My name is Louis DeAngelo.live in Reading,Pa.Birthdate Feb,9 1927.enlisted in Navy Jan..OF 45.sent to (n.t.c.Sampson,N.Y.)I READ THE bIO.ON Reuben Finger written by his Daughters and son.i also served in (BP15-1)and for years i have been looking for a webb site trying to find the Boat Pool i served in. a friend of mine just found this 2 days a go.could not believe it.so Ruben i hope you are still with us.and wanted to say hello,and hope all is well.we got there i think in oct.of 45.we were at cavite and they asked for volunters for boat crews in Manila.after looking around Cavite i thought i,d better get out of here.nothing doing. remember our base down from Rizal Stadium?and the Manila all stars baseball team.all proffesional guys.like Early Wynn ang Joe Garagiola used to play ping pong with those guys in the P.X.if you recall we took our (L.C.M AND l.c.v.p.)over to Cavite for screw, rudders, and shaft repairs.i was assigned to the engine room on a L.C.M.the cox left me screw around with the boat now and then.later there was a L.C.M.that needed a cox.i went to the op,Officer and begged him to give me a chance to take the boat over as a cox.which he relunctly did.there were many times i regreted doing that.remember the converted L.C.M into a fire fighting boat which all L.C.M.crews had to learn to operate.the first day they put it into operation guess who had the duty.right our crew.we were tied up at the dock.bored to death, when all of a sudden there was a hell of an explosion.that Concrete cargo ship that was tied up at a pier for ages blew the hell up,man i almost had heart failure,guys came running throwing life jackets on board ahd we took off.when we got out to the ship there was a Fire captain on a boat,and he told us to stand off, which made us happy.we really did not know what the hell to do first.week later the fire boat was gone.we helped to train some of the first Phillipine navy cadets if you remember,which was hell because of the language barrier.later when their first class graduated at Clark Field, they forced us to go to there dressed in whites,but turned out to be a great time.i do not know if you were on a L.C.V.P. OR a L.C.M. OR what your duty was?but us guys had all of the worst duty.i could go on here forever.but try and shorten it up.when the were going to wrap the operation up the op.Officer asked if i wanted to be one of only 3 boats they were going to keep,so i did. a short rime later he told me there was an opening on Vice Admiral Kauffmans Yacht,and i took that.we had the Honour of having (Gen Ike)on board for a trip to Corrigidor and around the bay area,was great being up that close to Ike.and that time those (P.T.Boats came in to our pool)they took up half the room.i was turning my boat around and my bow ramp scraped the rub rail on the P.T.boat and a Lt.Jg.came topside raising hell,there was no damage and i told him off and he went below and shut up.well day came we took off for Subic Bay overland by truck what a trip.we got there and they had water hours,and we were full of dirt and dust.no showers.3 days later boarderd the Winged Arrow big transpot,went to samar,picked some other sailors up and headed for Treasure Island.then Bainbridge,Md. for Discharge.Aug.46.by the way i had a Captains Mast at treasure Island,long story.so Reuben i hope you get to read this,and if possable send something back.Merry Xmas to you and your Family. LOU
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