My Carrier War (35 page)

We talked about the overall mission in the ready room. The decision of the admiral to launch so late in the day was a tremendous risk, although his decision to turn on the searchlights did save a great many pilots and crews. We all thought, though, that the greatest gain for the United States was taking out the best of the Japanese Navy pilots when they tried to attack our carriers. That day became known as the “Marianas’ Turkey Shoot.” The name was an invention of the news media back in the States. The Japanese had over 300 planes shot down by our fighters that day. We all believed that with those losses, the Japanese carrier forces would no longer be a threat to our Navy.

July was a tough period for me, dealing with combat missions and the morale of the squadron. The difficulty started with a bombing strike on the small island of Pagan located between Guam and Tinian. Except for Rip’s flight against the Japanese Fleet, it was our first bombing mission since we lost Joe back in June. It was a four-plane flight, all with regular pilots. The strike went very smoothly with just light AA fire. Then came the rest of July.

Even today, I dread looking at the July 1944 entries in my log book. The squadron was assigned a total of ten bombing missions during July. The majority were against the smaller islands in the Marianas, Pagan and Rota. Our briefings by the intelligence officer on the ship indicated that we would face little resistance from the Japanese on these islands. The information was inaccurate. Nearly every flight faced heavy AA fire. The result was that we lost two more pilots and four crew members, shot down by AA fire, in attacks against these two islands. One pilot and crew was lost on July 5 and the other on the 15th.

Following the loss of the second pilot, Rip and I met with the torpedo plane pilots. We both understood the concerns of our pilots. When there was a death of a pilot and his crew members, the experience readily transferred to every pilot, radio operator, and gunner in the squadron. Each man was conscious of the possibility—it could have been him. Although never expressed, the thought of who might be next was always present. The joking between pilots stopped. Conversations were limited, mostly to routine subjects, and pilots tended to spend time alone. The possibility of death became very real.

Rip closed the meeting announcing that, on July 25,
Monterey
would depart for Hawaii for some vital repair work on the ship’s power plant.

Guys are pretty subdued, not much excitement. We still have more missions to fly. Hawaii is what we need. Away from our fears. Rest. Mail from home. Bet Donnie is getting big. Hope there are some pictures. I know I have another mission. God, help me do it. Help me get my guys back safe.

On July 22, I was scheduled for a bombing mission against the island of Guam. I asked for volunteers to fly the mission with me. I didn’t feel I could order my friends to go on the flight. We were going to Hawaii soon. A rest from combat. Just one more mission to fly. Four of us flew the mission. I prayed that we would make it back. I had too.

Monterey
, escorted by two destroyers, was detached from Task Group 58 on July 25 and departed for Hawaii. There were no flight operations during the period while the ship was en route to Pearl Harbor. When Monterey arrived at Pearl Harbor, she docked at Ford Island and all the squadron’s enlisted personnel were bussed to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. The hotel had been taken over by the Navy as an “R and R” (rest and recreation) hotel. The officers were taken to the home of a wealthy pineapple plantation owner, Mr. Cris Holmes. He offered his home to the Navy as R and R for small groups of officers. It was located on the beach just beyond the famous Waikaki.

All of us, our crewmen at the Royal Hawaiian and the officers at Cris Holmes’, enjoyed fresh fruit, breakfasts cooked to order, huge buffet lunches and dinners, and all the fresh milk we could drink. There was no morning reveille for us. The officers and enlisted men could step right from their rooms to the warm sand of the beach and the sparkling blue water of the Pacific. The war was forgotten for a few days.

Our mail caught up with us, and I had a chance to read all the news from Jean. She was under the care of a doctor at the naval hospital in Bremerton. She told me we were expecting our second child in October. One line in that letter remains with me still today. “Darling, Donnie and I hope you will be with us when our baby arrives. We pray for your safety.”

I know she means when the cruise will be over. I will be home. I’m
glad for her prayers. It’s not over yet. We go back aboard on August
31. Back again. Damn, I wish it would end. We all want to go home. Write her back. Tell her you love her. That’s about all I can say. Keep your fear and don’t tell her.

The squadron began flight operations on August 14, 1944, flying from N.A.S. Kaneohe located on the east coast of Oahu. We had gone by bus from the ship to Kaneohe and were flying TBMs assigned to the antisub school. We were back learning new tactics to combat the Japanese submarines. There were new weapons too: rockets that would be carried under the wings of our TBMs. Each TBM would carry six rockets. The rockets would be propelled just like the rockets we played with on the Fourth of July when we were kids. The idea was to fire the rockets at the sub while it was on the surface. Again, as with the listening devices, first, we had to find the submarine.

On August 28, we boarded
Monterey
at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. Nine new TBMs were hoisted aboard using the carrier’s crane. At 10 o’clock in the morning, the ship’s company and the air group were in formation on the flight deck. Our skipper, Lieutenant Ronald (Rip) Gift, three other squadron pilots, and eight crewmen were recognized for “outstanding performance of duty on June 20, 1944 during an attack on a Japanese strike force.”

The three pilots and our skipper, Rip Gift, were awarded the Navy Cross and each of the eight crewmen were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. The awards were presented by an admiral attached to the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet in Hawaii. It was a very proud day for Torpedo Squadron 28

We departed Hawaii on 30 August 1944, and the next day Rip scheduled a briefing meeting for all pilots and crewmen with our AIO, Joe Anson.

“Well, guys we’re at it again. Now that the Marianas are secure, a major decision has been made in our war against the Japanese. The planners in Washington have agreed with General MacArthur that our next objective will be the Philippines. Once we invade and defeat the Japanese in the Philippines, our force will move against the island of Okinawa. Guys, this island is part of the Japanese homeland.” He paused, looking at us. “I’m sure you can all guess where our strategy is leading—ultimately, the invasion of Japan.” Joe waited as we absorbed this information. “We’re going to see a lot of new targets, guys, but we have the advantage. The Japanese carriers are no longer a threat to our carrier task forces. They lost too many carrier pilots in the Marianas. Any questions?”

“Joe, what about the Jap land-base defenses, the AA guns and the land-based aircraft? Won’t that be a problem for us?”

“Yeah, you’re right, but plans call for fighters to escort the TBMs on assigned attack missions. The admiral’s planning staff hasn’t been able to give you guys much fighter support because of the threat of enemy attacks on our carriers. Now our fighters will go after the land-based Japanese planes and AA positions while you TBM drivers carry out the bombing attacks.”

Rip took over. “OK, Joe. Thanks. Fellas, our first bombing attacks will be on September 3rd against Wake Island. You remember the fight the Marines had against the Japanese invasion of Wake Island back in December of 1943. The Japs took the island, but they’ve been helpless ever since. The only supplies they’ve received have been by submarine and those visits have been few and far between. Our targets will be the heavy gun emplacements that can threaten the three cruiser class ships that will be bombarding the facilities on Wake Island with their big guns. That’s it, guys.”

I was scheduled to fly two missions against targets on Wake Island. The briefing for the mission was typical of many of the Torpedo Squadron 28 missions. The following description comes from unpublished material researched and written by Lieutenant (jg.) Harry Bridgmen, the squadron’s personnel officer:

A History of Torpedo Squadron 28 from 4 May 1942–January 1945
No typical or normal strike existed, but the following is roughly representative of what occurred when strikes were being conducted. Previous to the first day of operations, the air intelligence officer (AIO) gave lectures on the area; summarized the operation plan; discussed survival intelligence; analyzed targets; and gave refreshed recognition on the types of planes thought to be in the area. Briefings on assigned targets and tactics to be employed were conducted the evening before the strike by the AIO, commanding officer and strike leaders. Any late information of interest was disseminated at this time.

On the strike day, the squadron duty officer—usually a pilot not assigned to the strike—was awakened early and he turned out all pilots involved, the AIO, the gunnery officer and the air crewmen. Early breakfast was provided and on some days, it included steak. Following breakfast, the pilots reported to the ready room in flight gear and checked their plotting boards getting any late information from the AIO. Radiomen were also provided with all possible information and especially with that relating to codes, frequencies, channels, identification signals etc. Meanwhile, the squadron gunnery officer inspected every plane’s bomb loading and fusing and assisted the ship’s ordnance officer in any final checks. Although the ship’s ordnance officers supervised most of the planes arming, the torpedo pilots felt more secure in the knowledge that their own gunnery officer had checked and approved each plane.

On gathering all necessary flight and strike data, the pilots donned life jackets, back packs etc. and stood by for the order from Air Plot, “Pilots and crews, man your planes.” At this, pilots and crews groped their way into the pre-dawn darkness and along the flight deck to their planes. Succeeding strike flights were rebriefed in advance of take-off time and followed the same procedure, taking off before the first flight landed. Upon landing, the first and following divisions of pilots and crews were interrogated individually by the AIO, who gave preliminary summaries to the ship’s AIO for transmission to the admiral’s staff. Following this, he began the preparation of his action report.

I can vouch for the pilots that we felt secure after these briefings that we had all available information to survive each mission.

Between September 4 and 16, I flew five antisub searches. We had rejoined the carrier task group, only this time it was designated Task Force 38 rather than Task Force 58. Admiral William McCain relieved Admiral Mark Michner who’d commanded Task Force 58 during the Marianas Invasion. The size of the carrier force remained the same: four carrier groups composed of four carriers each. The only change was that the new admiral and his staff commanded the task force.

On September 18, squadron pilots received their first briefing by Monterey’s AIO on the plans of Admiral “Bull” Halsey’s staff for the first strikes on the Philippines, which were scheduled to commence on September 24. A great many details were presented about enemy strengths during the briefing, such as AA defenses and the types of Japanese aircraft we might encounter during the attack. I can only remember the targets we were assigned. I would lead a four-plane division of TBMs armed with torpedoes. Our targets were Japanese merchant ships in the harbor at Manila.

Our four-plane division was launched from the carrier early on 24 September, 1944. I inspected the deadly looking torpedo nestled in the bomb bay of my plane before getting in. I wanted to check the arming cables.

Map of the Philippines

A goddamn stupid mission! Torpedo Eight again. Jesus, that damn torpedo better work. Risk my life. What if the bastard doesn’t explode? Risk for what?

The weather was clear, with only a few scattered clouds. There were white caps on the ocean as a brisk wind was blowing, so there was plenty of wind over the deck for our launch. The other three planes quickly joined on me, and we made an orbit around the carrier as we waited for our four-plane fighter escort. As the fighters took position above our flight, I began a slow climb on a compass heading that would take us to the target area, Manila Harbor.

I pulled my navigation board from under the cockpit instrument panel to check my compass headings and time to the target. Task Force 38 was operating on the Pacific side of Luzon Island, the main island in the northern Philippines. To reach our target, the ships in Manila Harbor, we had to fly across the island of Luzon until we could identify the harbor at Manila. At that point, I would lead my flight past the harbor until we could reverse course and enter into the open end of the harbor. This was the only way we could launch our torpedoes at the ships anchored there. We had to be at an altitude of 150 feet and air speed of 120 knots for the torpedo launch. The enemy ships were anchored close to the city of Manila at the closed end of the harbor. The recovery for our planes after the torpedo drop would have to be over the city of Manila.