Quebec 1
Here is the story from my dads memoirs of April 8th,
"On that same afternoon our lookouts spotted four Japanese planes coming in out of the setting sun, a favorite kamikaze trick. It appeared three of these planes intended to attack us. The fourth (never visually identified) retired without attacking. So we now had three enemy planes in the vicinity and each available for inflicting damaged to our ship. Being isolated in my radar shack, I had limited access to the events going on.. Suddenly, one of the planes began diving.
I was following on my spotting scope in my radar receiver room. I could clearly discern shells going towards the target as each plane approached us. Soon one of the planes was in range of our smaller 40-mm guns and they opened fire adding to the din. The plane kept coming and soon all our guns including the 20-mm ones were firing. Then I thought I heard pistol shots. I learned later that as a plane approached close enough, our officers on the bridge were actually firing at it with their side arms.
The plane-riddled with bullets crashed into us amidships near the waterline on the port side abreast of the forward fire room. The gig (Captain's lifeboat) took some of the shock and was carried away. This may have made the difference between the plane flying through us or not.
We suffered loss of light and power which rendered radars and fire control equipment inoperative and some flooding. I found myself in the dark with only my sound-powered headphones operable. I could hear the pandemonium going on outside my door as damage control began. The crash site was about fifty feet from my radar shack.. Luckily, the impact was on our armor plate-a few feet higher it would have taken out a large section of the thinner aluminum plate superstructure causing horrendous death. and injuries, including mine.
The remaining planes maneuvered for attack. It seemed endless before power was regained. Finally, the emergency generators came on line and lighting restored.
But the Mark 12 fire control radar failed to come on! I was puzzled but then the fire control man in the director solved the mystery. When the plane had exploded, it knocked off the cover of the fire control box. Equipment covers are designed with interlocks which shut off the high voltage when the equipment is opened for repair. The fire control radar had been rendered useless by the accidental opening of the box! As soon as power was restored, the Skipper ordered us to steam in large circles to make it difficult for any remaining planes to hit us.
I still had the problem of the fire-control radar and I agonized on how I could regain it. Suddenly I hit upon an idea. I quickly opened the drawer containing the Mark 12 power supply and closed the high voltage relay with my hand. Power was immediately restored.
Great, we have power again, shouted the fire control man in the director, The five inch guns returned to radar control just in time as one of the remaining attackers was making a run at us. But, because of our swift maneuvering, plane number two missed us and ditched into the sea. The same fate was bestowed upon plane number Three.
But this did not daunt the radar' ability and we had a good computer solution on the last plane. Then an amazing thing happened. As I watched the plane's echo on my scopes screen, it appeared as if its rage were increasing. He was turning back and running away from us. Our gunners did not relent however. He was high enough to make it easy to fire effectively.
At that time, we had no way of knowing his real intentions but suddenly his notch disappeared on my screen. I knew that our gunners had made a kill and I reported so to the fire control man above in the director.. I had finally been able to fulfill my duty as a spotter".
My Dad got a Bronze Star for his actions that day.
The most excitement and damage to my boat was been hitting a big rock and breaking my dagger board in half.
And for what its worth, I still have the hammock my dad slept in the forward berth of the USS Gregory.
and mostly when its hot and the wonderful hatch is open with a bug screen thingy on it. The rear berth is for when I have company. 
for sale on Craigs List. It is listed under Florida / Pensacola / Boats / Monday March 16. Asking price is $12,000. The boat is apparently in Destin, Florida.
