Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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■wlictlicr i)r 111)1 the hoinl) ;i.s armed, tlir ( ' .a|)- Ftain had oix- of our torpedo l)oml)er pilots lly viii[;-()ii oil I.t. Foster, as close as possible, to see if the- annint; wire was still secured to the fuse and that the honih was secured to the rack. ' [ lie torpedo Ijoinher pilot ' s reply was, Aflirm- ative. The (:a|)lain tiu-u asked I, I. I ' oster if he wanted to attempt a laudinir al)oard, and his reply was, If you think it advisable, 1 will land aboard, dantain. Lt. Foster well knew that his life was at stake; yet he made his reply in keeping with the finest traditions of the Naval service. After another ti ' ii minutes of maneu- vering, trying again to .shake of] the bomb, Lt. Foster came into the landing circle. All planes were taken below to the hangar deck except two which were spotted forward on the flight deck, and for w hich there was no room on the hangar deck. All Fire Parties manned their stations and everyone was on their toes. Lt. Foster first made a pass at the ship, flying (lose to the bridge, so that the Claptain and Lt. (jg) I ' alena could ascertain that the Iwjmb was secure. Facing assured that the JKjmb wa.s se- cure, the Captain ordered Lt. Foster in. C;ommander Eastwold and Lt. (jg) I ' alena were the only ones on the flight de k when Lt. Foster came in on a very good landing. For a fleeting moment th e bomb remained intact on the plane, but the impact of the arresting gear loosened it, and it slid bounding down the deck in the direction of the parked planes and where impact with the planes might detonate the bomb, throwing liquid Are all tjvcr the ship, and possibly causing the loss of the ship and many of our personnel. Lt. (jg) Palena was standing near the island, and, as the bomb slid beneath the third barrier, he took out after it and caught it between the barrier and one of the planes spotted forward to starboard. He straddled the bomb and yelled, Damn it! •Somebody give me a wrench ! A big pipe wrench appeared out of nowhere, but it was Fighter returns safely from Iwo Jima with wing section damaged by enemy flak.

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Wing and wheel of Jap pla e that hit after part of island siructur 2 1 Februan-. the release system of the bomb racks. After considerable discussion, it was decided to as- sist Lt. Foster in further attempting to release the bomb, and, in doing so, they put him through most every maneu er conceivable, in- cluding Hying on his back, but even fifteen minutes of this failed to shake off the bomb. The Claptain then called Admiral Durgin over the TBS (transmission between ships), and requested advice as to whether he should order Lt. Foster to bail out or attempt to bring him aboard. It was a tough decision to make. If Lt. Foster were to bail out, he would, in all probability, be picked up unharmed, but we would have been short a fighter plane. On the other hand, if we attempted to bring him aboard and things didn ' t work out perfectly, there was a distinct possibility that many lives would be lost, including that of Lt. Foster, not to mention the possibility of losing our ship and planes. The decision was left entirely up to our Skipper when Admiral Durgin said, Do what you think best. Good luck, Gat! ' On receiving these instructions from the-Ad- miral, the Captain and Lt. (jg) Palena went into another discussion on the possibility of the bomb ' s fuse being armed and the possibility of the bomb being released by the impact if a landing were attempted. To ascertain The Old Man ■ bridge on 22 Februan ' 1945.

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too large. Seconds later, Olup, AOM2C, one of Lt. (jg) Palena ' s ordnance men, ran across the flight deck with a small wrench for him to use in removing the fuse. Seconds meant the difference between life and death for many of of us. While Lt. (jg) Palena was working on the fuse, the Exec was standing by as well as the Fire Parties who had their hoses trained on the bomb. All of this time there was a decided possibility that the bomb might explode and throw liquid fire in all directions. The rest of the story is short, while all that had gone before seemed like an eternity to those involved. The fuse was remo ed in seconds and the bomb was thrown over the side, with no one the worse for this hair-raising experience. Lt. (jg) Palena ' s conduct throughout this try- ing ordeal was an example of extraordinary heroism, and we are not only proud of and grateful to him, but we are glad to have him as a shipmate. The Old Man, too, was proud, because the Admiral had left him with a hot potato, which Lt. (jg) Palena cooled off, and he immediately called Lt. (jg) Palena to the bridge and gave him the traditional Navy Well Done! There is nothing that gives a man more gen- uine satisfaction than to know that his work is appreciated. It was, therefore, with a feeling of pride in the part we had played that we re- ceived, on 22 February, the dispatch from CinCPac, which we quote as follows: THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE FIRST CARRIER TASK FORCE OF THE PAC:iFIC FLEET HAVE DEALT THE EN- EMY A CRUSHING BLOW WHICIH WILL LONG BE REMEMBERED X THE SAME COURAGE, SKILL AND TEAMWORK WHICH ENABLED OUR CARRIER PI- LOTS TO DESTROY THE ENEMY IN BAD WEATHER OVER TOKYO ARE NOW BEING DISPLAYED BY THE F0RC;ES WHICH ARE TAKING IWO IS- Ugh weather off Iwo Jima. 83