The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1945-11-01
"0n Rocks, but Sill on Even Keel,
Harold Luvaas Describes Big Storm

SuWeS O4 OSVS~
about the storm on Okinawa and
are keeping it for next week.
Dear Folks,
Well, the sea-going days of the
U.S.S. APL-13 are over! Yes Sir!
We had little blow last night,
and it blew us right up on the
beach-or at least so close to 1t
that we can wade ashore. We are
sitting high and dry on a coral
reef. If you are careful, you can
step out onto the coral without
getting your feet wet.
We are very fortunate. Not q
casualty aboard our ship-or at
least no casualty caused by this
ship. We have some casualties
aboard-as a matter of fact, our
sick-bay is full of them, but they
are all from ship that went
down very close to US. We have
most of their crew aboard.
Our ship is surrounded by other
ships that went on the reef. Some
of them are lying on their sides
some of them with just their SUI
perstructure sticking out Of the
water, and some Of them 80 badly
beat up that it is almost impossi-
BILE to tell that they once were
ships. We are better off than most
Of them. We are sitting on an even
keel and are firmly wedged on
the rocks. There are about seven
holes in our sides, and we are 50
far up on the reef that not even
the Navy would consider trying
to pull us off.
They say that the wind reached
a velocity of 106 miles an hour
last night. However fast it was,
it was fast enough to blow most
Of the ships In the harbor on the
rocks. The boys that went after
the mail today said that even the
postoffice was blown away. All
that remains of it Is four concrete
foundation posts. I don't doubt
but what quite a bit of mail was
lost with the post office, and some
of it was probably for me. That's
the worst part Of. it. Hang the
post office! What I want is mail!
It is hard to describe the whole
thing last night. You'd have to
20 through one Of these storms
to really appreciate it. About all
I can say is that there wasn't q
man in this harbor that wasn't
MORALLY afraid Of losing his life.
Even the dog realized how bad it
was. In all my life I have never
seen an animal SO afraid!
What was worse than that was
to watch men drown without be-
ing able to lift a finger to help
them. We watched the men aban-
don ship off the ATF-117. II they
stayed ON the ship, they were sure
to drown, and If they abandoned
it they were almost sure Of being
torn to pieces on the coral reefs.
It was enough to make a man sick
to watch those men hang on for
dear life to what was left Of that
ship. They hung on till she was
completely under water, except
for her mast-then they had to
leave. We cut all our life RATS
loose in the hope that they might
help a few Of them, but that was
all we coul l do until the storm
Quoted down. It was several
hours before we could do any
thing. The wind finally Quieted
down, and we managed to get
some of the survivors aboard. Our
sick bay is NOW filled with them.
All Of them were injured by the
coral.
Wen, that is the sea story for
today. OF course I could mention
the several times we were
rammed by other ships while sim
in the harbor. It was all very
exciting! The waves were tossing
us in all directions and we were
always hitting something. We hit
one tanker about z times. She
didn't do too much damage to us,
but we did plenty to herl One
ship sailed clear around u and
finally rammed US In the bowl
Some Of the boys thought that that
was funny; trying % hard not to
hit US, and hitting us anyway
when she was almost out Of our
way! At one time, two ships were
rammine u, both ut the same
time. Il seems remArkAble to mo
that we even made Il TO the beach.
The apis aEe good ships for
ramming though, ] guess. They
Continued On P1Se u