Rochester (CA 124) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 32 text:

While xr Wonsan onthe North Korean east coast, some of us managed to go ashore for a couple of hours. There, we found nothing but desolation and destruction. Korea's largest east coast port was a complete ruin. Father Carr, our chaplain, vis- ited the srrfall hospital, completely lacking in bandages and medicine. A quick consultation aboard ship was held and as a result, boxes of hospital supplies were carted ashore and given to the sisters at the hospital left middlej. The children of the school put on a dance flower leftj. It made us all feel a little better to patch up some of the wounds of war.

Page 31 text:

Beep, beep . . . Beep beep . . . Beep, beep . . . Crudiv 5 OPERATION KQREA It got colder and colder. The lookouts began wearing parkas, then hoods, and finally facemasks to keep out the bitter cold winds. An urgent fire mission in support of the ROK Capitol Division sent us barrelling Within 140 miles of Vladi- vostok. Our gunfire enabled the South Koreans to stem the enemy drive and after cruising through the icy blasts for a week we returned to the comparative warmth of Wonsan for more minesweeping. The period in Wonsan, each day of which seemed longer than the next, was spent hoping and praying that General Mac- Arthur's Home for Christmas drive would include us. Those who went ashore found a deso- late shell in which only brassware and apples were for sale. Chaplain Carr found that the Wonsan Hospital was completely unequipped and ROCHESTER sent sev- eralboxes of medical supplies to the hos- pital on a Florence Nightingale mission. Windmill pilots plan mine search prior 'co takeoff . . . Look calm? But 'cl1ere's a mine bobbing up and down I

Page 33 text:

just when everything seemed smooth, the ceiling fell in. We had anticipated Chinese entry into the war all along, but had hoped and prayed that it might not come about. There had been a chance that on the lst of December we would sail for the states so that Christmas could be spent at home. That possibility was shot when it became necessary to take our entire X Corps plus the 3rd, 7th, ROK I Corps and ROK Capitol Division out of Hungnam. ROCHESTER headed for Hungnam. Flash covers were put on all bunks lo- cated on the second deck. Recognition classes for enemy aircraft were intensified. All hands stood by for a rugged session. Defensively we were to be let down but offensively nobody was disappointed. Our new admiral was Rear Admiral J. M. Higgins, who had commanded the fire support at Inchon onboard TOLEDO. He had commended us for our fire up there and was to see us in action from a closer view from here on in. We headed for Wonsan to begin another phase of operations, minesweep- ing. We played flight deck to our heli- copter detachment, sometimes handling two of them. They were playing a vital role in cleaning out Wonsan, Hying low ahead of the sweeps to point out the minelines. Slowly but surely the weeks mounted into months. The mineflookouts got plenty of business. The ship sank four mines in six days. Two of them popped up within the hour one afternoon as we left Won- san. Even when we relaxed under the cover of darkness, danger lurked every- where. Captain to the Bridge! All hands aban- don the fo'csul! rang through the ship one night. An ROK LST practically kissed our bow in the rainy darkness. Close shaves were becoming more frequent. A 3 a.m, GQ no longer caused conversation over coffee next morning.