Louisville (CA 28) - Naval Cruise Book

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Opposite page: Underwater demolition teams operating close to the beach TARGET DESTROYEDI position charges which clear the coral reefs from the paths of invasion barges. Ace, this is Freelance. Return to base. Over. NThis is Ace, Wilco, out. As l headed for the ship I began think- ing over the day. Weid done pretty Well. We'd knocked out pill boxes and block- houses, and Worked over the ravine. While taking a look at the terrain below, my eye suddenly came upon a cave with stores piled high in front of it. Gas was low, but, hell, this had to be taken care of. Hlfreelance, this is Ace. live spotted a cave. Suggest We get it. Over. Realigning our grid co-ordinates, we took the target under fire. nlfreelance, this is Ace. We've been hitting all around it. Hold fire While l go down to take a look. As I dipped low before the cave the first time, I got no response. Hm-m-m-m, I thought, that was good. Wcid go down for a better look. Thatis what the ,laps were Waiting for. As we came in low a 20-mm. lashed out at our boxseat chariot. Bullets drove through the wings, bursting in dull grey puffs of smoke and a splattering of fire, as I gave her the gun and got out of there. 'cYou all right back there, Radio? I shouted. c'Yes, sir, he blurted. 'gBut let's get out of here. Do you think those Wings will stand a landing?,' I assured him she was flying all right and We headed for home 129

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-1 The next morning reveille jarred us awake raucously. No lounging in the sack. Only a few minutes and the clanging gen- eral quarters alarm would be sending us to our stations. The routine repeated itself: A hot cup of njoef, last-minute instructions, and I was up in the plane, revving the motors. The ship was alive by then. Guns were training out, men with sleep still in their eyes, yawning, stretching, scratching, climbed into pointer and trainer seats, gun covers were yanked off, ammunition lockers opened, men fum- bled with sound-powered phones, others gazed intently through binoculars at the beaches that were to take such a working over that day. Over the island again, the radioman and I noticed bargeloads of demolition men hitting the water not over 300 yards from the beach. I decided right then they had more guts than I, because I wouldn't Opposite page: SOC returns damaged by AA fire. V-Division sets at once to work making repairs. Smoke boats lay screen to protect invasion barges. want to go in swimming with TNT tied around me. They were preparing to blast openings in the reef for our landing craft. Freelance, this is Ace. OK on that supporting fire, but make the first salvo long, and We'll walk it back. Can't risk shorts on account of demolition teamsf' We kept the Nips pinned down until the demolition boys got their work done, and out of the way for the charges to clear the reef. With that completed we were ready for the big event. We hit the ,laps with every- thing we had. More than fourteen tons of projectiles drove into the beach each min- ute. Bombers joined the assault to drop their giant explosives in just the right places. A plane nearby splattered in mid- air as though his bomb had exploded just beneath him. lt was almost as if the air had swallowed him-nothing much left to fall. Gunboats pulled in close to send out a barrage of rockets in advance of the land- 131