By Captain Lawrence B. Brennan, U.S. Navy (Ret.) - New Jersey ...

Lawrence B. Brennan NJ-Built Aircraft Carriers Page 47
Lawrence Brennan ~ NEW JERSEY-BUILT AIRCRAFT CARRIERS: PART III
The most widely known crew member in later years was future president Gerald R. Ford,
Jr. who was a plank owner. 5 Ford served as the Assistant Navigator, antiaircraft battery officer,
and athletic officer, on board Monterey for a year and a half until December 1944. 6
Shortly after commissioning and following shakedown, Monterey departed Philadelphia
for the western Pacific. She reached the Gilberts on November 19, 1943, in time to help secure
Makin Island. She took part in strikes on Kavieng, New Ireland, on December 25, 1943, as part
of TG 37.2, and supported the landings at Kwajalein and Eniwetok until February 8, 1944. The
light carrier then operated with TF 58 during raids in the Carolines, Marianas, northern New
Guinea, and the Bonins from February through July 1944. She also participated in the Battle of
the Philippine Sea.
Monterey then sailed to Pearl Harbor for overhaul, departing once again on August 29,
1944. She launched strikes against Wake Island on September 3, 1944, then joined TF 38 and
participated in strikes in the southern Philippines and the Ryukyus. October through December
1944 were spent in the Philippines, supporting first the Leyte and then the Mindoro landings.
She participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in late October 1944.
Fig. 55: A free-frank cover with a handwritten return address for USS Monterey ℅ Fleet Post Office, San
Francisco. The sender was in K Division. The cover is postmarked on May 2, 1944 with her (Locy Type 2z*)
postmark in black ink. The cover is censored in the lower left corner with the initials "DRW" and is addressed to
a sailor at the New York Receiving Station who had been transferred to USS Arlington (AP-174). The directory
service mark on the face in purple ink is dated May 21, 1944. The postmark is rated "B" in the Postmark Catalog.
Fig. 56A & B: At left, a plane is catapulted from the Monterey’s decks, and right, Avenger torpedo bombers
prepare to take off in June of 1944 for attacks on Tinian.
Official U.S. Navy photographs, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo #s 80-G-432851& 80-G-416686).
Vol. 37/No. 1
19
NJPH
Whole No. 173 February 2009
Published by the New Jersey Postal History Society
Originally published in the pages of NJPH