The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1945-12-13
Pee Has Record

| From the invasion of Leyte
through the Lingayen Gulf and
Okinawa Campaigns with KAN
akaze attacks and heavy enemy
! gun fire the order of many days
did the PCE(R) $50 carr out its
mission as an escort rescue
/ craft to emerge unScathed in
/ crew and ship from the ordealS
/ of Pacific warfare.
! Commissioned June Is, 1914,
the PCER) $50, in Key West
recently awaiting sailing orders
for Norfolk, has crammed
enough excitement into its brief
career to last it for a long time
! to come.
With eVary member Of its
crew a solid veteran of the
Pacific, 49 of its present 81 man
crew have been with the ship
since the start of its operations
as have two of its officers, and
its mascot, Snipes, a mongrel
! lost for a time at Okinawa but
retrieved again after a Save
! Our Dog message sent out to
all ships in the harbor.
On Sept. %, 1914, in company
with PCS r 851 and Pee r $50,
the ship under command of Ii.
William w. Boynton, departed
Pearl Harbor, enroute to ManuS
Island, in the Admiralty Group.
where it became a small part
of the vast number of amphib-
ious craft undergoing the final
preparation for a mass attack on
the Philippines.
It departed Manus Island on
! Oct. II, 1914 in convoy screen
ing a landing craft group en-
route to the invasion of Leyte
On Oct. 20, the convoy formed
its final approach disposition
and stood in Leyte Gulf, ready
to render aid to the first beach
head casualties.
Scared. Yes!
"Scared?" 1t. Gg) NJ. J. Corse
Jacksonville, Fla, gunnery off
Ger replied to question. Il wa!
I scared lots of times but probably
5 not as much as at Leyte wher
we pulled alongside a burning
sub chaser carrying high octant
gas, with the fire right abovt
: her magazine The heat was 81
: great the fellows in the engin,
;: room could feel it. Knowing tn.
= thing could blow up any minutI
: had me scared as I've eve
2 been"
But the sturdy $50 did sue
/ coed in extinguishing the fir
only to be subject to a bombing
: attack by enemy planes while
2 making preparations to transfe
: casualties to an LIST. The crew
r brought down one of the plane
n and later the same day under
? went four more enemy raids.
Serving as an emergency hos
. pital, the ship received the fresl
wounded from the beach heat
! performed the necessary sur
gerry and holding the patient
= just long enough to insure SAT-
q recovery, then transferred then
, to out going Navy hospital ship
+ where a safe passage from tn
, combat area was assured.
Again At LeYte
= The $50 took her station a
Leyte last Jan. 4, in tn
r, screening Of the largest amphib
! iOus task forces ever unitet
: against an enemy. This tasl
: force, under supreme commanr
: of General Macarthur was t
: strike at Lingayen Gulf, LUXOR
: disembark its troops who woul
: later spearhead south on Luzo,
and hberate Manila.
At Lingayen Gulf it did mos
: of its rescue work among nava
vessels crash dived by suicid
planes Of the Kamakaze. Man,
times the work consisted of re
= ceiving the wounded and shock
I ed survivors from smaller Graf
u which had gone to the rescu
Of crash dived or torpedoed yes
sells. Ships aided included tn
3 USS Frederick Funston.
: On March 81, the $50 departei
n Leyte with the Transport Grou
g of the Western Attack fore
y bound for the Kerama Retto In
e vaSion in Okinawa Gunto. Whel
the assault troops hit tn
d beach the Immediate problem
e was protecting the shoreline
: from air, surface and counte
attack To do this, a ring G
II major warships were encircle,
around the Okinawa Island
u which served to intercept an
enemy attacks either by air @
e by surface ships. In many in
Il stances the work of the Pee
f 853 involved going alongside
: burning ship, climbing aboard
l removing the wounded an
I survivors and getting clear be
fore the ship sunk or blew w