Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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

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I ' rcparini; C:hrislmas dinner in llic wardroom gallry. strij) on Pityilii anci put in tlicir llighi time. V went along with them and carried Srotty witli us, because we couldn ' t wait to see him inake love to the first tree hr had seen in so many weeks. He accomplished the purpose of his first visit ashore with due diligence and des- patch, and, since we wanted to get a ride hack to the ship before lunch, we started walking down the road to the enlisted recreation area. Imping to find a ride there. ' I ' hc heat wa.s K-rrilit ; so mu( h so that Scotty, with his heavy (oat of blat k hair, just fell over in the road with heat prr)stration. We carried him in our arnxs (III- remaining mile to Dully ' s I ' avcrn, where he rested in the shade for an hour, and, when 111- appeared to be all right, we returned with him to the ship. .Sf:onv (;of-s A.W.O.L. Despite the fact that .Scotty showed no lurther indication of wanting to get a.shore, he was destined to see more of Pityilu. One day, one of our Clhicfs carried him to Pityilu, and, when the time came to return to the ship, Scot- ty wasn ' t to be found. He had gone com- pletely A.W.O.L. Unable to locate him, the Ohief returned to the ship. The next morn- ing we sent word to the Clhief Master-at-Arm.s ' Shack on Pityilu for them to be on the lookout for him, and, if they found him, to turn him () -er to our liberty party returning to the ship that afternoon. .Sure enough, when our party returned to the ship, Scotty was the first to leave the boat, none the worse for his experi- ence of roaming the ' wilds of Pityilu ' all Godsey, SFic, leads Christmas chow line. 62