Rabaul Aids
p. 12 · Read in the full issue
Battered Guam
The US Navy LST “Cayuga County”, which has been working with an American geodetic survey team in New Britain, was involved in two mercy operations in Novem ber—first to rescue three fliers whose helicopter had crashed in the cloud shrouded Bainings mountains, then to take emergency supplies to typhoon-shattered Guam.
THE helicopter, which was attached to the Cayuga Country, was being used to ferry supplies from the ship in the Ataliklikan Bay area on the north coast of New Britain to a geodetic survey base camp being established in the Bainings. When it crashed it burst into flame.
First word of the disaster reached Rabaul when a Government surveyor in the Witu Group picked up radio messages from Cayuga County.
A civil air search was begun, and that night, a medical ground party headed by Dr. I. McCosker, of Nonga Hospital, travelled as far as New Massawa Plantation.
Meanwhile, Cayuga County had put ashore a ground party which began to work its way up to the camp site. Two Cs4’s, alerted at the USN base on Guam, flew to Rabaul next morning.
The party from the Cayuga County was the first to locate the crashed fliers, and they were brought down to the coast and taken in the Cayuga County to Rabaul, where they were temporarily admitted to Nonga Hospital, and next morning put aboard a C 54 and flown to Guam.
Cayuga County remained in Rabaul for a week to take aboard a new helicopter, but when typhoon Karen hit Guam on November 12 she was ordered to take emergency building supplies to the stricken island.
Altogether 100 tons of roofing iron, 10 tons of nails and 300 tons of sawn and dressed timber were taken aboard before Cayuga County sailed.
The Acting Governor of Guam, Mr. Manuel Guerrero, said in a message to President Kennedy that the “entire territory” had been devastated. Damage was estimated at $100,000,000 at least.
The typhoon unleashed winds of up to 172 miles an hour, leaving many of the 70,000 islanders home less, one dead, and hundreds injured.
Loading of building materials into the US Navy LSI "Cayuga County" for typhoc[?] shattered Guam went on day and night in Rabaul in November. Every available pie[?] of timber in the town was commandeered, every nail and sheet of roofing iron. T[?] picture shows the scene at Rabaul wharf during one of the night-loading sessio[?]