Truk Atoll was one of the most interesting places we visited on our Western Pacific-Southern Pacific Cruise (WestPac-SouthPac) in 1980. Because the USS O’Callahan is a smaller ship with a shallower draft than many of the US’s warships, we were able to go to places most others could not. Truk Atoll was one of them.
Truk Atoll is part of the Carolina Islands and has a rich history of colonialism. The first European visitors were the Spanish in 1528. It is now called Chuuk Lagoon. If you are interested in the history of the place, here is the Wiki link. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuuk_Lagoon .
It is located in the Central Pacific 7 degrees north of the Equator, 1100 miles from New Guinea, another interesting place on the 1980 WestPac-SouthPac Cruise.
During WWII, Truk was a central base for the Japanese for the South Pacific Theater. As an interesting side note, every Pacific Island we visited, we were loved (mostly) by the natives because the US rescued them from the Japanese reign of terror. Since this was 1980, it was only 35 years since WWII activity there, and many people still alive experienced it.
In February 1944, the US attacked the Japanese and destroyed 265 aircraft, sunk several warships, and sent 200,000 tons of Japanese merchant shipping to the bottom of the sea. To this day, it is a graveyard and memorial. It is a scuba diver’s paradise. There are ships, tanks, and aircraft sunk in the lagoon. The remains of the personnel who lost their lives are still there and are now skeletons. Although diving is encouraged, it is strictly forbidden to disturb or remove anything. I believe this was a request by the Japanese.
The USS O’Callahan was small enough to enter the lagoon and anchor there. But, of course, we had to anchor where it would not disturb any of the underwater relics.
The command gave us orders before we were ferried to the shore by the ship’s launch. First, that the beer was plentiful and cheap, and the girls were strictly off-limits. Do not even fucking look at them. So another word, the US Navy had been there before us. These were Micronesians with fathers who were very protective of their daughters. We were told that if you touch one of their daughters, you will likely get your man parts removed using a rusty Pacific Islander equivalent to a Machete. Ok, that was good enough for me. No-touch girls!
I remember getting off the launch and getting onshore to this lush, green paradise. I expected to see a French plantation owner walk out of the jungle at any minute and start singing “Some Enchanted Evening.” What a beautiful place.
There was a combination of some modern (WWII era) buildings and thatched huts and the like. There were girls. Lots of girls, and they all seemed to be teenagers. I don’t think any of the natives ever had sons. We all got off and looked the other way, toward the beer places.
This is an actual photo taken by a crew member when we were there.
The community had arranged a picnic lunch for us, and it was a BBQ of great food, roast pig, and all the fixings. All us sailors who took advantage of this invitation all sat around the base of palm trees, on grass, eating our meals from paper plates. The townsfolk, primarily teenaged girls (of course), sat on the grass eating their meals…about 100 feet away. There were some mamasans who all looked like Bloody Mary from the movie South Pacific. In fact, we observed the whole time we were there that the female population was either teen girls or Bloody Marys. Apparently, after a certain age, they morph.
We had the opportunity to explore some of the sights. Some of us took transportation in a jeep-like vehicle (probably from WWII) up a mountain to a Japanese gun emplacement. The Japanese had dug a series of tunnels. We explored those tunnels, and I had the oddest feeling I have ever had. I know this sounds a little crazy, but I felt the presence of something there. I had never had this strong feeling before and haven’t since. I can’t even describe it, but something was there.
Some of us stumbled upon a huge artillery gun that some of the tunnels lead to. It stuck out of the side of the mountain toward the lagoon. It was huge. The action was removed, and we could look through the barrel. To our shock, when we looked through the barrel, our anchored ship was dead center. Talk about a whole weird adventure.
I think someday I may visit again…maybe, and spend more time there and sing “Some Enchanted Evening.”
Scattered Thought 
When I was a teen, I found a National Geographic magazine about Truk and WWII. Photos of the sunken equipment of war. A museum grave yard under water, quiet and still.
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Some of these islands felt like we were in a National Geographic special.
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I remember seeing a few of those girls sitting on an old Chevy Vega topless, didn’t dare stare at that.
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…I see nothing….
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Thanks Scott. I think that is where the Chiefs Mess put a lot of shop type equipment together that the peace corp did not have the knowledge or time to do in one of the schools. Thanks again for the memories. GMGC Stewart
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Eric,
I think that was on the island of Ulu, same cruise. Only a few went ashore to do the work.
Ulu Island is the second largest island in the Duke of York island group. It is situated between Duke of York Island and Kabakon and Kerawara islands.[1]
The island is on Papua New Guinea Time (PGT).[2] This works out as UTC/GMT +10:00 hours. They do not observe Daylight saving time.
The word Ulu means breadfruit.[3]
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