Some of the primary documents on this website may contain words that are offensive.
In the interest of preserving historical accuracy, they appear exactly as they did in the original document.
Such words do not reflect the views of West Virginia Archives and History.

Robert Christy Diary, 1944-45

April 1944
Assigned to the West Virginia

July 4, 1944
Left Bremerton on trial run.

July 9, 1944
Returned to Bremerton Navy yard.

July 16, 1944
Under way for Long Beach.

July 20, 1944
Anchored off Long Beach.

July 21, 1944 to August 29, 1944
Underway for Catalina Islands for gunnery practice.

August 30, 1944
Admirals final inspection. Everything in 4.0 condition. (Both personnel and equipment.)

September 1, 1944
Underway for #1 dry dock, Terminal Island, Long Beach.

September 1 to 6th, 1944
Complete overhaul of equipment.

September 6, 1944
Underway to anchor out in bay.

September 7th, 1944
Underway for Pearl harbor.

September 14, 1944
Tied up at Key 6, Pearl Harbor. Nearly the identical spot where she sank Dec. 7th, 1941. Saw what remained of the USS Utah.

September 16, 1944
Had liberty. Saw Honolulu.

September 19, 1944
Underway for gunnery practise. Shot small radio controlled planes down.

September 22, 1944
Tied up at Key 6, Pearl Harbor.

September 22-24, 1944
On liberty.

September 24, 1944
Underway. Left Pearl Harbor, Territory Hawaii with Carrier John Hancock and 3 Destroyers. Lots of Landing Ship Infantries were there. Also landing craft and Attract Transports.

September 25, 1944
At sea.

September 28, 1944
Thursday, crossed the International date line. Tomorrow is Saturday.

Oct. 4, 1944
Was duly initiated into the ancient order of shell backs. No longer a polywag.

Oct. 5, 1944
Anchored in Admirality Islands. About 500 ships here. Japs are still in the hills that we can see. Something big is coming up soon.

Oct. 10, 1944
Went on recreation party on Admirality Island. Were alotted three cans of beer each.

Oct. 12, 1944
Underway with 6 big Cruisers and 12 converted Carriers. One Carrier is Makin Island according to signalmen. Were also with 6 Battle ships, lots of Destroyers, Mine Sweepers, and Landing Craft.

Oct. 13, 1944
Destination central Phillipines. Announcement by Chaplin.

Oct. 14, 1944
Ran into typhoon. Lasted 3 days and nights.

Oct. 18, 1944
Arrived at some Island in central Phillipines. Mine Sweepers were sent in to clear out mines. One was hit by a mine. It sank.

Oct. 19, 1944
Entered San Pedro Bay in Leyte Gulf, off Island of Leyte. Opened fired at 9:12 A.M. Firing ceased at 1600. Japs fired back, but no scores. There were no Jap planes in air. Steamed out of bay at 1700.

Oct. 20, 1944
Invasion Day. Known as D Day. Entered harbor during night. Began shelling Leyte Valley. Landings were made at 1000. Nearly 200,000 troops were landed. Saw 2 Landing Crafts blown to hell by Jap fire. 1 Torpedo Plane came in low, torpedoed the cruiser Honolulu and got away. Honolulu was beached and was burning.

Oct. 21, 1944
Awakened early because of air attacks. Shot down 1 plane which crashed into Australian Cruiser. 31 killed. Seemed to be beginning of Kam-kazies. Honolulu under way for Admirality Island floating dry dock. Soldiers have taken Jap air strip. Japs are firing heavy mortars. Cruisers, Destroyers, still shelling beach. Lots of P T Boats and more landing craft came in today.

Oct. 23, 1944
Air attacks in evening. Shot down 2 Jap planes.

Oct. 24, 1944
Air attacks almost all morning. 36 Jap Planes shot down. Our losses 2 planes and 1 LCI. Received word Jap task force on way in. Total planes all day, 49 Japs bit the dust

Oct. 25, 1944
General quarters at 0235. 4 Jap battleships and 6 Cruisers sighted. Fired 92 rounds of 16" in 7 minutes. Destroyer Grant was hit. 2 big targets disappeared from radar screen. We are supposedly credited with sinking 1 battleship. Came in for ammunition. None left for Wee Vee. Shot down 1 U. S. plane. Pilot swam to USS Maryland and was picked up. This was battle of Surigao Straights.

Oct. 26, 1944
Patrolling for Jap fleet. Air defense at 0830. Knocked down 5 Jap planes. Received dope that CVE Princeton was sunk. Lost 12 PT boats in battle last night. Remainder of Jap fleets making way out of straights. Latest reports state Japs lost 206 planes in Phillipines to date. Air defense at 1130 and 1430.

Oct. 27, 1944
Plane dived on California but was knocked out and missed. Hit the water and exploded.

Oct. 29, 1944
Headed east at 15 knots. Looks like Admirality's again.

Oct. 30, 1944
Are going to Admirality's. Tokyo Rose is putting out lots of propaganda.

Nov. 3, 1944
Anchored near Manus Island. Got Mail - Good.

Nov. 4, 1944
Underway for New Hebrides, Espiritas Santos.

Nov. 8, 1944
Planes were catapulted this A.M. One crashed. Lost pilot and gunner.

Nov. 9, 1944
Pulled into Espiritas Santos. Went directly into floating dry dock. Were scheduled to go to Sydney Australia. Due to damage on ship could only do 7 knots and were afraid Japs would catch us.

Nov. 14, 1944
Left dry dock and made speed run. 20.5 knots. Tied up to buoy and took on store, fuel and ammunition.

Nov. 15, 1944
Underway for Admirality Islands.

Nov. 19, 1944
Anchored at Manus at 0600. Underway for Ulithi at 1500.

Nov. 22, 1944
Anchored at Ulithi Islands at 0600. Underway at 1700 heading west. Looks like Phillipines again.

Nov. 25, 1944
Arrived Leyte Gulf. Patrolling and beating off continual air attacks, of the nuisance type.

Nov. 27, 1944
Air Attack. 30 some planes. Maryland and Cruiser hit by suicide dives.

Dec. 2, 1944
Underway for Pelelieu.

Dec. 4, 1944
Anchored at Kassel Roads in Pelelieu group.

Dec. 5, 1944
Payday

Dec. 9, 1944
Went swimming off quarter deck. Fun.

Dec. 10, 1944
Underway at 1300 headed west. Looks bad.

Dec. 12, 1944
Went through Surigao Straits at night.

Dec. 13, 1944
Sulu Sea. On patrol. Air attacks quite often. WeeVee shot down plane that had just dropped bomb on destroyer. No damage to destroyer.

Dec. 14, 1944
Frequent air defense. 4 planes came in. 4 down.

Dec. 15, 1944
On anti-aircraft gun at 0430. General quarters at 0630. Secured at 0730. At 0800 Torpedo plane made run on Carrier. Was knocked down by a destroyer. Air defense was sounded. 4 more planes came in and were shot down. General quarters at 1000. One twin engine bomber made run on starboard side. 40 MM guns blew it up. From gun tubs saw parts flying in all directions. Seaman named Garner was hit with shrapnel while on forward search light platform. Landed paratroops on Mindoro at 1500. Flags were lowered to half mast in memory of 2 dead sailors aboard USS Colombia which took a slight hit. Headed back for Leyte at 1300. Task Force downed 65 planes in last 3 days. Mail soon I hope.

Dec. 16, 1944
Air defense at 0500. 4 planes down. Flags half mast in honor of dead on USS Marcus Bay which suffered near miss. Headed for Leyte for sure now.

Dec. 17, 1944
General quarters at 1000 while passing through Surigao Straits. Afraid of land torpedoes, because straits are so narrow. Everybody in more cheerful mood now. Had bum dope yesterday. Are headed for Kassel Roads again.

Dec. 18, 1944
Fueled 2 Tin Cans. Underway today. Pretty quiet, but that's fine.

Dec. 19, 1944
Anchored at Pelelieu at 1300.

Dec. 20, 1944
Underway for Manus at 1300.

Dec. 23, 1944
Anchored at Manus.

Dec. 24, 1944
Christmas Eve.

Dec. 25, 1944
Loaded powder and ammunition, getting ready to shove off.

Dec. 26, 1944
Underway at 1500.

Dec. 29, 1944
Anchored at Kassel Roads, Pelelieu.

Dec. 31, 1944
Band had a big singing and musical program. Bed early. Didn't see new year in.

Jan. 1, 1945
Underway at 0540. Had gunnery practise in morning. Had quite a force with us. 13 CVE's, 28 Destroyers, and Pennsylvania, Colorado, California and 1 cruiser.

Jan. 3, 1945
Through Surigao Straits again. This morning left force at Leyte and joined the Mississippi, New Mexico, some CVE's and 3 tankers. We are task force 77. The ones left at Leyte are task force 76. Going to Luzon. 77 will hit west, 76 from the north. Looks rough ahead.

Jan. 4, 1945
Quiet day until 1715. Jap suicide crashed Ommaney Bay, about 50 yds. off port side. It went out of control and large fire started. From general quarter station on 20 MM gun tub could see it plainly. Ship reeled starboard and nearly rammed us. 20 and 40 MM Ammunition on topside was exploding and slugs were going over our quarter deck. At 2000 The USS Barrett fired 1 torpedo into her and sunk her. Although 10 or 12 miles behind us, we could feel the explosion. Not many killed. At 2315 USS Lynx gave us 132 survivors off Ommaney Bay. Some were stretcher cases.

Jan. 5, 1945
Air defense at 0225. Secured at 0630. All quiet until 1715 torpedo planes dumped their loads at us. We did a sharp port turn and missed them. Planes knocked down. One crashed USS Louisville, and another crashed the cruiser Australia. Plane crashed USS Manila Bay, but fire was quickly put out. Our planes got 2 Jap Tin Cans today. USS Louisville had 15 casualties with one fatal. One destroyer was hit, with bomb in engine room. The men are going over the side now. It is a DE instead of Tin Can. We are in South China sea now.

Jan. 6, 1945
Condition 1 is set. Same as general quarters. Plane catapaulted at 1030. General quarters at 1050. Started bombarding beach. A plane crashed the New Mexico. Say it hit. Caused quite a fire for a while. Okay now. A tin can took a bomb but was fixed up. a lot of fire for a while. Tin Can last night was saved. Secured from general quarters from 1130 to 1230 for chow. Had lots of our own planes in air. Bombarded all afternoon. Are in Lingayen Gulf.

Jan. 7, 1945
Reveille at 0500. Air defense at 0600. Mine Sweeper sunk. General quarters at 1030. Bombarded again today. Came in real close. Took on survivors from mine sweeper. Mustered ones that could walk. Sure a hell of a looking mess of men. California took a hit and killed Admiral in charge. We are now S.O.P.A. (Sr. Officer present afloat). One survivor from Mine Sweeper died. Witnessed first burial at sea. Very quiet affair. Very few knew about it. His coffin was a canvas bag with flag over it. Very sad service.

Jan. 8, 1945
Bombarded all day. Rotten chow too!! Got more survivors from another Mine Sweeper sunk this morning. Pretty bad looking bunch.

Jan. 9, 1945
General quarters at 0800. Landed troops at 0930. Never saw so many boats and ships in all my life. A Tin Can came by with no mast - shot off. Fired more shells today than any other single day. At 1830 troops reported 6 miles inland. PBY landed near beach about noon.

Jan. 10, 1945
Skipper of New Mexico on the 6th came aboard. Australia has front stack bent way back. LST came along side and took empty ammo cans. Transport still putting supplies on beach. Troops 15 miles inland. Heading for Manila. Figuring on a liberty there (Wishful thinking). 1 LST sunk today. A Jap swam to it and hit it with dynamite. Jap swam out to the Mississippi and threw hand grenades on quarter deck. There are between 500 and 600 ships here now. From now on 4th of July will seem pretty quiet. Are now doing 15 knots, headed somewhere. Hope it's for ammo too.

Jan. 11, 1945
Patrolling in China Sea. Roughest water yet.

Jan. 13, 1945
Still on patrol duty. Got dope that Halsey's fleet hit Japs off China coast, sinking 25 ships.

Jan. 14, 1945
Took on 500,000 gal. fuel today. Sea still rough. Still patrol duty.

Jan. 15, 1945
Pulled into Lingayen Gulf and took on 5" ammo. Pulled out right away.

Jan. 16, 1945
Came into Lingayen Gulf again for 16" ammo. Left in evening. Should hear soldiers big guns on the beach.

Jan. 18, 1945
Pulled in gulf again at 0800. Took on lots of stores.

Jan. 20, 1945
Still anchored, taking on stores.

Jan. 21, 1945
Underway at 0654. Moved in close to beach. Had plane up spotting for us. Fired 16" shells over a hill and hit a bunch of tanks. Anchored again at 1600.

Jan. 22, 1945
Same as yesterday.

Jan. 23, 1945
All survivors aboard ship transferred to transport. Going to states. California and Tennessee left for states with convoy. Lucky devils.

Jan. 24, 1945
Through Jan. 29th cleaned ship. Had Captain's inspection. Air defenses at sunrise and sunset.

Jan. 30, 1945
More transports came in. Loaded supplies all day and night.

Feb. 3, 1945
Capt. inspection. Very good. Happy hour in afternoon on quarter deck. It was pretty good, but all are nervous. Let's go.

Feb. 5, 1945
Underway at 0800. Cruised around all day. Back to same spot at night (1600).

Feb. 6-9, 1945
Took on stores and supplies. Ship on 1 hour notice for getting away.

Feb. 10, 1945
Oh happy day - mail. Underway at 1800 for Leyte. Mississippi, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Australia and Tin Cans too.

Feb. 12, 1945
Steaming back to Leyte Gulf.

Feb. 13, 1945
Anchored at Leyte at 0930. Great change here now. About 800 ships all sizes. Lots of Army planes in air. Phillipino's came alongside in sampam. Wanted rice but OD chased them away. Had a women with them. First women we've seen since Pearl harbor. All they had on was a few rags. Underway at 1630 for Ulithi. Pennsylvania left for states after 19 months out here. Hope we aren't as misfortunate.

Feb. 15, 1945
Getting tan from sleeping in sun. Anti-aircraft practise.

Feb. 16, 1945
Anchored at Ulithi. Hospital ships Solace and Samaritan are here. Aboard USS Solace hung a pair of pink panties. Ah !! Took on fuel, ammo and supplies. Worked all night.

Feb. 17, 1945
Underway at 0630 for Iwo Jima. Tokyo bombed by Halsey's Carriers. Our blues were all taken from storage today. Ours they burned. Speed 18 knots. Escorts are 1 Tin Can and 1 Destroyer Escort. Task force 48.

Feb. 18, 1945
Fueled DE and DD today. Still doing 18 knots.

Feb. 19, 1945
Arrived Iwo Jima at 1000. Watched bombing runs and rocket shooting. Saw a couple of planes dive bomb and never came out of their dive. Just crashed. Went to general quarters when Japs started firing on us with mortar fire. We gave them hell, then secured at 1830.

Feb. 20, 1945
General Quarters at 0800. Lasted all day. Took a hit. Piece of shrapnel hit #2 turret and injured 2 or 3 men. About 30,000 Marines hit the beach. Have about 15,000 left. Could see tanks and boats blowing up all along the beach. It is sure hell.

Feb. 21, 1945
Sounds like 4th of July. At least 1,000 ships here. Everything from 30 caliber to 16" are firing at the beach. Planes are staffing the Japs as well, as bombing them. A bunch of Marines went by in boats. We gave them a big cheer. Wonder how many of them lived to tell about it. It sure is bloody.

Feb. 22, 1945
Reports that Tokyo bombed again. Saratoga hit with 3 suicide planes. Making 23 knots south. Probably for Guam. Lost CVL, Bismark Sea too. Raining, can't do much. Left for Ulithi

March 6, 1945
Two ships along side loading ammo.

March 7, 1945
Cape Trinity and Mt. Baker alongside. Still taking on ammo.

March 9, 1945
Arrived Ulithi

March 10, 1945
Captain's inspection. Very good.

March 11, 1945
Still anchored Ulithi. Went to movie. Interrupted at 2000 by crash dive on carier Randolph. Damage slight. Big fire. Under control quickly. Went to general quarters.

March 12-15, 1945
Still anchored at Ulithi. No shows. Darken ship at sunset.

March 16-20, 1945
Still anchored. Went on 2 recreation parties on island of Mogmog. Saw native cemetery. Having movies again. Airplane scare over just now.

March 21, 1945
Underway at 0800. Headed north west. Chaplain says going to island halfway between Japan and Formosa. Pretty hot there I guess. Our forces - 9 battleships - WeeVee, Col., Tenn., Calif., Maryland, N. Mex., Idaho, Nev., Arkansas, several cruisers, 30 some Tin Cans and a communication ship.

March 23, 1945
0500 reveille. General quarters 0530. Just dawn alert. Too damn quiet. No planes. No nothing. We are in their back yard now. If they are going to resist it's time now. Hope they are out of planes.

March 24-25, 1945
Early reville and dawn alerts. Still no planes. 30 miles from island we are going to hit. Reports that task force 58 getting a beating at Japan. Have had air defense twice during day time, but they turned out to be our planes.

March 26, 1945
Early reville with 0530 general quarters. Could see island as soon as it was light enough. General quarters at 0900. Bombarded until 1230. Island is Okinawa. Evening air defense. No planes.

March 27, 1945
0500 reveille with air defense at 0520. At 0600 plane came in and was blown up. It was followed by three more which blew up too. Nevada took crash dive of one of them. Slight damage. General quarters at 1000. Started bombarding Okinawa again, Chaplain said New York now with us. Makes 10 wagons. More bombardment in afternoon.

March 28, 1945
0530 air defense. 2 planes done a ways out from us. General quarters at 0830. Report YMS sinking. 1030 YMS hit 2 mines and sunk. Could see it burn and sink. Evening air defense. Some planes. All got away.

March 29, 1945
0530 Air defense. 2 planes knocked down. One dived for Maryland, but WeeVee boys took care of it. Also 1 Hell Cat shot down by 5". Anchored at 0830 at Kerama Retto Islands. Took on 5" and 16" ammo. Saw soldiers in amphibius tanks with Jap flags and souvenirs.

March 30, 1945
Early air defense and general quarters. Bombardment with 16" and 5" guns. OS2U (Goony Birds) were straffing the beach in afternoon. Bombardment with 16" and 5" and 40 MM's. No planes all day.

March 31, 1945
Air defense at 0345, secure at 0430. Air defense at 0530. Secure at 0700. 3 Japs came in. Fighters got one, one dived at Cruiser and missed, other one dropped bombs and ran with 2 fighters after it. General quarters at 0810 for bombardment. Today is L-1 day. These islands are the Ryukyu group. Bombarded 5" and 16" all day.

April 1, 1945
0330 reville. Air Defense 0500. About 5 planes came in one at a time. One the WeeVee got just off the quarterdeck port. (About 50'). Another one went directly overhead and hit water on the starboard side. General quarters at 0550. Started bombardment with 5" and 16". Lots of planes from the big Carrier force came in and hit the beach with rockets. Went in to 2500 yards. Have never seen so many landing craft, tank, and aircraft assembled together before. LLI 807 hit from beach. About 100 yards aft of us. Happy Easter everybody. 7 planes were shot down before sunrise. First tanks hit beach at 0837. First troops hit beach at 0847. Troops in control of airfield by 1015. Troops went in all day with little opposition. At evening air defense 4 planes got past CAP. One made near miss on Lst. One hit AKA. One hit Biloxi with 125 fatal casualties and 4th came through signal bridge. A group of 20 MM guns, the 02 deck and into galley. The motor of plane went into laundry, bomb landed on 2nd deck. Fire broke out in laundry, galley, and 2nd deck. Biggest part of plane was in galley. Bomb hit armor deck and stopped. It didn't explode. 4 men killed. Several severely burned. Bomb was thrown overside. Three men were buried tonight. One is under the wreckage. Will be buried tomorrow.

April 2, 1945
Early air defense. 4th man buried today. We pulled cable last night in laundry and galley. Also today had lots of aircraft near, but didn't fire on anything.

April 3, 1945
Early air defense with Bogies. Pulled along side tanker in evening and anchored. Didn't fire on anything. Jap pilot landed on Okinawa and stopped. A Marine shot him.

April 4, 1945
Took 5" ammo and 16" powder. Air defense but we didn't fire at anything.

April 5, 1945
Early air defense and lots of Bogies. We fired at a couple.

April 6, 1945
Average air defense every hour. Knocked down one Betty Bomber with 5". Saw a couple of dog fights. The CAP got 92 planes by 2000 - lost 1. Plane dived at hospital ship Solace at dusk. Was shot down by Tin Can.

April 7, 1945
Morning alert with air defense. Report that Nevada took 3 8" hits in super structure. In afternoon word came Jap fleet headed this way. Ran down all bombardment shells, and ran up A.P's. In evening New Mexico, Idaho, Tenn., Colo., Maryland, and the WeeVee with 12 to 15 Cruisers and 50 some Tin Cans headed west. 1 plane came in that evening. Crashed the Maryland in the quarter deck. The Maryland was directly aft of us. Fire was quickly put out. WeeVee fired 20 and 40 MM's.

April 8, 1945
Big wagons and planes beat us to the yellow bastards. Came back to Okinawa for patrol duty. Scattered air raids.

April 9-10, 1945
Planes came in night and daytime. Cruisers fired at plane by our port side. 5" shells came between our forward and aft mast.

April 11, 1945
Bombardment of 16" on Okinawa. One twin engine bomber hit water aft of us in evening.

April 12, 1945
0330 air defense. Got one bomber. Air defense at 0840. Air defense in afternoon with about 10 plane attacks. One hit the Tenn. And a couple of Cans, and a Cruiser. After dark Jap plane dropped 14 large flares aft of us. Planes launched torpedoes, but missed. Took injured men off Can #662. (4 men). Also got mail. WeeVee got one plane today.

April 13, 1945
Got word Roosevelt died. Not confirmed. Also late at night unconfirmed reports Germany surrendered. Some plane attacks. 5" bombardments.

April 14, 1945
Confirmed reports Roosevelt died. Also Germany surrendered. Russia is fighting Japs. Bombarding one of Ryukyu Islands with 5". Several air alerts.

April 15-21, 1945
Took on ammo at Kerama Retto. Bombarded IE troops. Took Island. Tenn. Hit by crash dive. Colo. had casualties. Fire in 16" magazine on Colo. No serious damage. Started for Ulithi but were called back.

April 22, 1945
Air defense 1130. CAP got 25 twin engine bombers.

April 24, 1945
Supported troops all day. Leaving for Ulithi this evening.

April 28, 1945
Arrived at Ulithi.

May 12, 1945
Captain Wiley relieved by Capt. Holsinger. Quite a loss to us.

May 14, 1945
Underway for Okinawa. Had inspection in white's by Admiral Olendorf. Ship painted grey.

May 18, 1945
Anchored in Okinawa.

May 21, 1945
Went to Kerama Retto and took on ammo.

May 24, 1945
23 planes shot down by CAP.

May 25, 1945
45 planes downed by CAP. One Mine Sweeper hit. Took on 12 survivors. 8 died the first night.

May 26, 1945
Shot down plane starboard quarter. Parts of plane landed on deck. Survivors from PC 1603 came aboard.

June 3, 1945
47 planes shot down by CAP.

June 13, 1945
Fired 16" at Jap concentration on Okinawa.

June 15, 1945
Took ammo at Kerama Retto.

June 16, 1945
Lost 1 OSCU2 pilot and radio man last night. Shot down by Japs.

June 19, 1945
Fired main and secondary battery at concentration. Lt. Gen. Buckner killed yesterday.

June 20-30, 1945
Patrol duty with Calif. And several Cruisers.

June 30, 1945
Anchored at Kerama Retto. A DE came along side and nearly climbed on our afterdeck. Their anchor lodged in our quarter deck.

July 1, 1945
Underway for Leyte.

July 4, 1945
Anchored in San Pedro Bay in Leyte Gulf. Liberty is bad. Saw native women, nearly naked and in mood to make money. A barb wire fence and SP prevent this.

July 5-24, 1945
Anchored in Leyte. Liberty every 8 days. Dysentary very bad.

July 25-28, 1945
Went on gunnery practice with Colo., Texas, Arkansas, and New York. Have 500 cases dysentery.

Aug. 3, 1945
Underway for Okinawa.

Aug. 6, 1945
Anchored at Okinawa.

Aug. 9, 1945
Russia declared war on Japs. New atom bomb very convincing.

Aug. 10, 1945
Got great news, Japs accept peace terms. Air defense with several bombers came in a few minutes after announcement. Don't know what to think.

Aug. 12, 1945
Plane attack. Penn. Took a fish and is in a sinking condition. Lost 22 men, 200 wounded. Indianapolis sunk between Guam and Leyte.

Aug. 15, 1945
Subs reported near. TBF went after them as we went on patrol. We saw 2 oil slicks. Honorable Japs met honorable ancestors.

Aug. 21, 1945
Picked 1 corpse from Penn.

Aug. 24, 1945
Friday, left Okinawa with 4 wagons - Mississippi, New Mexico, Calif., and Idaho. Also 3 Cans. We are to occupy Tokyo harbor.

Aug. 25, 1945
Very bad typhoon. All operations delayed 48 hrs.

Aug. 26, 1945
Patrol off Japan.

Aug. 27, 1945
Monday. Moved into Sagami Wan. Went to general quarters before entering. Passed isle of Oshima. Can see Mt. Fuji from our anchorage. Have 10 wagons here plus several Cruisers and Cans. Nimitz came in with us on South Dakota. Wagons are W. Virginia, Mississippi, Colo., New Mexico, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri and Adm. Halsey, and 2 Limies - King George V, and the Duke of York. Also 2 Limey Cruisers and 1 Can.

Aug. 28, 1945
Looked Islands over with telescope. Could see people on beach. Industrial city is Sagami Wan. Saw fleet headed into Tokyo Bay. Still anchored. Saw Nimitz boat pass by ships. It doesn't seem possible that war is actually over. Am ready to go home. Saw Jap Destroyer with flag and crew.

Aug. 29-30, 1945
Anchored in Sagami Wan. Had movies on quarter deck. Could use lights. Also had dawn and evening alerts for safety.

Aug. 31, 1945
Underway for Tokyo Bay at 0730. Picked up Captain harbor pilot at 0945 from Tin Can. Name was Lt. H. Nonurio. He left ship at 1530. Ship anchored inside Tokyo. Yokohama also. Can see both cities and also battleships Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, King George V, Duke of York. West Virginia first old battle ship to enter the harbor.

Sept. 1-10, 1945
Anchored in Tokyo Bay. Could see Tokyo, Yokohama too

Sept. 10, 1945
Moved anchorage to Sagami Wan near big ships.

Sept. 14, 1945
Went on liberty to Yokohama. City in very condition - Bombed, and burned. Saw thousands of Japs. Saw Jap public bath. All people naked, and both sexes were bathing.

Sept. 20, 1945
Day finally here. Pulled out of Sagami Wan at 1300, headed for Okinawa. Are on a long but pleasant trip to USA. This day is one to be remembered. With us are the Iowa, Wisconsin, Alabama, South Dakota, and Colorado plus 1 Carrier, several Cruisers, and Cans. Heard broadcast to states today giving whereabouts of this fleet, that we are homeward bound. Destroyers are flying homeward bound pennant. We have ours ready to go up, but are saving it for later. Tonight we are having search light drill. Every wagon and Cruiser in the homeward bound fleet is showing all their 36" search lights. Most light I have seen in a very long time at night.