Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 82 text:

air base in the front yard of tlu- Japanese Em- pire. Here, also, the Lunga Point was distinguished; Three Jap planes out of four she extinguished. As, all at once, they dropped their torped oes; They came so close they gare us the jitters. But, nevertheless, our Ensign does fly O ' er In ' o Jima so bright in the sky. Our narrowest escape of the war — a real scrap and a tough one— took place during this operation. Knowing that Jap planes were nearby at the time, we were, of course, at Gen- eral Quarters, waiting. All hands seemed to ha e a premonition that we were about to undergo a severe attack, because there was a tenseness throughout the ship that kept every- one on the extreme alert. Every man was de- termined to do his job the best he knew how, contributing all he had to the success of our battle, whether he was in the Engine Rooms or standing by in the Wardroom. Yes, the Steward ' s Mates, the Cooks and Bakers, the Radiomen, the Pharmacist ' s Mates and the Mess Cooks all had their jobs to do just as much as the men on the guns. Even though the men below decks might have been expecting a tor- pedo to come bursting through the skin of the ship at any moment, they never wavered in their duties. The Repair Parties down there were also tense with alertness as they stood by, ready to effect quick repairs. We will never know the emotions of those men at the time, or the thoughts going through their heads. All we will e er really know about them, in that re- spect, we knew already. They were prepared to meet any eventuality in- their determination to sail the Lunga Point victoriously back to the .States. The certain knowledge of this backing was more than a help to the men on the gun.s and on the bridge. It was all they meded to keep th in lighting with all ihcy had. IHREE MORE JAP FLAGS Just at dusk wc were subjected to a night aerial torpedo attack by Kamikaze BomlxTs, and the planes could not even be seen until just within range of our guns. Four torpedo planes. Hying at flight deck level, came at us from abeam to starboard. We shot the (irst one down, and he fell in (lames on our star- board ciuarter, about 200 feet from the ship. He is now enjoying his bowl of rice with his Honcjrable . ncestors, but we dare say he has an acute attack of indigestion. The second plane, undoubtedly hit by our withering gun fire, turned and Hew low over our stern and out of sight, and we have serious doubts that he ever returned to the Empire. Wc had hardly had time to re-load our guns when the third and fourth planes came at us. We .shot them both down in llames, one landing in the water about 300 feet from the ship, and the other boundin g across our flight deck, after shearing off his starboard wing and landing wheel as he hit the after part of the bridge and leaving them in the Flag Bag Sponson. He sprayed gasoline all about, set fire to the fiight deck, and bounded into the sea and exploded on our port beam, but not without burning several men on our port gun batteries. The fire on our flight deck was quickly extinguished by our Fire Parties without doing any appreciable damage. Meanwhile, the Japs had dropped three ■fish, ' all of which missed us by inches, they having

Page 81 text:

En route, we stopped for a day at Saipan and passed by Guam, arriving off Ivvo Jima several days prior to D Day, which was to be 19 February. While it was in the cards that we would have a ' hot time militarily speaking, it was quite a relief to find ourselves far enough north to enjoy the first really cool weather we had had since leaving the States. As a matter of fact, most of us broke out our blankets and they really felt good. Immediately on arrival, our planes took to the air and began their bombing and strafing of Iwo Jima ' s military installations co-incident with the withering gunfire of the many battle- ships, cruisers and destroyers lying close in- shore. This was to be a 100 per cent Marine invasion by the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divi- sions. Many of us had close friends and rel- atives among those Marines, just as we did among the Army Divisions at Luzon, which made us want to try even harder to do our job while those brave Marines went through that living Hell on earth just a few miles from where we cruised up and down, waiting for our planes to come back from their mission of paving the way for the Marines. Tho.sc men, of whom we are so proud, hit the Iwo Jima beaches right on schedule at 0830 on D Day and brought glory to their Corps and to our Nation, but not without days of bitter fighting and heavy casualties. It is our guess that, as a result of this battle, there will be another erse added to The Halls of Monte- zuma, and somewhere in that verse will be the words, To the Shores of Iwo Jima. While not as gigantic an operation as Luzon, Iwo Jima did prove to be the more spectacular, and by far the most terrific operation in which we have participated, if not, for its size, the most terrific of the War in the Pacific. Not only was the taking of Iwo Jima the most costly of the Marine invasions — a combination of Saipan and Tarawa — but it also provided us with our toughest fight and most narrow es- cape. The Japs, even though foreseeing de- feat, literally dug into the rugged cliffs and the volcanic lava and held on with the tenacity of fanatics, preferring annihilation to surrender. The whole island was virtually honey-combed with pill boxes and caves, from which could be seen only the muzzles of their guns. The only way we e er got them out was by constant Marine artillery and mortar fire, flame throw- ing, Naval bombardment from the sea, and bombs, rockets and strafing from our planes in the air. Some, of course, would finally venture out in search of water, but they never went back. From our station off shore, we could see the Naval bombardment of the island and it went ' round the clock, the night sky being brilliantly illuminated by star shells, so that accuracy could be a.ssured in night firing. When those fighting Marines and Sons of Heaven slept, we just don ' t know. The Ma- rines came through as usual, though, and not long after D Day, the Star Spangled Banner was flying serenely abo ' e olcanic Mount Suribachi, meaning that we had one more U.S. J.O.O.D. and helmsman on watch in pilot house. 77

Page 83 text:

Third Kamikaze, after being shot down by our AA guns, bursts into flames just before flitting after part of island structure. . fter leaving starboard wing and wheel behind, third Ka bounds blazing over port rail into the sea. apparently misjudged our speed. We on the guns felt mighty lonely for a while as we stood by, contemplating what a narrow escape we had had, but that loneliness was soon dispelled by the voice of the Old Man speaking to all hands over the Bull Horn, telling them to keep up the good work. We were no longer alone; we were again reminded that we had support from the bridge to the engine rooms. ' Ws, throughout the ship, e ' ery man was on his toes and doing the job assigned him in the man- ner in which he was supposed to. While all this was going on, a sad sight came to our eyes. The Bismarck Sea (C VE qj), one of our Sister ships, was hit by a Kamikaze, just 2000 yards on our starboard quarter and she was burning rapidly. We soon learned that Captain Pratt had wisely given the order to abandon ship, but, seeing that blazing inferno and the explosions that followed, we knew that, though total casualties might be comparatively light, some of us would almost undoubtedly lose a friend on board her. We had started out together and had been together so much that we dare say there is not a man on board the Lunga Point who didn ' t have at least one close friend on that fine ship that was gradually settling beneath the surface of the Pacific. It was a strange feeling, but it made us want to fight all the harder to avenge the loss of the men in the Bismarck Sea. Jap planes were still attacking other ships in our Task Force, and the sky was so full of shell bursts that it looked like a mammoth Fourth of July celebration. We had gone to General Quarters at i 708, and it was well after 2 1 00 Our flight deck was ablaze that night, but ■ fire parties quickly extinguished the fires.