AVG-73 (later ACV-73 and CVE-73) was named Gambier Bay for a bay on the east coast of Admiralty Island, in the Alexander archipielago, Southeast Alaska.

The name derives from Point Gambier and was given in 1889 by LCDR Henry B. Mansfield, USN. It was published by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS) in the 1891 American Coast Pilot.

(Image: Google Maps.)

Captain James D. Barner, USN, Commander, Naval Air Station, Astoria, Oregon, speaks a few words at the commissioning ceremonies of USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), 28 December 1943.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) photo, # 80-G-218319.

Commissioning Ceremonies aboard USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), 28 December 1943. Captain Hugh W. Goodwin, USN, right, prospective Commanding Officer, being congratulated by Captain James D. Barner, Commander, Naval Air Station, Astoria, Oregon, and Commanding Officer of the Pre-Commissioning Detail.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) photo, # 80-G-218320.

USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), two days after commissioning and moored to docks at Naval Station, Astoria, Oregon, 30 December 1943.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) photo, # 80-G-218338.

Radar antennae on USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73): YE (top), SG (middle), and SK (bottom). Photographed on 14 January 1944.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (# 80-G-218332).

Gun crew receiving instructions in anti-aircraft gun-firing aboard USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), 14 January 1944.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (# 80-G-218331).

Initial inspection aboard USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), 22 January 1944, by Captain Hugh H. Goodwin, USN. "Suck 'em In" crew of Gambier Bay receive a thorough going over by Captain Goodwin assisted by Executive Officer, Commander Richard R. Ballinger, USN.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (# 80-G-218334).

Store Keeper First Class G.E. McArdlo aboard USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), makes Chief and is initiated into the mysteries of the cult, 1 February 1944.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (# 80-G-218385).

F6F Hellcats, with folded wings, on the flight deck of USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) en route to the South Pacific, 12 February 1944.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (# 80-G-218352).

Starboard battery aboard USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) in action during the Marshall Islands Campaign, 15 February 1944. Note the 40mm, and the F4U Corsairs with folded wings on the flight deck.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (# 80-G-218364).

USS Norman Scott (DD-690) coming alongside USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) for refueling operations in the South Pacific, 177 meridian, 19 February 1944.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (# 80-G-218356).

Captain Hugh H. Goodwin, USN, Commanding Officer of USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) on the navigation bridge, 20 February 1944.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (# 80-G-218357).

Planes taking off during first catapulting operations aboard USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) in Marshall Islands Campaign. In the first craft to leave is Lieutenant Commander M.G. Guerrieri, Squadron Commander of VF-39, and he is flying an F6F-3 Hellcat. Date is given as 21 February 1944.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (# 80-G-218366).

Planes taking off during first catapulting operations aboard USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) in Marshall Islands Campaign. In this F6F-3 Hellcat, Lieutenant Miner, pilot, clears the flight deck, and was the fifth plane to be launched. Note the F4U Corsairs with folded wings in the foreground. Date is given as 21 February 1944.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (# 80-G-218367).

Frank S. Hughes, Gunner, giving instructions on the Tommy Gun to a group of enlisted men on the fantail of USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), 24 February 1944.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), # 80-G-218384.

Ensign R.R. Foltz is landing the first plane, an F6F Hellcat, aboard USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) in the South Pacific. Note the destroyer in the background (probably USS Norman Scott (DD-690), since she appears in other photos of this series). Photograph released 25 February 1944.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (# 80-G-218377).

In celebration of the first plane landing aboard USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), officers gathered around an F6F Hellcat and a cake was baked in honor of the occasion, somewhere in the South Pacific. Captain Hugh H. Goodwin, USN, Commanding Officer of the ship and Ensign R.R. Foltz, the pilot of the first aircraft to land on Gambier Bay, are holding the cake. Photograph released 25 February 1944.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (# 80-G-218380).

Captain Hugh H. Goodman, USN, Commanding Officer of USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) making first dungaree inspection on board ship, somewhere in the South Pacific, 26 February 1944.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (# 80-G-218387).

Five-inch gun on the fantail of USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73). Battery Officer is Lieutenant Junior Grade E.P. Becker, and the Gun Captain is Coxswain Hoover. Photo is dated 3 March 1944.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (# 80-G-218393).

USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), photograph received 23 November 1944. She was sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf (Battle of Samar—25 October 1944).

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (# 80-G-46892).

USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) in port, April 1944. The ship is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 15A.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph (#NH 79408).

Bow view of USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) in April 1944, showing her Measure 32, Design 15A camouflage pattern.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph (#NH 79409).

Ensign Darrell C. Bennett, A-V(N), USNR, stands beside his plane, a General Motors FM-2 Wildcat fighter, on board USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), 1 August 1944. Note pinup art and nickname "Smokey's Lucky Witch" adorning the engine cowling; what appears to be a Composite Squadron Ten (VC-10) insignia below the cockpit windshield; plane numbers ("27") in white on the wing leading edge and in black under the lip of the cowling; and Ensign's Bennett's flight gear and .45 caliber M1911A1 pistol carried in a shoulder holster.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (# 80-G-243864).

Doug Bennett comments: "Ensign Darrell C. Bennett had an older brother stationed on the St. Lo. Both were stationed on their ships when they sank AND both are still alive [as of May 2009]! They are my uncles."

Composite Squadron (VC) 10 patch, designed by then ENS Robert B. "Tuffy" Barrows, a TBM Avenger pilot. VC-10 was commissioned on 23 September 1943 at Sand Point Naval Air Station, Seattle, WA. LCDR E.J. Huxtable, USN, took command six days later. The squadron went aboard its carrier, USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), on 5 April 1944. Gambier Bay and VC-10 took part in the capture and ocupation of Saipan, Tinian, Guam and the southern Palau Islands. Gambier Bay was sunk off Samar on 25 October 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

"With its ship gone, the Leyte invasion marked the end of the squadron's activities as a unit. In small groups the members went by various methods to Manus, Pearl, San Francisco, and then home on leave. Some were transferred to other units for duty. Nineteen pilots and twenty-five of the crew chose to stay with Lt. Cdr. Huxtable and form the nucleus of a new Composite Squadron Ten, to be reformed in January 1945." (Quoted from Narrative History of Composite Squadron Ten, by CAPT Edward Huxtable.)

Cooks and storekeepers, USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73).

(Larger copy available on request.)

S Division.

Duties: Supply, Disbursing, and Commissary.

Back row, left to right: Harold Marion Moeshler SK 3/c, Richard Wayne Leach SC 3/c, Bill Mack Dunham SK 3/c, Edwin Camp Berryman SK 1/c, Donald Marshall Ryan Bkr 3/c, Joseph Anthony Cassaro SC 1/c, Charles Vincent Rizzo SC 2/c, Ralph Leland Skaggs SK 2/c, Chester Alvin Liller Sk 2/c, Harold Henry Schaffner SK 3/c, George Leo Miller SK 2/c, Claudius Guy Lowe SK 3/c, Roy Williams SC 3/c, Peter Kolody SC 3/c, Lawrence Larry Zanetell SK 3/c, Reginald Franklin Ruffin CK 2/c, Joseph Schirard Fish SK 2/c, Walter Franklin Marshall SC 3/c, Orville Cluster Propes SC 1/c, Lyle Thomas Stoner SK 3/c, Kenneth Brooks Thompson SK 3/c, Norman Russell Loats SK 3/c, Henry Schmidt Jr SK 1/c, Donald Ralph Huntley SK 2/c.

Front row, left to right: Albert Smith CSK, James Edward McCardle CSK, Walter Michael Gumaski CCS, Harrell Andrew Thomas SC 3/c, Leonard Gerard Martin SC 1/c, Chester Norval Crane Bkr 2/c, James Dale Henderson SC 2/c, Robert William Knight SK 2/c, Daniel Eugene Martindale SC 3/c, Donald H Schieke Bkr 3/c.

AMM3/c Joseph E. McQuade, 1942. Served aboard USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) in the aircraft catapult crew.

ART1/c Robert Lee Davis survived the sinking of USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73). He was born in Tennessee, to Alice and William Davis.

Battle of Leyte Gulf, Battle off Samar, 25 October 1944. USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) and another escort carrier, and two destroyer escorts making smoke. Photographed from USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68) by Phil Willard Nieth.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), # 80-G-288154.

USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) is seen on fire after being hit, viewed from on board her sister-ship USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71). Photo courtesy of Conway Picture Library.

Photo and text from Conway's The War at Sea in Photographs, 1939–1945, by Stuart Robertson and Stephen Dent.

USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) falls further behind her Task Group after receiving shell damage during the Battle off Samar (Battle of Leyte Gulf), 25 October 1944. Photographed from USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68) while the crew watches.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) photo, # 80-G-287512.

USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) bracketed by Japanese shells while making smoke, during the battle off Samar, 25 October 1944. After these near misses the ship appeared to slow down and fall behind the rest of her task group. Photographed from USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68) by Phi Willard Nieth.

United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) photo, # 80-G-288149.

Battle of Leyte Gulf, 24–26 October 1944. A CVE, possibly USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), attacked by Japanese surface units, as seen from USS White Plains (CVE-66).

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) photo, # 80-G-384160.

USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) bracketed by shells from the Japanese fleet that the Seventh Fleet Carrier Escort Group fought off in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944. Japanese cruiser is seen on the right horizon.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) photo, # 80-G-287505.

USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), Action Report, General Narrative, and Running Log, 25 October 1944.

Letter from Captain Walter V.R. Vieweg, Commanding Officer, USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), to the Commanding Officer and Crew of LCI(L)-337, thanking them for saving the lives of the survivors of the escort carrier, sunk by enemy gunfire on 25 October 1944.

THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
WASHINGTON

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION to the

TASK UNIT SEVENTY-SEVEN POINT FOUR POINT THREE, consisting of the U.S.S. FANSHAW BAY and VC-68; U.S.S. GAMBIER BAY and VC-10; U.S.S. KALININ BAY and VC-3; U.S.S. KITKUN BAY and VC-5; U.S.S. SAINT LO and VC-65; U.S.S. WHITE PLAINS and VC-4; U.S.S. HOEL; U.S.S. JOHNSTON; U.S.S. HEERMAN; U.S.S. SAMUEL B. ROBERTS; U.S.S. RAYMOND; U.S.S. DENNIS and U.S.S. JOHN C. BUTLER

for service as set forth in the following

CITATION:

   "For extraordinary heroism in action against powerful units of the Japanese Fleet during the Battle off Samar, Philippines, October 25, 1944. Silhouetted against the dawn as the Central Japanese Force steamed through San Bernardino Strait toward Leyte Gulf, Task Unit 77.4.3 was suddenly taken under attack by hostile cruisers on its port hand, destroyers on the starboard and battleships from the rear. Quickly laying down a heavy smoke screen, the gallant ships of the Task Unit waged battle fiercely against the superior speed and fire power of the advancing enemy, swiftly launching and rearming aircraft and violently zigzagging in protection of vessels stricken by hostile armor-piercing shells, anti-personnel projectiles and suicide bombers. With one carrier of the group sunk, others badly damaged and squadron aircraft courageously coordinating in the attacks by making dry runs over the enemy Fleet as the Japanese relentlessly closed in for the kill, two of the Unit's valiant destroyers and one destroyer escort charged the battleships point-blank and, expending their last torpedoes in desperate defense of the entire group, went down under the enemy's heavy shells as a climax to two and one half hours of sustained and furious combat. The courageous determination and the superb teamwork of the officers and men who fought the embarked planes and who manned the ships of Task Unit 77.4.3 were instrumental in effecting the retirement of a hostile force threatening our Leyte invasion operations and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service."

For the President,

James Forrestal
Secretary of the Navy

"The U.S.S. Gambier Bay (CVE 73), Vol. 1 No. 1, December 1943, Issued Monthly, Commissioning Issue."

Belonged to Tim's grandfather, J.E. McQuade, who served aboard Gambier Bay.

Domain of the Golden Dragon Certificate, 19 February 1944.

Belonged to Tim's grandfather, J.E. McQuade, who served aboard Gambier Bay.

Card model of USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), by Andrzej Halinski Publishing.