Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 64 text:

Sania Claus pass( s llif quarler deck as he approaches the sta e. ; the goods. of the excellent service that the Manus Naval Base rendered the Fleet. As a result, we be- lieve that all hands really enjoyed their stay in Manus more than at any other place we have called up to this writing. m 1 «- - m . il Native hut on Pit ilu. There were many things to interest us at Manus, not the least of which was the oppor- tunity to visit with friends from the many ships in the harbor, as well as with friends attached to the Naval activities ashore. The recrea- tional facilities here were, by far, the best and most complete we have seen in the Pacific. On Pityilu Island, where we ha e an air strip, there was an unusually nice enlisted men ' s recreation area, featuring Dufiy ' s Ta crn, where our liberty parties were allowed from two to four bottles of good, cold beer or Coca- Cola per man per day. depending upon the supply on hand. There were ball diamonds, basketball courts, hand ball courts and tennis courts, not to mention a beautiful white sand beach right out in front of Duffy ' s Tavern. It was a rather picturesque sight to see the hordes of soldiers, sailors and Marines from the many ships present as they lounged about the tables in the ta ern and othersvise made use of the facilities at hand. There were always many of them taking advantage of the oppor- tunity to hunt cat eyes and tiger eyes and the many other literally thousands of various sea shells peculiar to the Admiralties. Some of the cat eyes found were er) ' pretty, and there is many a one and only back home now wearing a cat eye ring made on board our ship from a piece of stainless steel which was also found on the beach. Another favorite

Page 63 text:

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

Page 65 text:

Choir singing carols at Christmas party. sport was climbing the coconut palms for coco- nuts, although that was not necessary, because one could find all oi them he wanted on the ground. It was here, loo. that we learned how to eat coconuts without very bad and discom- forting after effects. After a ery hard lesson, we learned that the milk is drunk from the green ones and the meat eaten from the ripe ones, the latter being the kind so many men have sent home as souvenirs. The Officers and Chief Petty Officers also liad their recreational facilities, there being ery nice Clubs for both groups in Manus, approximately an hour ' s boat trip from our berth. We had many a pleasant afternoon there with our friends from other ships; pri- marily from the Makin Island. Bismarck Sea and Salamaua, since we all, from CarDi - 29, had a ery close feeling toward each other. ha - ing been together from the ery start. How- ever, we were constantly running into friends at the Clubs from other ships present, and some of us were fortunate enough to have friends based there, who were kind enough to show us the sights ' of Manus. the sights consisting primarily of a ery pretty waterfall about a mile from the Base. V ' e did have the opportimity one afternoon of being dri en by a friend in his Jeep up to the 63rd Construction Battalion Headquarters, about three miles from the Officer ' s Club. In driving through those jungles the admiration we already had for the SeaBees increased ten- fold. OH the sand and gravel road, you liter- ally could hardly see daylight through the dense grow th of bushes, vines and weeds that bound the forest of larger trees together as one. There were a great v ' ariety of beautifully plumed birds flitting about through the trees, and wc couldn ' t help but feel that some of them were flying excitedly away from the sight of a python or other large serpent common to that locality. Nevertheless, the .SeaBees went right through that same swampy jungle and built those roads, and in record time, too. Bra e men ! It was on Pityilu Island that Scotty, our mascot, of whom you will hear more later, got on the beach for the first time since leaving the States on 16 October. On this particular day, an emergency existed in that the Exec and se eral Officers and Clhief Petty Officers had some flight time to make up; otherwise, they would lose that flight pay, and, after all, what does a man get wings for if not to get that flight pay? So they decided to go over to our air Top: C itholic Mass on Christmas Day; biloii : Protestant Di Services, Christmas Day. 61