Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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rtlcnlcd for ;in Aclmii;il tii Icjivr his Flag Ship ill thi- jutivc coinhiit one iiiui lly over to an- otlur (airier ihat ihc Old Man (diild hardly Ix ' lifvc iiis fVfs when he saw our distinniiishcd giirst i ct out of the plane. As soon as the ( ' aptain i ol clown to llv llii;ht deck to tercet the Admiral, he immediate- ly told the Skipper that, after hearini of what we had Ix-rn throuijh at Kerama Retto tlie day In-fore, he jusl had to (ome over to see us. He .Jai I :,:,jI, cli-stio ed on Okinawa. also told the Old Man that he wanted to talk to our .Ship ' s Company over the general an- nouncing system. The Captain was only too glad to comply; so, after he had lunched with the .SkipfK-r, he talked to us for a few minutes, and he could have talked to us from now on without pleasing us more than when he .said. After hearing what you men went through at Kerama Retto yesterday, I just had to come o er here and personally sec what it is that makes the Lwiga Point click. His entire talk was most complimentary and was appreciated b - us far more than he will ever know. Ad- miral Durgin is a very busy man. and he had to make his visit a brief one; so at 1334 he flew away from our decks and back to his Flag Ship, leaving us all with the definite feeling that we had reached the climax in our first year ' s operations. And, with humble grati- tude for this gesture on the part of the Admiral. we re-affirmed our determination to continue to justify our Admiral ' s confidence in us. The Admiral ' s visit was about all you heard anyone aboard talking about for sometime thereafter. We were, howe er, also pleased and grateful to recei e from Admiral Blandy, Commander .Amphibious Forces, on .} . [)ril, th - following dis|}al( h: Tin-: a(;(;ri:ssi I. simrii miow.n . . I)R :sl ' I; sAcco. ll ' l.isHl.l)B Ai.i, OF ' OL ' DLRI.XC IHF I ' .VS I W I.IK ii.w K .M. i)K 11 . i ' ri im.(;k for . n, TO BF . . 1IMBI:R 01 1 III, I F. . I X A (JR.VND .Si, AM Ff)K () R Sqi .MJRO.N Fn all fairness to ail pilots everywhere it should Ix- explained that the number of planes shot down by a particular .Sfjuadron is, to a certain extent, luck. In tjther words, the .Squadron that happens to ha e the TC.AP (Target Combat Air Patrol) duty when and where the enemy comes in is, naturally, going to splash more planes than the .Squadron simply flying FCAP (Local Combat Air Patrol) over vessels off shore. It .so happened that, up until this point, our fighters hadn ' t had much of an opportunity to show their stufi. On Friday, 6 .April, our .Squadron finally got the break they had been waiting for. We happened to have the TCAP over Okinawa Gunto that day when the .Sons of Nippon came down, and they made a Field Day of it, shooting down eight enemy planes late that afternoon. Our pilots who were resfxjnsible Destruction of large building 7 miles N E of Naha, Okinawa

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both to port and starboard. There is no doubt in our minds but that the planes that came at us that night were all Kamikazes, and all de- termined to get the Lunga Point, but that hail of gimfire that we threw at them at every turn apparently proved to them that their efforts would be in vain, which undoubtedly accounts for one of them doing as much damage as he could by jumping on the APD, a much smaller ship. Finally, at 1942, we secured from Gen- eral Quarters, with the satisfaction that our team had turned the trick again, leaving no doubt in our own minds that we had finally be- come a tried and tested fighting unit of tiic Fleet. W ' e arrived at our operating area olf Oki- nawa Gunto the ne.xt day and. again, set about our mission of bombing and strafing the Japs in the face of our advancing troops on Okinawa Shima, and that day, 3 April, proved to be an eventful day in the life of the Lunga Point. M.AX OVERBO.ARD ! At 1045 that day. while we were making a sharp turn to port in a rather heavy sea, one of our fighter planes on the starboard quarter of the flight deck was torn loose from its mooring, and fell into the drink. Banta, J. P., Sic, was standing watch as Surface Lookout No. 3, and he was right in the path of the plane as she began tearing herself loose. Banta had no idea of letting that plane land on him; so he just jumped ■■o er the side into the waters of the Pacific. It is said that, even as he was in mid-air on his 40 foot jump into the sea, he took off his phones, saying. Control: Lookout 3 going off the line. Fortunately, he had his kapok life jacket on, and he jumped far enough for the falling plane to miss him. After float- ing about in the heavy sea for a few minutes, the U.S.S. Patterson, one of our faithful escorts that had been with us since October, picked him up and he was retvirned to the ship via the Naha Domar following dii rpla breeches buoy none the worse for his experi- ence. Our Admir. l P. vs Us A Visit The highlight, however, not only of Tuesday, 3 April, but of our entire first year in com- mission occurred at 1141 that day, when a visiting plane came to rest on our flight deck, and out jumped ComEsC ' arForPac, Admiral C. T. Cal Durgin himself. Not one soul, e en our Skipper, knew the Admiral was com- ing over to see us. In fact, it was so unprec- Luuga Point fro

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for Splashing those eight planes were Lt. Pettitt, Lt. (jg) Pleat, Lt. (jg) Ingram, Lt. (jg) Homyak, Lt. (jg) Bazzell, Ens. Swanson, Ens. Prindle and Ens. Turner, with Lt. (jg) Ingram accounting for two planes alone; one Zeke and one Val. These fine pilots had shown they could dish it out, and the eight additional Jap Hags painted on our bridge the next day was their visible tribute to our Shipmate, Lt. ( jg) Bazzell, who took his last long flight that day after personnallv accounting for a Jap Zeke. It was also during the Okinawa operations - Sunday, 8 April — that Lt. (jg) Cron and his air crewmen had an experience that was hair- raising to say the least. They were shot down behind the enemy lines, and the thrilling story of their experience will be found in the back of the book. Four Thousandth L. nding Vc celebrated another event on 1 1 April when the four thousandth landing was made on our flight deck by Lt. Pettitt. That ' s an indication of a lot of flying, and is further evi- dence that we have come a long way since 14 May 1944. Avenger Turns Fighter On 1 2 April, Lt. (jg) Rcilly performed the unusual feat of splashing a Jap Val over Okinawa Gunto while flying his Avenger Torpedo Bomber on a photographic mission. These powerful planes are not built to be used in a dog fight. On this particular day, Lt. ( jg) Reilly was flying along the beach of Okina- wa Shima taking pictures of Jap installations when he suddenly spotted a Val crossing his path dead ahead. He couldn ' t let the oppor- tunity pass; .so, imagining hiinself in one of our lighter planes, he lit out after him, and the last he saw of the rascal was in a funeral pyre on the beach. Lt. (jg) Reilly had brought the Ban- dit down with his fixed guns, but, as he flew low over the target, his Turret Gunner made the kill certain by strafing the Val with a stream of lead that left no doubt about that Jap being out of combat forever. Fr. nklin Delano Roosevelt The Okinawa operations were destined to be momentous in many ways, and it was with gen- uine sorrow and regret on the part of all hands that, on 13 April, we received a dispatch from Secretary Forrestal reading as follows: I HAVE THE SAD DUT ' OF ANNOUNC- ING TO THE NAVAL SERVICE THE DEATH OF FRANKLIN DELANO ROOS- EVELT, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, WHK;H 0C:CURRED ON 12 APRIL X THE WORLD HAS LOST A c:hampion of democ:racy who ' Val burning in Okinawa ravine after being shot down by Lt. (jg) Rcilty while on photo mission in TBM on 12 April. CAN ILL BE spared BY OUR C:OUNTRY AND THE ALLIED CAUSE X THE NAVY WHIC;H HE SO DEARLY LOVED CAN PAY NO BETTER TRIBUTE TO HIS MEM- ORY THAN TO C;ARRY ON IN THE TRA- DiriON OF WHICH HE WAS SO PROUD X COLORS SHALL BE DISPLAYED AT HALF MAST FOR 30 DAYS BEGINNING 0800 13 APRIL WEST LONGITUDE DATE IN SO FAR AS WAR OPERATIONS PER- MIT X MEMORIAL SERMCE SHALL BE HELD ON THE DAY OF THE FUNERAL TO BE ANNOUNCED LATER AT ALL ' ARDS AND STATIONS AND ON BOARD ALL VESSELS OF THE NAVY, WAR OP- ERATIONS PERMITTING X WEARING OF MOURNING BADGES AND FIRING OF SALUTES WILL BE DISPENSED WITH IN MEW OF WAR ClONDITIONS X Regardless of indi idual political sympathies, this message came as a distinct shock to all of us. We had lost a President w ho had been a real leader throughout the course of the war, and one who, no one can deny, had thoroughly sold himself to our Allied Leaders and had gained such harmonious relations with them 99