Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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passengers than we had on our return trip, and many friendships were formed amongst them. The enlisted personnel were a particularly well behaved and orderly group, and at least one of them was a rather enterprising young chap. He was a Marine Pri ate, and he had with him one of those miniature Singer sewing machines. Our Tailor Shop is always rushed ith work prior to returning to the States, because they have much work to do, not only in pressing, but also in sewing clean Watch tape and Rating Badges on uniforms, so that the men will look their best when they see their one and only. C ' onsequently, this Marine, not wanting to overlook a good thing, just set up business right there on the hangar deck, and he did such a thriving tailoring business that there is no telling how much he did make on that cruise. Everytime we passed his cot, he seemed to have all the business he could handle. As an important part of our training, we ne ' er o erlooked an opportunity for Gunnery Exercises. Frequently, while at sea. we would have one of our own planes tow a slee e target for us to practice on, but nearly always, just before entering, or just after leaving port, we would ha e one or more planes from the beach tow targets for us, because we felt pretty certain that we would soon be grateful for all the gun- nery practice we could cram into our routine. Our first contact with the States on our return therefore, was with planes from North Island towing targets for us. We could, at that point, see concrete evidence of the results of our many hours firing at towed sleeves in the hot tropical sun. because we were hitting the target pretty regularly. We had hardly secured from Gun- nery Exercises when on Saturday, 5 August 1944: 08-12 Steaming as before, 0804 c c to o64°T and p.g.c, 056° p.s.c. 0807 c s to 16 knots. 0838 Sighted outer buoy bearing o63°T, distance 2 miles. 0839 a e ahead 2 3. 0901 c s to 10 knots. 0917 Commenced maneuver- ing on various courses and speeds to conform to channel. 0931 Pilot, J. T. Johnston, came aboard. 0957 Passed Point Loma abeam to port. 1030 Moored starboard side to Pier Item, Xorth Island, .San Diego, Calif. 1153 Passengers disembarked. Ev eryone on board was happy that morning as we docked at North Island, but none were happier than our passengers who were return- ing to the States after many months duty in the South Pacific, and they nearly went wild with cheers when they saw their first American girl since leaving the good ' ole U.S.. . She was a civilian employee of the Air Station, driving a tractor on the dock, but she looked like a glam- Tofy: Beach and Tennis Club, del Coronado Hotel; center: Coronado Hotel; bottom: .Aerial view of San Diego. 45

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Mavinn spt ' iit a vrry plcisanl hour wiili our frifiids at tlu- Seaplane Base, w - lio[)|)ccl another Jeep ricU hack to the boat landini;. En route, we pass -cl three natives, dressed in their In-st loin cloths, with their arms full of miniature out-ri ij; r eanoes, which we felt t er- tain they were takinir to the landinir to sc-11 as souvenirs to the Army, Navy and Marine per- sonnel stationed lh -re: so we asked our bene- factor if he would mind stojipini; loni eiKJunh for us to buy one. We approached the elder of the three and said, How much? Not a i runt was forthcoming, e en after the third attempt. Then, in our very Ix-st French, which we hadn ' t used in i8 years, we .said, Qu est-ce que le prix? Immediately, the words came back, ■ ' Fifty C:ents. ' We finally got out of him that the only English they spoke was Money, and we can well understand that, because wc later learned that, two years iDcfore, .American service men could buy boars teeth from them Top: .Sailing off Lo IS Beach; hdou: Rainbow f .-Xuditorium, Long Beach. for J-, cents, whereas, now that they have learned that all .Amc-ricans are rich, they charged Im Dollar for thi-m. aiifl iliey got it. With the Captain ' s pants and our out-rigger (anoe. we returned to the ship perfe tly con- tent with our three-hour visit to the New Heb- rides. Upon arriving at the ship, we .saw that the main reason for our calling at Espiritu .Santos was to take on a large number of Army. .Navy and .Marine p -r.sonnel for transportation back to the States. Our Might deck and hangar deck were kjaded with planes, and there were row upon row of cots all up and down the hangar deck for the enlisted pas- sengers, and every inch of space in Officer ' s Country was taken up with officer pa.ssengers. They were a most cheerful lot of passengers, be- cause they were all going back to the States, either on duty or leave, after many months in the New Hebrides getting our various ba.ses established. We, too, were in a cheerful mood, because the prospect of an early reunion with our families meant much to us also. Therc- fon-. it was one happy ship when on Friday, 21 July 1944: 12-16 Moored as before. 1422 Stationed all special sea details. Made all preparations for getting underway. 1458 Underway from Berth 16, Espiritu Santos, on various courses and speeds proceeding out of Segond Channel. C ' aptain at the conn. Executive Officer and Navigator on the bridge. 1546 Passed through anti-submarine nets. ' The Plan-of-the-Day for Saturday. 22 July, had thereon the note. En route San Diego. Uncle .Sugar. which was most welcome, but not altogether unexpected news to all hands. Until then, we had been afraid they might, by some remote chance, transfer our cargo and passengers at Pearl Harbor, and send us on the road to Tokyo without another good look at the U.S.A. before starting on our business trip. The cruise back to the .States was a ery pleasant one, with most of our spare time spent either in classes of one kind or another or out on the forecastle or fantail. watching the many species of flying fish as they sailed excitedly ' away from our ship, and otherwise enjoying the beauty of the Pacific waters, while telling and listening to all manner of .Sea .Stories. We could not have desired a nicer bunch of 44

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onms Drl)iit;int( ' iil llic Stork (liil) lo ili()s - boys that mtJinini;. Havini; clisrmbarkcd our passmgrrs and un- loaded our carijo of planes, liinTly staried for the I ' ort Watch at ifioo. and that niKht the telephone lines were busy from Coronado and Dago to all sections of the country, as .iiiigfi Point men awaited their turn in line to call their wives and families. It Ix ' intj pretty well under- stood that we would be in and around Dago and Long Beach for several weeks at least, many Liinga Point wi ' es were given orders to return to that area with least possible delay, since many of them had returned to their homes, scattered all over the country, after wc shoved ofT from Astoria on 5 June, exactly two months before. The next day, 6 August, wc got underway for Terminal Island, Long Beach, Calif., where wc were to go into the Yard t(j iind rjut just hi w ucll we had shaken her dt)wn. Most of the men s[x-nt th -ir first few days there trying to hnd a room, any kind of a room, for their wives, l)ecause the li(jusing situation wa.s sfjmcihing terrible. Many a wife was en route, not know- ing where she would stay; howvver, they were all taken care of one way or another, either in hotels, apartment houses or private homes. While at Long Beach all hands were offered five days lea e, with most of the single men go- ing to Los Angeles, Hollywood, .San P ' rancisco and .San Diego, and most of the married men remaining in Long Beach with their families. Quite a few Lunga Point men were able to get rooms at the Hotel Hilton or the ' illa Ri iera in Long Beach, while those in the upp cr bracket stayed at the Biltmore in Los .Angeles. .Actually, we had one representative from our .ship in that upper bracket. It mattered not to us of the proletariat, though, because we could get to Los Angeles on the Pacific Electric in forty-five minutes. In any event, it was here at Long Beach that many lasting friend- ships were made amongst the wives of the Lunga Point men; friendships that were going to mean much to them during their lonely hours awaiting our return from the fighting front later on. One event in particular did much to cement the friendships amongst the wi es of the ofiiccrs. and that was the luncheon that Mrs. Washburn gave for them in the Rcndez- ous Room of the Biltmore in Los . ngeles dur- ing our Long Beach sojourn. We husbands, of course, did not rate the luncheon, but were told all about the delicious food, the lovely centerpiece, and some of the gossip that night. I of Captain at personnel inspection. North Island. Personnel inspection, North Island. 46