Warren (APA 53) - Naval Cruise Book

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if . I' nw 6- ' r . ,T l 3' 1- . 1 ' .-1.3: .3 -if-4 Running northward along the lvlexican coast, the Warren hit her first really rough weather, and many were the members of our salty crew who spent the day in their bunks. Onceaagain the old training grind dragged through the months of November and December. Yet who will forget the happy hours of liberty in Long Beach, and Los Angeles and San Diego? Warren faces and Warren deeds became familiar at the Hilton, the Little Club, in Hollywood and in Tijuana. But every liberty was earned after the weary hours fighting a vicious surf in practice landings at San Clemente and Aliso canon. The Marines were readying themselves for a coming operation, and rumor and speculation ran wild as to where and when the ship and her crew were to see their first action. On January l3, 1944, with the Marines and their gear loaded aboard, the Warren struck out in convoy into the Pacific. Stopping briefly at Lahina Roads, Hawaii, we sailed onward until the morning of January' 31, when the ship debarked her troops for the initial assault on the northern islands of Kwajalein Atoll in the heart of the Jap-held Marshall Islands.

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F 1' Not for six months after she was commissioned was the USS VVarren destined to see her first combat action. Thus it was that the ship and her crew found themselves in the long and tedious process of training for amphibious warfare. A short overhaul period at Norfolk - ah, what a lovely, quiet and serene little town that Norfolk is - had completed the ship's conversion to an attack transport, and it was here that the ship complement was filled out by the joining of the boat group. So followed day after day in the miserable cold of Chesapeake Bay, unloading Army assault troops in the dark- ness for a dawn landing and reloading them by nightfall. Well remembered are those ammunition boxes filled with gravel, the seemingly endless number of vehicles- the confusion as the Army and Navy strived for coordination - the inevitable critiques where each service handed verbal bouquets to the other. Finally we sailed out into the Atlantic, and with the ever-present peril of Nazi subs keeping all hands alert and jittery, the Warren made her way through the Panama Canal to the west coast. The trip was high-lighted by a stop at Guantanamo Bay and by the leisurely run through the canal with the small boats following the ship like ducklings behind the parent duck. s V V H, Y YY-77777777 Yyrrf Awgn --WMM - VVQV , . , ,, , , ,, , --. ,K ,, , - , - V v V - -

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Almost half the year Was to pass before the VVarren and her crew Won their second star for com- bat action. In the meantime, We journeyed on to the South Pacihc, stopping first at Funafuti, Ellice Islands, Where We began the souvenir-hunting eX- cursions which were to become a chief source of recreation on the many islands We visited in later months. After stops at Noumea -oo la la, those French girls-and the New Hebrides, our travels finally led us to Tulagi and Guadalcanal, Which We soon came to regard as our home port. And here We stayed, spending much time on jungle explorations, and swimming and beer parties on the beach. The tropical sun blackened us as We sweated through softball and volleyball games, and as We combed the beaches for sea shells to fashion bracelets and trinkets for our Wives and sweethearts. Not all our time Was delegated to playing, how- ever, for We made quick trips during those months to Kwajalein again, and to Cape Gloucester, and We spent many days training with the Marines Whom We were to transport on our next operation. rf H .V -f--- . A -+a.,,g,-'v4.,- ,..,g ,sgs s - .