Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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August was barely a week old when the order came to embark on the U.S.S. Makassar Sirails (CV ' E 91) for carrier qualifications. With pounding hearts the officers and men thumped up the gangway and watched the planes hoisted aboard, one by one. This was it! For the next eight days the ship chased weather and qualifications were run off when the ceiling lifted. Learning the ways of a ship, the men began to talk like veterans and spoke casually of the beach, although that word had never before been associated with shore life. Once back at Brown Field they walked with a new lift a nd looked haughtily at green pilots who had yet to qualify. The Squadron then left Brown Field and settled at the Naval Air .Station, San Diego, on North Island. For nine days the pilots en- gaged in maneuvers and practiced bounce drill. On the tenth day they climbed into the planes and taxied in a long, winding queue to Pier Fo.x to join forces with the U..S.S. Lutiga Point (C ' E 94), their ship and their new home. It was an auspicious occasion that night when Captain Washburn strode into the ready room and welcomed them aboard. If there was ever a feeling of strangeness it was dissipated then. They belonged. That cruise lasted ten days. It was followed by two others as the ship and the Squadron practiced teamwork, strove for precision. Be- t een disembarking and embarking, the men made the most of their waning moments in the States. The Squadron received new planes, shiny with paint and throbbing with power. Good-byes were said and re-said until finally the word came to shove off for duty with the Pacific Fleet. 1 1 was a warm autumn afternoon when the sliips left San Diego. Th - .Scjuaflron gathered on the Might deck. s(|uinting into the sun a.s the little tugs backed the ship into the channel and she slipfK ' d into jjosilion astern of the Flag Ship. Officers and men stofxl there, silent, until the settling mist had (ut the Oalifornia ( oast line to a memory. ' I ' hen. as if jarred from their reveries by the same hand, the pilots clattc-rcd down to the ready room, laughing and oking with a sudden exhilaratifjn. The stern p(jintcd toward .San Diego, but the t)ovv was ( utting the water towards Pearl Hart)or. The training was over. They were out for blcKxl. Months later, combat wise and with a not unenviable reputation, they svere wont to ad- mit that the first six weeks afloat had been the Top: Spotting forward before recovering planes: center: Avenger airborne after being catapulted; below: Avenger being readied for catapulting. 146

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torpedo attacks on windmills, swooping down over the rolling prairie, and sweated out nav- igation problems to Grand C oiilec and Spo- kane. .Spring verged on Summer when the Squad- ron began to pack away the endless gear and prepared to move again. On 30 May the ma- jority of officers and men piled aboard a train and settled themselves for the long ride south to the Naval Au.xiliary Air Station, Holt ille, Calif. Twenty-one of the pilots manned the planes and lifted away in the still morning air, Iea ing Pasco behind, a memory, pleasant and fresh. Through the Columbia Gorge; then south past the mountains and marshlands of Oregon into California. Down the flat valley past Sacramento they swept, dipped low like so many pigeons and alighted at Alameda, across the bay from San Francisco. The next morning they were off again. A gassing stop at .San Diego; then inland over the coastal mountains where Holt ille greeted them with a blast of heat. Elsewhere in the world night is meant for sleep. Not at Holtville. When dusk cast long shadows over the desert, men began to stir and engines roared. Night tactics, night bombing, night gunnery, until every pilot felt at home in the black loneliness that comes high above the earth after dark. They wore shorts and baseball caps and acquired deep tans from the burning sun. The torpedo pilots moved over to Salton Sea for five days and learned to hit with rockets while the fighters took a brief rest. The landing signal officers appeared and lost no time in making themselves known. Day after day they stood in the run- ways and moved the bright little paddles until their arms were leaden and their eyes ached. But the efforts told as approaches became surer and more precise. It was not in the .Squad- ron ' s blood to stay in one place too long, and itchy feet soon found solace when on 14 Julv Holt ' ille was evacuated and the trek made to Brown Field, perched high atop Otay Mesa overlooking .San Diego. Brown Field was regarded as a final buffing plant for Squadrons about to go aboard a carrier for combat duty, and excitement ran high, for few in ' C 85 had ever served aboard ship. Training was devoted to carrier tactics, breakups, and landings. Frequently ' C 85 teamed up with her sister squadrons in group gropes, and attacked coastal areas in sim- ulated beach assaults or flew out for the fre- quent invasions of San Clemcnte Island, sixty miles westward from North Island. The fighter pilots mo ed en masse to the craggy field on that island for a final week of gunnery drill; but, beset by a low and persistent blanket of fog, they had to conte nt themselves with lixely games of baseball on the taxi strip. Top: Flieht deck being res[X)tted with aid of tractors: ctnler: The Old Man briefs squadroti in ready room; bflow: Avenger engine being given check on flight deck. 145

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longest, the most monotonous. But at that lime, the horizon was rosy. It was seven days to Pearl. Se en days of simulated attacks and grand weather. The islands broke from tiie horizon the morning of 23 October, green and wreathed in clouds. It was nearly every- iiody ' s first icw of Hawaii, and it made a strong impression. The ship slid into the harbor and tied up. There followed two days of liberty, during which souvenirs were bought and sent homeward. Then CarDiv 29 cast ofi again and set course for the vast reaches to the west. Eniwetok pro ided the initial iew of a l)attlc field with its denuded palm trees, It was a short look and was c|uickly replaced by the end- less horizon of the .sea as the ship and her im- patient crew sped on. Ulithi, but a few weeks an American base, provided the next anchor- age. Here the Squadron first realized the grimness of war, as mines, torn from their moorings by heavy weather, began exploding on protecting reefs and were found drifting be- tween the ships, necessitating a machine gun and .searchlight watch. Kossol Passage in the Palau Islands was where the ship and VC. 85 were given their first assignment, providing air coverage for convoys approaching and depart- ing Leyte Gulf. In the light of later develop- ments this was a tame job, but it looked big then. The con -oys were guarded with the Fighter races down deck on lly-away. zeal of a hen protecting her young. On the rare occasions when one of the patrols caught a glimp.se of Jap-held Mindanao, it was re-told in the ready room as a major occurrence. These days, though they were dull and un- eventful, broke the Squadron in gradually to the complications of combat Hying and sharp- ened carrier operations to the point where few faults could be found. The days crept slowly past and on 23 November CarDiv 29 was re- lieved and set course for the Admiralty Islands. What happened next is a chapter many would prefer to forget. It was painful. Be- . venger ready for catapulting inti 147