Albert Cruz, our officers cook, was from Guam. During the Japanese occupation of Guam he had not heard anything from his family. He now had information that they were well. He was able to have a short visit with them while we were there.
We finally arrived at the huge Ulithi anchorage on June 26th and remained there until the end of the war. There we helped maintain the 20 miles of anti-torpedo nets and performed other miscellaneous harbor assignments.
The weather was very hot on the small islands at Ulithi. It was somewhat cooler to be on a anchored ship in open water out in the lagoon like we were. It was also cooler being on a wooden ship like ours rather than a steel ship. Even so it was quite hot. We could not sleep in our crews quarters below deck, so slept on the open top deck. A boyhood friend of mine, stationed at Pearl Harbor, gave me a wooden folding cot before we left there. It was much more comfortable then sleeping on the hard steel deck.
We lived here on open water for nearly 4 months. When not at our duty stations we would play cards, dive and swim over the side of the ship, fish, write letters, listen to music and radio broadcasts and take part in bull sessions. About once a week we boarded our motor launch and went to Fassarai Island, where the natives lived, to have a beer party, gather coconuts to eat and sea shells for making necklaces. Americans had introduced cigarettes to the native men, so they enjoyed receiving cigarettes from us. At first our men would gawk at the native women with their sarongs on their lower bodies and topless on top. After awhile they became accustomed to seeing them like this. Both the native men and women were good natured and seemed to enjoy having us come ashore.
Some of the other Net Tenders had more exciting and meaningful duties then our ship, as will be noted when reading the rest of this booklet. During our voyages in the Bearing Sea, North Pacific and Western Pacific we did however visit many interesting ports including US west coast ports from Seattle to San Diego. We had a good harmonious crew, whom I'm sure often look back, with fond memories, on their WWII days serving aboard a little Net Tender.

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This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo