Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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X Y Explosions on Iizfmmrclf Sm following Kamikaze hit. when we secured, and it was a tired and weary, yet grateful group of men that crawled in their bunks that night. We had hardly crawled in, however, when the Captain talked to us over the general announcing system, at which time he highly commended all hands for their con- duct during the terrific attack. He went on to say that he was proud to feel that every man on the ship had done hisjob well, thereby contrib- utingjust that much more to our success. He expressed the sentiments of all hands, in re- ferring to the gun crews, when he simply said, wfhey were magnificcntfy Cnce again, we had met the test, we had come through another crisis with colors flying. Once again, too, we were thankful that we had been put through such a rigid period of training in prep- aration for just such emergencies as this. lt 0 KJ was not, however, with a feeling of cockiness that we stood around the loud-speakers listen- ing to the Captain. True, we had sufficient confidence in ourselves to meet any emergency, but it was, rather, with a feeling of profound humility and gratitude to Almighty Cod that we had been spared to light on to complete and total victory. HEROISM QPF Iwo JIMA l It was during this operation that one of the most exciting, one of the most thrilling, and one of the most heroic incidences of our first year occurred. 1 Lt. HBud Foster had accompanied other planes on a direct support hop over Iwo Jima in his Wfildcat fighter, and a part of his mission was to drop a Napalm Qfirej bomb on his tar- get. Wfhen he got over his target, however, it developed that the bomb release was faulty and he could not release his bomb. After completing the remainder of his mis- sion he returned to our operating area and called the Captain and told him of his plight, requesting instructions as to whether to bail out or attempt a landing on the ship. The Skipper had Lt. Cjgb cCMax Palena, our avia- tion ordnance ofhcer, report to the bridge where they went into a detailed discussion of Claplnin :incl ,fX.fl.l. ollieer inspeet wing section of liilllllliillt' left on our lhght deek alter hitting nftei' part of island structure.

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whether or not the bomb was armed, the Cap- tain had one of our torpedo bomber pilots fly wing-on on Lt. Foster, as close as possible, to see if the arming wire was still secured to the fuse and that the bomb was secured to the rack. The torpedo bomber pilot's reply was, Affirm- ativef' ' The Captain then asked Lt. Foster if he wanted to attempt a landing aboard, and his reply was, 'clf you think it advisable, I will land aboard, Captain? Lt. Foster well knew that his life was at stake 3 yet he made his reply in keeping with the finest traditions of the Naval service. After another ten minutes of maneu- vering, trying again to shake off 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 which 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, fiying close to the bridge, so that the Captain and Lt. Cjgj Palena could ascertain that the bomb was secure. Being assured that the bomb was se- cure, thc Captain ordered Lt. Foster in. Commander Eastwold and Lt. Palcna were the only ones on the flight deck when Lt. Foster came in on a very good landing. For a Heeting moment the 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 ire all over the ship, and possibly causing the loss of the ship and many of our personnel. Lt. Cjgj Palena was standing near the island, and, as the bomb slid beneath the third barrier, he took outa, after it and caught it between the barrier and one of the planes spotted forward to starboard. He straddled the bomb and yelled, 'CDamn it! Somebody give me a wrench! A big pipe wrench appeared out of nowhere, but it was i I E i Fighter returns safely from Iwo .lima with wing Section damaged by enemy flak.