Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 232 text:

VC-33. barked them for further transportation on the 2ISt. VC 33 Reports Aboard On 25 September, while in Buckncr Bay, Composite Squadron Thirty-three (VC 33) re- ported aboard for duty, and we got underway for Wakanoura Wan again on the 26th. where we anchored at 1 100 on the 28th. First Libfrt ' i ' In Japan On our first visit to Wakanoura no liberty was allowed, partly because it was too soon after the surrender and partly bccau.se of no medium of exchange for shopping. On our arrival this time, however, we found that lib- erty parties were allowed ashore in small groups and that we could trade with soap, cigarettes and candy. Therefore, those who were for- tunate enough to get ashore this time had no little fun trading a pack of cigarettes for a doll, two cigarettes for a fan. one cigarette for a saki cup and .so on. Inflation was such that a packages of cigarettes was worth approximately S2.50 in our money. Quite a lot of interesting souvenirs were brought aboard each day, and Remains ol Mitsubislu planl — Nagasaki. Uc aslation at .Na-iasaki.

Page 231 text:

Rhoden, SCic, stirs beef stew for P.O.W. ' s in Mampa Ro Hotel Dr. 1 .a.i galley. ci Only those on official business got ashore at Nagasaki, but we are thankful that our oflicial photographers were among that group. W ' e commenced taking on POW ' s as passengers on the 1 8th and finished on the i gth when we got underway in the afternoon with 760 of them sleeping on cots on our hangar deck. We took them straight to Okinawa where we disem- Limga Point in heavy seas off Wakanoura.

Page 233 text:

e -eryonc enjoyed this little glimpse of Japan. It might be explained that Wakanoura is ac- tually a beach resort suburb of VVakayama, a city of over 200.000 people. As compared to Wakayama, Wakanoura is just a small ' illage and the shops are almost primitive. Waka- yama is, or rather was, quite an industrial city, but now that it has been destroyed by bombing we were not allowed there by our own authori- ties, probably because there was nowhere to shop. Some of the officers and men did get to the railroad station in Wakayama in connection with evacuating POW ' s and can testify to the fact that one raid of 100 B-29S levelled the busi- ness and industrial area almost 100 per cent. We remained anchored in Wakanoura Wan until 2 October, giving all hands ample oppor- tunity to learn the Japanese sign language. Consequently, on that day we set sail for Tokyo for bigger game in the way of souvenirs. Tokyo? Many of us had predicted on 16 October 1944, that we were on our way to Toyko; so many of us, despite our desire to get home, had an intense feeling of satisfaction in the knowl- edge that we were about to cross the goal line Devasuiion at Nagasaki. as we steamed North with the Makin Island, the Tennessee and the California — Tokyo bound ! But were we? We were due in Tokyo Bay the morning of the 3rd and were almost at the en- trance to the Bay when we received orders to change our course for the area South of Waka- yama to conduct an air search for Rear Ad- miral W. D. Sample who had been reported lost in a routine PBM flight since morning. The Admiral simply had not been heard from ■ deck en route Okinawa from Nagasaki. ' ' ' L ' 1ii ' v.!-., ' ' .?7. ' i!fiBPf ' '