After refueling, we returned to our position off the East Coast of Luzon. A few more days of strikes and sweeps, and we received word of an impending Typhoon. We retreated to the open sea to ride out the storm. This turned out to be the Great Hurricane of 1944.

 

As the storm approached McBrayer's group was flying CAP above the Carrier Task Group. The wind was picking up, the sea rising, and the clouds lowering. Finally we received the signal to land. By this time the waves were from 40 to 50 feet in height (from crest to trough). The ceiling had lowered to about 1,500 feet, and the wind was approaching gale force. Our landings were something to remember. As I approached the carrier the deck was pitching 40 to 50 feet at the stern. I was extremely careful to make my best approach. Finally I was at the "cut" position about 20 feet above the deck. The LSO gave me the "cut" and I pulled off the throttle. Just at that time the stern of the Carrier dropped down into the trough of a wave. Suddenly the deck was about 70 feet below me. In an attempt to correct and not stall out too high, I dropped the nose of the plane a little more than normal. At that instant I saw the deck rising as the stern came out of the trough. I pulled the stick all the way back and stalled out, hoping not to hit the deck with too much force. Well I hit the deck and it felt like I was going down and out the bottom of the plane. After being released from the arresting gear, I pulled forward and parked the plane. Checking the plane I found I had blown two tires and wrinkled the fuselage. After the four of us had landed, we found each plane had two blown tires, and two had wrinkled fuselages. However, compared to others we were lucky.

 

As I stood in the island, watching the rest of the planes land, I saw one plane fly by the LSO platform to get a "wheels down check." The LSO waved him off because his wheels were only partly extended. The pilot was advised by radio that if he couldn't get his wheels fully extended, he would either have to land in the water or bail out. A successful landing in those waves would have been virtually impossible. So the pilot elected to climb to the base of the clouds (1,000 ft.) and bail out. He made a turn and flew parallel to the Carrier, opened his cockpit hatch, stood up and pulled his ripcord. The chute opened, but in dragging him out of the cockpit the chute induced his body to act like a pendulum. He hit the waves as his body was moving forward to the nadir of the arc. The force with which he hit the water must have rendered him unconscious, because he sank beneath the waves, never to be seen again.

 

I was told the pilot of that plane was Johnny Coza, a Utah boy, whose parents ran a little market near the intersection of 5th East and 17th South in Salt Lake City.

 

As the storm intensified, everything aboard was lashed or battened down. All usable instruments and other valuable gear were removed from the planes with the damaged fuselages, and they were shoved overboard.

 

A couple of destroyers, low on fuel, tried to come alongside to take on more fuel to help ride out the storm. After several tries at passing the lines the refueling attempt was aborted. The lines would be passed, but the ships could not hold position and the lines would part almost as soon as passed.

 

As the day wore on the storm intensity increased. The next two days were wild. No meals were cooked in the mess. Only sandwiches were prepared. All hands were at standby, for use in emergencies. All the hatches were battened down, the watertight doors "dogged" and only by special permission was it possible to open any hatch to get to the area below the Hangar Deck. This was to insure the watertight integrity of the ship.

 

We received word that one of the other carriers in the Task Group was fighting a fire. The report indicated that some of the planes lashed to the deck had broken loose. As the planes crashed into other planes or ship superstructure, impact produced sparks had ignited gas in the plane's tanks. The crew finally succeeded in getting the fire contained and the damaged planes pushed overboard.

 

As the ship tried to maintain headway into the storm the rumblings, popping, and cracks heard aboard were awesome. Each time the bow would plow into a wave, the whole structure would vibrate and groan. As the stern rose and the screws came out of the water, another set of vibrations would be set in motion.

 

At the height of the storm, I went up on the bridge to get a look at how the ship was handling the sea. I had heard tales from old "Salts" about the bad storms they had encountered, in which the waves had been so large that the ship had taken "green" water over the bow. As I watched the ship dive into a trough and then slice up through the crest of a wave, I saw "green" water breaking over the Flight Deck. The Flight Deck normally rides about 70 feet above the water. I was totally impressed, and stood in awe at the power of Mother Nature on a rampage.

 

During the storm, no one got much sleep; many of the crew were suffering from seasickness, and bemoaning the possibility of sinking. I was lucky. I didn't get seasick, but I did begin to feel a little light headed before the storm subsided.

 

The end of the storm found the Fleet pretty well scattered around the area. As we reassembled, we became aware that three destroyers had been lost. As near as the "Top Brass" could ascertain, the Destroyers had run out of fuel during the storm, lost headway, broached and began to roll. The rolling had become so intense that the Destroyers probably took water down the stacks, foundered and sank with all hands aboard.

 

We spent the next few days flying long searches, in an effort to find some debris, boats, rafts, or any evidence of the three destroyers or survivors. Finally the search was called off and the Fleet headed for Ulithi. Some of the ships had been severely damaged by the hurricane and had to leave for Hawaii or the States to be repaired. In one instance the bow area of one of the carriers had been "stove in" by the intense pressure exerted by the walls of water through which it had passed. I have forgotten the name of the carrier.

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