Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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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Ix ' cr iliiil HI) will) it. Dill- to the lartjc iiimilxr of . a iil vessels in port, liowcvcr, it was iniitc a pr()l)l(in for the local Service- Sc|iiaclroii to furnish each shi[) siillici -nt boats to haiiclle its liherty parties. Our problem was somewhat soKcd, thouifh. lhrouy;h the kindness of the AK- ' -). wliii li lo.iiK ' d us two boats and crews; thus, we were able to send a Section ashore each day. We were in the Southern Anchorage, however, and it was too long a boat trip to attempt to take our liberty parties to Mog Mog Island where there were organized recre- ational facilities as at Pityilu. Consequently. we and all the other ships in the Southern An- chorage decided to use Feitabul Island, which was uninhabited and just about 6000 yards from our berth. WTiiie there were absolutely no recreational facilities on this mile long island, we managed to get our per capita allotment of beer each day, and it was really a treat to go to Feitabul, because it was the one island we had seen that had been absolutely untouched by the ravages of war. With its many beauti- ful coconut palms and its very dense under- growth, it was everything we had expected to find in a typical South Pacific island. Tropi- cal flowers were numerous, and you couldn ' t step on a spot in the jungle without stepping on coconuts, the ground being literally covered with them. There was a beautiful white beach on the lagoon side, and the ocean side presented a very pretty sight, with the clear, blue-green waters breaking over the coral reefs 1000 yards oil shore. .Since so many ships were in the same fix we were in, there was al- ways a crowd on the island. Many parties brought rations along and cooked supjx-r over open lires in the .shade of the palms. In one sen.se it was like Main Street back home, |j -- cau.se one was constantly running into f ld friends there from other ships present. Even when in port, however, it ' s not all play with us by a long shot. We arc all kept very busy attending to our part in the preparations for the next operation. Ihen, too, there is no little cleaning of bright work, and there is, of course, the ever present painting to Ik- dc»ne. We don ' t believe there is ever a minute in the day that somebody on board isn ' t painting somewhere, trying to keep one jump ahead of the rust and corrosion caused by the salt air. We do, as often as possible, have Happy Hours, which are put on by officer and enlisted personnel from the ship and squadron, and we had one of our best while at Ulithi on this visit. It was highlighted by a boxing match with the team from the Bismarck Sea (C ' E 95), though we are forced to admit that they licked us in that department, but not without our men put- ting up a good scrap. As a matter of fact, it was a great fight, and we lost by only one bout. Our spirits were undaunted, though, and we pro- ceeded to put on a good show for them, any- way, w ith our orchestra, our string quartet, our soloist s and our piano-accordionist. W ' e had many guests from the Bismarck Sea as well as other ships, not the least of whom constituted the biggest cargo of gold braid we ' ve ever had aboard at any one time before. The ship was literally listing to port under the weight of the head gear worn by the Old Man ' s dinner guests. Captain Whaley of the Makiii Island (CV ' E 93), Captain Pratt of the Bismarck Sea (CV ' E 95), and Captain Frank T. Ward, Jr. of the Shamrock Bay (CVE 84). -After nearly three weeks of work and play, mostly work, and guessing when we were get- ting underway and where we w ' ere going, we had every reason to feel that we had success- fully completed another leg in the travels of the Lunga Poiiil and were about to embark on another. 74