CVE-62 was named for a bay in the Graham Islands off the southwest coast of Alaska, approximately 45 miles south-southwest of Ketchikan.

(Image: Google Maps.)

Natoma Bay was sponsored by Lady Halifax (née Lady Dorothy Onslow), wife of Lord Halifax (earlier Edward Wood), United Kingdom's ambassador to the United States of America. In this 1922 portrait she appears as Dorothy Wood, since her husband had not yet inherited the title Viscount Halifax from his father.

USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62) taking aboard stores in Tulagi harbor, Solomon Islands, on 8 April 1944.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (# 80-G-235018).

Despite what is typed on the picture, this seems to be, in fact, USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62), circa 1944–1945, camouflaged in Measure 33 Design 14A. USS Windham Bay (CVE-92) was painted in Measure 33 Design 18A.

Other ships that, like Natoma Bay, wore Measure 33 Design 14A were: USS Savo Island (CVE-78), USS Saginaw Bay (CVE-82), and USS Attu (CVE-102).

Attack on a Japanese cruiser (Tone Class) by TBM-1C Avenger from USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62) during Battle of Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-287537.

US Navy Carrier Division Twenty-Four attack on Japanese fleet during Battle of Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944. Taken by plane from USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62). Note the Japanese cruiser and destroyer after being bombed by the planes of Natoma Bay.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-287538.

US Navy Carrier Division Twenty-Four attack on Japanese fleet during Battle of Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944. Taken by plane from USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62).

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-287545.

US Navy Carrier Division Twenty-Four attack on Japanese fleet during Battle of Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944. Taken by plane from USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62).

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-287546.

US Navy Carrier Division Twenty-Four attack on Japanese fleet during Battle of Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944. Taken by plane from USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62).

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-287547.

US Navy Carrier Division Twenty-Four attack on Japanese fleet during Battle of Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944. Taken by plane from USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62).

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-287548.

US Navy Carrier Division Twenty-Four attack on Japanese fleet during Battle of Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944. Taken by plane from USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62).

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-287549.

[USS Ommaney Bay (CVE-79)] burns in the background while a sister ship, Natoma Bay (CVE-62), passes in front, able only to look on at the disaster.

Photo and text from Fire From The Sky, by Robert C. Stern.

Sequence of three photographs taken on the same day, 5 January 1945, from the port catwalk amidships on USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62).

NS0306215: A Zeke bears down from the starboard quarter. It has already been damaged to the extent that its left landing gear has dropped, meaning the hydraulics have been shot out on that side. Nevertheless it bore down on its target.

NS0306215a: The Zeke has straightened out into a shallow dive. Note the deck crew scattering, trying to find a safe hiding place. Some are crouching under the wing of a Wildcat to the left, perhaps not the safest place to be.

NS0306215b: The Kamikaze falls just short and splashes harmlessly aft.

Photos National Archives and Records Administration.

During the Battle of Okinawa, at 0635 hours on 7 June 1945, a Japanese Zeke piloted by a Kamikaze crashed through the flight deck and caused explosions and fire. The Damage Control Party sprang into action and extinguished the flames quickly, then immediately set about the task of repairing the flight deck. Flight operations were uninterrupted, as planes were launched as repairs were underway.

(NS0306211) Japanese Kamikaze impacts and explodes on USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62). Photo taken from USS Sargent Bay (CVE-83).

(NS0306211a) The resulting smoke from the blaze rises into the air. Photo taken from USS Sargent Bay (CVE-83).

(NS0306211b) The hole in the flight deck from the crashed Kamikaze.

(NS0306211c) A view from the hangar deck, looking up at the hole in the flight deck, showing the Damage Control Party hurriedly repairing the damage.

(NS0306211d) Flight operations continue, even as the ship is undergoing repair. A TBM-3E Avenger torpedo-bomber of VC-9 catapults by the damage scene.

Official US Navy photographs.

USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62) plaque and Roster of Lost. The Natoma Bay configuration in a cross is the way the Chaplain configured the name of the ship for all religious services. All but Eddie Barron were Christian, Eddie was Jewish.

"On 17 November 1944 ENS [Billie R.] Peeler with LT(JG) [Lloyd] Holton as a passenger while on a routine flight in a CASU 42 SBD[-5 Dauntless, BuNo 10904,] which failed to recover from a spin and crashed into the sea. Both officers were killed and nothing was recovered." (Quoted from "History of Composite Squadron Eighty One (VC-81)," USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62) Logbook Project.)

ENS Billie Rufus Peeler, USNR.

Letter from LCDR William B. Morton, Staff, Com 1st Carrier Task Force, dated 4 December 1945.

Letter from LCDR William B. Morton, Staff, Com 1st Carrier Task Force, dated 12 December 1945.

Telegram informing Mr. & Mrs. Carl Banks Peeler Sr. of the death of their son, ENS Peeler. Dated 10 January 1945.

(See also NS0306206.)

LT Robert Thomas Williamson. Chaplain Williamson was born in 1915 in Oak Park, Illinois. He was the middle child of three, having an older and younger sister. He attended and graduated from Oak Park High School, Wheaton College then Princeton Seminary prior to WWII. He enlisted in the Navy in 1943 and attended the Navy's Chaplain Training Program at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. He joined USS Natoma Bay in late summer of 1944 and remained with her until December 1945. He married Sarah Jane Simmons of Rome, Georgia, in March 1944 and they had three sons and one daughter. After the war, he served as a minister to Presbyterian churches in Detroit; Easton, PA and Philadelphia, taking time off between Detroit and Easton to get his PhD in ecclesiastical history from Edinburgh University in Scotland on the GI Bill. He suffered from cancer from 1966–1970 and eventually died in March 1970. His tour of duty on USS Natoma Bay was one of the most important times in his life. He had very fond memories of his shipmates and enjoyed sharing them with his family. In fact, one of the family pets (a pure bred Miniature Schnauzer nicknamed "Gretchen") was officially named "Leyte Natoma of Merionhoff" (kennel) as she was born on October 25th the anniversary of the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Steve explains: "Oliver Edward Fezler was on the Natoma Bay. He ran the commissary, moved out of the bunkroom and lived in the commissary. He told us several stories about life and events while on the ship. How they were chased by a Japanese ship and they jettisoned all non essential items to lighten the ship. That he was a front gunner and the kamikaze that crashed into the flight deck less than 10yards away. He talked a little bit about the battles the ship was in. Making 'Raisin Jack.' The mercy operation to carry the wounded home at the end of the war. We have a picture of him next to the gun he operated. He met his wife (married for 73 years) soon after the war, went to tech school to become an A&E mechanic, worked for Boeing as mechanic and then foreman, worked on some of the Apollo missions including the lunar landing, was responsible for the attachment of the rockets to the 1st stage propulsion, took retirement at 56 yrs old. He and his wife hiked the Appalachian Trail at 58 yrs old. Traveled the world and he and his wife climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. He went by Fez, and lived with us for 2 years after the passing of his wife Marjory Dean and passed away 6-7-2023."

This photo was taken on 3 November 2022.

"Stern view of camels separating USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62) and USS Anzio (CVE-57) at berth." Norfolk, VA. Photo # NA8-1549, dated 20 August 1947.

National Archives photo (# 80-G-279242).