USS Valentine

Two days out of Buckner Bay, on 7 October, the barometer began to plummet; and, as Valentine's historian recorded, "all indications pointed to some pretty rough weather."

Although buffeted about in the heavy seas, Valentine had fared much better than other ships of the fleet that had been trapped at Okinawa as the center of the typhoon swirled destructively across Buckner Bay.

Arriving at Shanghai on the 16th, Valentine unloaded her cargo—part of which consisted of Thanksgiving dinners for American servicemen stationed at that port—before she eventually weighed anchor for Hong Kong shortly after noon on the 25th.

Later on in her voyage to the British Crown Colony, as the ship passed the southern tip of Formosa, her lookouts sighted another stray mine 50 yards (46 m) ahead; a quick course change enabled the vessel to slip by within a narrow margin before she destroyed that mine, too, with gunfire to end its threat to shipping.

Valentine arrived at Hong Kong at 0916 on 31 October, unloaded her cargo over the ensuing days, and sailed for home on 10 November.

Loading cargo on a fleet issue basis, Valentine departed the west coast, one month later, on 21 April, bound again for the western Pacific.

She provided fresh and frozen provisions to ships of the fleet at Kwajalein, Roi, Bikini Atoll, Eniwetok, and Wake Island before she returned via Pearl Harbor to the west coast, arriving at San Francisco on 16 July.

Valentine's crew was eligible for the following medals: This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.