Leyte (CVA 32) - Naval Cruise Book

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ir SIPIECIIAIL SIERVIICIES R STANLEY E. WAGENHALS Uni+ecl S+a+es Navy Special Services Officer

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S, Georgedis, R, L, Mahoney, R. L. Crawford, G, J, O'Brien, J. D. Neary. C. M. Russell, LTJG C. STuck, LT J. J. CuIoTTa, A, 6. DeRusso, 1 SOUR GRAPES ANGEL means liTTle To some in- dividuals, buT To piloTs or persons in disTress Those Words are Tilled wiTh signiTicance. Those are The call words Tor l-lU-2, deTachmenT Three, The heliocopTer uniT which is adminisTraTively aTTached To, buT noT an acTual parToT The Air DeparTmenT, This uniT has had an excepTional operaTional availabiliTy oT 99.992, Tor The enTire cruise. The con- Tidence insTilled in air group piloTs by The presence oT an l-lU-2 heliocopTer has paid OTT many Times in The number oT planes and men saved during air operaTions. AlThough iTs primary TuncTion is ThaT oT plane guard, The deTachmenT also TuncTions as a personnel TransTer plane, ambulance plane, phoTo plane, guard mail plane, anTi-submarine paTrol, and as The Taxi-cab OT The TleeT. -. .... .. -. - - .

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YHLETIIIS LCDR M. C. RIDDLE ENS T. E. MOORE, JR. Afhlefic Officer AssT. AThIeTic Officer Your ship, The U.S.S. LEYTEICVA-321, may well be proud, and boasTTuI Too, oT iTs wide aThIeTic program which raTes as one oT The TinesT in The enTire SixTh I:Ie.eT. The carrier glories in The TacT ThaT iT Tields Teams in every maior sporT wiTh The excepTion oT TooTbaII. The aThIeTic program is iusT one parT oT The Special Services OrganizaTion aboard The ship buT wiThouT doubT is iTs mosT popular acTiviTy. Base- ball, baskeTbaII and boxing ane The ToremosT oT The TiTTeen sporTs acTiviTies, buT as The seasons change so does The popuIariTy. For insTance, while The ship was on iTs SixTh IVIediTerranean cruise, baske+baII and boxing en- joyed The spoTIighT, The LeyTe Team puTTing on exhibiTions in almosT every porT. The maioriTy oT The baskefball games played are in The inTra-mural class, buT, whenever possible, a Team Trom The shore oT ThaT parTicuIar porT was inviTed aboard The ship Tor compeTiTion. Iviore' TreguenTIy Than noT, The hangar deck courT oT The Leading LeyTe was The scene oT a baske+baII game in The aTTernoon while The ship was in porT, especially whenever a holiday rou- Tine was declared. One oT The highlighTs oT The baskeTbaIl schedule occurred beTween The LeyTe and The Turkish All- STars. A Token oT Triendliness was exchanged be- Tween The Teams in The Torm oT a gold-Tringed Turkish TIaglpresenTed To The LeyTe's Team cap- ann During The TirsT Three monThs oT The cruise The I.eyTe's mosT successTuI baseball Team ever, sporT- ing a season's record oT 32 vicTories wiTh only IO seTbacks, was absenT, buT Tor an ample reason. The Team was back aT Camp Leieune, INI.C., baTTIing Tor The championship oT The ATIanTic EIeeT, rep- resenTing AirI.anT, whose Tourney They had pre- viously won, AT one Time during The season They had a winning sTreak oT I5 consecuTive games. We menTioned earlier ThaT There were I5 diT- TerenT sporTs acTiviTies aboard The I.eyTe, These exTend Trom baseball To archery, including .even goIT. Baseball, baskeTball, boxing, wresTIing, soTT- ball, bowling, swimming, Tennis, goIT, Tencing. archery, sailing, Track, volleyball and badminTon are The TiTTeen sporTs, and crew members swarm in droves in order To parTicipaTe. Even so There are some IeTT ouT in The cold when iT comes To LeyTe Teams compeTing wiTh shore-side opponenTs, buT This loophole is Taken up by inTramural sporTs and everyone who wishes To parTicipaTe geTs his share oT compeTiTion. Boxing Smokers were very popular during The LeyTe's Ivied cruise and were had whenever op- posiTion was available, These Smokers didn'T necessarily have To be held aboard The I.eyTe1 cruiser's accompanying The carrier also hopped on The sporTs bandwagon and aT GibraITar, aboard The U.S.S. WORCESTER, I5 Three-round bouTs made up The nighT's-program. AnoTher Smoker TeaTured Tour oT The I.eyTe's beTTer boxers oppos- ing members oT The Salonika Young Ivlens Chris Tian Associahon Boxing Team 102