Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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lap Red Cross assisls wilh P.O.W. lilirr cases. (Dr. Piatt and C:hi r ClalHcoattc to left in picture. on thi.s particular visit. Those of us who went a.shore at Wakanoura on official business were amonE; the first to occup)- this particular part of Honshu; however, we experienced no diffi- culties what.soe er. The Litnga Point had a prominent part in the evacuation of appro.xi- mately 3.000 POWs from this area, we having officers and men on duty in the Mampa Ro t group of allied P.O.W.s to reach S ' ak emergency first aid station. Wakano boats to Mampa Ro Hotel for processing.

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as those of our escorts. Even at this writing we get quite a thrill out of the sight of them. ]. p Pilot Comes Abo.ard On 1 1 September at 0805 a Japanese Pilot. S. Hosono, Master in the Japane.se Maritime Service, came aboard to help us through the mine fields as we entered VVakanoura Wan. It was only reasonable to expect that when Lieut. Comdr. Tippett met the pilot at the No. 3 Sponson to show him to the bridge there was a large crowd on hand to see him; howe er, they were somewhat surprised to find him a .slender little man, who, except for his charts under his arm, looked everything but a harbor pilot. The cruise from there on into VVakanoura was not without excitement, because we were going through waters that were literally in- fested with mines. The pilot knew where the Jap mines were, but. unfortunately, he and we had only to guess where the B-ag ' s had been dropping their mines. It was some comfort to us to know that we had a large group of mine- .sweepers sweeping a channel ahead of us. but even that does not always guarantee a safe pas- sage. In any event, we got through safely and dropped our hook in Wakanoura Wan at 1833 that day. It was too late for the Jap pilot to leave the ship; so we assigned him a room for the night, imder guard, of course, and he left us earK ' the next morning. Japan Most of us had never been to Japan before and w-ere, frankly, quite appreciative of the opportunity to visit the land of the Rising Sun, e en though it did delay our return home a little. All of us enjoyed the view of this moun- tainous coastal region from the ship; however, only officers and men in a duty status got ashore Jap pilot salutes as he reaches flight deck with his charts. Top: The man in the middle is our Jap pilot into Wakanoura Wan; centfr: Street car station — Wakanoura; btiow: Waka- noura police and Red Cross workers. 221

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Rlghl, lop: P.O.W.s on beach at Mampa RoHc tela wailin g their lurn in lin ; next to lop: Fi rst P.O.W train arri es at VVaka vama: r fXl to bottom ■ Deva sta tion at Vaka ama (All of the damage at Wakayama is sa lid to tiavc been done by o le raic of inn B 2q s. and tfi s is just a mall pa t of it. ; hoti m: R cmai n of VVaka ma railroad station Lfft, top: Scene at Wakayama station; centft: Loading PO.W litter cases into ambulances at Wakayama station; brloiv: Main pa Ro Hotel.