___                                                                                                                                                               ___
 
Task Group       Operations Date
       
      1945
                                 
TG 22.7   Dep Norfolk for Guantanamo Bay 26 Feb
    Arrv Guantanamo Bay (for training) 02 Mar
    Dep Guantanamo Bay for Mayport, FL 12 Mar
    Arrv Mayport 15 Mar
       
Units: USS Guadalcanal, VC-6, USS Pillsbury, USS Chatelain, USS Pope, USS Flaherty, USS Neunzer, USS Frederick C. Davis, Escort Division 4 embarked Pillsbury
 
Note: On 14 March USS Pillsbury, Chatelain and Neunzer left formation to proceed and report to Commander Task Group 23.2 at Miami (for ASW training). VC-6 flew off for shore basing at NAAS Mayport FL

TG 22.7   Dep Mayport (for carrier qualifications) 17 Mar
    Arrv Mayport 1 Apr
    Dep Mayport (for carrier qualifications) 5 Apr
    Arrv St. John's River, Mayport, FL (to unload wrecks) 11 Apr
    Dep St. John's River (for carrier qualifications) 12 Apr
    Arrv Mayport (for general upkeep) 17 Apr
    Dep Mayport (for carrier qualifications) 21 Apr
    Arrv Mayport (for replenishment) 2 May
    Dep Mayport (for carrier qualifications) 6 May
    Arrv St. John's Bar Cut, Mayport (to unload wrecks) 10 May
    Dep St. John's Bar Cut (for carrier qualifications) 11 May
    Arr Mayport (to unload wrecks and for general upkeep) 18 May
    Dep Mayport (for carrier qualifications) 22 May
    Arrv (to unload wrecks) 26 May
    Dep St. John's Bar Cut (for carrier qualifications)
26 May
    Arrv Mayport (for general upkeep)
4 Jun
    Dep Mayport (for carrier qualifications)
9 Jun
    Arrv St. Johns Lightship (to pick up 60 Ensigns for familiarization tour)
13 Jun
    Dep St. Johns Lightship (for carrier qualifications)
13 Jun
    Arrv St. John's Bar Cut (to unload wrecks) later moved to Mayport (for general upkeep)
13 Jun
    Dep Mayport (for carrier qualifications)
16 Jun
    Arrv Mayport (for replenishment)
21 Jun
    Dep Mayport (for carrier qualifications)
24 Jun
    Arrv Mayport (for replenishment)
26 Jun
    Dep Mayport (for carrier qualifications)
27 Jun
    Arrv St. John's Bar Cut later moved to Mayport (for general upkeep)
6 Jul
    Dep Mayport (for carrier qualifications)
12 Jul
    Arrv St. John's Lightship (to pick up 60 Ensigns for familiarization tour) later moved to St. John's Bar Cut (to unload wrecks and embark VC-6 to help search for lost plane)
16 Jul
    Dep St. John's Cut (to search for survivors of lost plane - completed search with negative results on 21 July and proceeded to Norfolk) 17 Jul
    Arrv Norfolk (for general upkeep) 23 Jul
 
Units: USS Guadalcanal, USS Pope, USS Flaherty, USS Frederick C. Davis
 
Note: On 9 April USS USS Pope, USS Flaherty, USS Frederick C. Davis left formation to proceed and report to Commander Task Group 23.2 at Miami (for ASW training). USS Newell and USS Broome replaced them for plane guard duty. On 3 May USS Broome was detached and replaced by USS Scott. On 17 May USS Scott was detached and replaced by USS Scroggins. On 24 May TG 22.7 was dissolved. On 4 June USS Newell and USS Scroggins were detached and replaced by USS Edwards and USS Alden. On 13 June Escort Division 79 consisting of USS Carter, USS Sutton, USS Niel A. Scott and USS Muir replaced USS Edwards and USS Alden for plane guard duty. On 24 July VC-6 was detached when USS Guadalcal reached Norfolk.
 
Panama Pete
 
The Time: March 1, 1945
The Place: Aboard USS Guadalcanal CVE-60 doing anti-submarine patrol in the Atlantic.
The Occasion: A Burial at Sea
 
        Seaman first class Jack Sargent was a member of the ship’s flight deck crew. During the previous night’s operations, he had been fatally injured in a terrible accident. One of the landing cables had snapped as a TBM aircraft landed. A piece of the severed cable caught him across the legs as he stood on the flight deck.
        For the burial at sea, all available personnel were mustered on the hangar deck in dress uniforms to pay our last respects to one of ours. An American flag covered the body, which was encased in a weighted canvas shroud and sewn tight. The flag-covered body rested at one end of a long, wide wooden platform, which extended out over the water.
        After the Captains eulogy and prayer, the honor guard snapped to attention and fired their salute. Somewhere, faintly, I heard a dog, a small one, barking far off in the bowels of the ship. The board tilted and the the canvas-cased body slid down the board into the sea with a soft scraping sound so distinct I have never forgotten it – that and the barking of the dog.
 
The Time: Fifty years later
The Place: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
The Occasion: Telephone conversation with Jack Dutton, Secretary of the Task Force Association.
 
        In our conversation, I recounted that experience. He laughed and said, “No Al, you didn’t imagine it. There was a dog. When we took “Can Do” over, we were on the West Coast. (She was a Kaiser.) We came through the Panama Canal, and some of the crew went ashore for provisions. When they returned, they had picked up this little dog. He lived on the carrier from then on, and we named him, what else? “Panama Pete”! So if you thought you heard a dog that day, relax. It really was a dog!”
...Al Wheeler AOM 2/c, VC-6 Squadron
 

ENS F. P. Chapin crashes during carrier qualifications (TBM VT #2 Bu 22891), 9 March 1945
 
F4U Bur #587 crashes into catwalk, 5 April 1945
 
F4U Bur #404 crashes into the catwalk during carrier qualifications, 5 April 1945
 
F4U Bur #404 crashes into the catwalk during carrier qualifications, 5 April 1945
 
The aircraft breaks into two pieces just behind the wing, 5 April 1945
 
The pilot escapes as the aircraft bursts into flame, 5 April 1945
 
The pilot escapes as the flight deck crew begins firefighting, 5 April 1945
 
The flight deck crew extinguishes the fire, 5 April 1945
 
USS Guadalcanal at Mayport, FL, 20 April 1945
 
LTJG Baxter showing anchor windlass aboard USS Guadalcanal to Annapolis graduating class of 1946, 13 June 1945