Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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Top; Enemy trucks destroyed b ' our planes during Lingayen op- eration; behw: Underground ammo dump near Santa Cruz. Luzon, •■8- ' + 5. above the flight deck, the heavy sea pulled the deck down so that his hook would not grab the arresting gear cables, but, instead, the hook caught the top wire on the No. 2 barrier. With a Bang, his plane landed on the starboard side of the flight deck just forward of the island, not in one piece, but in two pieces. The impact had been so great that it literally jerked that big torpedo bomber half in two just aft of the pilot ' s cock-pit. It would not have been sur- prising if the pilot and his two crewmen had been killed or seriously injured. On the other hand, two of them came out unscratched, and the one air crewman who suffered superficial cuts was discharged from Sick Bay the next day. We mention this merely to show that, while we do ha e accidents occasionally, they do not necessarily result in death or serious injury. Quite some time after S Day we were given orders to leave the Lingayen area, un- doubtedly because the Army had the situation well in hand and ntjw had sullu itiil landbascci air ( () cr lo relea.se us. l ' njm here on out, the jmplctc con(|uest of I-uzon and, ullimalely, llie i ' liilipjiincs, seemed to be nothing more ilian a nicllKjdieal rccUu lion oi the Jap forces by our .Army. It had been an interesting and exciling o[XTation, but we were glad to be lca ing, iK-eause we were cry tired from run- ning lo CJeneral Quarters at all hours of the day and night and attending ttj the other arduous duties pertinent lo our part in the Lingayen operatitjii. The idea of a little rest and recre- ation in Uliihi was a happy and welcome pros- pect lo us all. We were al.so quite anxious to get to calmer seas, becau.se that South China Sea had really been rough since we had been ihere, and it was a real credit to the ability of our entire Air Department, and to our LSO in particular, that our plane handling on the flight deck had been so successful during the operation. How they brought those planes safely down on that flight deck in .such heavy .seas will always be a mystery to many of us. Then, loo, we were most anxious to get our Senior Medical Officer back to waters that more closely resembled the flat prairies of Kan.sas. All in all, no one was sad when we set our course southward. En route to Ulithi we could .see further evi- dence of the success of our operations at Linga- yen Gulf, because we were constantly sighting our own transport planes flying north to Luzon, unmolested, o er routes that just a few weeks before would have been extremely hazardous to say the least. That was all the proof we needed to convince us that we now had com- plete control of the air over the Philippines. Lt. ( jgi Rcilly ' s flight deck crash. 72

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yen beach, that radioed the signal for otir Men o ' War to hft their gunfire inland, and at ex- actly 0930 the first wave of troops hit the beach, followed at periodic intervals by other waves. Our forces of surface craft and planes had un- doubtedly left the enemy dazed by their so hea ily concentrated attack, becau.sc, much to our surprise, the actual landings were made with practically no resistance, and, conse- quently, with hardly any casualties. We were, therefore, able to put ashore literally thousands of troops, vehicles and other material that first day, and our troops advanced on S Day to the point that they had hoped to reach on S plus three. In any event, the hardest part of the Battle of Luzon had been won. On S plus two, 1 1 January, we were par- ticularly pleased to recei e from Admiral Durgin the following dispatch: i am more than plea.sed with the wav our share of thi.s .show is being .a.cciomplished x we un- derstand the reasons for most of your difficulties and are trying to c:orrect them x your loc;al cooperation has eased the pain of many headaclhes x ship handling is good X OUR LIT- TLE FRIENDS HAVE RESCUED EVERY PILOT .AND ARE TURNING IN THEIR USUAL TOP FLIGHT PERFORMANCE X OUR A ' LATORS ARE EXECUTING THEIR MISSIONS LIKE VETERANS AND ARE MAKING THEIR PRESENC:E FELT AT THE TARGET X FLIGHT AND HANGAR DECK CREWS ARE DOING A WONDERFUL JOB X EVERYONE HAS PITCHED INTO A DIFFICULT TASK WITH .SPLENDID SPIRIT X WELL DONE X Lt. (jg) GiLKEY T.-VKES A TrIP We hung around for some time after S Day, with our planes continuing to cover our troops as they advanced south toward Manila, and they did a bang-up job of it, too. We were fortunate, however, in losing only one torpedo bomber in the entire operation, but thereon hangs a long story; too long for Lt. (jg) Arthur W. Gilkey of Front Royal, Va. and his two air crewmen. (His story will be found at the back of the book.) Lt. (jg) Reilly Cr.acks the Whip Like all other aircraft carriers, we occasion- ally have a barrier crash on the flight deck with usually nothing more than superficial damage to the plane ' s propellor or engine cowling. On 1 7 January, however, we had a barrier crash that is undoubtedly unique in the annals of Naval aviation. Lt. (jg) R. C. Reilly was bringing his torpedo bomber in for a landing. The China Sea was rough that day, and the Lunga Point was pitching and rolling to beat the band. Lt. (jg) Reilly ' s approach was satisfactory and the LSO (Landing .Signal Oflicer) gave him a cut. .Apparently, he held ofi too long, and. as he flew just a few feet Lini, ' dvcn Ciult beachhead on .S Day, 30 minutes after H hou . ii strip in center; ' . ' lIigators in foreground.

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kes one c ver the bow, South China Lunga Point n OSes into a ground s well as she tur Sea. preparatory to re overing planes Tuesday, 23 January 1945: 04-08 Steaming as before. 0510 Sighted light on Ulithi Atoll, bearing 045°T, distance 15 miles. 0726 Stationed all the anchor detail. 08-1 2 Steaming as before. 0904 U.S..S. Sham- rock Bay (CV ' E 84) anchored. 0923 Anchored in Berth 261, Ulithi. Western Caroline Is- lands. Arriving in Ulithi, as is usual, the first job at hand was the taking on of stores, fuel and mu- nitions. This done, we were all ready for a little rest and recreation and the four bottles of Four C ' E Skippers ai ■•happ ' hours ' at Ulithi, 73