September 24, 1944. A letter from "Louie" to his wife Irene the evening before VB-111 left for Hawaii. The USS Makassar Strait, CVE-91, was the 37th Casablanca class escort aircraft carrier, having been built by Kaiser Shipbuilding Co., Vancouver, WA. Originally classified AVG-91, reclassified AVC-91 in Aug 1942, the ship was again reclassified CVE-91 in July 1943. It was originally named the USS Ulitaka Bay and renamed Makassar Strait on 6 Nov 1943. Returning from the Marshall Islands, the Makassar Strait arrived in San Diego, North Island on 13 July 1944. During much of the next two months, the carrier trained carrier pilots off southern California. Between 25 September, her departure date with VB-111 personnel on board, and 15 October, she ferried 129 planes and relplacement personnel to Hawaii and to Manos, Admiraltie Islands.