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Our headquarters for a good long while was in Saipan. This is where I did the 'water skiing' that I mentioned earlier. It was from here that we escorted submarines. It was also here that I caught up with my old friend Earl Grey who I knew from home. He was with the 4th Marine division. We were both from Lehi, Utah and he was one of the few folks I ever saw during the service that I knew from home. Off Saipan we often patrolled for downed B29s. I would keep a look out for them from the conning tower. One day we were fortunate to pick up one crew that had been shot up out there. They had been forced to crash land in the water and we picked up part of the crew. We went from Saipan to the Marcus Islands once to do a strike but when we got there the Japanese were gone. That is not too far from Tokyo and everything was still in place but much of it was booby trapped so we left it alone. Marcus was the most northerly place that I ever went during my pacific tour. We did various shuttles from one island to another from Saipan. Note that on the northern end of the island there is a place called Suicide Cliff where the Japanese jumped to their deaths rather than surrender to the Americans. I saw this solemn place and imagined the lives of so many that were given up there.

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