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May 31, 1944 The Twining left Pearl harbor enroute for the Marshall Islands where we assembled there June 8 and there our fleet was organized for the occupation of Saipan.  Leaving there June 10 we arrived at Saipan on the 14^th or D minus 1 day of the invasion.  We had steamed at high speed all night so as to catch the enemy by surprise.  We manned our battle stations at 0345.  We little dreamed what fate had in store for us or just what kind of opposition we would encounter.  We helped bombard all during the day and softened up the enemy for our landings on June 15 or D Day.  We remained at General Quarters all during the day and sandwiches were served on our gun stations.  We watched our planes dive bomb and strafe the enemy all during the day and occasionally we could see a large wave of smoke and fire slowly mushroom towards the sky as our planes blew up ammunition dumps and gasoline storage tanks.

Late in the afternoon we were screening larger ships and were in quite close to the island when a shore battery opened fire on us.  The first few shots were over and then a couple fell short.  Meanwhile we were giving the Japanese a very hot time and when we ceased firing the entire point around the gun emplacement was plenty worked over.

Our first wave of troops landed the next morning at 0800.  All the ships and planes had been softening up the enemy trenches and pill boxes which lined the beach.  There was little firing from the enemy until our marines were close to the beach then the Japanese opened up with every type of weapon they could muster.  The original beach head was made on the far side of the island from us near the big airfield.  The first day was plenty rough for the marines and believe me they really did a good job.  They proved they could take it as well as dish it out.  We of the Navy have a very hearty respect for the fighting Marines.  They really fought and I’ll bet the Japanese had more than they had bargained for from the very start.  We received reports all along concerning the gains our troops were making and now and then we would move around and open fire on some gun emplacement or pill box that was holding our troops advance down.

At night we would fire star shells all night at 10 minute intervals.  These shells consist of flares which burst over the enemy and help the troops during the dark hours of night.  The second night there we were firing star shells on the Lee side of the island.  We were steaming in Magazine Bay on one course and then backing out on the same course.  We did this all night and early the next morning some of our mine sweepers swept 12 large Japanese mines our of nearly the same spot we had been in the night before.

On June 17 we left with the fleet and headed towards the Philippines to intercept a Japanese force of warships which had been spotted.  On June 19 we were attacked by enemy planes in large numbers although we suffered no damage to any of our ships we really knocked the Japanese down.  Both ships as well as well as planes made quick work of the Japanese.  We shot down two planes that day, the first we had encountered and we made them good.  This battle was later named First Battle of East Philippines.  There were over 300 enemy planes destroyed that day.  This was the closest we had been to the Philippines in a long time as we were within easy range of land based bombers.

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