Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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' I III Admikai ins Long IxfcjiT iciuliiiiK Munus, our l);isc ii Scciicllcr H;irl)or, we had Ix-ijiin (o suHcr from llic 111-. It worse than ever Ix-t ' orc. While llie Top: Tan o on Pil ilu with his ration of beer; hrlow: Liberrs ' Pitv-ilu. ckcls and dimes at Times Square C:hristmas Eve. air was hot and humid in New Guinea, we weren ' t bothered by it much because of the ex- citement of our first visit to a South Pacific island as well as the fact that we were hardly there long enough for it to take hold. We had now been cruising for several days in the Equatorial heat, and the Admiralties are prac- tically on the Equator. At first, the heat was almost unbearable, and nearly everyone aboard went to Sick C all daily for heat rash treatment. Even at night, we would lie in our bunks liter- ally wringing wet from perspiration. Al- though, it seemed impossible at first, we did finally become pretty well accustomed to the climate, in addition to which we were to have ample opportunity to swim in the beautiful, crystal clear waters of the Pacific, and this alleviated our discomfort from the heat some- what. Probably more than anything else, we simply became reconciled to the heat, because we had already heard the most reliable Scuttle- butt, straight from the Chow Line, that we

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these three men was keenly feh by all Ship and Squadron personnel, but was accepted in the same noble spirit that is always found on the loss of one ' s Shipmates, strongly evidenced by a grim determination to carry on and bring honor to our ship and squadron with certain knowledge that those who have gone before are equally responsible for future achievements. The Claptain attended the Memorial Services the Squadron held for these men at Ponam Air Strip on i 7 December while we were anchored at Manus, in the Admiralty Islands. Revenge is Sweet After a rather tiresome and not too interest- ing an operation, and with our mission success- fully completed, we headed south, and the idea of crossing the Equator again appcalled to most of us on board, because the great majority had at this time been trusty old Shellbacks for at least four months, and the idea of getting re- venge for all we took at the hands of King Neptune when we deserted the ranks of the Pollywogs was most pleasing. We crossed the line this time on Sunday, 26 November, and the great majority of our Pollywogs were in the Squadron. As a matter of fact, the only ones we recall outside of the Squadron that walked the coals on this second crossing were Lt. Cdr. Sands, Lt. Corkran, Waer, Sic, Longoria, Flc, and Mcintosh, HAic. In any event, we had around 150 to work on, and when it was all over we felt that, after all, it was worth being initiated just to wreak vengeance on that inno- cent and unsuspecting bunch of land- lubbers. We had hardly gotten the ship looking ship- shape after the crossing the line ceremonies when on Monday, 27 November 1944: 08- 1 2 Steaming as before. 08 1 3 Changed to Time Zone — 9: set ship ' s clock back one hour. 0840 c s to 14 knots. 0841 Stationed all the anchor detail. 0910 Commenced manu ering on various courses and speeds to enter .Seeadler Harbor, Admiralty Islands. loio Anchored to the starboard anchor in 1 2 fathoms of water, 45 fathoms of chain to the water ' s edge, in .Seeadler Harbor, Western part of Admiralty Islands, in Berth W-30. 1032 Secured the anchor detail. Set normal port routine. Softball between officers and chiefs at Pityilu. 57

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Captain extends greeting I hands at Chi-istn would be in and around Manus for some weeks before our next operation. We had, at this time, been out of the States since 1 6 October, and, except for a very few- letters awaiting us at Ulithi, we had received no mail since leaving. Mail is the one thing we look forward to more than anything else, being second only to actually returning to the States. Consequently, nothing could have pleased us more than the siaht of an LCM full of mail coming alongside our ship even before we had dropped our hook in Seeadler Harbor. We received thirty odd bags all told, and nothing could have made us happier at that point than the many letters we recei ed that afternoon, because our men in the Post Office had worked like Trojans to get it up for us at the earliest possible moment as they always do. Also, their desire to get our mail to us as soon as possible made an e ' erlasting impression on us Scene entering Seeadler Harbor, Manus. 59