Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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Dear Folks: Oh — hum ! Egad ! Reveille so soon? I ' ll be glad when I am Home again; rii sleep elear tiirough to noon. This 0330 reveille Was not designed for me; If Vd only known it soon enough I ' d never put to sea. Four o ' clock, Flight Quarters; All stations must be manned; Planes fueled, armed and chocked. Boy, this Navy life is grand. Four-thirty comes and brings G.Q. Such a rush you ' ll never see; As sailors manning Battle Stations In enemy sections of the sea. Five-thirty finally rolls around; The sun begins to climb. Two hours now have I been up; Two hours of should be slumber time. Six-thirty — Mess Gear; .Seven o ' clock, we eat. It seems the day must soon be o ' er; .So I can go back to sleep. Right o ' clock, sweep down, The day has just begun; The second flight ' s about to leave, And things begin to hum. Degassing crews and gassing crews Are busy at their tasks; Aviation ordnancemen Are always running past. Bombs and rockets fit in place With a precision how-do-you-do; All hands run the obstacle course Set up by the handling crew. Eleven o ' clock, Mess Gear ! How can we ever win? I know right after chow, We ' ll do it all over again. When evening finally rolls around All hands will darken ship: Fhen it will be too dark to tly. And I can take that slumber trip. Just at the final re -spot, ' ou feel about to relax, When you hear that familiar Cllang-c Here come those ! ! !XXX ! ! Japs ! I ' ll never make a Navy man, The above I do repeat; The Navy ' s not within my line; I like too well to sleep. Lotsa love. Your son, W. F. SiNEX, Sic, V-2 Division. ing! Top: 40 MM battery at AA practice; hdou : jm M 1 doing the same thing. 179

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' •Kiel I I HI.I.I.S l;iiul .ill is Weill Lyrics l)v 1,1. jii( k 11. (i;m(lt. L ' . .S. .Navy, (( hirf I ' ,ni;inccr, L ' ..S..S. l.uni a ' oiiil), and l ' ,(luin |. Hill. Music l)y Don (icori c and Joliniiy . ()l lc. 11 V li.ilni Id llic htlls lluit ring at rarille As l iiy announce Ihr timr of day: MV symbol i-f the sound into a melody, And this is what they seem to say. ' •Eight Bells ' ' and all is well With our Savy personnel. ' ' ' Eight Bells ' ' there ' s no pretense, ]lVrc the first line of defense. Eight Bells for freedom ring To our memories will cling. While our ships fiatrol the seas To fnotect our liberties. -Eight Bells and all m uyII. li ' hen time arrives to fight We trill fight ivith all our might To keep our sea lanes clear .And defend this hemisphere. ' ' Eight Bells and all is well For our ships and personnel. To command our liberties .And the freedom of the . ;eas, Eight Bells and all is well. SIIJI ' MAII. or MINI- can still ur you there. Bombs bursting in air. You were fighting with one thought in view. To keep Old Hlory flying, : nd there ' s no denying, } ' ou gave all for the lied. While and Blue. Shifimate Of .Mine, You have sailed beyond the seas; .Shifimate Of .Mine, You are in my memories. HV sailed the seas together. With f ride in . avy Blue. There ' ll never be another, Never a Pal like you. Shipmate Of Aline Tou did not fight in vain, Because you were fighting For democracy to reign. Hoiv you loved the . avy, too, ril alicays bear in mind. And carry on for you, ' ■Shifmiatf Of Mine. The above poem is dedicated to the .American Blue Jacket, and was written by Lt. J. H. Garrett, U.SN, Chief EnRineer of the U.S.S. Lunga Polnl, as a memorial to Chief Boatswain Edwin (. Hill, USN, who was killed in action at the Battle of Pearl Harbor. 7 December 1941. and was- posthumously awarded the Ojn es- sional Medal of Honor for his heroic action, when, having been blown overboard by the explosion of a Jap bomb, he swam back to his battleship and personally supervised unmooring his ship, thereby .saving her from a disastrous fate, but losing his own life. Copyright, 1942. Miller Music Corporation, New York, N. ' . Lunga Point from air at sunset. 178

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Whrn r.l. I ' illmrr, iKiii|ivillK llir l ' ,lli rliilir in ttir w.iKlriKiln and IinlilinK nnpliin rinn iNii. i ' , wa» rrirnlly iiMiunid niipkin rinK Nil. a;i anil ICnuiKn LiciHrll auiiinctl No. i ' ,. wiih Paimrr Mill irlaininit hair No. if,. Itic-n- wrrr «onir fiw wliii did mil ciiiilr iinilrrnlanil llic new •ymnn riiipliiyrd liy llir Wanlrtmrn NIcm ' frcamirrr. 1.1. C:dr. JlaKitroin, wilh liifi krrn. analytiral rnind. ijnl ciiit Un slidr mil- and liiitarilhm IkkiIi and wrnl in work. r iiolrd lirliiu i% lii vrry »iin| lr explanation as lakrn rriini the WardiiKiin llnlltlin Hoard: .NOriCK Explanaliim of the . ii ikin Ring As.ugnmnils: .Some ronfiision has n-siiltod from the recent revision of napkin rinif assignments. I ' o clear this up and iron out any misunderstandings, the present system is outlined ix ' low: 1. First of all, napkin ring numbers are a.s- signed by rank, the highest ranking oflicer holding No. i and so on. Thus, if you are the 25th ranking oflicer aboard, your number should be 25. 2. However, due to the fact that several officers have designed their own rings and their rings, therefore, re-assigned, this is not en- tirely true. To overcome this difficulty, Nos. II. 33, and 76 arc assigned alphabetically. That is, if you are a lieutenant and your name is Throckmorton and your date of rank is I 7 .September 1942, you would ordinarily have napkin ring No. 18 under the rank system, but if you .sat in the chair facing the galley at the inlK ard forward table, you could po.ssibly hold eilh T No. II, No. 33. or No. 7O. Again, if your ring were none of these three numlxrs, it may be the result (jf an adjustment made on 12 November Ifj44. when all rings were ex- changed by each ofiicer with the man (jn his right. This was to make room for ring No. 7-. ' as courtesy to a visiting I-t. CloUmel. who was a passenger for several days. Unfortu- nately, when No. 7-. was removed and the shift made to the left, the seating arrangement was not identical with that on the day No. 7-A was inserted. 3. To clear up the napkin ring unpleasant- ness resulting from the foregoing, and to permit officers to exercise a rea.sonable choice in the selection of numbers, the rings will be rc-num- bered as desired, and, where duplications re- sult, as in a heavy preference for No. 7 and No. II as against No. 2, No. 3 and No. 12, in- dividual ownership may be determined by ex- amining the napkin itself. By placing your finger in an egg and gently pressing your print on a corner near the hem, that will serve to identify the napkin. 4. Odd numbered rings will be collected for re-numbering on e en days for the first half of the alphabet for all officers of the rank of lieutenant (jg) and above, while the last half of the alphabet will be re-numbered for even rings on odd days for all officers below the rank of lieutenant (jg). excluding warrants. Both odd and even rings for warrants will be re- numbered if received by 1600. 5. .Suggestions and criticisms are welcomed. Pharmacist Mates i 180