Sun. Oct. 22, 1944
My Dearest:
Air attack before daybreak. Shot down a plane. The plane dived at our superstructure, missed, then doved into an Austrailian Cruiser. T’he whole area was lit up by the explosion. Parts of the plane were still burning while in the water. The very top of the Cruiser was in flames.
That plane flew directly over our gun mount and I was so afraid it was going to bomb us. I still don’t see why we didn’t get the bomb.
The casualties on the Cruiser were very heavy, especially among the officers.
Listened to Tokyo Rose, she claims the Japs sunk the West Virginia. (Woe is us.)
Air attack at twilight, repulsed by Combat Patrol. Air Combat Patrol reports bagging 36 planes with a loss of two of ours.
Weather recorded at 123°.
The firing key on our Quad VI jambed this morning and did not fire a shot. We decided to rename the quad. The Liberty Hound has been changed to the Virgin.
A 40 mm Quad Gun on the USS West Virginia, as would have been manned by Dale Ritchie Rogers
