Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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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would lurtaftcr Ix- CIomEsCarl ' orPar iii- strad of ComCIarDiv 29. Why sliouklirt vc Ih- proud: hadn ' l wi- liclfKcl irain liiin. It was wilh a feeling of i cnuinc satisfaction to all hands, however, that we learned that Ad- miral Cal would continue to be ri«;ht with us, at least most of the time. A few days Ix-fore Clhristmas our Sf|uailron went over to Momote Air Strip, l.os Xegros Island, for a few days special iraininu;, and we were all (rreatly saddened to learn tliat one of our lighter pilots. Ensign William Alexander Read, was killed on an operational llight at the Air Strip on C hristmas Eve. Burial and Mass were held for him at the American C emetary, Los Xegros Island, on 26 December, witli all the Squadron and Captain Washburn in attendance, and he. was buried with full Mili- tary Honors. Christmas In The Admiralties The idea of spending Christmas in the Equa- torial heat of the Admiralties was not a situa- tion we would ha -e deliberately chosen, but it was all a part of the war; so we just had to make the best of it. Despite the fact that we longed for a white Christmas back home, we were given a definite and cheerful reminder of the .Season as we crossed the hangar deck on Christmas Eve afternoon and saw .Saint Nick standing on the corner at Times .Square ringing his bell, while benevolent passersby dropped nickels and dimes in his kettle hanging appropriately from its tripod. A coconut palm would not make a ery graceful Christmas tree, although it would havi- been most appropriate. We, therefore, built us a Christmas tree, using a 4 by 4 and nailing narrow Ixjards up and down the trunk at angles to form a conical shaped tree. We took a Iwjat to Fityilu and got sullicient palm fronds and other greens to tack on the tree, and the result was certainly Ix-tter than nothing. We had bought an ample supply of (Christmas tree ornaments during our stop in Honolulu, and we ended up with a very pretty tree, thanks to the men in the E Division who furnished a complete set of vari- colored lights, and to Des Jardins, .Sic, 2nd Division, and Terrell, Sic, ist Division, who helped us decorate it. We had a party Christmas Eve night, and, thanks to Des Jardins, who was a professional window dresser before entering the service, we had a very- appropriate setting for our party. He ingeniously used red tow .sleeves as back- drops forward of the forward elevator, and completely framed the elevator in palm leaves, making a perfect stage for .Saint Nick to pa.ss out his presents from as he stood in front of the large Merry Christmas sign painted by G(jlin, Sic, 3rd Division. With the stage set, the party was on, and everyone was in high spirits; at least as high as can be expected so far from their loved ones. The party started at 1930 with the officer in charge of arrangements introducing the Ex- ecutive Officer, who, in turn, introduced the Captain. The Captain made a very timely talk, expressing to all hands his appreciation for their splendid cooperation, and wishing us all a very Merry Christmas. The Old Man had hardly finished his talk when down the after elevator came .Santa Claus. He got aboard a hangar deck tractor, with his big bag of toys over his shoulder, and was driven for- ward where he bounded up on the stage, and immediately began passing out presents to all hands. In addition to the presents, everyone was given two bars of candy, a package of gum and a can of mixed nuts. Periodically, through- out the program, which lasted until about 2200, our choral group, led by Lt. Corkran, sang a number of Christmas Carols, which added much to the occasion. The program ended with the reading of The Night Before C:hristmas by one of the officers standing in the dim light of the tree, and all hands then went below for ice cream and cookies, following which we all turned in with visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads. ' 64