Jack "Weary" McKnight Ex Rd M 3c USN - December 1944
Mogmog Island, Ulithi Atoll was a place for "R & R". The Essex spent a scheduled week there from December 2nd to the 10th for resupply and repair. Jack and his buddies joined thousands of sailors from the fleet taking a break from the war. Small craft shuttled sailors from their ship to the shore. On Mogmog each received a maximum of four warm beers. The black market for extra cans was heavy. The anchorage was filled with Allied warships. All were resting following the fighting in and around the Philippines, while preparing for the move north to battle the Japanese on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.	Four Beers! On the Beach	Warm Beer! "Murders Row"

U.S.S. Langley CVL 27	Typhoon Cobra When the week was up, reality returned. The ship left Ulithi on December 11th to join an operation against the Philippines. By the 16th TF 38 ran into another enemy. A typhoon was heading directly for the Task Force.
"The ships rolled to and fro in the rough seas…I can still remember the bows of the destroyers peaking at the top of each wave, their propellers spinning out of the water as they went forward, bow down, disappearing until they came up to the crest of the next wave. Oh! How I pity for those brave patriots for what they were going through. I felt very uneasy on our ship, seeing those hundred-foot waves, as we plowed into each crest. Seeing the waving and twisting of the flight deck didn't wane my fears. I remember our shipmates in the mess hall. Seasick as hell." (Lucatorto: Life and Death Aboard the U.S.S. Essex by Dick Streb 1999) On the deck of the Langley "We sat there watching the angry sea grow rougher by the hour as the typhoon gathered the fleet into its clutches. The seas were so high that a destroyer off our starboard quarter was out of sight when both ships dropped into troughs at the same time…The ship rolled 20 degrees starboard. I wondered if the ship could roll over…Another wave hit us, we rolled another 5 degrees…" (Marrocco: Life and Death Aboard the U.S.S. Essex by Dick Streb 1999) "I remember the height of the storm, at its most intense, the expansion joints in the ship made this funny, stressful noise. It sounded like eek, eek, screek: they were being stressed to the limits. Half of the ship was dropping in the forward trough; the after half was resisting the fall after the wave passed. The ship was rolling and pitching. It seemed it was doing so at the same time. I looked out at the other ships, the poor little destroyers…I knew early on we lost three of them." (Cliff Jones: Life and Death Aboard the U.S.S. Essex by Dick Streb 1999)
The Essex survived the storm with little damage, and rejoined the fleet as it limped back to Ulithi. Others were not so lucky. Three destroyers capsized and sunk resulting in the loss of 778 men. Numerous other ships were heavily damaged and 146 airplanes were destroyed. Many ships limped back into the Ulithi Atoll. Jack and his crewmates spent Christmas there as Task Force 38 made repairs.

Dates	Diary Entries	Diary Footnotes
Dec. 2	Anchored Ulithi.	* Moored to port side of AKAX inBerth 12,   Ulithi Island.
Dec. 11	Left Ulithi - Enroute to Luzon.
Dec. 12	VFs1 continually over target. F6F2 58 got 45 in air and 88 on ground. Army invaded Mindoro today. VF sweeps on target.	1. VF - U.S. Marine Fighter 2. F6F - U.S. Hellcat Fighter plane.
Dec. 16	Sweep and strikes on Luzon.
Dec. 17	Retired and refueled.	* 500 miles E of the Philippines   (14-57 N 129-56 E)
Dec. 18	Weather very rough1. Did not refuel.	1. Set westerly course to escape approaching     typhoon. Rode out the typhoon 250 miles SE     to 250 miles E of central Philippines.
Dec. 19	Refueled. Since the 19th we have ridden out a typhoon 1. Several planes were lost and a few damaged. Fires broke out on a few CVCs2. Monterey3 had a bad fire and went back to Pearl. Cabot4 and San Jacinto5 also were damaged by fire.	* 250 miles E of the Philippines   (12-51 N 128-22 E) 1. Typhoon Cobra 2. CVC - Small Carriers 3. U.S.S. Monterey CVL-26 4. U.S.S. Cabot CVL-28 5. U.S.S. San Jacinto CVL-30
Dec. 22	Still floating around. Enroute to Ulithi.	* Continued the search for survivors.   (15-14 N 130-38 E)
Dec. 24	Anchored at Ulithi.	* Berth 14, Ulithi Island.
Dec. 25	Christmas in the C.I.C. of the U.S.S. Essex
Dec. 30	Left Ulithi
Dec. 31		* U.S.S. Essex Second Anniversary Dinner * Steaming (14-46N 135-54E)

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