Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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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Christmas dinner on the hangar deck. night. That was, however, the last time Scotty has been ashore up to the present time, and he seems perfectly content to lounge about the ship just dreaming of Coronado, California. It was not all play while at Manus, though. All hands knew that we had come there to pre- pare for an operation, and most of our time was spent in taking on stores, ammunition, fuel, and the gear that would be needed for an extended operation. Every day the harbor seemed to become even more crowded with ships of all types, not a few of them being transports loaded with troops. There was a great air of secrecy about the ship, and everyone was guessing as to where we were going. While no one was fold where we were going, we did know that the coming operation was to be of great magnitude, because, with all the hundreds of ships and thousands of men in the harbor, we were told that Manus was just one of the harbors in which the Fleet was being assembled. Finally, toward mid-December, we left on a rather mysterious cruise, but, after getting imderway, the Old Man told us that we were going out for several days on a practice in- vasion. That, too, was quite interesting, but lacking in the excitement that accompanies the real thing. . fter being out a few days we returned to Manus to wait for orders to move out on our operation. ComEsCarForPac Upon returning from our practice invasion we were all ery proud to learn that our own Admiral Durgin had been placed in command of all combat CVE ' s of the Pacific Fleet, and Wrestling match during Christmas ' Holidays. 63