The Japanese are very hard to understand. They committed suicide by the thousands. We could see them on one though cliff particularly and the women were throwing their babies over and then jumping after them. The soldiers as well as civilians were doing the same thing. They shot one another and even held hand-grenades to their chest and pulled the pins. The bodies filled the water all around the islands. One place had many women and kids even small babies bloating by, their white bloated bodies even in death showing their fantastic outlook on life. The civilians who were captured were placed in a camp and all seemed to be happy.
Another unsung band of heroes are our CB’s. Even as we were fighting they were working on the large airstrip and it wasn’t long after Tinian was secured until the airstrip had been lengthened so we could base b-29’s on it. They worked under the same harsh conditions the marines fought under.
The island of Tinian was secured on ___________ . It was then that we knew our job was finished there and we had accomplished what we had set out to do, but not without paying a terrific price. The small white crosses that can be seen in long even rows are mute testimony of the brave men who died fighting for our country so that others can have a better world in which to live. These men died hoping that the world of tomorrow would be free of was and strife. Before we let them down in the years to come just remember how they fought and died – then I’m sure no one could or would forsake the trust placed on them by the heroes who gave their best on the bloody battlefield of Saipan and Tinian.
We still had picket duty for several days and would have stayed longer but our screws became fouled and we started back to Eniwetok for repairs steaming at six knots. We escorted and L.S.T. back that was damaged and we arrived in Eniwetok almost two and a half weeks later.
We were in dry-dock for nearly a month and never did we spend a more miserable time. We went into a floating dry-dock ARD No13 and we had plenty of work to do getting the ship ready for sea again. We scraped and painted ship for the first time since we had left Pearl Harbor. We were plenty busy but we received all our back mail and there was plenty of it. While we were in dry-dock there was very little fresh water, hardly enough to drink so for nearly a month we had to take showers in saltwater or go swimming in the afternoon. During the day the heat was unbearable and even the cool hours of night had little effect on the temperature below decks. While we were there we had our first chance to set foot on the beach for several months. We carried beer ashore and drank it under the palm trees. Even then the heat was terrific and the tropical showers only added to our misery as they came often and sometimes only lasted for a few minutes.
We usually carried 30 or 40 men a day over and they stayed ashore only a few hours, but anything was better than remaining aboard. The only real pleasure we could look forward to was a movie on the fo’castle , but the rain was the unknown factor which quickly secured all hands.
We left the dry-dock on September 16 and I’m sure there was no one aboard who regretted leaving the dry-dock which had been our home for a month.