Valley Forge (CV 45) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 48 text:

A stowaway was discovered one morning shortly after leaving Sydney. Unfortunately for him, we were still operat- ing with the Australian Navy and he was transferred to one of their ships. After leaving the Australian Naval force, which had been with us for several days, we continued north- ward. A large Filipino leave party was flown ashore as VALLEY FORGE passed their homeland.

Page 47 text:

We were very proud of our Gun- nery Department's firing. It takes team work to operate a battery of modern guns and we had exactly what it took. While every shot was not a ringer our score was high.

Page 49 text:

0l'l J Ong The sky was overcast but visibility was fairly good on the morning of l8 February as VALLEY FORGE made her way through the tortuous passage lead mg into HONG KONG harbor Chinese junks scurrying hither and thither across the Bay with their conglomerant cargoes human beings included were our first mtroductlon to the Orient A Zl gun salute was fired to the Flag of the Crown Colony as HAPPY VALLEY passed the slow moving sampans being sculled about the harbor by women. As VALLEY FORGE neared number ONE buoy, bum- boats swarmed in on us from every direc- tion and by the time we anchored, we were completely surrounded. Some tossed coins into the water where they were quickly retrieved by native divers. Our Oriental sojourn had started.