Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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edented for an Admiral to leave his Flag Ship in the active combat zone and lily over to an- other carrier that the Old lXf1an could hardly believe his eyes when he saw our distinguished guest get out of the plane. As soon as the Captain got down to the flight deck to greet the Admiral, he innnediate- ly told the Skipper that, after hearing of what we had been through at Kerama Retto the day before, he just had to come over to see us. He K .lap Dinah destroyed on Okinawa. also told the Old Man that he wanted to talk to our Ship's Company over the general an- nouncing system. The Captain was only too glad to comply, so, after he had lunched with the Skipper, he talked to us for a few minutes, and he could have talked to us Hfrom now on without pleasing us more than when he said, After hearing what you men went through at Kerama Retto yesterday, I just had to come over here and personally see what it is that makes the Lunga Point click. His entire talk was most complimentary and was appreciated by us far more than he will ever know. Ad- miral Durgin is a very busy man, and he had to make his visit a brief one, so at 1334. he Hew away from our decks and back to his Flag Ship, leaving us all with the definite feeling that we had reached the climax in our first year's operations. And, with humble grati- tude for this gesture on the part of the Admiral, we re-affirmed our determination to continue to justify our Admiral's coniidence in us. The Admiral's visit was about all you heard anyone aboard talking about for sometime thereafter. We were, however, also pleased and grateful to receive from Admiral Blandy, Comrnander Arnpleiilmious Forces, on 4 April, the following clispatch: 'Ii'I'eIE ACZGRESSIVE SPIRIT SHOWN AND RESUIXIS AC ZCTOMI'I,ISHED BY ALL OF YOU DURING THE PAST WEEK HAVE MADE I'l' A ,PRIAXIIJEGE FOR ME TO BE A MEMBER OF THE TEAM X A CiRANIJ SLAM Fon OUR SQUADRON In all fairness to all pilots everywhere it should bc explained that the number of planes shot down by a particular Squadron is, to a certain extent, luck. In other words, the Squadron that happens to have the TCAP CTarget Combat Air Patrolj duty when and where the enemy comes in is, naturally, going to Usplashu more planes than the Squadron simply Hying LCAP CLocal Combat Air Patrolj over vessels off shore. It so happened that, up until this point, our fighters hadn't had much of an opportunity to Hshow their stuff. On Friday, 6 April, our Squadron finally got the break they had been waiting for. We happened to have the TCAP over Okinawa Gunto that day when the Sons of Nippon came down, and they made a f'Field Day of it, shooting down eight enemy planes late that afternoon. Our pilots who were responsible l I r Destruction of large building 7 miles NXE of Naha, Okinawa.

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both to port and starboard. 'l.'herc is no doubt in our minds but that the planes that came at us that night were all Kznonikazes, and all dc- termined to get the Iitlllgll Plllillf, but that hail of gunfire that we threw at them at every turn apparently proved to them that their cllorts would be in vain, which undoubtedly accounts for one of them doing as much damage as he could by jumping on the APD, a much smaller ship. Finally, at 1942, wc secured from Gen- eral Quarters, with the satisfaction that Hour teamn had turned the trick again, leaving no doubt in our own minds that we had finally be- come a tried and tested fighting unit of the Fleet. We arrived at our operating area off Oki- nawa Gunto the next day and, again, set about our mission of bombing and strafing the japs in the face of our advancing troops on Okinawa Shima, and that day, 3 April, proved to be an eventful day in the life of the Lunga Point. MAN OVERBOARD ! At 1045 that day, while we were making a sharp turn to port in a rather heavy sea, one of our fighter planes on the starboard quarter of the flight deck was torn loose from its mooring, and fell Hinto the drinkf' Banta, j.P., Sic, was standing watch as Surface Lookout No. 3, and he was right in the path of the plane as she began tearing herself loose. Banta had no idea of letting that plane land on him, so he just jumped Mover the side into the waters of the Pacific. It is said that, even as he was in mid-air on his 40 foot jump into the sea, he took off his cphones, saying, f'Oontrolg Lookout 3 going off the linef, Fortunately, he had his kapok life jacket on, and he jumped far enough for the falling plane to miss him. After float- ing about in the heavy sea for a few minutes, the U.S.S. Patterson, one of our faithful escorts that had been with us since October, picked him up and he was returned to the ship via the , ,M Smoke billows from warehouse near Naha Domar following direct bomb hit by our planes. breeches buoy none the worse for his experi- ence. OUR ADMIRALB, PAYS Us A V1s1T The highlight, however, not only of Tuesday, 3 April, but of our entire first year in com- mission occurred at 1141 that day, when a visiting plane came to rest on our flight deck, and out jumped ComEsOarForPac, Admiral O. T. Cal Durgin himself. Not one soul, even our Skipper, knew the Admiral was com- ing over to see us. In fact, it was so unprec- .l11-in Lunga Pain! from the air, east of Okinawa. 97

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for Splashing those eight planes were Lt. Pettitt, Lt. Pleat, Lt. Cjgj Ingram, Lt. Homyak, Lt. Bazzell, Ens. Swanson, Ens. Prindle and Ens. Turner, wita Lt. Ingram accounting for two planes alone, one HZeke and one 'cVal.H These fine pilots had shown they could dish it out, and the eight additional Jap flags painted on our bridge the next day was their visible tribute to our Shipmate, Lt. Bazzell, who took his last long flight that day after personnally accounting for a Jap Zeke It was also during the Okinawa operationsw Sunday, 8 April-that Lt. Cjgj Cron and his air crewmen had an experience that was hair- raising to say the least. They were shot down behind the enemy lines, and the thrilling story of their experience will be found in the back of the book. Q FoUR THOUSANDTH LANDING We celebrated another event on II April when the four thousandth landing was made on our flight deck by Lt. Pettitt. That's an indication of a lot of flying, and is further evi- dence that we have come a long way since I4 May 1944. AVENGER TURNS FIGHTER On I2 April, Lt. Reilly performed the unusual feat of Usplashingw a Jap uVal,' over Okinawa Gunto while flying his Avenger Torpedo Bomber on a photographic mission. These powerful planes are not built to be used in a dog fight? On this particular day, Lt. Cjgj Reilly was Hying along the beach of Okina- wa Shima taking pictures of Jap installations when he suddenly spotted a HVal', crossing his path dead ahead. He couldn't let the oppor- tunity pass, so, imagining himself in one of our fighter planes, he lit out after him, and the last he saw of the rascal was in a funeral pyre on the beach. Lt. Reilly had brought the Ban- diti' down with his fixed guns, but, as he Hew low over the target, his Turret Gunner made the kill certain by strafing the 'fVal', with a stream of lead that left no doubt about that Jap being Uout of combatj' forever. FRANKLIN DELANO RoosEvELT The Okinawa operations were destined to be momentous in many ways, and it was with gen- uine sorrow and regret on the part of all hands that, on I3 April, we received a dispatch from Secretary F orrestal reading as follows: HI HAVE THE SAD DUTY OF ANNOUNC- ING TO THE NAVAL SERVICE THE DEATH OF FRANKLIN DELANO ROOS- EVELT, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, WHICH OCCURRED ON I2 APRIL X THE WORLD HAS LOST A CHAMPION OF DEMOCRACY WHO Val burning in Okinawa ravine after being shot down by Lt. Cjgj Reilly while on photo mission in TBM on I2 April. o CAN ILL BE SPARED BY OUR COUNTRY AND THE ALLIED CAUSE X THE NAVY WHICH HE SO DEARLY LOVED CAN PAY NO BETTER TRIBUTE TO HIS MEM- ORY THAN TO CARRY ON IN THE TRA- DITION OF WHICH HE WAS SO PROUD X COLORS SHALL BE DISPLAYED AT HALF MAST FOR go DAYS BEGINNING o8oo I3 APRIL WEST LONGITUDE DATE IN SO FAR AS WAR OPERATIONS PER- MIT X MEMORIAL SERVICE SHALL BE HELD ON THE DAY OF THE FUNERAL TO BE ANNOUNCED LATER AT ALL YARDS AND STATIONS AND ON BOARD ALL VESSLES OF THE NAVY, WAR OP- ERATIONS PERMITTING X WEARING OF MOURNING BADGES AND FIRING OF SALUTES WILL BE DISPENSED WITH IN VIEW OF WAR CONDITIONS X77 Regardless of individual political sympathies, this message came as a distinct shock to all of us. We had lost a President who had been a real leader throughout the course of the war, and one who, no one can deny, had thoroughly sold himself to our Allied Leaders and had gained such harmonious relations with them