Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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Top: Just before flooding the dry-d dock. bfloif: In dry- lop: Enterine di Lieutenant. The Skipper had told us to relax; so that night, all hands turned in their bunks, relaxed from utter exhaustion. And, though we had soon been in the relaxation area for some days, the Field Day went on and on. Little wonder we were all anxious to get orders to a port where we could really relax, and those orders couldn ' t be coming through too soon for us, because it had been rumored that we would soon be getting underway for our first visit to Guam Nhere we would probably be for ten days or two weeks. Victory L Europe Sure enough, we got those orders on 6 May, and immediately got underway from our op- erating area. Nothing of importance occurred en route to port until we got word of the uncon- ditional surrender of Germany. While we had been more or less expecting Germany ' s com- plete collapse momentarily, it was with a great deal of pleasure and .satisfaction that we re- ceived word that Germany had ollicially gone down in ignominious defeat. Aside from the satisfaction derived from any Allied victory, we knew that Germany ' s surrender meant a quicker termination of the War in the Pacific. We knew that increasing help would soon be coming our way, and that we would all soon be celebrating a real -ictory — a victor - and un- conditional surrender over the most despicable race that ever walked on the face of the earth. With that certain knowledge to console us for all we had been through, we turned again to the business at hand, and on ' Friday, ii May 1945: 12-16 Steaming as before. 1205 passed Orote Point and Buoy No. i abeam to starboard. 1207 All engines stopped. 1208 Pa.ssed Buoy No. 2 abeam to starboard. 12 13 Pa.ssed through anti-submarine nets. 1 2 1 5 Starboard 104

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nouncing system, telling us where we were go- ing and what we had to do. At the same time, he told us that, comparatively speaking, it would not be a strenuous operation, that all hands had done a good job thus far and needed a rest, and that he hoped we would be able to relax in the new area and get some much needed rest. W ' e arrived in our new operating area on 26 April, with all hands looking forward to that relaxation the Captain had promised us. We had hardly gotten there, though, when the Exec left the Old Man out on the short end of a limb. The Executive Officer is second in command and is well protected by Navy Regu- lations, which go on to say that all orders of the Executive Officer shall be considered as emanating from the Commanding Officer. We had hardly taken station in our relax- ation area when we picked up the Plan-of-the- Day, covering our work for the first day there, and what to our weary and sleepy eyes should appear but the following note: Field Day all day throughout the ship! The words Field Day have a number of meanings. To our pilots, it can be a Grand Slam against enemy aircraft: to some of us, it is a day set aside in Prep School and College for a full day of intra-mural track and field events. But to the men of the Litnga Point, it has a more ominous and dreadful interpretation. It sim- ply means to them that all day throughout the ship they will be scrubbing the decks and bulkheads with soap and water, polishing bright work, chipping paint, sweeping down, painting the decks and bulkheads, scraping the ladders with wire brushes, and otherwise relaxing as they carry on their work under the ugly stares of a Petty Officer, in preparation for the flashlight inspection of the First 1 forecastle while dropping hook at Gu 103

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Top: -Over the side all side cleaners ; below: A yeoman gels his hands dirty in the all hands evolution of scraping and paintin? ship ' s bo torn in dry-dock at Guam. 105