March brought a few days at anchor. The small amount of entertainment included fishing, swimming and a few beer parties on the beach. Since I did not like beer at this time I had plenty of friends willing to buy my six pack that each of us were allowed. The going price was ten dollars. This was one third of our total monthly salary.

     Much to soon our fast carrier task force was off again. This time for the southwest pacific. The first stop was the New Hebrides Islands. We moved on and three days were spent at EspIritu Santo. This place was very different than the other islands. There were small mountains and an interesting village at the base of the foot hills. We were allowed to go on a beach party. The rules were, "Do not leave the restricted area."

     One of my friends and I decided we would do a little exploring. The first thing we saw once we left the restricted area was a group of thatched huts. We could see no one around. All of a sudden we were surrounded by a group of half naked black men and one white man. The white man, who appeared to be the tribes leader, began to speak to us in French. We could not understand what he was saying but by his body language we knew that we were unwelcomed guests.

     From Esplritu Santo we steamed around the Solomons and provided air cover for the landing on Emirau Island in the Bismarck Archipelago. This action lasted until the 27th, of March. By the end of the month we were striking the Western Carolines. We also made the first strikes on Palau, Yap, Woleai and Ulithi. We were always under heavy Japanese air attacks, particularly at night. Nothing the enemy could muster up was able to stop Admiral Mischer's powerful sea armada.

     We then went to Majuro so we could get a temporary leave from the constant combat. We spent five wonderful days in port. This rest provided us with some of the luxuries of life we had forgot that existed. We were able to get ice cream from some of the larger ships. We even had movies on the fan tail of the ship when it seemed safe to do so. The combat life was getting better and we were all getting to be real "salty". That was a term reserved for old time combat sailors. I was even trying to grow a beard and learn to smoke a pipe.

     One of my friends talked me into becoming a trainee for radar. This was right up my alley because I was very interested in electronics. I was getting tired of all my other duties. I had learned to shoot the guns as well as anyone. The radar seemed to be a real challenge.

     Learning about radar became a full time job for me. When we were not at our battle stations, I had many books to read from. There was no school on the sea, only on the job training. We had the surface search and air search radar plus fire control to learn. We worked rotating shifts. Our officer in charge was a young man named Hopstetter. He was a real nice guy and just left us alone to do our job. It was one of my duties to wake up the shift when it was time for them to relieve us. We were never suppose to enter the officers room. So in order to wake them we would call their name from the outside of the curtain covering the door way.

     Our next job took us to New Guinea. We acted as the covering force for the invasion of Aitape and Hollandia. This was General McArthur's forces. This operation also included a special mission to Humbolt Bay. The mission was to pick up Admiral Burk and return him to his command ship.

     The one thing that stands out in my memory about New Gunia was the mountain peaks. They showed up on our radar when we were seventy miles off shore. The talk throughout the fleet was that the troops hated McArthure because he wanted the soldiers to build him a castle up on those mountains.