The Daily Alaska empire., 1945-10-26
NAZ WAR CRIMINAL COMMITS SUICIDE
Sfory About WarAttivify fpanamini
 Now Here for Navy Week

canal More important to us, we receive mail, Tetere Point where we're anchored, is hot and dusty and so is all of Guadalcanal. The island is humming with activity hundreds of vehicles dash along the gravel roads and the natives look friendly and stupid, but are harder to outsmart than horse trader. During our stay in the Solomons area, bloody battle-ground, couple of years ago, we take aboard Marine Major General Roy S. Geieer and his Third Amphibious Corps Staff. The ship is packed now and berth space is at a premium.
 March 15-After a full rehearsal of our part in the forthcoming Okin- ava operations, we're under way for Ulithi in the western Carolines. March 17-Again we cross the Equator, but we're all "shellbacks' now.
 March 21-We arrive at Ulithi, a busy staging point for the fleet. The harbor is jammed with ships of all description as far as the eye can see. Ships lying at anchor. all pre- pared to strike.
 First InudSion
 March 27-Under way again and this really is it. We're on our way to our first invasion. We're to take part in the assault on Okinawa Shi- ma.
 Help Write History
 April This Easter Sunday we help write history. At OILS we go to battle stations for two hours. At tacking enemy aircraft are shot down nearby, by our carrier-based planes. Then there is a lull and the pre-invasion barrage begins. Big. medium and little ships open up with all they have. pouring a hail of death on the beaches which the Marines and Soldiers will occupy. It is continuous, lethal and concen- trated, the heaviest barrage the
 
 sitting in a theatre gallery and watching remote stage below. As H-Hour, 0830, passes. we watch am- phibious forces leave their ships, 1 drop into small boats which make their way over the coral reefs and chamber ashore, and the invasion is going well.
 First Big Raid
 April 6-First big raid (200 planes) and our fighter directors get credit fer AS enemy planes destroyed Af- ter the first days we settle into routine. regular work interrupted by intermittent calls to General Guar ters. We sleep when possible be- cause sleepless nights are the rule. i Air raids are so frequent that we become almost immune to their anxieties.
 April 12-President Roosevelt re- ported dead Under a new Com mander-in-C Chief the war gees on. 1 We embark Major General A. D. 1 Bruce and the staff of the 77th In- fantry Division. And we get mail
 April 16-We move to Ie Shima, 10 miles northwest of Okinawa. to dir ect the invasion of that island. It is CkinaWa all over again, on smaller scale. For this drive, Ernie Pyle is aboard our ship. In the morning we have heavy air raid and cur gunners get their first official splash.
 April 18-We receive word that i Ernie Pyle has been killed on the beach-sad news, because he was the ordinary fighting mans friend.
 On Ie Shima
 April 21-At 1925 the flag is raised | at the top of the pinnacle, called Iegusugo Yama, on Ie Shima. Two days later, Ie, Shima is declared { secure"
 April 3o-Fire and Rescue party boards the USS Hall Young, | puts out fire. Mussolini reported | shot One down
 May 6--About 08oO General Quar- ters sounds and our guns begin fir ing simultaneously. It's another suicide plane. This one, knocked < off its course by the firing of many | guns, misses us by only feet. It | makes a beautiful splash.
 May 7-The war in Europe report | ed over Now we can concentrate 1
 It's V-E Day
 May 8-It's official. The Exec" announces about noon that This is VIE Day"
 May 11-While we are at G. O., plane bursts around the hill on Ie Shima and is off our starboard bow almost before we know it. AS our guns open fire it launches a torpedo and veers away. Simultaneously another plane slips in aft and starts a tin fish toward our, fantail Captain Woods, however. swings the ship around the anchor chain and ! both torpedces slide past. Within