1st Class Seaman for the United States Navy aboard the USS Lunga Point aircraft carrier in the Pacific Theater.
Daryl Cutlip served in the United States Navy during the years 1944 to 1946. On January of 1944 he enlisted in Forest Grove, Oregon at the age of eighteen. He originally had a six month deferment, which meant he had to wait six months, after training and before serving. They tried to give him another six month deferment but he refused. Cutlip felt that he should go, just like all the other guys. So he was off to Vancouver, Washington to board the USS Lunda Point.
The USS Lunga Point was a Casablanca-class escort carrier. It was one of fifty carriers of its class built. This ship and its class were built by the Kaiser Company Inc.’s Shipbuilding Division in Vancouver, Washington on the Columbia River. This class of carrier was a light weight carrier built for transporting pre-assembled small aircraft. The USS Lunga Point received a Presidential Citation and five Battle Stars. Its operations included the Philippines Campaign, Invasion of Iwo Jima, and the Battle of Okinawa.
Cutlip was trained at Farragut Navel Training Station. Cutlip described Farragut as “colder than the devil.” Farragut Naval Training Station is located in Northern Idaho. This navy training facility was named after the first navy admiral, David Farragut. This training station was the second biggest naval training facility in the world, second only to that of the naval training station located on the Great Lakes near Chicago. Farragut Naval Training Station, with a large population of 55,000 this was considered the largest populated city in the state.
After boarding the USS Lunga Point he and the rest in the crew went to New Guinea. Its goal was to deliver Army Air Corps aircraft, and return the P-47’s and P-38’s, along with their pilots, to the United States.
New Guinea is located south of the equator. Cutlip spoke of how before he crossed the equator he was considered a Polly-wall, it was only after he crossed the equator that he became a “full pledged seaman.”
Cutlip saw action a few of the Pacific Theaters major campaigns. His ship received a total of five battles stars. He was involved in the Battle of the Leyte Gulf, Luzon, and Iwo Jima. He remembers the battle of Iowa Jima most significantly. There he and other ships were bombarded by Japanese Kamikaze war planes. He remembered that the USS Saratoga was severely damaged, and another aircraft carrier (Bismarck Sea), getting sunk.
He described how one plane tried to fly into the flight deck below. The Japanese pilot was trying to hit the bombs and aviation fuel underneath. Cutlip, in charge of reloading a 40 millimeter anti-aircraft turret gun, saw his ship shoot down the enemy pilot. He described how it skimmed across the flight deck, instantly engulfing it in flames. He remembered seeing the right wing, along with the landing gear hitting the bridge of the aircraft carrier. After skidding across the flight deck, the rest of the Japanese plane continued into the water and blew up. There were no casualties on board the carrier. Two other Japanese planes attacked, both were downed. One landing 200 feet away from him, another splashed into the sea behind his ship.
Cutlip spoke of how at one time, he and his crew were out at sea for thirteen months. Tankers and destroyers would come by and deliver food, water, and fuel. The USS Lunga Point’s crew had made their own ice cream. Ice cream that they would hand out to the ships that delivered them supplies.
Daryl Cutlip ended his career as a 1st Class Seaman in Navy. During that time he endured no injuries. After his service he got involved in a nursery in Forest Grove, then worked at the Carlton Nursery in Oregon. Later he opened his own nursery, then retired.
