War Can Be Fun If You Don't Get Killed
or
Nil Carborundum Illegitimi
There was also an Acey-Deuce contest which I won. The prize was a case of warm beer. I used it for a seat. It may still be there. Cold beer was available at the Officer's Club for next to nothing. And you could throw the empty cans in the ocean which the club overhung. The food was subpart. The meat must have been old Kangaroo!
Feb 11, 1945 the squadron got on USS Barnes (CVE-20) for transport to Ulithi in the Western Carolinas (a group of islands). We were supposed to nab the Petrof Bay there, but she departed for Iwo Jima one day before we arrived. So we continued in the USS Barnes to Guam over the deepest spot in any ocean, 36,000 feet straight down.
Map of Ulithi
The Japs had occupied Ulithi but departed when they learned we were coming. There was no fight for Ulithi. They remained on Yap which was within flying distance of Ulithi and did manage to bomb the aircraft carrier Randolph at anchor and the airfield at Falealop.
Ulithi is a very large deep lagoon surrounded by a ring of reefs and small islands. It was anchorage for a thousand war ships (Flattop Row). One of the islands was Mog Mog which was inhabited by natives and was also the "beer" island. Sailors from all the ships spent shore leave here and consumed uncounted thousands of cans of beer. I wonder if anyone ever cleaned them up. Natives got no beer. After the Navy departed no alcohol was to this day provided on Mog Mog. The locals had seen enough.
Ulithi, Mog Mog- Micronesia
July 1945
At Naval Air Base, Agana, Guam, I flew TBM's and a few times an SB2C. On March 8, I got a TBM up to 31,000 feet and was on oxygen for the only time. The craft flew very sloppily at this altitude. March 4, 1945 I made 2 landings in a TBM on USS Thetis Bay (CVE-90). Flying time at Agana was 13 hours. The SB2C was a dive bomber built by Curtis to replace the SBD, but the TBM picked up most of this work.
The SB2C had a wingspan of 49'-9", length of 36'-8" and was powered by a Wright Cyclone R2600-20 power plant. It had a bomb bay that could carry 2-500 lb. bombs as well as external racks for 2-500 lb. bomb.
SB2C Helldiver
Guam Map
Guam BOQ
left to right starting front row: Sherlock, Parsons, Hughes, Aylsworth, Oliver, Gawthrop, DeVries, Jeffreys, Skinner and Schenk
Beach on Guam - click here for larger image
Roy Kinnaird is standing on the left looking out to sea; perhaps for our Puitylu boat.
I am sitting in back of him.
Lt. Joe Oliver and I along with (I believe one other) buzzed the beach on Guam in TBMs. Some twit on the beach complained. Joe got restricted to ship except for flight duty while the ship was at sea. At least the Skipper knew what he was doing.
"Oh Lord! Thou knowest how busy I must be this day! If I forget thee, do not thou forget Me." (Sir Jacob Astley, before the battle of Edgehill in 1642.
Off to battle. On March 10, 1945 the squadron embarked on USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) at Apra Harbor, Guam relieving Squadron VC-76, and sailed to Ulithi over that deep spot again, to join forces that sailed to attack Okinawa from March 25 to May 26. Flight operations were almost continually conducted during this period against Okinawa Shima, Kerama Retto, Miyako Jima and Ishigaki Shima. Kerama Retto is a short distance to the west of Okinawa. After Kerama was captured it was used as a supply base. The ship went there twice. Miyako and Ishigaki are located between Okinawa and Formosa. They had airfields that the Japs used to attack us.
Okinawa
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