Tarawa (CV 40) - Naval Cruise Book

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The Captain's Message We offer to our distinguished guests this commemorative booklet of our cruise together. It was withtgreat pleasure that the captain, officers, and men of the TARAWA welcomed our guests aboard. The time spent with them at sea and ashore was enjoyed by all hands. It is hoped that the memory of their cruise will linger long in their minds and that they will recall with pleasure the experience of having been with us on this great man-of-war. For us who are aboard the TARAWA this booklet will serve as a souvenir in remembrance of the dis- tinguished guests who sailed with us. ALVIN INGERSOL MALSTROM, Captain, U. S. Navy. 1

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Captain Alvin Ingersol Malstrom, U. S. Navy In his 28 years in the Naval Service, Captain Malstrom has had a variety of experiences, perhaps none of which is more outstanding than his conspicuous gallantry in saving his ship, which was marked for doom by the Japanese Kamikaze attack on May 4, 1945. The SANGAMON had just completed re- arming and was standing out to sea, off the Gkinawa Gunto, when the two-engine bomber arrived. The ship was at General Quarters and two of her night fighters were in the sky, and already on the trail of the attacker. Already in his death dive and traveling nearly 400 miles per hour, the enemy plane plummeted out of a dense black cloud in the last rays of the sunset. As the SANGAMON took him under fire with all guns, he leveled out slightly, nosed over again in a shallow dive, took hits, burst into fiames about 600 yards from the carrier, dropped a bomb and crashed almost simultaneously into the center of the flight deck. Despite the fact that the resulting fire divided the ship in two, Cap- tain Malstrom managed to direct the job of fire-fighting from the navigation bridge until driven to a more secure spot by the intense fiames. Although wounded in this action, for which he received the Purple Heart Ikfedal, he succeeded in bringing his ship back to the United States for repairs. He received the Silver Star Medal for this action. Captain Malstrom is a native of Tacoma, Wfashington, which he still calls home. Appointed to the U. S. Naval Academy in 1918, he was active in fencing while a Midshipman, and in 1921 was Inter- collegiate Saber Champion. Graduated and commissioned Ensign in june 1922, he had the usual duty at sea the following years. On completing flight training at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, he was designated Naval Aviator on March 18, 1925, and has served continuously with naval aviation since that date. Assigned to Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet, Captain Malstrom proceeded to the Pacific, where he served with various observation squadrons operating with aviation units of the battleships PENN- SYLVANIA, TENNESSEE, and COLORADO. In 1928 and 1929 he returned to the Naval Air Station, Pensa- cola, Florida, as an instructor. Assigned to duty with Aircraft Squadrons, .Asiatic Fleet, he served with the Scouting Squadron attached to the tender JASON, later serving with the same type squadron based on the aircraft carrier SARATOGA. After brief duty on the staff of Admiral Qthen Rear Admiralj Harold R. Stark, USN, Commander, Cruiser Division, Battle Force, he was VVing Commander of a Squadron that made the cruise to Sidney, Australia, and participated in the opening of the drydock at the Singapore Naval Base, in February 1938, and returned to the United States via Palawan, Manila, P. I., Guam and Hawaii. Captain Malstrom served as navigator of the LEXINGTON, from November 1940 until May 1941. Later he had duty as Air Officer of the aircraft carrier ENTERPRISE, and he wears the Presidential Unit Citation for outstanding achievements accomplished by the ship during his service aboard. He assisted in the fitting out of the U.S.S. CHENANGO, and served as the Executive Officer of that air- craft carrier when she sailed for French Morocco, North Africa, her decks packed with scores of Warhawks assigned to the airfield at Port Lyautey. In 1943 Captain Malstrom had a year of duty as Naval Attache for Air and Assistant Naval Attache, at the American Embassy, London, England. Following a year of staff duty to the Commander, Fleet Air, Alameda, California, he assumed command of the SANGAMON on February 3, 1945. YVhen that damaged carrier put in for repairs, he was detached and ordered to the U.S.S. TARAWA. Captain Malstrom fitted out the CFARAYVA and has commanded her from the date of her commission- ing, December 8, 1945. In addition to the Silver Star Medal, the Purple Heart Medal, and the Ribbon for the Presidential Unit Citation, Captain Malstrom has the Victory Medal, the Yangtze Service Medal QU.S.S. KIASOND the American Defense Service Medal, Fleet Clasp QU.S.S. ENTERPRISED, the European-African-Middle Eastern Area Campaign Medal CU.S.S. CHENAGOD, the Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Medal, the American Area Campaign Medal, and the Wforld War II Victory Medal.