Carrier Landings

May ’43 Wolverine, Lake Michigan—first 8 landings
Aug. ’44 Takanic Bay (CVE–89), off San Francisco—4 landings
Fall ? ’44 Ranger (CV–4), off San Francisco—2 landings
Fall ’44 Saratoga (CV–3), off Hawaii—possibly as many as 12 landings
Jan. ’45? Nassau* (CVE–16), off Guam—2 landings
2/1 — Hornet (CV–12)— 5 or 6 in practice, 29 returning from combat, off Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Japan, & other locations. Hornet had two previous air groups—this, her last wartime tour, bringing us (Air Group 17) back to the U.S., at San Francisco, as the only large (Essex Class, etc.) carrier having had a full tour without having got hit by a bomb or Kamikaze plane. Despite the damage to the flight deck from the typhoon she was due to come back anyway, I believe. Her fighter planes, by the way, destroyed an extraordinary number of enemy planes, apparently more than those of any other carrier. She won a Presidential Unit Citation for her overall performance, giving everyone from the mess stewards to the task group admiral as well as members of the air groups the right to wear the ribbon.

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