.........I'll be home one of these days and I'll have lots to tell you. It will soon be dark, Darling, and that all too familiar "All Hands Darken Ship" will be sounded. There it is now! The Boson Mate added that "The Smoking Lamp Is Out On All Weather Decks" and possibly soon we might hear "General Quarters! General Quarters! All Hands Man Your Battle Stations!". Let me tell you, running down that dark deck is pretty hard on the shins darling. All you hear is footsteps and sailors cursing. Also, getting up those hatches is a tight squeeze. Well honey, tell my boy and girl to be good and don't ever let them forget me. I haven't got a watch tonight so I'll get lots of sleep.
All My Love
Bob
Well, after so long they're finaly letting us tell that we we're in on the invasion of Iwo Jima wich commenced on Feb. 19. Our part of the operation was as anti-submarine screen and we had prepared for this for about 6 weeks which scheduled a rehearsal in the Hawaiian Islands area and loading and stowing all of the provisions that we could carry. The trip to Iwo Jima was a long, slow trip and we were one of the escorts of a group of amphibious craft. We stopped at two islands on the way there, both formaly held by Japan. We were at the first on eovernight and at the second one we conducted screening operations most of the time so we had no liberty. In fact, during the whole month of February, there was not a single day that we were not underway. On the way to Iwo Jima at our jumping off point, we had a possible sub contact and stayed on it for quite a few hours while the rest of the convoy moved on. It seemed really strange to be in the heart of Japanese territory and not meet any opposition.
The landing was scheduled for 0900 so on D day, reveille was held at 0330, chow at 0400, and qeneral quarters at 0500. By this time we were approaching the island and we could see the bombardment from the Battleships and Cruisers and at daylight there was aireal heavy bombardment. There was a large number of transports and other ships present and we took up our station on the outside of the rim to protect against possible sub attack. You probably remember the planes that raided Tokyo and other Jap cities? Well, right before we got to Iwo, they came by to help us out. Enemy aircraft were in the vicinity most of the time but our boys took care of them. We had chow that morning at our battle stations, right about the time the Marines were landing. At 1300 we went back to normal conditions, but everyone was ready to go back to general quarters at any time so we kept our life belts on. I know that you have read about what a bitter struggle the Marines had taking Iwo Jima, but our only mishap was bumping into an abandoned amphibious craft, which really scared us below deck. Our only loss was our starboard anchor. It was stated that this was the toughest engagment that the Marines have had, including Tarawa and Saipan. There were raids everyday that we were there and once a plane was shot down about fifty feet from us. There are other thinhs that I wish I could tell you, but we aren't allowed right now. Well Darling, I've written alot here and haven't even mentioned home, so I'll stop this letter now and start another one.
All my love
Bob