Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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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Protestant services were held on the hangar deck by our Chaplain on Christmas morning, followed by Catholic Mass, which was said by a visiting Priest from another ship in the har- bor. Both ser ' ices were very impressive, being high-lighted by the Christmas Stoiy and the singing of Hymns appropriate to the Season. The enlisted personnel had a treat Christmas Day that was almost worth coming to Manus for. They always have turkey on such days as Thanksgiving and Christmas, but, this time, they not only had turkey and all the trimmings but they were privileged to dine on the hangar deck, where they had plenty of elbow room ' and could take their time as they went to work on their drum sticks. All in all, it was about the best Christmas a man could expect to have while in a strange land fighting a war. It did seem funny, though, for so many of us to be spending Christ- mas afternoon walking through the hot palm groves of Pityilu Island, and searching for cat eyes along the sandy beach, while the folks back home were worrying over getting sufficient fuel ration coupons to get oil for the furnace in order to keep out the cold for vhich we longed so. The next couple of days were taken up al- most entirely with loading stores, taking on more fuel and ammunition, and on Wednesday, 27 December 1944: 12-16 Underway from Berth VV-45, Western Anchorage, Seeadler Harbor, Manus, Admi- ralty Islands, on various courses and speeds. Captain at the conn. Executive Officer and Navigator on the Bridge. 1234 With black buoy abeam to starboard, distance 100 yards, took departure on course ii5°T and p.g.c, 1 19° p.s.c, at 17 knots. Shortly after leaving port we had our usual Gunnery Exercises, firing at targets towed by planes from the beach. It was, as usual, terribly hot out there in the sun as we fired away at the targets, but we were destined soon to be more than thankful that the Skipper and the Gunnery Officer were so insistent that we get in gunnery practice just as often as possible. After all, we were en route to the real thing, and, with that knowledge, the gun batteries fired away at those targets with even more in- terest and enthusiasm than they ever had be- fore. It was, so to speak, our final test. Ex- cept for our gunnery practice, this short cruise was uneventful, and on Saturday, 30 December 1944: 08- 1 2 Steaming as before. 0834 c s to 5 knots, c c to i97°T and p.g.c, 180° p.s.c. 0841 a e stopped. 0921 Anchored in Berth 24, Kossol Passage, Western Caroline Islands, in 18 fathoms of water with 75 fathoms of chain at water ' s edge to the starboard anchor. 0936 Secured main engines. 0940 Secured the anchor detail. Set Condition of Readiness III, Watch I. 0955 Secured No. 3 generator; cut in No. 2 generator. 1035 Made daily in- spection of magazines; conditions normal. Here we were in Kossol Roads again. And, again, it was to be a vcr short visit: just long enough to take on some more stores and ammu- nition, because we all knew that a really big and important operation was in the offing, and we were to be a very active part of that opera- tion. We still didn ' t know exactly where we were going, but there were many among our Ship ' s Company vho were pretty good guessers. New Year ' s Eve this year was not celebrated by us by the ringing of bells, the blowing of whistles and the usual hilarity that accompanies it, but, instead, we were all very bu.sy getting our ship and ourselves ready for tl e job just ahead of us. As we rang out the Old Year, we also brought to an end another chapter in the Odyssey of the Lunga Point. 65