Milford chronicle., 1945-03-30

Rogers enlisted III the Navy und
TOOK ms boat training al Green
Bay Training Center. trrccu Bay,
Illinois,
t. s. ). san Diego
Care fict1 Post UfIic,
SAN frauciSco CulIurlliu
February y. Iata
Dear Dad ANA Family:
know you Viii br Interested IN
Diego 5 ,XperIenccs in the last lew
months. Gun snip has Dccn III lie
thick OF Things Tor So long now
tlat one hardly knoA where to
bcgIu to tell OF uur cn2uAemtutS.
tu, example. Just Iook al these
'hrsts To uur credit We We're a
part OF the tlist Task Force to
strike each oil The iolIoWin- places
kabuul November 1880, Gil
bert Islands November 1850:
Marshall Islands DDeccmber l943t.
Truk tFchruary I944l Philippines
tSeptember 1910; Fotmo-a eOc-
tobcr l9flI; OkinaWa and Kyuk
yuS Islands tOctobcr l34ll, aud
the China Coast ,Ianuary lH43t.
These are, by no means. an OF
our engagements bat lust where
We were Z part OF The nr~t attack
ing force. In the past 9IA months
We have seen q great deal ut Ihc
enemy 40 doubt you haNc read oi
the t'n9t Battle OF Til" Philippine
Sea tJunt -. 1870. "" were in
the midst of that haltlr Gn lhc
coast of Saipan. along With other
ships Oi our Force. We encountered Il
heavy attacks from Zap carrier
planes The skies We're black with
Aerial du9li@htS all around us The
American pilots did 1rcat lob.
From ,h, dcck ol uur snip ninc
enemy planes Wclc seen 1T One
time falling in flames IhuI viii
civ" yuu some ld,: oI lhc Intensity
OF the hafflr. Our snip Mas c3cd!I.
The day Wlri. Il lu~ flynn. plane On
winch Wc Lad up.ucd liir W;~ seen
falling as il reached lhr hullIon
Durina Scpt,mi,rf W" rlau:.td in
stlikc~ AGAINST Fcl,iu and An
@aur in the Caroline islands uud
against Miudunuu. NafIILi raluuI
and Lcytc In Tho PHILIPPINES. ,cp.
tcmbcr 2l~t Was The day uul planes
made their ajt4ch ON Nunila. In
our ship We Wctc ul h~tcull@ ,u
Il radio broadcast in t,u"li-! ,phou-
u%raph records. rtcl From Muriia
when suddenly III, anuouuc,r b,-
can 70 Say III dH excited Voice.
Manila is under uir utuch, All
civilians take CoV'r" II Mas on
first announccmrnt ll.at ouf plan,
had found their targets. ", ~urrl.
~ut a liz kich udt Of fAr way thu'
auLuuncti ch1n@cd his turr' or
cur way soWh oUI silIp took par
in attacks a>uiuSt tho Ccuiga
Philippines.
October was q very husr month
indeed Duru2 tins tim, We as
sisted III strikes AGAINST OEinaWu
Formusa and l."yotv. October /.
Il and II were days t. y, rcmcm
bcrcd, Cm The l4lh Wr closed i
lur an ail dtturh uu til, island q
p FormoSu MI rhat day ,a,ut
} planes We" spotted tut thcv E0
we'll On; ol sun 'uu@. iIoHcY,
. AZ about p'tIock I'm tho crtuii4
large number of lIlu mat,c Il rr;
lun on us. Alon4 with scvcIT
other ships We oloncd fire on thcn
: Almost immediately. three Ja
planes crashed iuto the ocean.
' few minutes later another cam
rushing straiehr Tor our Ship an
: although We did not hsiue hin
down he was forced To turn huci
i In all tn" confusion OF firing it
: hard To say inst which shil
i brought down which Zap plane. bt
; the San DIEGO definitely 'spla.,hcc
}, one Betty. We assisted in sever;
II more
i That niaht We provided i colorft
{, spectacle I"cause The. Jap plan,
u dropl cd flares around rs which |
= us up like bHoad DAYLIGHT. "
y could have read a rev sp1p,.. 4
e the main deck a. midni-ht Stran9,
: ly enough. the japs dld not folio
~ up this illumination with an attac
We did s." plenty OF them fol n
; next two days. however. bat '
: took care Of Them Lcloro they con
- do amy serious damage. Dmil
- these three days COcrpbor l..
= and 1iD carriers sent thcir plan
III repeated sweeps against toll
" OSa.
. D About the time Of these raids
- F0rmoSa We heard a lot of ridic