done anything really worth mentioning during this shindig, , 6 1 I i f' Tidy I .v, 4 . x .. J, . f X ,ggi- r WAITING-THE SKIPPER SWEATS IT OUT! x ef' -5 gi A .2 qs 1 if . ,5 N . ., Q. sw: . , , V ' ' N45 C 1f'1'. 1' V X L . I - 5, , l r .'9':-M .Q VT ,ml fr ' .xl . X , ' ' ,, , 1 'Iwi ,' 'xt . - 'Sfuu 'V V, 'I , 'YQ .51 dg,' ' ,y'R'Q'f x45'3, all 4 ' , 4-f , -, .IV - .,,-wig., A v, ,,., ,,' . f.ayLl,x9.N - , , JV f,.f,1L0i9' v' - H V ' V -aught ' V ' V' ' un . . 'K V, fi .. ' 'H'-' NNI 1-,,. 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Jan 1' Q2 -gf L' ff fi f ' 0 129' , ' ' 1'-V ' ' f V' 1 4, i W' ' V 'L . ' 'fi ,, V- - QW fffkyLf i::'Yi eV?'oJV4., V, ,- f'i ' V??Vf?ff5w.f Lkdfif'-V 5V ' ' Y N' 'V' ' ' VY YV V 4 K ,V,-V'1,gV:V,: , ' L 1 i V , ' - 'Q 4 if '1 -i:Mi-'1WSVM-VmV:V.:iaV.'' z- ,Va ,V ' --2:1-Vw: 'V -,e . V ' V - 1' -' - W ',. V A My, Vw., ' f' Vf V. 1 '- , 4, wV19.V,:.h ,---,Vw-f,ffV ,Jaffe '51 . . , 4' :, ,, 'ff ,M . ' 5 ' - , 'S V,.f.IZ , ' Q17 . '51, Ulf V ' -V V. , ,XM V , A -1 . 1 1 ! , 477: ,I A , B V , 4 ,V V r O, h .mm-.MR .w.,,.i , - ' K. , sgwgw, w -4, ,. 12 f., 5 M. 31 Cui , f ,,. Q ' 5 7 1 41 A , e 5. , ,a :ggi i . Y F Q' . , f , f 1 ' 1 3 ff 1 53: L 5. ' is QE l. V ' K 414 I i I . . E ,. X wg T 6 . .-3 l ily Aw, 1 ,, Q 5 . 1 THESE TWO GOT SEVEN r I . 1 1 . 1 ,n ' 5 no one claimed any special achievements. There I found myself sitting on a Nip's tail, so I give him a squirt and the son of a gun dis-in-te-gratesf' If one found himself in a tight spot, a couple of our guys would come in on the Nips, out of nowhere, and of course that was that. Whatever inner reactions these boys may have experienced in the swift mad violence of that air battle, they sound here like a ball team that has just drubbed the daylights out of the other side in the first game of the season. The roster of their names is out of the grab-bag of nationalities that went into the American melting pot. Here they are, the winning team, as they appear in the photograph on pp. 46-47: Seyfferle-Fizalkowski-Frendberg-Buie-Bartol-Whitmore-Fleming-Hanks-Rucinski -Iohnson-Rolfsen. They hail from cities, towns and farms. From Ohio-California-North Dakota-Georgia-Wisconsin-Kansas-Oregon-Idaho-Vermont-Illinois-New Iersey. Take Hanks-Lt. Eugene R. Hanks of Gibbs, Idaho-it was the first time he had ever seen a plane with the rising sun, the meat ball insignia. It was the first time he had to put into practice the precept that had been so hard to swallow during his many months of training, Kill, or get killed. Well, today Lt. Hanks shot down five enemy fighter planes, to become an ace in less than five minutes. From now on his squadron mates will be referring to him as Five-shot Hanks. Captain Stump gets a message from the skipper of the Yorktown' NICE WORK SAVE SOM , ' 1 E FOR US NEXT TIME . --CAPTAIN CLARK. And from the Captain of the battleship Alabama: NICE GOING, BUT HOW ARE MY GUNNERS GOING TO GET ANY PRACTICE.--KIRTLAND. I 49 ,L-3 fx ,vm X 4.4- x ,. a', s.-N - 1 .fn , 4 'N v A ,- nk .lf UK L-sw , V is: '-S. J Z :VNS ' iii? 1. 4 0' .P W 1 w 1 9 I? 1 v E . , f fi , , , 'L '. ,4- ,411 ' ,.v I in l'Y , . , E ' Y ' ' , 4 . v 'www' ,W 4 x E , - t LM,-v-A- ' A ' - ' ' ' iw ' K . , -v 0 W'n MN ,,,, ,M 0 'M . A I Xkkx K . E hx Qu .f :Q5,,,,.,.R,,..k ..n,-,N.. ' 1- K .r :y xfk X'xA fy A 9 'if ' 'A xx A A h 4j-.L M 4 1 . f.,.,. , . A-:gy 1, H-, I ' 2 f'1'+ 'y'a-W 1.1 - 1 ,I WM ., ' ' '3fff M+ rf ' 'V l!duf , , ,. -wg, --1'-qu , 1 VL ' V 52 A DESTRQYER RETURNS DUNRED PILOT-XYE PAY zo GALLONS OF ICE CREAM RADAR PLOT BOYS BRING SCOREBOARD UP TO DATE T I r J 7 i i JG?-and it's turkey dinner with trimmings for everyone. The Marines have blasted, burned, and dug out the enemy and raised the flag on the trunk of a defronded palm tree at Tarawa. The first U. S. plane has just landed on Betios airstrip. They are also setting up the little white crosses over the graves of the I,O26 U. S. Marines reported killed. One hopes that some of their 2,557 wounded are able to eat turkey today. Said USMC,s Major General Holland M. Smith: No way has yet been found to make war safe or easyf' The U. S. now holds the Gilbert Islands. Lexin g1f0n's Hellcats have completely smashed two successive attempts by the enemy to send aircraft from the Marshalls to aid their hard-pressed garrison on Tarawa. Buie's boys are officially credited with shooting down 29 planes in these two interceptions. They left few, if any, of the enemy's planes to get back to their bases. None got through to Tarawa. We head Westward towards friendly waters and a rendezvous with the entire task force. to rest, refuel, and reorganize for the next operation. The destroyer that picked up our pilot after he had bailed out of his damaged plane, in that first combat interception, comes alongside and sets up the gear to send him over. A voice from the destroyer calls out, What are you paying for aviators today? Benny Wright promptly shoots back with Twenty gallons of vanilla and we throw in a couple of crates of oranges. So we get 53 our flyer, and the destroyer boys eat ice cream and get a whiff of fresh fruit. It is in the tradition that for every airman picked out of the drink', the carrier pays tribute in gallons of ice cream. All Navy airmen have a soft spot in their hearts for the destroyers. In Navy lingo these tough and doughty ships are affectionately dubbed cans,', they do all the mean and many of the heavy chores of a task force, and they are known for dishing out and taking punishment out of all proportion to their tonnage. The imposing, awe-inspiring array of Naval vessels now assembled in this quiet sector of the Pacific is evidence of how much the fleet has grown since Pearl Harbor. Aircraft carriers dominate the picture. Great CV's, sister ships of the Lex, CVE's, escort carriers, and off on the horizon the gaunt, unmistakable silhouette of the Sczmzfoga, a sister ship of the old Lexington. Not far from us rides another grand old war bird, the big E, the Enterprise. While meandering around on the flight deck getting pictures of the boys lolling around, play- ing games, sunning themselves, the Captain's voice comes barking from the bullhorn telling me, and incidentally all hands, there is a good picture to be had if I can get to the fantail in a hurry. I sprint down to, and along, the full length of the hangar deck, dodging around and under planes, arrive breathless at a hatch leading to the fantail where I bump squarely into F rank Morris. Morris, war correspondent for C 0ZZz'er's Magazine, is breathing a little sharply himself. When he heard the Captain's message he concluded that where there is a picture, there is also apt to be a story. It was a good try but we both muffed it. A destroyer had come in to deliver a pouch of secret mail, but the maneuver had been quick and so smooth that when we got there it was all over and the destroyer was already heading for somewhere else. There are not many methods of taking things easy on a carrier, but we try all of them. Reading, studying, sleeping, poker, and in secluded corners maybe a nice little crap game. Sometimes it is sit and chew the fat, and sometimes it's just plain sit. Any two men that are not doing one of these things are sure to pull out their pocketknives for a game of mumblety-peg. r j 1 A I - - - f, A +I E -f I QL 'R 1 - x cj S Q 0 , ' . Wfjgz-Af fi ,, 1 b , A QQ NN A ' XANX - T x- , , - , A A x x- - Q P '4 I Egg Y A f i 1 ' M 2 , Q ff ff A W, f, ,ry ffm ,if , fy ,, , X571 X f , ' 4 1 ' 4 ' f' Way! ,iff , fffff' Cy if ,V , A fffyfy A WORK 012 ART IS PLACED ON EXHIBITION 35 W f'm-.-L...':,,.Q - . A 5 ,,,,,N, ' wr ,e A -Y 5 5 . In -4+ , W9 Q P K F 1 A If K .A wh H ' W! ' ' MW . f Aung-QT., THE BIG MOBILE DLRRIQK IS A BAQQKGRQUND FOR THE DISPLAY OF HQW TO TAKE 2 :N Q ,A N ,, ... Q5 1 1 1 , V ? ,WM x E 2 5 11 Iii gi El 2 1 4 1 fl J 3 1 a S s i 5 'fix 3 Dfw ,,v 7 ., '-in -4:-- S-wx A 1 , 'QQ G 1-.,, ff A Q- ,A , 'f '4 .sus-h'5hvm,-t fi, '-AJ T . QS. bw THINGS IJXSX UN A fQfXRRlliR Q MUMBLETY-PEG-THE NUMBER ONE SPARE TIME DECKQXCTIVITY The men, in small groups, are sprawled around the deck, some choose the hot sun on the open deck, others parli themselves in the shade of a plane's wing 3 they pillow up for each other in a fine earthy fellowship, reminiscent of colts resting under a tree or alongside the fence of a pasture, the head of one colt draped over the neck of another, or again, something in the manner of a litter of puppies, all curled up over, under, and about each other. During easy-going days and hours like these, the battle reports we receive from active combat areas seem as unreal and as remote as they seem to most people who live heyond the reach of the enemy's instruments of war. 58 w 1 V I 5 a w n 1 L 1 4 H13REfQFfiAxv1. 111411 PUPS IN A 1412NN1 31fyP11,Loxv uv lULwl'.lHl1K in A CALM FRIENDLY NVATERS-LONG LAZY HOURS-WAITING-XNfAITING-WAITING ,,.-, - .- an 5 ww ,-. ,,, ml 'W 'Q xi Lf , N ., , I L -arf- fzl Vg -A, 9,7 2 j . , - H .1 -xv -11. L , f ,A ,1,,M . ,H ,Av L , wig, .. Q. 5, 1 ' x A , W4 ,, . , - .. 1 , f r , Sw, M , -hunky , 'P-.wr V ' X . J A .,A -- - ' 'N ' ha- ! - - ff: . - , .. I SEQ X - S-' 4, . -. I .Lx-uf? M 5, f S. , ff '-wif, 4 W S ,, ,Q ,, q, 1 'V x 7' K A an nw A il., ?v5'f',f ' Mg. 4, fy ' 'ii' f ,f ,fn - ,, . ,, 29+ M f , X fu V2 ' , ' .1 Mgr' fe., f ,, ff ,445 f, i JKMJ' 5: A - THE TANKER NEOSHO COMES ALONGSIDE TO REFILL OUR GAS AND OIL TANKS I I in -. ,-n Z' f it FF' - .. A,.. . . , -........- H P- N H--M1 -1-W - a.:.pgt2aada.,-.. -..-5.4 - . 1, 14 A-6? idltkw comes alongside, we make some tricky cable and hose connections and she begins to pump a new supply of gas and oil into the carrier's great storage tanks. The weather gets rough in the strip of water between the two ships as they travel along during this refueling operation. Big waves build up, then splash over the tanker, making tough and very wet going for its crew. I try for a picture of one of these big splashes, wait and wait, eye glued to the finder, finally a big one comes and as I wind up the film Felix Stump says, So that's what you waited so long for. Smoking is forbidden during refueling operations or during the transfer of gas at any time. When the loud speakers announce, The smoking lamp is out, everybody douses his smoke, and it's no smoking until word comes, The smoking lamp is lit. The tanker refueling us is the N eoslzo. I receive a message on N eoslzo stationery, c'Noticed you on bridge with camera, if your results are good will appreciate a print so much. E. B. Chase, Lt. M.C., USNR. Makes me feel important to be recognized by a brother lens-man on another ship. Our task group now heads back toward the Marshall Islands to strike the enemy air bases and anchorages of Kwajalein, Roi, Namur, and Wotje. Detailed plans for this air operation are worked out at a joint conference by Admiral Pownall and his staff with the air group and squadron com- manders of the three carriers in task group 5o.I: the Lexington, Yorktown and the Cowpens. Comdr. Ernie Snowden, our air group's commander, is to be in charge of the attack at the target. In the torpedo squadron ward room Isely briefs his pilots. I listen in while he is talking and make a few Hash shots. Faces are set and serious, maybe the yawn is casual indifference and maybe it isn't. He tells them that there are several Iapanese cruisers and destroyers at Kwajalein atoll. Again I wonder where all of this detailed information about the enemy coines from. Tomorrow morning, December 4th at sunrise, our planes will take off to strike Kwajalein atoll and any units of the lap fleet that may be there. The air department is all steamed up over the prospect of finally getting a whack at some of the elements of Tojo's very elusive Navy. On the blackboard of the VT-16 wardroom, Bob Isely has chalked: HGET THE CRUISERS.,, J 'fi 63 32- , I Q91 it 5 9 1' 4 , 'X 'T Si i Q! 3 2 9 X N fm? . r, M mf' . ', 5 .ig 'iviw mf, avi , : Taft- yf. , '33, ,514 :lv Q T Z5 ,gs ea: 42 gi' fix' 1 X , QQQJHKYK A . X, an i if , I X ll x- ss. . 'L '0c'K '4- .ara . i .dsl c --zu yu F yr s as-S' .f A .. A .mga 4 1 -fx ,wg gf Q-hal Y if-T-. vm! .ZW . N, eg If X ' lf' . A x'-9:46. U '-ga We I 4 'T'-TI ' 1 114'u T .'5m '-w MWA, M 3 f X yi X 4 f , f ,- 5 I 1 Wf , ,f ' - T T .T V ,T 1 -9- T f .wggivtz -Q, OUR CQREW WATCQHESPDECQIDES IT MUST BE TOUGH GOING ON TANKERS 65 ' ..,,,, .077 -: 4 f' A . ,M fflqf' Y M M, f 'M 43 I I 'V ' 3 r if w 4 s .gh ,. 1 uv x Vjkf ' 1. H 1. ' N ' Q ., 1 1 I ff-if - , 'j 'lisiaz-'w,-: 1. AZ 4' RL-1 'A Q ' ' yy ? Yfi tw liif ' ' Q? WW 2,4 V w f'v. 71 5. mf'-ig, ., 1 ff V , 'P--r.'i,E'fi'5f3,f-'a.f V V, v :1-1-1' ' -:-at 0'ki',,1,, zlffxsyfefgi -'i'wZ,fff-'- f ,Q-L . gr V -,--gm, v-A . rv A- f - , 5 Lgj, - L',f,-' -1 x-,Q-,W M, f ' ww P 5 k XF: - P 'rl .. Q, 1. X fff ' X 1 . 1-1.-.QF-ar.i.J.o.... , l -2 Y .1 .' ,173 . .,...... . -... 5 gh . 1 .1 , Sw f 5 . . , -Cv-...-uh.. ' r .q--n 's Q ,... . V A .2 4.11, ,, sqq4 fh2l'? li 'Xia fa.-. J. f . . .Q '13, 5 , Win nf.. :,,'.-v,-1 6 -, Q 'i,?g-.wf?5ff.,. af f -, .1 - .. 21:igi3'i13::g, ,. ,- L , nr., . ., -Hr Max V. L .-: . X5 , ww 1 I 32 ' s x .U q 'Q- m iv- . 3 v 5 I , r .H , K ,C v , X 1 1 I ,ii ' ,Qi 1 7 yur v iq? 1'1- -. vm 1 Sf'- , ,A L I I . K. iw 4, -f 2 ,U I. I -Q UR TI-III BIG SI 'N I .. ,. .., -....W -....,,. M. W. ....... ....-, Y . ., R I PY: -1- - Y, , . 'T' - ' 1 . QQ - ' V ' 'YEA we -. ', rrfs' '-- A 'V - L Va- 7 V. . 1552- - - -nuns' A' ' I 3 . 1 'b ze., ' inn I J 4:11.40 5 :Q U .. .. Z' x ' . 5 -3 A ' . 'T , ' ' 0 f f ' a Q. I . n E . . ' '1- 5 f' A - x .1 A 5 4 x x x f w. 5 I S m 2' i v V W f A r 2 pw 1 ' 5 4 Y. F ff-'f-1-' , L 4, ,,..,.. ., , 3 i I ,, nz N, A . 1 E, 'vw XA xx az .R fwk in X0 x 4 Sw 6 5' X Exit-Q i v 5 3 L 1 Jw? kk X, Q I V :J 4? x ,U va X , Q'- j I ,. K f- ' Q A w- xi A 4, 'V'2,. ga X , a vw 1 , 4 ,., ,- . - ,i' fy' -, H., S 'f.5 X I lik wx X . I .V f R . ff, ' Q15--fu:,v4,.,,, ., , ' '. 'l'1Cu-Quin ,,..- Q.. ??, Rpzbgriw H r V K .1,,4,, ' . kk V I 5' -'Z X ' 5 W V I ' ' f., f -v ,Q ,ff ,. ,,:- ' ' .152 i ,,,,Q9iw4f 'M,. W 1' W1 , . 2,45 A5516-f . L, A if , :ini yi? LA 7,z3Q,,q ., 1 5 Q ' 4 fgff-yf , 1 wx ' , f-fQfm .fZ . 3 1. ,A 4- rig 4133 ,ww ..., . ., '---,M I f - ., 'inf' .W , - i. .15 R TAKEOFF AT SUNRISE 2.330 14. M 4 2606016-64. The operations for the day begin with the Calling of the mess men and steWard's mates. There is a big battle breakfast to be prepared, with steak, ham and eggs, and fried potatoes to make a solid foundation for whatever the day,s operations may have in store for us. There is Coffee to be made, eauldrons and Cauldrons of Coffee will be consumed con- tinuously throughout the day. 3:40. The air department and pilots and all flight personnel are Called. 4:00. They breakfast. 4:30. Reveille. V 5:00. Breakfast for the ship's Crew. The air department goes to I-light quarters. 5:52. General Quarters. All hands take up their battle stations. 6:15. In the dim gray light of dawn, planes on the flight deck are manned, the air ofI'icer's orders Come bellowing from the bullhorn. USTAND CLEAR OF PROPELLERSV, . . . HSTART ENGINESV, In a few seconds We have the ear-splitting, thundering roar of nearly one hundred planes Warming up their engines. 6:30. UPREPARE TO LAUNCH AIRCRAFTV, . . . HLAUNCH AIRCRAFTV, The starter holds up and rapidly twirls a little Checkered Hag in the rev-'er-upn signal to the 69 2 ff' u ,W ' f ' y f if yfv. M, I 6, 4 2 1, Vw Q X X 5, ,Q X f V X K, ii , V? X at I ' 5' , 12623 I ' , xy Q, , , 'f-2. 'x ' A , I Q . Q v, 2,32 A , s ,xg N x. L YY A 1 me w gc .. 'X K A -n Vx 'x L. k Q Q- ,J l 1 .- 1 4 Q , . H . -. g 5 . 'T .- f A W 4- 4 ,- , A s X 1 4 . W, Mag... ., 1 m N K X 4 , f Q , 9 r . 45 1 1 , Z, T cz f 641' 'VE v ,if , , ..,4 1 451 'mr' 1 5 1 , I ff .o ,, Q 44 rf w 1 4 1 1 f X THE TARGET 4 H .3 a n. . 1 ,, . ,VH 4 r fs 5,.. isis: K BURNING JAP DESTROYER CIRCLES-OUT OF CONTRGL are taking off now from the Roi airstrip. Hellcats go after them. Yorktown fighters plaster the sea- plane base at Kwajalein. Ernie Snowden says something about a big tanker blowing up. Air combat sounds pretty hot over and around Roi, someone reports seeing one of our planes limp down towards a submarine we have stationed at a specific spot to pick up any of our airmen that are shot down. My throat gets drier and drier. Radio cross talk is now about the rendezvous for the trip back . . . they are homeward bound. Every man on the ship stationed where he can see the sky becomes a lookout, eyes are focused to where we expect returning planes. There is no betting today, this is a big time strikeg everybody has his hunches, some of these are grim. We get messages from damaged planes anticipating trouble in landing. We try to look into the sky spaces that are beyond the reach of eyesight. The seeming unconcern of a few of the junior officers on the bridge gets to be irritating. Maybe the boys in the crippled planes will bail out . . . that worked fine at Mille . . . the first planes will soon be here . . . I get busy with my camera. 74 Ol 4 o'af ..g1,,,.n , 'J-Q? ,gin in 8 Q Q . I 'vp Q X -' It-'lk'-T, . A , LM ll V yd bn- VM- '1-F-f ,. ' A . 1 , :L A . in , 'Q f .1 g - 1 ., ,bb X MCH 14011 Rl Il RNINLI 171 ,ww 1.0 'al ' 4 's .-:-, . ef K 4 ' ,Q , ,I s ' . , ' rw U fsgk X f I EXCITEMENT OVER PLANES BACK FROM THE STRIKE . -,xxx . R - It begins to look as if everybody on the ship had wangled up some reason Why he had to be topside at this time. The crew wants to get all Hthe dopew direct, and just as soon as the first plane lands, they scramble out of the gun galleries onto the flight deck and around the plane. The Captain sharply orders all unassigned personnel off the deck. VV ith damaged planes coming in, this crowding would be dangerous. Some ships make successful landings, others crash into the barriers. The deck crew clambers all over the planes looking for flak damage. There is a continuous, restless milling- around among the damaged ships. 76 01,4 .. 1 cv 'mw'f'Z -wg 4, ,, 3 swf .1 us-l' 'v N .ng-sw , H ,fr - 1 m Q I. ,- Hg- . PHY.. -w. x,.,.,.,. Q- D ,..f ,QA . ..4x. N.- iw ff .., H -. -We ruwvg. '25 'QS-.11 -qw QU- .-VL Alf- T . 4.4 ...- n,.. W ' -...quit-f4'.' TE.- .., J, ,.,.r. .4- ,f y. --In ,af 1 Q J - '3'h..-'vw'-,-avi-V, f . , '. ' I A A - 3 ,.,. . at my vig? 71 In V .. ,. w,1n-f1n.- :yk,Qpn..-41'ixn.,v.:b5g:n.,1f,vZ f-Lldil -'Q'-'lzlfflvf- un -,-- ' . ff ' - ' 1 - Z' V , '- 23 1, v-'aff I -f-F' 1 Y 1 ...-v-nnsv-:nur :e'1,.-.dnngw-wdflrwu-nfvvltrvfr V V , , . . mfg' ' px. ,, , '..' x.'cf N - 'W '--1 X -my -. 1- . .-...z-.N . -fn ...a5-.'1 - -.Q-.-a.-,-M Q ' ov ,I -A v my :fin--nfvr-,+,pv,-Affff U A-v Q ,-:.,.,j ,,,..... -.4 , - , -'ff' - ' T42,'iE?t'0ix- .MW ' 2 :, lfra. . 'vvid -'K:-ii .. , ' ' pv.,'nn 'n,Qef1lS-c'1IH'k'f'v-, ' . f 5. , if -I ' ug, ff S . 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M-Mfas,w.f l,v,,,, kA', V X' ', . llfl 514397, 1, .,, ,lf I V, I I I , '.m,1,,1A1f , ai V 'V ww ,, ' 1,1 , 7 ff ' 1 , fm mi 1 . 'A' , , I. ,, A 5 .-'HBA -.my .3 H, fc 'A an .' xg 1 'V ,. tn. ff 0 -m x x u 5: x lx ' ,.s w ix Q :vm v .op Q0 NV Y ff. 2 M wg ab Haw K 4 , , Q Q sf: 'Q ... QQ' 4 ,HLXAA . 1 1 uno A LUKE-TALKS IT OVER ERNIE sNowDEN REPORTS TO THE CAPTAIN-FRANK MORRIS LISTENS xii' iVl ',s'Q,w4fj, c An target. He gives a vivid description of a big tanker blowing up after it was torpedoed, says Hames shot over a thousand feet into the air. He was flying at 1o,ooo feet at the time of the explosion, but in a few seconds the rising smoke towered several thousand feet above him, took on the shape of a giant black thunderhead cloud. fda? Ernie Snowden directed the operations of all planes over the Ralph Weymotlth says his dive bombers began the attack on the cruisers, under persistent questioning he admits he sent one torpedo directly into one of them himself. The old phrase of approval all wool and a yard widen fits Bob Iselyg there is a fine forth- rightness about him. He sees the war not as a professional job or an adventure, but as a war that must be won. He is proud of this morning's work by his squadron, yet leans over backwards to avoid overstating the case. It would be hard to tell just how much damage we did on our runs, because we didn't stick around after we unloaded! We got at least two direct torpedo hits on one cruiser and at least one on another, we also got one into the big cargo transport. We learn that Rucinski-who started out in that balky F6F, came back, got off in another plane-caught up with his outfit and shot down two Zekes over Roi. From sick bay comes good news, none of the men is seriously wounded. Two of our planes do not return. The crews are listed as missing. 1 7, ', f , , , , 'QU iYyV!g!,f6!, V , X, XV f,y,,7y,,?i,J!LWiV fx 7,74 !,W7G ,,Z,!G,,,,f V, iff!! V, X! 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My guns failed to fire but I was going so fast that I carried out of his range and up to about 2,ooo', Both the Zeke and I reyersed course, recharged my guns and I made another pass at him from astern. Only one gun bred and I failed to knock him down. Again I carried on past him and gained a little altitude, and again we both reversed course putting me on his tail. I chased him down yery low in about a go' diye, fired at him, he did a sharp nose down turn from about 50' and hit the Witter about goo yds. southeast of Namur Island. Donit know whether I shot him down or chased him into the water. Other Zekes had in the meantime taken off and I considered it the better part of yalor to get the hell topside and join my own planes. So, cheerio, pip-pip, tootle-oo-P. D. Buief' 81 .Q 1 . 355. V . .QQ-ff: ' -- 5V 45' Q X zngg-,V . V,-L.Qf',Q. ., V-V VV fVV-iix,,Q-.V .. qv. --f, V ' 1 ,. .1 deg' ' .Q D . -V . V . 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Ng 1'1 ,V-HV . . . - . ,-,.-1 Diiciis cimixx' xxwiis VP on. ifRoM sPL1NTi2Ri5n DEER A Wounded pilot hrings in his Halq-tlainagetl Pol: No. I3 for a erash landing. He inalies a good landing but the tail hoolq ineehanisin tloesn't work, the plane lunges on into the first harrier, noses over. The propeller slashes up some tleela hoartls and a ruptured tank spews out oil. Plane handlers rush. forward to help the wounded pilot out of the eoelspit. and tire lighters hring up and ready their equipment in ease of fire. Deck oliieer Prather dashes ahout and ainong the inen, using salty one- syllahle wordsg he urges his erew to more faster, faster. S5 3 F- , i up ,wr , . nn k Q' 5 N x, 3 fx . a' i X if -vs k A-.U . MI xx V4 5, .5 , .45 I- --AWS.. by as - ' 9'vcr 1 , fx 1 . I -Q- Rn vt., ff-Qs . .1 165' A? '3 'x , J- 5... 4 M. ' il W ,va L it ff ,J r . n s 'U 4,45 ,,k,,, .. J .. 34 , Mi. .- . ,Q -vu, I 1, . A X 1 2 1 If 1 if . Mw- 3-.f' 'Mn M. ,ve - .Y , Q .M Ld W gk - 'ww ww-i.,. ,K .R ,'.ws,,-A-Q.-' 1 , , ,A I- 55 i .,,:.:4yg-, Z, I A WY! 1 Y 5 A .3 p A yftf lf' PRfX'I'HlIR VSIZS CQOLORITUL LANGUAGE-MFREELY Ensign V. A. Prather, USN, in charge of the flight deck crew, is a colorful officer: colorful on three counts, voice, language, and gesture. Nothing is ever done fast enough to suit him. Wlieil his overworked vocal cords go on strike, the rest of him becomes more vehement. The crew takes all this in its stride as it takes the weather and seems to recognize the merit of his intentions. He knows his Navy, knows his sailors, believes in Navy tradition, but he will tell any out- ranking officer Where to get off as quickly as he will bawl out a seainan. Today, he brings his explosive energy to the boiling point, bearing down on one and all, gets things that seem impossible done with incredible speed. S5 A Wf 49f '95f ..av nv.. ,H v Q .ar 1' F 1 X n gy 15 fn X at X X ,N 1 ,f f , W f ,,.. ' ldv 40, on. 1. ,ai Lis. 4 1 f X ' 4 , ff ff, fx ' 4 W ,m1,4f ' f f f , fum' W if ff W w f ff, fo' ff f A f f In any lull in today,s excitement, mimeographed copies of today's, Dec. 4, 1943, HRADIO PRESS NEWS get passed around and we read '4What's cookin, in the rest of the world: Washington-The world waited announcements today from the con- ference of President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and Premier Stalin believed to be under way in Iran. Allied HQRS. Algiers-American Flying Fortresses lashed out at the newly constructed Nazi submarine base at Marseilles in southern France for the first time. Cleveland-Pitcher Al Smith of the Cleveland Indians has been reclassified as l-A by his draft board. London-Huge flames still raged in Berlin late today, following the fifth raid on the German capital by heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force in the past two weeksg it was believed that about 1,000 bombers participated in the raid. Forty-one British planes were lost in attack. Washington-Representative Hoffman of Michigan said on the House floor Thursday that President Roosevelt is campaigning for the Presidency of the world. n ound 14 ounce son born Mrs Helen 0'Brian California-A seve p . wife of Forrest Lee 0'Brian, Electrician First Class, aboard the U.S.S. Wahoo. Washington-U. S. submarine the Wahoo with a valiant record of undersea fighting was reported overdue and presumably lost. Cairo Conference-The United States and Britain assured President Chiang Kai-shek that the Burma Road would be reopened. Sacramento-A resolution proposing that the Japanese held at Tule Lake, Calif., be exchanged for American prisoners of war held by Japan was withdrawn by the State War Council on request of Gov. Warren. London-Jan Christiaan Smuts, Prime Minister of the Union of North Africa and War Cabinet Member, suggested that Britain strengthen her osition in western Europe lest she become a weak and unequal P partner in the great trinity of powers-Britain, the United States, and Russia. New York-The stock market closed generally lower today in quiet trading. 87 Sq , Q X x 3,4 - . ,I- 1 5 Q., U , nm fa. ' X . ezwflyfc ,..,,. ,4 , ,fkww , 1, ,. Vg - i+ , f , dw g' 1 ft ' 'fy - .J 4' :xx 572-85. x ' ,, fu v 'Z 353115 I if I I M-,f.,,'5U n , Ii f . X . .. , , :Cx 5c'i?j'a Q., , '. QS'-L -, ' ' A' T,,g,3,,?f.5,QA.1 Q , W .sax rr- .'f,f . .fp ,1, , U , '-- , gh.: . Rv ,- n,,-1 4wgm:,l,:.f:,wf ,nf-J,.gi,: X L. 192 , Am... 325114. ---gy Y - ,-gsmlfa mm 'ffwff . Av!! E ENSICEN BULL DURHAM INDICATES HE GOT TWO Landing the wounded airmen in their hattle-damaged planes has heen slow and nerve-racking. We bring home the rest of the planes with the usual snap and hang, get grins from some pilots as they taxi forward along the deels: with lingers up signaling eomhat sueeesses. Ensign Bull Durham indicates he has downed two laps. 'When he gets out of his ship he is promptly surrounded hy a group of admiring plane handlers, readily admits that he did a great job polishing off those two Nips, describes it all in full detail. One lad remarks, Them fighters sure got what it takes all right. I wonder how l would do if l was a fighter. TELLS ADMIRING FANS JUST HOW HE BUfRNED THEM gg MK xx X, 5, x NX x Q :xg Xxx X Mf- 'TH' We rl' Q fx x .4 - X' P xt Q. if wk 1. ' X M' N A : 3 T -, NA, Q-NN J ' .:': f -4 J ix - Q.: 1 .1 wi fwuus. I 1-gf ' 1 'Q XA N X K v X X X M Q - - Q W ' YN Q ' K X a g Y'XN1- , 9 + 7 .1 , Fe-'Q 1 I 3 vw 1,4 S Xi x iwx X' + X L ' s -. qi N i X A A wg, 5 misvma-X W ggi A mf Xi- +5 ,X wg, xy X: , wlge Nkigws ki, , f. Q -1,9 'sffki 'A-' in , .. S. 1 1 r i 6 1 J ... a .t L q A, ,Q .., ,,, Q x X fr., 5 , xg , V , . KL ' X ,I xi 'A Q, Ar .2 ' ,113 - f xl-'U -, Q 5 u , 17 . be E .31 5 2 4 i S I 1 X MECS GET BUSY-OVERHAUL AND SUCK 'EM UP AGAIN 92 3+ H Qu 'Y 5 .X .XX 'K 5. X , X-qs 2X1 NEA! . 'W Xa 'SX' 3 1. M sw. ,Xu ., Ag ,.-M,. , - WJ- vwp ,rl. nl kg' fin V , . ' A -wif 1 f ' Epi' ' ,r WW' QF fa gf f 0 ,if is 1 4 ' . X lf .VV nw, fins XXX. W QQ 1. 9 Xil' XY FFXI X XX . X X...1XQ x -QNX WN XXXXR Xj SL-1 XXQXQX .X . QX X S. XXXX . N 53N N X silk'-XTX ff X N XXX-X -X KX fS Fifa ,X Xmwxy X X ,XX .XX XXX. X X XX XX X5 X 'N XXX . X 55- Xf NQXrwNaXX F X XX 'FYR -X-X X YES g V5 RX X X I X X X X X5 N0 XX XX X X X S XX X X X X X XX Q X5 X i X X- X .XX XXQXXQX XX X3 N X X E X X X5 Q Y S X X XX N X N X N X Q X 3 X X Q X X N Qi X XX X -Q XXX- L, X. Nil . XX. XX-1 XX A X,.X -XXX? . ,IF xA.S XXX X. WAX x 'XXX XX, XXX X . X- XXX:-1X XXX X -A -fX XX ' XX XA --Q QXXQ Xx X..k EXXX QQ, XX XX TEX. ' X -XX Xfxj' X'- ' 'if' X I am always reluctant to go below during the daytime because I might miss something topside, but now our planes are home, the excitement of the strike over, ship activities are following normal routine, so it seems both safe and expedient to go down to my quarters to replenish stock and equip- ment, number exposed rolls of film, bring notes on the subject matter up ,to date. I While attending to these things, GQ. is suddenly sounded and it is All hands man your battle stations. While the alert gong is still sounding I stuff some film in my pockets . . . Vic dashes in and does the same. Our 5 inch guns begin firing, down here they sound like bomb hits. We grab cameras, head for topside, get there in time to see an immense column of smoke and fiames rising from the water just ahead of us. It begins to sound as if all the guns on the ship are pounding hell out of something we can't even see. Now, luminous tracer bullets are being fired at a plane directly overhead. Down on the Hight deck Buie is waving his arms wildly and yelling some things that even gunfire can,t drown out entirely, his face is livid with fury-we are shooting at one of his planes! I head up to the bridge where I can see in all directions, arrive there in time to see another patch of fire and smoke on the water toward the stern, learn we have just shot down three Kates, Iap torpedo bombers. They came in at us from the starboard side, skimming low over the water about twenty seconds apart. The entire action, from the firing of the first gun to the last shot, took place within ninety seconds. We also shot down one of our own fighter planes, later find out that a destroyer picked up the pilot who was fortunately not hurt. The first warning came at II :57 A.M. when our radar picked up unidentified bogies about IQ miles out, and our combat air patrol over: head was vectored out to intercept them. GQ. was ordered at I2 103-at I2 :04 ship's lookouts visually spotted the first enemy plane at II miles, heading for the Lexington. When he got to 4,500 yards one of our 5 inch batteries opened up and the Kate started to smoke, at 2,500 yards flames began to show, then our 40 mm's opened up, the plane banked, then exploded in fiames and plunged into the water about 300 yards ahead of the Lex. ' S R a L I 2 94l I I xfx - f, if -A ',,. 4.Q!ua,,g,0 .M :IPA -, ,N fmv, V, 4 W , 3 1'-f I g,..gv,, if if 1 , if wa-M. V, ' 'Q ' ' ' ,, - 1 , 45 W 14 -, ' ' A Q., , wt ,gf A I ,W QQf,f.-, Y' exam. 1 xl! -yr W4 1. , 1. L xg. V ,qui 1-in-kuw,,+ejY'w:vq,V 'iv '35 . WE ARE ATTACKED-FEEDING AMMUNITION TO THE BARKING fo MB gl IS 9 w , ' i. QAQ THE FIRST JAP KATE CAME IN LOW SKIMMING OVER THE WATER-IS HIT T 1 Iust after the first Kate began to Hame, a second appeared and this was in turn met by our 5 inch shells, burst into Haines and crashed 1,500 yards from the starboard beam. At the same time lookouts located a third Kate, this time the 5 inchers missed, but the 40 mm's Went after this one. At about 2,000 yards it launched a torpedo, then banked and exploded as it arched into the water about 400 yards off our starboard quarter. The torpedo passed astern, missing us by about 100 yards. This is an exciting hour for the Lcx1'1zgzfon,' it is the first time she has been under direct attack and as one of the gunners said, c'It was a case of biff-biff-biff, the Iaps set 'em up-We knocked 'em 96 In 4 Q. -.s ful T' ' 4' I. . ,. 6? I at , ' ui t A g 'v r ,K JY, . A 1 ..,, if- -. r I ,Sh 'qv - ' -Nb-nc, br dl' Y. t , v A. ,...,,m ,K ,, f C f, xh . ,h 5, B y I I fa I 5 . . 'H I l x : ':- -Q-My , A Q fa? uf- ,QQ B , 8 , 2 Q ,', .'4 114, -,g ,, 41 wf,,f,L X an down. These quick, straight-shooting, young gunners are feeling good, they certainly make no effort to conceal their pride. I have watched these boys at target practice on several occasions, was amazed at their extreme youth, most of them look like high-school kids. They have had com- paratively little target practice but they met this swift surprise attack today in the manner of seasoned veterans. They have just demonstrated how quickly the average American youth acquires a new know-how . . . learns how to handle a gun. The gunners on the port side gun galleries grumble about the guys on the starboard side having all the breaks, for the lap planes came in so low, the port gunners didn't get a chance to shoot, couldn't even see them. As the Lex was steaming past the burning wreckage of the first plane shot down, the port- side crew saw the Iap insignia, the bright red disc, on part of a plane's wing and were able to guess what happened. I hear one lad laughingly tell his chief about seeing some of the gun crew throw all handy loose tools at what looked like the heads of lap airmen bobbing around in the water. The chief explodes with, What the hell did they want to do a fool thing like that for, waste good tools, why didn't they turn the machine guns on the bastardsP,' Frank Morris comes along wearing the same style grin most of us are flashing. I-Ie is protesting that he has been out in the Pacific with the Navy for six months looking for action and nothing happened until this trip. You are either a Ionah or a rabbit's foot, depending on how I look at it, is the way he puts it to me. ihlong the flight deck everybody displays an expansive friendliness. War has moments when it seems almost like a ball game or a horse race. YVe,re the winning team out here today, we,re the jockey receiving a big Horal horseshoe after the race. I know I couldn't join in all this festive excite- ment if the trigger-happy 20 mm gunners, that failed to identify the I-Iellcat this morning before peppering it, had killed that pilot. VV hat a tremendous difference it makes, who gets killed . . . who throws the monkey wrenches and at whose heads . . . bobbing around in the water. I O15 'Q L it i A I 7 EXPLODES-CRASHES INTO THE WATER cREATEs AN IMPGSING FUNERAL PYRE 99 w QAQ FIRE AND SMOKE OE THE FIRST PLANE DOWN AHEAD OE THE LEX 4 3 A Q . af: A, QBQ THE SECOND PLANE JUST ASTERN OF THE LEX IS ALSO HIT I ' 'S I I pf 100 c 'iw' fx A A f KCI BLOXVS UP AS IT LANDS ON THE WATER The three photographs on these two pages depict the attacks on the Lex as seen from the U.S.S. Coufpens. The top left-hand picture was made at the same time as the one on page 98. The print on the next two pages shows the flaming arc of the third plane arching down in flames just after firing a torpedo at the Lex. This one was made from one of the destroyer escorts. 12:30. From the port side of the bridge we are watching the Yorlqzown land her planes .... What's that? . . . Strings of smoke-puffs just above the horizon, the distant rumble and boom of exploding shells, indicate that low flying enemy planes must be moving in for another attack. The skipper points his binoculars in the direction of the flring and I point my camera, begin taking pictures. It's too far away to see clearly what is going on, I flnd myself wishing they would head this way, want to get a close-up of a Iap plane coming in head-on . . . then develop a sickish feeling in the pit of the stomach as I realize with sudden clarity what it is I am wishing for. A big pufl of smoke appears beyond the Yorlqtown-undoubtedly a lap plane down. A gunnery captain points out another one closing in, a fast moving speck it seems to be flying directly over her deck, becomes a streak of flame, dives into the water, Hares up into a pillar of flre. 1 101 5 'S We .VA . .,, W .M 1 f E F I E E I F f I I- ..,..., ...f..-1X..,..,..,....1-fm ,W fy, f 1 Q-.ff , fu. 4' N, 53? v ' .J 'I fa I Q 1 , , 4 X .r r f 9 F A -. ,' I' Xxx X fs? Q X X .5 O Q .wav gnu! hr, I Wm f -4-.Nl ,.,- x ,M X 1 4, 0 ' A Y 'dy' X adn!! if ' f -,, , -x.,.. ... ,-' , X X r' NX , ?7'whf 'f' rf, 4 , f A: 'AX ' X ,XX..,.. , x- . ,Wm ,ggv ,C7,,7X., Jw X, ,, , , 9 Y A - X -W.. x . X. X x XX X up fy If :gig Q -N' ' ? ', 'Rig 'B VU QA3- Q0 ..Xf' QNX ...X , f - .X ,, M- ,-4 .M , -X XM X xx ,, W ' fi' 7'4f' f' 4 ,, wg l 1 'I 1 '- X XX f' x XQXX x xxx xx ' fm513,..f1q,fwql,, fX' X ' I . 'W' -,. T. fs--. X- . ' -,.. 'F' i ' fn- 'IQ p' 1' ' f 4' v K' ' A 6 X KE Af fiwxlx , ff. lv 3 ,-',,' Q. ,-1. '14 4, A 'Q Kam, Q' ', in , e - . X 0 1 1 X. 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H nv. if 'n Qin if , f- GUNNERY OFFICER POINTS OUT PLANES NOXW ATTACKING YORKTOUVN 104 11- . . ::L.:...Mu. , -- - ..-.l..l- - ...- - .. , i 1 ' as R ,E . ' 5 Q R 1 QBQ PLANE BECOMES A SHEET OE EIRE AS IT PASSES OVER HER STERN IOS -W,-1 .una The task force guns have ceased firing the distant puffs of smoke from exploding anti-aircraft shells gradually diffuse blow away The occasional wisps of fire and smoke from the destroyed ap planes now trail far behind us the sky looks sweet clean and casual again Prom radar plot comes word that all enemy bogies have disappeared and air patrols report all clear It feels good to hear men laugh On this fourth day of December 1943 two aircraft carriers bearing historic names of famed battles of the American Revolution receix e err p enemy planes destroyed them The skipper is proud of his gunners gives them the Navy s best salute WELL DONE Photographing attacking planes with a Kao camera is something like shooting an anti-aircraft gun at them, you point towards a speck which at first you can scarcely see and you aim and shoot as fast and as often as you can, try with each exposure to anticipate the split second when that moment's action will be at its peak. Now that it's all over, I find that I am feeling kind of limp and that my knees are a little wobbly . . . and boyl did I break camera rules today, the rules that call for a steady, easy, smooth, gently precise camera technique. If I had been working with film packs, I probably would have I ' ' , , ' - ' ' , ' I d th ' ba tism of fire . . . were attacked by land-based forgotten to pull the slide. GUR GUNNERY OFFICERS NWATCH AS IT QCD EXPLODES WHEN IT HITS THE WATER Fw W NK X 'xii X 1 . 1,. 1 P' . fa i x I 1: S fff XX 'il PLANE TAKES OFF NYITH AERIAL PHOTOS GE STRIKE FOR THE ADMIRAL ln the surprise attack on the LC,Tl'72gfO7Z we had everything our own way and it was an exciting, exhilarating experience for the crew. This attacli on the Yorfqtozwz, in which We were outsiders looking on, has produced a sobering effect. Looliouts and gunners are at their stations, their every move reflects hair-trigger concentration. Everything gets checlied and tested, adiustinents made, gun mounts, ainniunition racks, boxes, phones, lifehelts, helniet straps, all are given repeated once-overs. 108 --A--.- ...- .-....,.... ..--- ang ?N , A 4,:,,. .aff'. !'f': ' ' V A- W ' ' ' ,, if-nh.. '. ' ,.. ft-n'j,5Lz, ,Y '- ,+ gf GUNNKRS AND Iooigoi is .iid ox 'nnp fxl.IlR'I' M' IsAT'I'I.li s'1'fx'noN5 The men in hzittle hehnets :it inoiiotit stations gmd gnmimd the guns :md gun tiirrets e1'e'1te pictures reminiscent of those of zmeient wgn'i'ioi's on easements amd hzitdeinents. The hehnets worn Y hy the talkers, who receive amd tixmsinit orders amd reports. are very huge in order to zieeoininodzite zmd cover the phone hezidsets they wegni ,X gunner opens up the hziteh of ll 3 inehei' tiiiret amd has gi iooii ziroiind. :is if to ingdte sure 1 personally that those assigned :ls loolgoiits Lire regdly git then' stgmons amd on the ioh. HW X X X 1 tu 'l n I f '. MACHINE GUNNERS HOPE EOR MORE TARGETS-THE TALKER JUST WAITS 110 K We send up new flights of search and patrol planes, bring in the earlier Hights. While our bombers are taking off, I notice a stewardls mate in the gallery alongside the Hight deck watching these takeoffs. Moving up next to him, I tell him I bet a lot of people back in the States would be willing to pay a hundred dollars for the grandstand seats he and I have here on the Lex. He looks a little puzzled until I add, This is a better show than a prizefightf' then he grins, says, Oh! Yas sir, yas sir, it shore is. I move on across the deck, looking back, notice he has disappeared, but in a few minutes he is there again . . . with six of his mates to see the show. During these past weeks when watching planes go thundering along the deck, I have become increasingly dissatisfied with the nailed-down-to-the-deck look in the closeup photographs of such takeoffs. The usual fast shutter speed in freezing the motion destroys the basic reality of the subject. This afternoon instead of the usual zooth to 4ooth of a second, I try exposures ranging between Ifzgth and Ifgth of a second, using a filter and appropriate diaphragm settings. The photograph of the Hellcat on pages I I6 and 1 I7 was made with the shutter set for Ifroth of a second. While making this series of exposures, the Exec comes along and we have a short question and answer session about the controversial business of photographing motion. We drift into gen- eralities about photography, painting, art. He tells about a visit Mrs. Wright and he once made to Alfred Stieglitz's American Place to see an exhibition of Iohn Marin,s watercolors: I tell him a few personal anecdotes about Marin and about some watercolors he painted long, long ago in my garden at Voulangis, France. B. W. says that someday he hopes to own a Marin watercolor. Our conversation is regularly interrupted as one plane after another roars past, slaps us with the backwash of its air stream, and zooms up into the sky. Each thundering plane emphasizes the contrast between the dynamic intensity of the moment here, and the dream-like memories of other places . . . another time . . . another life . . . makes it seem like a cockeyed war in a cockeyed world in which realities are piling up moments and images as fantastic and incongruous as those dished out by the surrealists. ,if Wim. ,W i ll -ev' 1T'S PILOTS, MAN YOUR PLANES! AS ADDITIONAL TORPEDO BOMBERS AND FIGHTERS Q 9 3 3 . Q 3 I 1 i NR mmf . . f . 1 Y ' , X - f , , g we :maya 4 in 1 N ,...,.. 4 ,D .Www ,,,.,,,,4., V M .,.- Q- gli., Q.. 1 1 f f r 4 i X X vvmw- ' was-,Q .-. W P-,,, w4ff',9MMf'f :W .. W4-.M - wa- ..g.,+uJr- ,yi vrqnr-'aa 4' v4 qu ARE ORDERED UP 113 vm-. ,m ,T , wma ? .sm ,gm -2. h ,Q i 4 2? af ' Z f jf ,,. s ,'.f C f P ' .. mfr- ' Q f ' ' 'ZH . . XF? 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'ff , rl 5,1 f , , 2 ,, X-WW ,WJMV , s ' ' A , Q2 f' Zz X Z ,nf 3 in I 1 if , auf' n 444 yqw ,M- we fyg Q . Q 4, ' V, ' ffl -' EQQ A Q A mfbibjv V. K - - -.Q M -V x. Q-Q N, fa.. J-55,549 4 L .., H w 3 ' if' l 'X A six ,fx 1 L Qvlf 'U RI' . X -. ix! A Q fix. 4 3x n - ff '4mg.:,,ff , 1 x -, A x.y,.,W' .1 .. XX r Q ' ,,, 1 X X A 4 WW '31 ' ' .I Q M 'nl avg, lv - 'aw' 'Q 'rf ,UM ,y f' , Y VW, a5?'5'- ,fZ,, . 0 , ff H ,,? !,l'Vf777?'.ff 'VYVVWYW-,ff ,,. -K 9- .Q ,451 .7 , W, my fff',,gh-,Gigi Zn, W I 5 fQ,fwm74'4A,Nf4,,-.',l,, ,, 5 , ,f X 4lf-Qnx0f.:lr:nn,- epae.-f-,nun-.: ,Rx Niwx, ,, me QM. VW, .fx .4 .qfqf g., ,sm- i'64xnfwEi iQ SUBMARINE PATROL PLANES FL Y LOXV OVER TASK FQRCEMREMAIN UP UNTIL DARK p A i fuk wririror ANNOUNCES Frvia Moms TO coME E6ME Late in the afternoon, and Without any apparent reason or provocation, we again get buttoned up with tension. lt is strange how quickly a mood generates and spreads on a ship. Our patrol planes remain up as long as there is enough daylight for them to carry on visual observation. When We get ready to land them the Lex takes a course in line with the wind which means We will now travel in an opposite direction to that of the task force. A destroyer follows us and takes up a Watch- ing position astern. Our planes drop into the landing circle, but because ofthe poor light the landings are unusually slow. There are numerous vvaveofls, the l f personne o air control is visibly irritated, the Captain grovvls when one flyer takes three consecutive vvaveofls. Some of the last planes to approach turn on their landing lights, then don't douse them immediately after landing, and get a vigorous bawl- ing out. A quartermaster mutters, This is the nuts for any snooping lap dive bombers I keep on photographing, make longer exposures, hope there is still enough daylight to pro- 120 +i2+:'efsaa s any twig, :Vx K .pig X 1 , - --- a Q Y I, ,..,m,x. - G kv:-O 'J 1 -b ,L l -gang, 1 Q 1- ' 53.-. 37' A - Ag, ,s U ' -'13 '.. - - 99- , .,.' 1'8-1o-f-- av V Q, T xii'-Qg-. .I -g. A - L! ' ' 'A A ' .c..x'T'.- 'l'lll' l.lXS'li Pl..XXlT NIAKIIS APPROACH-LANDS duce printable images on the film. The Captain calls air control. asks how many more planes to comeg Comdr. WVorkman signals with open hantl. tive. 'lihe faces of air group commantler Snowclen and of air officer Sutherland and stall plainly register their concern. Nothing that has happened on the ship, up to this time. has seemetl as interminable as this business of getting those last tive planes home. Une after the other they Hy clown our port beam. make a long sweeping turn astern, then come up on the approach. The signal otlicer is apparently not taking chances, and unless the pilot's approach is perfect he is given a waveotl. When the last plane finally hits the tleck the Captain goes into the wheel-house, the Lex begins to swing, does a tighter turn than I have seen her tlo before. XVe use flank speed to catch up with the task group. The deck crew sails into the job of respotting the planes on the deck. Now that the Lex has caught up with the task group again the Captain relaxes. asks: How about some supperP,' In the excitement of the surprise attack by the lap torpetlo bombers at noon, I forgot about lunch. 121 , ' r i , . 4 ,.' f'4,'.::n 4 4 , -ff, 1,-.-, , f - 1,f,:v,i. Y ' . X All P A ,ll1.,l.J UMA M Mowl iw-NLM mmu MADE SHIPSHAPE FUR THE NIGHT 122 2,-'I L fl Q1 if V .1-J 4 lc' 151-rg 1 Q- raig J Ai if-. 55: 5.53 Q It is dark, our planes are all in and accounted for, the tired deck crews have respotted the planes on the after-half of the deck. Everything is shipshape, all set and ready for whatever tomorrow may bring. The Captain and I are finishing our supper from trays across our knees. There is an obvious effort to make our conversation casual. We are still among enemy islands steaming hell-bent for leather out of there. An enemy bogie is picked up on our radar at 48 miles. The captain goes right on with our small talk as if he had not heard the report over the squawk-box. We are talking about the soil-less culture of plants. He calmly speaks of his retirement someday to a home in the country and a garden, a small place but he wants to grow things in a big way, and the scientific angle of hydroponics appeals to him. The radar reports more bogies 30 or 40 miles away from different directions apparently searching out our task force, of which two groups are traveling parallel to each other 8 or IO miles apart. The tension evident during the plane landing operations now becomes pronounced. Here is something more definite, more specific, and more ominous than any- thing the ship has experienced before. Enemy planes are ranging from I5 to 25 miles from us and there is as yet no indication whether they have located us or are simply maneuvering for position. A few filmy clouds are dabbed across the sky. Nothing in the aerologist's forecast to pin any hope for the concealing darkness a cloud cover would give us. lt is going to be a clear moonlight night. A stream of reports are coming and going via the intership phone system-TBS. Our own radar follows the enemy maneuvers and radar plot phones the information to the bridge. The Captain lends one ear to the voices and sounds in the wheel-house, the other to our conversation, as if he were carrying on two chess games. He delivers observations and directions to his officers in the pilot house in crisp staccato tones. When the cross talk in there gets to be a little hectic and confusing he barks, There is too much chatter going 125 7:50 7:51 7:59 9:06 9:20 9:50 10:54 on here. Voices drop, and the routine is smooth again. Both task groups are continually maneuvering and altering their courses. The radar reports increasing numbers of single and small groups of enemy planes closing in on the task force from various directions. A battleship is ordered to a position astern of our task group. Casual conversation ends abruptly. The Captain moves in and out of the wheel-house, listening, watching. - The first barking of guns towards the western horizon indicates enemy aircraft have found and are closing in on task group 50.3. Sporadic firing continues in that direction. Battleships, cruisers in our own task group 50.1 open fire. Not only is radar reporting planes, but some units of the group report visual contacts. Now comes the closer Booivr- BOOM of five inch guns. Radar must have located something up in the sky that we can't see, it looks as if the five-inchers are shooting at the moon. ' ' A sudden glare on the horizon. A hit. A burning plane down. It burns too long. Maybe it's not a plane, maybe they got one of our destroyers. The Hames disappear, and the TBS reports one lap enemy plane downed by task group 50.3. Enemy planes have dropped some Hoat lights in the vicinity of task group 50.3. Detailed radar reports of the actions and movements of enemy planes are important information for the Hag admiral and stall on the Yorlqtowng they are hot and cold sensations to me. I pay very little attention to the reports that planes are 20 miles away, but when they are 3 miles away . . . then a few thousand yards and closing in . . . something in my chest tries to crowd up into my throat. Here is a long standing controversy coming to a test . . . a battle between naval vessels and land-based planes. Anti-aircraft gunfire from different ships of the task force now becomes continuous. The Enterprise reports she is being slowed up by engine trouble. Our speed is reduced. 124 ii 11:01 11:05 11:09 11:20 The Lexington opens fire. We change course. The moon is a blaze of brightness. Its broad glittering moonpath brings memories of a procession of other moon-nights . . . beginning far back in my teens . . . then in my twenties, when to me the moon and the moonlit scene were nature's supreme evocation of beauty, and the nocturne theme became the subject for many of my paintings. Another memory, strangely unrelated, brings up the vivid image of a farm tractor methodically rolling down my delphinium fields, the trailing disc-harrow chopping up the bloom spikes and churning them into the earth. Into this crazy-quilt pattern of memories, emotions, and reactions, flashes the thought that this very night's moon also bathes the hills and home in Connecticut . . . bathes them with a vast soft stillness. BOOM-BOGM-BQOM . . . BOP . . . ABLUMP . . . BUP-BUP-BUPBUPBUP . . . All hell is let loose around us. This moon is no neutral bystander, starkly it points out our ships to the enemy. I can see each unit of our task group, even the farthest carriers, as plainly as by daylight. Black black specks upon the ocher, green-gray tones of the sea, each unit of the fleet trailing a wake that makes a thin, sharp, screeching white line. Howl now hate that smooth bland moon, want to scratch it down, blast it to smithereens. A young officer reading and reporting the distance between us and the Yorktown mutters to himself Damn that moon. Intermittent firing in various quarters keeps on . . . my eyes follow the line of the tracer bullets like they follow color balls from roman candles on a Fourth of Iuly . . . I wish each roman-candle effect will reach and explode a lap plane. Sometimes a section of the sky is covered with colored ribbons made by the tracer shells. Four parachute flares drop almost directly ahead of us about five miles away. The flares slowly drop lower and lower, lighting up this area of the ocean in a new brilliance, with a sinking feeling comes the thought, now the covers are all off . . . we are naked and we'll have to fight it out with the bastards .... Strange satisfaction . . . this swearing E 125 11:25 11:25 at the enemy at a moment when his closeness blows a cold chill down your back. The flares burn out one after another. What a relief! The immediate attack I expect isn't taking placeg maybe they've overdone it-adding the light of the Hates to the moonlight may have cross-lit and confused the picture for them instead of clarifying it. The quartermaster makes an entry on the log sheet. I-Ie holds a red-filtered flashlight close to the paper, its lens masked down to a narrow slit gives the minimum light necessary to see the words as he puts them down. Commands for changes in our course are steadily coming over the TBS from the Hag- ship. The helmsmen swing the rudder for the evasive zigzag twists and turns. These maneuvers are diagramed by the moonlight coming in through the open hatches and portholes of the wheel-house. The probing shafts of light violate the anonymity of shadowsg in the manner of a slow-motion movie film they lugubriously creep and slide along the decks and up and down the bulkheads. At first, the TBS reports and commands came from the squawk-box in the drab monotone of the police precinct routine 'cCalling all carsn . . . but as the battle action steps up it sounds more like the ringside radio report of a fight. It has become evident from the TBS talk that the code name for the Lexington tonight is HANCOCK and that STORK is the Yorktown, Hagship of Admiral Pownall and task group 50.1. There are too many things going on in my mind to make it seem worthwhile to identify the code names of the other ships. I make a guess that FROLIC is the Hagship in a neighboring task group and that SAINT IC is probably one of the outlying scout destroyers. Our radar reports task group 50.1 is surrounded by large and small groups of enemy air- craft on all bearings. A major attack appears to be developing. F rom over the TBS comes: 11:27 THIS IS FROLIC ALERT ALERT RAID ABLE O50 4 MILES OUT 126 5 Sie ,.- - -..anna M..- ,Q-. .A - :Sli LN. l 4 11228 HELLO LOCUST EMERGENCY TURN 500 EMERGENCY TURN 500 ' THIS IS STORK MAKE IT LEFT MAKE IT LEFT EXECUTE p EXECUTE ANTONIO ACKNOWLEDGE 11229 BOGIES NOW o2o S AND 270 6 AND 110 7 S CLOSING SAINT JO OUT ANOTHER PLANE COMING IN ON STARBOARD BOW 6 MILES SAINT JO OUT Our own radar reports enemy planes coming in low on port bow. I 11230 HELLO BEAGLE HELLO EXECUTE T0 FOLLOW BREAK TANGO ROGER BEAGLE THIS IS STORK PLUS 10 I SAY AGAIN EXECUTE TO FOLLOW TANGO ROGER PLUS 10 STAND BY EXECUTE CANEBRAKE DURANGO ACKNOWLEDGE OVER THIS IS CANEBRAKE WILCO OUT HELLO STORK THIS IS WILCO OUT DURANGO BOGIE NOW CROSSING AHEAD 080 6 MILES SAINT JO OUT I 11:51 Our five inch guns fire at two to four planes reported approaching from starboard bowg our 40 mm guns just below the bridge open up, their tracer shells suddenly illuminate the under side of a lap plane as it banks sharply to the right and gets away without being l 3 hit . . . that lap was too close . . . I am holding my breath . . . our guns stop firing ' . . . we are swinging under a full right rudder . . . BRRUUMMMMMMMPH. . . . The Lexington gives a thumping bounce followed by violent up and down whipping movements along the full length of the ship. MATTAPAN THIS IS MASooT DID You RECEIVE FRoLIo'S LAST TRANSMISSION OVER . HELLo STORK IS HANCOCK HIT BY TORPEDO. HAVE LOST STEERING T THIS Q CONTROL. OVER. l 1 5 1 3 ? A l v S 127 11:54 11:55 11:56 11:57 11:58 128 THIS IS STORK ROGER OUT. ALERT EVERYBODY. HANCOCK HAS LOST STEERING CONTROL. ALERT EVERYBODY. THIS IS STORK THOSE ASSIGNED STAND BY HANCOCK. THOSE ASSIGNED STAND BY HANCOCK. BUT ALERT. THIS IS DURANGO SHALL I STAND BY HANCOCK. THIS IS STORK AFFIRMATIVE. AFFIRMATIVE. OUT. One of the oHicers asks me if I know how to adjust my lifehelt. Yes, I think I can Work it out. I take off the fool thing I have, self-consciously, worn around my waist every time there was general quarters, blow it up, squeeze it, find it holds air, carefully deflate and strap it around my waist again. So this is it . . . I think of the Liscome Bay. The lighting with the enemy continues, in less than a minute after the torpedo hit, the fight to save the ship is under way. The Captain receives telephone reports from all parts of his ship, where the torpedo hit . . . how much she has settled and what is happening to the steering mechanism. brief commands. HANCOCK GIVE ME DETAILS WHEN YOU CAN. ROGER. WE HAVE TWO PORT ENGINES OK. STARBOARD ENGINES OUT. ENDEAVORING TO RESTORE STEERING CONTROL. BELIEVE WE ' , WILL BE OK IN FEW MINUTES REGARDS STEERING. OUT. ADVISE WHAT YOU CAN BEND ON. WAIT. STAY IN VICINITY TO HELP US TAKE CARE OF HANCOCK IF NECESSARY BY DAYLIGHT. OVER. WE JUST LOST ALL POWER ON STEERING All reports are answered by sharp THIS IS STORK STORK THIS IS HANCOCK HANCOCK THIS IS STORK FROLIC THIS IS STORK THIS IS HANCOCK 11:59 11:42 11:45 ENGINE. WE'RE ABLE TO MAKE THE SPEED BUT I'M AFRAID WE WON'T BE ABLE TO STEER. WE'RE SHIPPING WATER FAST AFT. OTHERWISE OK. REPEAT HANCOCK. WE'RE SHIPPING WATER FAST AFT. I THINK WE WILL LOSE STEERING CONTROL. I THINK WE WILL LOSE STEERING CONTROL. WE'RE DOWN ABOUT IO FEET BY STERN. THREE ENGINES OK. OUT. WE WILL WATCH YOU AND STAY WITH YOU. CANEBRAKE STAND BY IN DAYLIGHT TO HELP US WITH HANCOCK. WILCO OUT. BOGIES ON STARBOARD BEAM 6 TO 8 MILES. SAINT JO OUT. EXECUTE TO FOLLOW TANGO KING PLUS 50. I SAY AGAIN EXECUTE TO FOLLOW TANGO KING PLUS SO. STAND BY. EXECUTE. OVER. The ship is swinging hard left in circles, considerable list to starboard. Reports from THIS IS STORK STORK FROM HANCOCK THIS IS STORK THIS IS CANEBRAKE THIS IS STORK damage control center and engineer ofliceg one propeller lost . . . all steering controls disrupted . . . rudder locked 30 degrees left . . . attempt being made to use hand- operated hydraulic steering control. All damage and repair work difficult, due to toxic smoke from broken smoke tanks stowed on fantail. Gas from ruptured air-conditioning machinery is sucked up and blown into the steering control room by the Ventilating system . . . water leaking in through seams of the bulkheads sloshes all over the place. The men in steering engine room send up word that their position is becoming too diflicult and request permission to come out. The Captain steps quickly to the phone. Tell them that if they are positive they cannot stand it any longer they may come out, but before 129 3 I 11:46 11:47 doing so to let me know their decisionf' These words spoken in a quiet deliberate voice by Felix Stump may not go into the history books, but they carry an essence of America that hits me like an electric shock. Here is the Captain of a great ship giving three of his sailors a chance to decide for themselves Whether they are Willing, or not, to risk their lives for their ship and shipmates. He also gives these boys the finest tribute an oificer can give his men . . . his confidence in their own sense of responsibility. I AM NOT CLEAR ON SITUATION. REQUEST INSTRUCTIONS. OVER. WE ARE STANDING BY HANCOCK. SHE GOT ONE. SHE GOT ONE. DO YOU WANT ME TO STAND BY ALSO. NEGATIVE. I WOULD LIKE YOU TO REMAIN SOMEWHERE IN THE VICINITY IN CASE WE - NEED HELP AT DAYLIGHT TOMORROW. ACKNOWLEDGE. OVER. ROGER OUT. SEVERAL BOGIES STARBOARD BEAM TO STAR BOARD QUARTER CLOSING 4 TO 6 MILES. STORK THIS IS FROLIC THIS IS STORK THIS IS FROLIC THIS IS STORK STORK THIS IS FROLIC Radar plot reports are keeping the Captain informed in detail about the position and movement of the various raids of enemy planes. Several groups that have been circling I5 or zo miles out simultaneously begin runs on the task groups from different directions . . . they either miss the target or fail to find them . . . retire again some I5 or zo miles . . . then begin circling the task force while they re-form for the next attack . . . Indian tactics of the old covered Wagon days. 11:50 BOGIE APPROACHING STARBOARD QUARTER 130 2000 YARDS. is' ' 5, 4 . I 11:51 QSLEOW BEAGLE EXECUTE TO FOLLOW BREAK TANGO UNCLE IS STORK PLUS 2O. I SAY AGAIN EXECUTE TO FOLLOW TANGO UNCLE PLUS 20. STAND BY. EXECUTE. BOGIE NOW 7000 YARDS STARBOARD QUARTER. SAINT JO OUT. That means they are moving out and this attack has either failed or for some reason has not been pressed. My mind keeps going down to those men in the steering room. When we started on this trip Vic and I discussed various means of keeping a camera dry in case we should have to abandon ship. WVe now carry aerographer's rubber balloons in our pockets for this purpose. It is a simple matter to get a camera into such a balloon when there are four hands. I find myself trying every possible combination of two hands and my teeth, while vaguely listening to the rasping voice tones from the TBS squawk-box . . . the radar reports of bogies closing in and opening up . . . of ship turns right and left . . . I hold the camera between my teeth and make futile attempts to force it into the narrow mouth of the rubber bag. This goes on for some time with a stupid sort of patience but no success. The Captain apparently notices my efforts, is puzzled, asks, What are you trying to do? I am trying to get this damned camera into a rubber bag so it will stay dry when we go over the sidef' He gives a chuckle and the entire staff on the bridge breaks into loud guffaws. The Captain says, You won,t need that, you're not going over, we'll be all right. I answer, And that's OK. by me, Sir. The icy tenseness that has been prevalent on the bridge all evening is broken. The skipper goes to the ship speaker system. This is the Captain speaking. We have taken a torpedo hit in our stern and the rudder seems badly damaged. Each man must do his job calmly and efhciently. Don't worry! That's my job. I got you in here and I,ll get you out. 3 ll 56 o ' 9 BOGIES NOW CIRCLING PORT QUARTER 10,000 YARDS SAINT JO OUT EXECUTE TO FOLLOW BREAK BEND ON UNCLE PLUS 5 STAND BY EXECUTE CANEBRAKE ACKNOWLEDGE WILCO OUT OUR STEERING ENGINE ROOM WE ARE GOING TO PUT FIVE PUMPS TO TRY TO CLEAN IT IS NO FIRE ON THE SHIP COMES FROM THE SMOKE BOMBS AFT AND WE ARE GOING TO FIGHT OUR WAY OUT OF THIS THING OUT NICE GOING NICE GOING WE'RE WITH YOU STORK OUT THIS IS STORK THIS IS CANEBRAKE STORK THIS IS HANCOCK IS FLOODED SUBMERSIBLE OUT THERE THE SMOKE THIS IS STORK The men 1n the steer1ng engrne room have ach1eved therr m1ss1on, they have the rudder 1n the neutrald pos1t1on amrdship We are makmg zo knots, steermg Wrth our eng1nes It is 27 m1nutes s1nce we were h1t Nzce going Nzce gozng- You bet your hfe 1t,S n1ce go1ng The Captam orders the pumpmg operat1on speeded up and every effort he made to get the men out of that steermg control room Its entrance hatch 1S st1II under two feet of water I-Ie suggests that I stretch out on the cot 1n hrs sea cahm It 18 easy to follow th1s sug gest1on I take advantage of th1s moment to tell hrm what a fine thrng lt was to g1ve the men 1n the steerrng room the chance to make the1r own dec1s1on about rema1n1ng at the1r posts he comes back Wrth Of course 1f they had decrded for com1ng out I would have had no alternatrve but to order them to stay I am drmly consc1ous of more bOg1CS reported N and E and that another attack 1S 1n preparauon 11.58 . 11.5 . . . . . . . I 12114 ' ' ' . . ' ' 132 12 I 57 Large groups of planes are circling us from 7 to I2 miles. 12:41 A single plane comes in to attack but is driven off by our guniire. 12:55 Two more planes begin a run on our ship and are driven off. One torpedo drop is reported but no wake observed. 1:27 A quartermaster Ctypical hardboiled Navy sea-dogj makes an entry on the log: 601:27 MooN SET THANK con 1 240 Radar reports all clear. The Captain orders me below to my quarters. I comply with what I feel must be a very tired grin. This day began for us with reveille at 4:30 in the morning . . . 21 hours ago. Getting down to my quarters, I find the Captain's Filipino stewards sitting in the galley, hud- dled together, their life jackets and tin hats still on. The expressions on their faces are like a mirror reflecting my own feelings and emotions during the last seven long fearsome hours that we have been under continuous attack. In broken English they say they do not understand what happened. I tell them, slowly and carefully, just what the Captain told the crew, that everything is all right now and the Iap planes are all gone. I open the door to my quarters and there is Iorgensen sound asleep on the couch in the oflice. I-Ie must have come down just as soon as the moon set, evidently he didn't relish the idea of those darkened gangways to his own quarters three decks below. I motion the stewards to have a look, when they see the cherubic sleeping Vic they grin broadly, take off their tin hats and life preservers and head for their own quarters. I slip into my room . . . hit the sack and it seems I have just fallen asleep when I hear reveille and it's 4:30 A.M. again. A dash of cold water and up to the bridge. It is still dark . . . we seem to be making good speed, judging by the stars we are steering a fair course. The shadowy shapes of the ships that the Admiral detailed as our special convoy last night gradually become visible, our ship is wounded, but we are not alone. Slowly the dawn slides towards the sunrise. Far, far back on the horizon, there stretches out a long line of tiny specks . . . our ships . . . the entire task force is there behind us, spread wide in a long long line . . . a barrier fence between us and the enemy. I-Iigh overhead in the first glints of the sun, ride protecting formations of roaring planes . . . OUR planes from sister carriers. I-Iere is the same spine-tingling, goose-Hesh-raising sensation experi- enced as a boy, when in Genesis I first met the words: Let there be light. . ' This is the Navy. The climax of twenty-four hours of Navy tradition in combat action. I look into the faces of the men on the bridge, look for the emotion that is surging through me, it is not there, each man is carrying on with his job in the tradition of teamwork and of unity. The Navy is taking care of its own. . I We are still within reach of island-based enemy planes. Will they come after us? My Filipino friend brings up the Captain's breakfast and, as usual, an extra cup of coffee for me. I find out that it was not until four o,clock this morning that they were able to force open the hatch and get those boys out of the steering control room. The first man lifted out was Machinist Mate I f c A. M. Petty, still unconscious. Chief Electricianas Mate Lewis R. Baker, Quartermaster 2 f c Dale E. Woods, and Electrician's Mate 2 f c Ioe G. Rogers were taken to sick bay. I am amazed at the crisp fresh appearance of the Captain after over 24 hours on the bridge without sleep. I-Ie is kidding me about the camera and rubber-bag incident when our radar announces bogies on the screen. The Iap planes are busy again. We hear from radar plot that they are exploring the area we were in last night. Our intelligence, intercepting the talk between the Iap planes during the attack, heard one of them excitedly report that he had hit a big one, other planes claimed addi- tional hits and they are out there in force this morning looking for us. Our radar tracks them for hours as they fly widening squares combing and recombing the entire area for evidence of their victories, Tokyo radio will soon announce that their planes have sunk the new Lexington. We have a ship of tired tired men, the deck crew sprawled around the flight deck is sound asleep, still wearing their steel hats. They have had over 24 hours of strenuous flight deck chores and 134 TIN HATS FOR PILLO ,.. . ,i ... - warg-.ily ,V-,vlxg-. ' 2' '-A 1v,L, lxkf. 1 fi' .f-,,,' N , , . -- J as SAV 1 J Min. V. v,-J .'- I X - A ,, K :Ef': .w lui. lx Xa Vf M., is ,,'f?f?g.f 1 ,Q X ' Ki: ' 5 ., 1 A Y ' , I A l f,1,-Aix-.'Q. - fg, , , . 1, .aqggsr , , X 1-.9 ' .Ek ,. I , .,-, 'W . .315 ntsx. ,. , . , . . ?2'feNf3:f-sg: iris fa. 'Q-L'z'w:fa,ff+,. Q . , . . . '- '?Ni'-My:w':g,Em' , ' .,xiw:,wJ',, 5 ' -' f ' -'ffTrf1'-iii ' 1 , .S+ ' W 4' My 'R A . 1 1',f L?ifi111':' V V , '. - V- -. A 11, ' Mrs, ' 'i-'If'.'fM?'f1e:1-l 2F17Y:Q .' '737' V' 'Ms ' ' 'sfi,f5, ?I-QE, 11 51:1Q7'ff'f2-1' 17' . fll 'r v Wav fi. . 3' 3 ff.:e xHfaAai:e,wew. 1 ' ffxr: I - 4, . .L ,A..yf4-.f 1 ,f., K , 5, nn. V 1 af, .gymfai-E , . '. . 1. , x . N4 , ,, 1- -Qf,,.,q:,?5? ,f-wb.-4 :. if -. ' M v z ' .al A4 -fs .w. ' Q, A , ,. ' 1--af: iff5',,ig.:r2 ,x fy, If ,,: . .f n 'f .JV ,19- 4,,.. D W,-5 1, 1 4, Lu ,.v,,q ' . 1 ' J, ' -, . r Ja I: .H x ' a f 2355135 I . 'X 4 5,','A 1 x ' , - 1 '1'q'? 5-. 'jp' 54 Q A V 451-w . . , 1 1 '- . ' . mx' '- Q :.1 'f ' . ' . 5 ' Y' ' S' ' 4 ' f V x - 5-.Y-.0 ' , ' if n 1 ' I 'Q- . M fl ' '-V.vA' ' 1' . in 5 .... - --, - A- J., A , -- , ., . H...-.... -., ..-. , - -K'--a:. X- -- V- -.- ----f'-' W' -....... :tt-i .trlno f Q .' ,a ,x . N S Q .L-L- 1 . W. -...-.,.- -K - t f -1, ' Iur Y x A : gf 4- ng . x A 1 , 1 . I I, I I IJ Y. . W 5 . C ,. If . . , Q l L 3 K y I HI 2 4 c'I 4 V 1 5 1 1 I . I 6, 4 1 191 H J 1 Q-Q., ,iw-I , ' - , 4 X . 4 n. A, , S U ik I QQ W rf. 4:4 :K eh ,Qt 3' I , 5: ,L , '23, M' , , f, ':MQ.W 'G fl VW W, f 1 1 K .W '-fl S a. S X f S' Q wx H f f E X' NK .13 V -4 T...-M1---7' 3 . 1 il -i 5 I i if 5 Y 3. .. .1m.mu.,....... l l 35 i N 1 . 1 s il Nl 1 l routines: the excitement and strain of prolonged combat action, then during the rest of the night cleaning up and getting things shipshape again. Many of our planes are damaged, crumpled by the great whipping bounces following the explosion. Some of them, damaged beyond the repair facilities of the ship, are stripped of in- struments, wheels, tires and all detachable equipment . . . then dumped . . . given the deep six. The reports of all that happened during the night begin to take shape. We learn that Iapanese aviation threw everything they had at us. Over fifty twin-engined Mitsubishi bombers gave the task force a working over for more than seven hours, scored one hit. The dead, the missing and the wounded are counted. Two dead . . . seven missing . . . thirty-five wounded. The stern of the ship suffered the worst of the damage, took most of the punishment. Two of the men at their battle stations on the fantail were killed instantly, others seriously wounded. As soon as we are beyond the range of enemy aircraft the Captain and the ship's chief medical officers go below to visit the wounded in sick bay. We find Chief Baker sitting up in his bunk, looking for all the world like a noble statue of some Roman Senator. His voice is a raw hoarse whisper, the result of the prolonged inhaling of freon gas and smoke bomb fumes. He enumerates the changes that he believes should be made in the set-up of the emergency gear and gives graphic descriptions of what happened. Our general lighting had been disrupted, the telephone booth had collapsed, the action cutout switchboard had been turned over backwards' the housing on the brake motor was a shamble and things were sprung in general our motors had shifted some on their bases in other words things were all out of line He describes the work courage and endurance of the men in there with him It was the talk of a longtime sailor to another longtime sailor his skipper 138 X' ' , Q I 1 . il D il I T il :lg X3 1? Q2 it. 144464 M644 We bury our dead. When the hour is set for the burial, the Captain tells the Exec to pass around the word that anyone off duty may come up on deck for the service. And they came . . . they came pouring out on deck shaved and scrubbed, each man in fresh clean dungarees. A burial at sea is a solemn impressive ceremony. The outside plane elevator brings the flag- covered bodies up to the flight deck. The Chaplain reads the burial service. The Captain says a few Words. Then a choking silence .... A squad of Marines fires the last salute. The stretchers are tilted toward the sea, from under the flags slide the White canvas-Wrapped bodies into the great anonymous impersonal sea. The buglers blow taps. The faces of the men standing by reflect their thinking and wondering . . . it might have been ' ' h h b en me next time it may be any one of us. you...1tm1gtavee Back home a mother will soon receive a telegram she will never forget. A message she will never quite adjust herself to. I Want to reach out to the fathers and mothers of all these boys, put my arms around them and ' f l b' Whisper of the lineness in their sons. ln a sense they are also my boys. I love them . . . ee a itter . . . f h burning ache for the loss of those Whose bodies we have just committed to the Waters o t e sea. Q, C139 we if , - 9!r:..-... gf Y Q 5 9. -v. 'R 5, QM..-v IT, 15, , X 5, K A., .. ' 'fm' - A as f xJ . -ff ' 'ig 0 -vw u , . 2 , :he gg ,iii-ilu ' 4 , ' le mug, 35. F' t. I- '--, . , :K 1, s .. 3. .,.Q AA f ' A ' 4 I ' .- 1 1' 'Q , , f' ' 5 , .,t '. Y. H 5 ' .- f , ' -' ' 1 7 ,,, , ' . ' fiifu fq z . F q, a - i .ix 9 f 1 7 .,f.4. . I 14 X 1 ' E 4 'w-2' . ,li -wx N xg: N X ff' N 'K ...Q - 'lun f I W 3 gu- 's P 5'- - A ' - J Q P1 i- 'lb- rx, , ' if 8 I xg, X u Q 6 . , ,mi M A., '-'Ns 3 as-vii .Q vb kim N3 S ll 1 'Y' Q ff X ff Q 9' On succeeding days, stories of what happened and how it happened are told .... When the torpedo exploded in the Chief Petty OHicer's quarters the outer bulkhead and most of the deck of the compartment were ripped away, what was left, was torn, shredded and buckled, the water slosh- ing in and out with the movement of the sea. I-Iow the repair crew managed to get the four men who were still alive out of the warped hatch, is something that is hazy even to the men themselves. One of the four rescued, Roy T. Sutton CM3fC, tells it this way: There were four of us sitting on the couch, all sitting there talking, laughing and going on. All at once something blew up. I went up and a chair hit me in the back. That was all I remember until I came to and I was under water. There was a lot of oil, gas fumes, or whatever it was in there. It seemed that all four came to about the same time. We all got up, scrambled around, turned our lights on, but we didnlt have any lights. We turned them on but they didn't burn. We saw a light through the glass in the water-tight door and we all 'made for that. Lague said, 'We'll all head for that' When I turned around I fell through something. I must have fell through the deck or something 3 I went under water. I jerked myself back up in there, I scooted across the deck or crawled across to the door. The door was pried open at the top and was stuck at the bottom. We pushed and shoved and split his belt buckle all to hell and finally shoved Lague through. I followed him through. I was the third one out. Felix F. Lague SP3 f c, puts in with: Dufour, Sutton, Zimmerman and I were on the same couch in the after end of that compartment. We were talking, not seriously about anything, and the next thing I knew, I was spitting oil and it was awfully hard to breathe in there. We didn't know where we were. We didn't know where to go. Everything was so turned upside down we didn't know which direction to turn. Somebody kept yelling for help and I didn't hear what else he was yelling, but he was yelling just as loud as he could and someone else told him to shut up. We saw a light from that glass port in the door, so I headed for that. As soon as the four living were removed, the communicating hatch was closed and shored up. The bodies of the dead in this compartment cannot be reached until the ship docks at Pearl Harbor. 142 Maintaining speed and steering this ship without the use of a rudder and with three instead of four propellers, is an achievement that recalls an inscription hanging over the desk of Rear Admiral A. K. Doyle when he was a commander, and my first active contact in the Navy depart- ment . . . The difficult we do at once, the impossible takes a little longer. . . . It is taking the Wounded Lex a little longer, she is traveling two knots under par. From the skipper of the U.S.S. Minneapolis comes a message to the skipper of the Lexifzgton. Felix, you old rascal, you and the admiral have been sending signals long enough. I want you to know that all of us are proud of you and your fine ship. You are doing a remarkably fine job of steering and we are honored to be escorting you. When you find a seaman airman, that's nothing, but when you find an airman Seaman, that's news. My hat's off to an airman seaman and his crew. When we reach Hawaii the Lex leads the parade of ships into Pearl Harbor, there is much dipping of flags with bugle calls, and crews lined up in salute. VV e move up to the position of honor, the dock fronting HQ of Comairpac. A sailor points towards two little Hawaiian maidens on the outer edge of the crowd ashore, yells uVVOMENl,, Mail comes aboard, a long line of hospital ambulances begin taking off our wounded. A small launch goes through the torn hull, into the blasted compartment to remove the bodies of the dead we were unable to reach while at sea. The Lex goes to dry dock for a few days, technicians evaluate damages and make temporary repairs. Tons of spoiled meat are taken from the wrecked refrigeration compartments. Within forty-eight hours we leave dry dock. Heading out to sea we steam slowly past head- quarters, present a salute to Admiral Radford, now Deputy Chief, Comairpac. Our destination is the Bremerton Navy Yard, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. NVhen about fifty miles out, planes from our air group appear. They Hy over us in formation, rock their wings in a farewell salute, drop a few kidding messages: Request permission to land on Stump Field. Come back, all will be forgiven. The air group will remain on the beach at Hawaii, waiting, practicing new combat tactics While the Lex gets her rest cure and beauty treatmentsi' at Bremerton. 143 ,f,f V f ff ,, f fu f ff,,f, fy, ff, , ff fy Www lu, f f,f nf L.,,g,,, 21314-f , f 4 V A' QC X .N 1 , Q 2 1? , 3 sf' if X S 4' 3 .5 ? 5 5 5 5 1 5 3 F 5 tc I V, ,V 5 , I , Ka: 2 X, Z ,I I ,Z If lv' I , , 46, uf! , , I f , Xfff ,jf f f , ' ,f,, , V, ,, f X 4 flJVHx.K Wx .X ' -f I Q ,. 3' f v - Rf A1 .A . X .,:q,,,.,. kwa. WWI-:f A 5-5' ' tlfg! S49--.Q v4cggXf? xee1,,TAfNg3 +41-V, f f ,I , X -2 . fX3fS ':gV1f 2. N ',,q,..g,wg., Egg 1 ' H' H in x 'mf 1 i-ik 'Q -'-6 'Wi-s.'w'...2's Rug W 'mmf' . V ,f '3 - 1 vp, A Xdifkw- ,z ' ' , , ,Q ,,,.,. ...f-anvag. ie iff . q2 ?.:?,,.IvM A Nw' A .. wf:v'n4Gu ..,, H , Q., , .. A ., . U, ,M . ...4f', uf x ru- -4 M K, vyf ,V Q' HUSHQ ,. R FROM THE PLANELESS DECK-SKIPP A... 1.-Qu ER AND CREW WAVE EAREXVELL TO OUR AIR GROUP 5 'WM fl fmmgfm 4-,I l nun wi lu- 'Y' K' 0'5 ', gnqn-. 1 -Kr-Mun, 'Wa-Q -. 'U' ww 3.fQ94,,tAw -Q. Kiwi. 4-kung ww, ann. ' 4 f' Q- -1 ,,-ni.. ,.,, w,11-4.-an-1+-was ,Nh ,vi W ' -nag 1-Qltdiyil 'YQ yv-f is 40.1. .Q ..a,, -0 5- -.1 vl f...vo- , -- , -nuyyw'--Sv .5 , xx,,,m,n A M.-4.,,,M 0 . ,.5.. -A 3,1-,win-any A Nts. N 'W' rv' I 'W' - ' N . ' ,pf-5 , -l ,N N, Y .Ms -A, A ' 'H fan-110' ff' K W xg-.. g'?':ww ..f suf- .anh-a 'lr- ,w ,. 4, -4. -1... .,,, ng H.. W, 'ai V'f 'lhs.., .4 '-,nu --Q' ,N ,tar un. .W 'dnl' ,pn-'Y ' ,oo-.f,,.,,mn,' 2 ' W sl. W0-zona: x..- :hQ ' fi... '-,,.., ' wt-Q? , ...IW ,, 1 - W, .5 , 'M ' 4' ,W -A , - V 4 .951 ' -.Q . s .1-f N .Y W ' ' .. ' - any 'GZZJ -Q-Q - 4. .. . - 'T ' A -,gap A ' ' 5. 'ao-1.4 59 -'v'1f.l .fm f ff- :L-Q E ,' W ,, ' A - A K ,. ,, Ah.-.. ,, ,,, iv- -u.,,,, ..,,,. R W, -M-- - - -..... '-, A- 4- - '3- X .. -. .. :s- 2 pn . ,aff 'fy ...Lui ,I-,-0 ' wiv- ,H '-U-Q. 0 ,, Wh-... -wx-- - . - 9 N- ,, W' , ' --5. -ie . -.. 1v0',. - I., , r an ' -Q 1. ...iw -QL -c I qn .- - .,..., A . L' -W-57- 'i av , A A q ?.g .. - A .-'3'- ,,,w ,,, -..cuff- -nb- W6 wr ,,.n-I. -Q. 'vu N.- -of ' --ff 1. -I ,,-,. .1 . W' 39- no -Q Q .1-J , 'N Q- '-- 'r-un'- ,, - ::,, -5,1 N ' Q ..- 1.-y bn...-.Q +123 ....- -bn- 1 'v' .- i i if Suk! PA.- 4.-M4 1' 'gin ' ,-, ...v-V, Q. 'Y xi, .325 f JMMANDLQR is .'.3,fr , , 4'-5 - .1 'T f ' 4 .W .ho ann... -1. fn., V 14 , .1 4 The wounded Lex continues her lonesome voyage to the mainland. The Lady wears her battle scars with a proud dignity. The absence of her fighting planes and airmen emphasizes the silent reaches of the flight deck, the great voids of the hangar deck. As we get into colder, northern latitudes the crew speculates about Christmas. Between the shores of Vancouver Island and the State of XVashington, the Captain breaks radio silence, requests arrangements be made to entrain part of our crew to get them home for Christmas. The railroads come through in heartwarming style, replying they will have special trains ready: so itls Home by Christmas for over a thousand sailors. XVe dock late, but everybody pitches in to help get the leave-bound crew and their gear ashore in time to make their trains. I put through a long distance call to Connecticut, eager to hear the sure to be surprised voice of the Missus . . . after a few moments of gay jubileeing, I learn that while the Lex was battling hills, had fractured an ankle, has her foot in a plaster cast! Today the Lexington swarms with new faces, new activities, shipyard crews have taken over. 23 December 1943 my orders are endorsed: Detached Temporary duty completed. Report to Chief of Naval Operations, Washingtcain, D. C. After supper Felix Stump leads the way down to the hangar deck. The bo,sun calls out . . . LEXINGTON-LEXINGTONU . . . a signal given when the Captain or an Admiral comes aboard or goes ashore. I hurry the handshakes, salute the quarterdeck, go down the gangplank to the dock. scarcely able to hold the flooding emotion. The vast expanse of the ship towers above us, merges into and becomes part of the night: a gangway light reveals the long, diagonal wrinkles in her hull plates, a fixed imprint of the con- cussion waves that followed the torpedo explosion. Felix Stump is also looking up at those wrinkles . . there are no words. The Captain and the crew . . . the living and the dead, men and steel, men and guns . . . lmages, moments, emotions . . . all are fused, become a unity-a ship. Good night, Lady Lex. 149 in the Marshalls, Dana, in the Hsafetyn of the peaceful surroundings at home in the Connecticut I -i In this book are names and faces of shipmates that are now among the two hundred forty-four inscribed on -the Lexingzfonk Roll of Honor. Of these . . . and of all the war's dead . . . Carl Sandburg has Written: Silence, yes, Let them have silence. Call the roll of their names and let it go at that. To long sleep and deep silence they have gone. Deep among the never forgotten. 1? 1 Y 2 S 1 1 I O Jw. 't w. ,X mlraw 1 -Q Q , ew- n 1 5 . 'J - V K v -' ,- . lan, --i ' fAT 1.S. '- '- 7 - 1 iv ' ' ' - -A A we-7 - '- - . ' . w 0 y, 'Q W 'A A . xx . ' I0 n Q -,Q V ' f- , A f, , : N -v ',. ' -' , .- 'gg ., g i 1 H .- - ., 'Q .--.-2. J.. ' -f'1. E , -f -ff M .ff f-ef M n - .. '- , .,.. ' -f-W s g -.M -1 ' - I ' - V W- ' b ?-Q, ' ' 'M gg, -. -.. ,-4. f bW,, 4' -- 'L 5'?','-'Q T. 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Wjm .I i V i V ' f .I B K , , W, 'L , -' F ' 5 , , - 4 A W, Q qu, .mme 4, - X , Q ' ' W W,,M0.,.fw6if , f 1 :if il' . I , ,Wan 3 - X A 1 .V ,QI Q vw' ' ' f ,yt 71 ' - xx' P V1 -V .A V- xi W I s JI K Q . I X Q . fm- H A , W tv- , - A -' fl f false v- .-f fd , ' W, B' f I D H 1 5 ' A 5 , 1 y , Q jr: A x .x.. 2 . . ,,,, ,mf .X ' r , Y ,...l..-, ,, 'Q E ,f 3 Lg, Zfql 'w . ul Q 7 LAW , f f--A .4-...a ,-...,. 5 1 1 Q 4 I i 6 1 if il Y f . 1 x P g Q i 1. as Q. 1 1 i. 3 , :A X gi il E. E li E I 5 1 Q b y I! . M Ai ? I i N I i, I i 2. is 5 f ss f 4 K :1 l ' h A A I- f - . w ,Q w f x 2 ,W N 3 ll. V E 5 53 . 315 . A Arif f.-1-.nf-r 1 1 .- YS 575' LIBRARY NAVY nlznnrmzwr if PSg,If'l'. flwl.. K-QT N 55.-, Y, 1.Q1,U-11. -ft!--1237 ihlf FHWA- Books must be returned within two weeks OPNQY-133 '370 evo 14.3219
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