{"id":502,"date":"2024-01-22T05:09:37","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T05:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jeffmadruga.com\/wp\/?p=502"},"modified":"2024-01-22T05:09:37","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T05:09:37","slug":"pa-fish-yp-business-a-look-back-wwii-santa-in-sd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jeffmadruga.com\/wp\/2024\/01\/22\/pa-fish-yp-business-a-look-back-wwii-santa-in-sd\/","title":{"rendered":"PA Fish\/YP business – A LOOK BACK, WWII “SANTA” – in SD"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cSANTA ONCE CAME BY CLIPPER<\/strong> – It’s been a long time since PA tunaboat skipper EDWARD XAVIER<\/strong> MADRUGA<\/strong> played Santa Claus<\/em><\/strong> – *<\/strong>20 years<\/strong><\/em>* to be exact.
\u2018It was December 23, 1942<\/strong> when Madruga and his crew of 18<\/strong> sailed into GUADALCANAL<\/strong> aboard the 121\u2019 <\/strong>tuna clipper \u2018PARAMOUNT\u2019<\/em><\/strong>. They had enjoyed a two-destroyer escort from New Caledonia, which indicated their cargo was a top<\/em> priority. \u2018It was<\/em>! They were loaded to the gunwales with turkeys<\/em><\/strong>, cranberries<\/em><\/strong>, Christmas candies<\/em><\/strong>, and all<\/em><\/strong> the trimmings.
\u2018Those Marines on Guadalcanal had been eating nothing but canned rations, so they were pretty glad to see us,\u2019<\/em> Madruga recalled in an interview. \u2018I spent three years in that war skippering \u2018Yippee\u2019 boats<\/em> (this was YP-289<\/strong>) and that was the most satisfying trip I ever made.\u2019<\/em>
Madruga said the tuna fleet normally carried bombs, gasoline, guns or frozen mutton in the Pacific Theater. So the run from New Caledonia to Guadalcanal was unique.
\u2018Getting a two-destroyer escort in those days was rare, because ships were awfully scarce,\u2019 <\/em>he recalled.
\u2018We made that 1,000-mile trip in three days and three nights. We could only go 10 knots<\/strong> and the destroyers had to crawl to keep pace with us.\u2019<\/em>
Madruga said the convoy left the \u2018Paramount\u2019<\/em><\/strong> just before it arrived at Guadalcanal<\/strong>. \u2018We almost went past our destination. In fact we did slip into Japanese waters; and were fired upon. Machine gun bullets flew across our bow. We turned around real quick.\u2019<\/em>
After three years aboard the \u2018Paramount\u2019<\/em><\/strong>, Madruga returned to San Diego on leave and later commanded a U.S. Navy tug<\/strong>. The next time he saw the \u2018Paramount\u2019<\/em><\/strong> she was near Okinawa<\/strong>. The ship was lying on its side, a sad shattered hulk. A big transport ship had broken loose from its<\/em> moorings during a typhoon and crashed into the clipper, setting off its depth charges.
Madruga removed the \u2018Paramount\u2019<\/em><\/strong> nameplate, \u2018and it’s still somewhere around the house, I think.\u2019<\/em>
It’s Ed Madruga’s reminder of the time he played Santa Claus<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(*Source: Monrovia Daily News-Post<\/strong> newspaper \u2013 December 13, 1962<\/strong> \u2013 Pg. 7 w\/Pic) ~<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSANTA ONCE CAME BY CLIPPER – It’s been a long time since PA tunaboat skipper EDWARD XAVIER MADRUGA played Santa Claus – *20 years* to be exact. \u2018It was December 23, 1942 when Madruga and his crew of 18 sailed into GUADALCANAL aboard the 121\u2019 tuna clipper \u2018PARAMOUNT\u2019. They had enjoyed a two-destroyer escort from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffmadruga.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffmadruga.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffmadruga.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmadruga.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmadruga.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmadruga.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":503,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmadruga.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502\/revisions\/503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffmadruga.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmadruga.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffmadruga.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}