September 13, 1944

A visit ashore.

13 September 1944
USS Sitkoh Bay (CVE 86) In Port at Manus

I went ashore today but I wasn’t impressed much by Manus. The mud was ankle deep and made walking quite sloppy. The boys and myself got a kick out of wondering which side of the road to walk on. Since this island is under Aussie control the traffic drives on the wrong side of the road. It really confused us all day.

Of course we sampled the wares at the “O” club and it’s a nice place. Rather noisy and packed however. Every rank and quite a few branches of services were represented all quite drunk. We didn’t have much time for drinking since we had to be back aboard by 1700. It felt good stretching the legs again on solid ground though.

We’re leaving tomorrow and if all goes well I should be aboard the Wasp in 4 or 5 days. Oh hot towel!