Then after a few days of cruising around headed for our old stomping grounds Luzon. We pressed home our attacks for two days and as usual the little Japanese received plenty of hell from all sides. We remained around Luzon for nearly a week and then returned to port.
For once we were lucky enough to remain in port for almost eight days and everyone really turned to and really cleaned the old ship up. The last few months of steady cruising and very little time in port for upkeep had really begun to tell in many ways. By the time we were ready or sea we received our orders and left on the 29 of November headed for Guam.
We arrived in Guam on December 1st for the first time dropped our hook. We only remained in port for one day as the port was quite small and already well filled with ships of all types. Our mission was escorting a carrier to Guam so as to take on more planes. As soon as she had loaded up with planes we returned to Ulithi and for the first time in months had another week in port. This was probably the longest stretch of time in port and the shortest time at sea we will ever have as long as we are fighting the Japanese. 14 days in and only 3 days at sea.
By the time we went to sea again our ship was really ship-shape, the crew was well rested and full of beer as well. As we had been sending beer parties ashore daily. We also saw some very good movies while we were in and most of the crew was more than willing to get underway.
On December 10 we left port and headed for Luzon and aided in the invasion of Mindora. By this time the Philippines had become a familiar place once again as we had operated around them for quite some time and when the Japanese raids consisting some time of one lone plane ceased to bother us as we manned our battle stations you could hear the men swearing at the Japanese and some even griping because they had to get up at night. By now there was a marked difference in the crew that put the ship in commission the year before. When we were in on our first Japanese air raids everyone was exited and on their toes. Then after those months when the novelty of the whole situation had worn off, the crew manned their battle stations as though it were extra duty and fought as though they did not give a damn. Nevertheless they still gave the little boys a through going over an few of us little dreamed just how much longer we would actually have to fight the little Japanese before we had a chance to see civilization again.
As it had been 7 months since we left Pearl Harbor, May 31st, we hadn’t seen a woman or any form of civilization and very few of us had been ashore but only a few times. But we did not then know just how much longer it would be before we would see our first female and as for the future it looks pretty hopeless.
On December 18 we began to hit rough weather and late on the evening of the 18th we found ourselves in the middle of the worst typhoon that ever swept the pacific. The ship began roll long and pitching and everyone remained below and those who were in their bunks had to lash themselves in order to stay in one place. There was only sandwiches to eat and even those were hard to take. The wind was blowing about 90 knots and the spray and mist was so heavy until we lost all visual contact with the rest of the force.