I totally agree with Joe Triolo (last blog entry) in that it is important that Pearl Harbor not slip away from the public conscious.
Along with the Alamo, this battle has always fascinated me.
While I was teaching, I originally did not teach it as World War II was not in my curriculum as I taught geography mostly in my early years and when I did start teaching U.S. history, it was only up to the Civil War.
However, in my last 15 years, I started using an excellent article in the Junior Scholastic magazine for one period a year on December 7th, or nearest day if it was on the weekend. That eventually expanded to a three-day unit my last ten years.
Plus, this blog grew out of my Cooter's History Thing blog when I found I was writing a whole lot of entries about Pearl Harbor which then expanded into World War II in general. It became time to start a blog specific to World War II, and here it is.
Always of Great Interest. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Time Is Running Out for Pearl Harbor Survivors to Tell Their Stories
From the December 17, 2012, Daily Herald (Chicago suburbs).
Now in their 80 and 90s "an exclusive fraternity that shrinks with each passing year," it become more and more important that these people tell their stories and get them on paper.
Joe Triolo. 92, of Waukegan, Illinois, fears many people, especially school children, know little of it and that public ceremonies are becoming rarer. This is why he makes it a point to visit classrooms whenever he can.
Financial problems, teaching to the standardized tests, No Child Left behind and emphasis on math and science are torpedoing knowledge of this important event in U.S. history.
The recent recovery of the World War II plane from Lake Michigan helps bring the war back to the public. It will be restored and on display at the U.S. Navy Museum in Pensacola, Florida. Chicago was a major training area for navy pilots.
"We cannot do the same with the survivors of Pearl Harbor. We must hear their stories now," Triolo continued. Unlike the plane, when the men die, so does their story unless it is on paper.
00GreGen
Now in their 80 and 90s "an exclusive fraternity that shrinks with each passing year," it become more and more important that these people tell their stories and get them on paper.
Joe Triolo. 92, of Waukegan, Illinois, fears many people, especially school children, know little of it and that public ceremonies are becoming rarer. This is why he makes it a point to visit classrooms whenever he can.
Financial problems, teaching to the standardized tests, No Child Left behind and emphasis on math and science are torpedoing knowledge of this important event in U.S. history.
The recent recovery of the World War II plane from Lake Michigan helps bring the war back to the public. It will be restored and on display at the U.S. Navy Museum in Pensacola, Florida. Chicago was a major training area for navy pilots.
"We cannot do the same with the survivors of Pearl Harbor. We must hear their stories now," Triolo continued. Unlike the plane, when the men die, so does their story unless it is on paper.
00GreGen
Friday, January 30, 2015
Then There Were Three Doolittle Raiders Left: Death of Edward Saylor
From 1-29-15 ABC News "1 of 4 Remaining World War II Doolittle Raiders Dies at 94" by Phuong Le, AP.
Lt.Col. Edward Saylor, 94, died January 28, 2015 in Sumner, Washington.
I am sorry to have to report this, but their deaths are inevitable at these advances ages.
Edward Saylor was a flight engineer-gunner, one of 80 volunteers who flew B-25 bombers from the deck of an aircraft carrier (something said to be impossible) on that April 18, 1942, mission that gave the United States and Allies hope during those desperate days after Pearl Harbor.
Saylor said simply, "It was what you do...."
Sixteen B-52s, each carrying bombs and five brave men took off from the deck of the USS Hornet. Of them, 3 died on the mission. Eight were captured by the Japanese of which three were executed and one died in captivity.
In a 2013 interview, he told AP that he was one of the lucky ones from his generation, "There were a whole bunch of guys in World War II, a lot of people didn't come back."
Lt.Col. Saylor grew up on a ranch in Montana and enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1939. He served in the Air Force for 28 years, retiring as a Lt. Colonel.
One of the Greatest of the Greatest Generation. --GreGen
Lt.Col. Edward Saylor, 94, died January 28, 2015 in Sumner, Washington.
I am sorry to have to report this, but their deaths are inevitable at these advances ages.
Edward Saylor was a flight engineer-gunner, one of 80 volunteers who flew B-25 bombers from the deck of an aircraft carrier (something said to be impossible) on that April 18, 1942, mission that gave the United States and Allies hope during those desperate days after Pearl Harbor.
Saylor said simply, "It was what you do...."
Sixteen B-52s, each carrying bombs and five brave men took off from the deck of the USS Hornet. Of them, 3 died on the mission. Eight were captured by the Japanese of which three were executed and one died in captivity.
In a 2013 interview, he told AP that he was one of the lucky ones from his generation, "There were a whole bunch of guys in World War II, a lot of people didn't come back."
Lt.Col. Saylor grew up on a ranch in Montana and enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1939. He served in the Air Force for 28 years, retiring as a Lt. Colonel.
One of the Greatest of the Greatest Generation. --GreGen
Twelve Little-Known Turning Points of World War II-- Part 3
4. BATTLE OF SUOMUSSALMI: Dec. 7, 1939, to Jan. 8, 1940. Outnumbered Finland versus the Soviet Union. Soviets were stopped. Caused Hitler to go ahead and launch Operation Barbarossa.
3. EVACUATION OF SICILY: 1944. Axis evacuate 50,000 German and 75,000 Italian soldiers to mainland Italy.
2. OPERATION MARS: Nov. 25 to Dec. 20, 1942. Soviet offensive during Battle of Stalingrad. Over 300,000 Soviet casualties versus 40,000 German ones.
1. BATTLES KHALKHIN GOL: May 11 to Sept. 16, 1939. Soviet-Japanese border war resulted in Soviet victory. This kept Japan and Germany from being linked overland.
Definitely a lot of battles and offensives I'd never heard of before.
--GreGen
3. EVACUATION OF SICILY: 1944. Axis evacuate 50,000 German and 75,000 Italian soldiers to mainland Italy.
2. OPERATION MARS: Nov. 25 to Dec. 20, 1942. Soviet offensive during Battle of Stalingrad. Over 300,000 Soviet casualties versus 40,000 German ones.
1. BATTLES KHALKHIN GOL: May 11 to Sept. 16, 1939. Soviet-Japanese border war resulted in Soviet victory. This kept Japan and Germany from being linked overland.
Definitely a lot of battles and offensives I'd never heard of before.
--GreGen
Twelve Little-Known Turning Points of World War II-- Part 2
8. BATTLE OF THE SCHELDT: Oct. 2, 1944 to Nov. 8, 1944. Antwerp, Belgium, captured in early September, but Scheldt Estuary and its access to the North Sea were still in German hands. First Canadian Army.
7. BATTLE OF CREK: May 20 to June 11941. German victory, but Germany lost 370 planes and many transports.
6. YELNYA OFFENSIVE: Aug. 30 to Sept. 8, 1941. First successful counter-attack by the Soviet Union. 50,000 German casualties.
5. BATTLE OF SAMAI: October 25, 1944. Part of a 4-day Battle of Leyte Gulf. Planes from six escort sailors turned the tide.
--GreGen
7. BATTLE OF CREK: May 20 to June 11941. German victory, but Germany lost 370 planes and many transports.
6. YELNYA OFFENSIVE: Aug. 30 to Sept. 8, 1941. First successful counter-attack by the Soviet Union. 50,000 German casualties.
5. BATTLE OF SAMAI: October 25, 1944. Part of a 4-day Battle of Leyte Gulf. Planes from six escort sailors turned the tide.
--GreGen
Twelve Little-Known Turning Points of World War II-- Part 1
From the November 19, 2010, Listverse.
12. BATTLE OF THE HAGUE: May 10, 1941. German attack to get the Dutch to surrender. Germans lost 125 transport aircraft and had a serious shortage of them for the rest of the war.
11. OPERATION ISKRA: Jan. 12-30, 1943. Attempt to break through to Leningrad
10. SIEGE OF LILLE: June 1, 1940. Dunkirk. 40,000 British troops fought off Germans for five days, giving time for evacuation of troops.
9. OPERATION DRAGON: Aug. 15, 1944-Sept. 14, 1944. Allied invasion of southern France. Overshadowed by D-Day.
--GreGen
12. BATTLE OF THE HAGUE: May 10, 1941. German attack to get the Dutch to surrender. Germans lost 125 transport aircraft and had a serious shortage of them for the rest of the war.
11. OPERATION ISKRA: Jan. 12-30, 1943. Attempt to break through to Leningrad
10. SIEGE OF LILLE: June 1, 1940. Dunkirk. 40,000 British troops fought off Germans for five days, giving time for evacuation of troops.
9. OPERATION DRAGON: Aug. 15, 1944-Sept. 14, 1944. Allied invasion of southern France. Overshadowed by D-Day.
--GreGen
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Pearl Harbor Survivor Harry J. Hale, Sr. Dies in 2012
From the Dec. 19, 2012, WKTV NBC, Utica, New York.
Harry J. Hale, Sr., one of the area's last Pearl Harbor survivors died on December 16, 2012.
He was born in 1921 in Utica and joined the Navy after graduation from high school. He was on the USS Travor when the attack came.
He later saw action at Guadalcanal, Midway, Iwo Jima and Okinawa and was a past president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.
--GreGen
Harry J. Hale, Sr., one of the area's last Pearl Harbor survivors died on December 16, 2012.
He was born in 1921 in Utica and joined the Navy after graduation from high school. He was on the USS Travor when the attack came.
He later saw action at Guadalcanal, Midway, Iwo Jima and Okinawa and was a past president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.
--GreGen
Pearl Harbor 71st Anniversary in 2012
December 8, 2012: USS Nevada survivor Woody Derby, 94, helped unveil the new wayside exhibit at Hospital Point, Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor survivors soldier on with the annual reunion of the New Jersey Turnpike.
Ralph Jeffers, 92, was on the USS Curtiss, a seaplane tender fired a machine gun at the planes and took shelter in the stern.
Tom Mahoney was on the USS Curtiss also.
John Hanson was on the transport ship USS Argonne and threw potatoes at a low flying plane.
--GreGen
Pearl Harbor survivors soldier on with the annual reunion of the New Jersey Turnpike.
Ralph Jeffers, 92, was on the USS Curtiss, a seaplane tender fired a machine gun at the planes and took shelter in the stern.
Tom Mahoney was on the USS Curtiss also.
John Hanson was on the transport ship USS Argonne and threw potatoes at a low flying plane.
--GreGen
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Only One Pearl Harbor Survivor Attends Observance in 2012
From the Dec. 8, 2012, Corvallis (Oregon) Gazette Times.
David Russell, 92, was the only survivor to attend the Friday ceremony on the north steps of the Linn County Courthouse. he was on the USS Oklahoma that day and said that there are now only 67 sailors from that stricken ship still alive today.
The Oklahoma lost 429 of the 1354 aboard that day, the second highest loss on any ship.
"I remember the concussions from the bombs. I came close to dying several times during the war."
Later in the Pacific, he was on the USS Mahan which was struck by three kamikazes on December 7, 1944. Evidently, December 7th is not a good date for him.
He ended up serving twenty years in the Navy.
--GreGen
David Russell, 92, was the only survivor to attend the Friday ceremony on the north steps of the Linn County Courthouse. he was on the USS Oklahoma that day and said that there are now only 67 sailors from that stricken ship still alive today.
The Oklahoma lost 429 of the 1354 aboard that day, the second highest loss on any ship.
"I remember the concussions from the bombs. I came close to dying several times during the war."
Later in the Pacific, he was on the USS Mahan which was struck by three kamikazes on December 7, 1944. Evidently, December 7th is not a good date for him.
He ended up serving twenty years in the Navy.
--GreGen
Wilmington At War: 1942
From the Dec, 11, 2012, Wilmington (NC) Star-News.
NOVEMBER 4, 1942: A bus transportation system for exclusive use of its many in-town employees in four southeastern North Carolina counties has been established by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company.
Ten modern tractor-trailer type buses were received by the U.S. Maritime Commission. Each bus can carry 100 people.
In 1942, the company employed 18,000 workers.
--GreGen
NOVEMBER 4, 1942: A bus transportation system for exclusive use of its many in-town employees in four southeastern North Carolina counties has been established by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company.
Ten modern tractor-trailer type buses were received by the U.S. Maritime Commission. Each bus can carry 100 people.
In 1942, the company employed 18,000 workers.
--GreGen
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
World War II Duck Boat Found in Italian Lake
From the Dec. 13, 2012, Yahoo! News Christian Science Monitor" by Nick Squier.
The amphibious vessel sank in Lake Garda, killing 23 U.S. soldiers just days before the end of the European fighting. Amateur historians have been searching for it for months.
The 6-wheel, 2-ton amphibious DUKW sank April 30, 1945 while carrying supplies and ammunition to the American Army near the town of Torbole in Italy's north. The vessel was hit with gale force winds,causing it to sink.
It had on board a truck carrying 24 American soldiers ages 18 to 25 from the 10th Mountain Division. Only one survived from the 605th Field Artillery Battalion. as well as the driver from the Quartermaster Corps.
The Duck was found in 905 foot deep water.
The group next will try to find any human remains in the area, but it is too deep for divers.
--GreGen
The amphibious vessel sank in Lake Garda, killing 23 U.S. soldiers just days before the end of the European fighting. Amateur historians have been searching for it for months.
The 6-wheel, 2-ton amphibious DUKW sank April 30, 1945 while carrying supplies and ammunition to the American Army near the town of Torbole in Italy's north. The vessel was hit with gale force winds,causing it to sink.
It had on board a truck carrying 24 American soldiers ages 18 to 25 from the 10th Mountain Division. Only one survived from the 605th Field Artillery Battalion. as well as the driver from the Quartermaster Corps.
The Duck was found in 905 foot deep water.
The group next will try to find any human remains in the area, but it is too deep for divers.
--GreGen
Monday, January 26, 2015
Pearl Harbor Survivor Helps Identify Unknown Dead
From the Dec. 6, 2012, Port Clinton (Ohio) News Herald by Audrey McAvoy, AP.
Ray Emory, 91, couldn't accept the fact that nearly 25% of the Pearl Harbor dead were unidentified.
He survived the attack, and, using old documents, badgered the government into relabeling more than 300 gravestones of these men with the name of the ship they were on that day. He has lobbied to have forensic experts unearth the remains and examine them.
Emory first learned of the unidentified twenty years ago when he attended the 50th anniversary commemoration. The bodies of the Pearl Harbor dead are scattered around the Punch Bowl National Cemetery in Oahu.
He found one 1941 Navy record noting that one burned body was found floating in the harbor, wearing shorts with the name "Livingston" on them. There were only two men at Pearl Harbor with that last name and one of them is accounted for, so it must be the other.
His body was exhumed and found to be Alfred Livingston, 23, a fireman first class on the USS Oklahoma.
--GreGen
Ray Emory, 91, couldn't accept the fact that nearly 25% of the Pearl Harbor dead were unidentified.
He survived the attack, and, using old documents, badgered the government into relabeling more than 300 gravestones of these men with the name of the ship they were on that day. He has lobbied to have forensic experts unearth the remains and examine them.
Emory first learned of the unidentified twenty years ago when he attended the 50th anniversary commemoration. The bodies of the Pearl Harbor dead are scattered around the Punch Bowl National Cemetery in Oahu.
He found one 1941 Navy record noting that one burned body was found floating in the harbor, wearing shorts with the name "Livingston" on them. There were only two men at Pearl Harbor with that last name and one of them is accounted for, so it must be the other.
His body was exhumed and found to be Alfred Livingston, 23, a fireman first class on the USS Oklahoma.
--GreGen
USS Arizona Survivor Donald Stratton: "Maybe You Don't Know the Feeling..."
From the Dec. 7, 2012, KRDO Radio, Colorado Springs.
Donald Stratton has a momento of the USS Arizona, a part of a 20-foot gun section and is one of only a handful of survivors of the gallant USS Arizona who are still alive.
He has an action figured named after him.
He remembers his ship firing at the Japanese planes: "We couldn't fire toward the sub base because another ship was in the way. We couldn't fire back in our direction because we would have fired on our own superstructure. We fired at high altitude bombers.
"We got hit by a big bomb. A little more than a million pounds of ammo exploded. The explosion was horrendous. A fireball went up for six hundred feet in the air. It engulfed us where we were at. The Arizona burned for about three and a half days."
Mr. Stratton received severe burns on his legs and arms and lost part of his ear and nose. He was hospitalized for a year and returned to duty.
A few weeks ago, he was honored at a home Denver Broncos game.
He went back to the 70th anniversary commemoration in Pearl Harbor last year: "One of the things that hit me is to be back 70 years later and raise the flag over the ship with all my shipmates still aboard. It was kind of, well you know. Maybe you don't know the feeling, I do!"
--GreGen
Donald Stratton has a momento of the USS Arizona, a part of a 20-foot gun section and is one of only a handful of survivors of the gallant USS Arizona who are still alive.
He has an action figured named after him.
He remembers his ship firing at the Japanese planes: "We couldn't fire toward the sub base because another ship was in the way. We couldn't fire back in our direction because we would have fired on our own superstructure. We fired at high altitude bombers.
"We got hit by a big bomb. A little more than a million pounds of ammo exploded. The explosion was horrendous. A fireball went up for six hundred feet in the air. It engulfed us where we were at. The Arizona burned for about three and a half days."
Mr. Stratton received severe burns on his legs and arms and lost part of his ear and nose. He was hospitalized for a year and returned to duty.
A few weeks ago, he was honored at a home Denver Broncos game.
He went back to the 70th anniversary commemoration in Pearl Harbor last year: "One of the things that hit me is to be back 70 years later and raise the flag over the ship with all my shipmates still aboard. It was kind of, well you know. Maybe you don't know the feeling, I do!"
--GreGen
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Brevard Pearl Harbor Survivors "Never Forget"
From the Dec. 7, 2012, Florida Today by R. Norman Moody.
Fred Robinson, 90, of Rockledge was in the Army on the island.
George Herold, 88, of West Melbourne was at the submarine base and said, "They didn't hit the sub base. They hit all around us."
John Hatcher, 91, of Pembrook Pines was preparing pancakes for breakfast.
James Mitchell of West Melbourne.
Richard Jeffrey, 95, of Vicra.
--GreGen
Fred Robinson, 90, of Rockledge was in the Army on the island.
George Herold, 88, of West Melbourne was at the submarine base and said, "They didn't hit the sub base. They hit all around us."
John Hatcher, 91, of Pembrook Pines was preparing pancakes for breakfast.
James Mitchell of West Melbourne.
Richard Jeffrey, 95, of Vicra.
--GreGen
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Day After Pearl Harbor
From the Dec. 7, 2012, Shorpy "War News: 1941.
December 8, 1941 "Corner of Montgomery and Market streets in San Francisco. Monday morning after Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor." Photo by John Collier.
A big group of men (no women) gather around a newstand, buying and reading papers.
The San Francisco News headlines "Navy Hunts Japs Off Pacific Coast." Another one "War Extra "Enemy Planes Near New York From the Atlantic."
It was indeed a frightening time, especially with all the screaming headlines.
--GreGen
December 8, 1941 "Corner of Montgomery and Market streets in San Francisco. Monday morning after Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor." Photo by John Collier.
A big group of men (no women) gather around a newstand, buying and reading papers.
The San Francisco News headlines "Navy Hunts Japs Off Pacific Coast." Another one "War Extra "Enemy Planes Near New York From the Atlantic."
It was indeed a frightening time, especially with all the screaming headlines.
--GreGen
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
The Day After Pearl Harbor, San Francisco-- Part 2
There are some movie pictures shown in the photo. One is for "Blood Spray at Fuji River" from 1939. There is also one with a woman from a 1940 romantic novel.
It is not known whether Dr. Uyeyama or his family were interned. But they did find out he was a 1934 graduate and a clinical member at University California-San Francisco. He left the U.S. Army as a Lt.Col. in 1949.
Census records show that he and his whole family were born in the United States.
Other military records show a USAF Lt.Col. Terry Uyeyama, born in San Francisco in 1937. He was interned by the North Vietnamese 1968-1973 and recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, legion of Merit, Silver Star and POW Medal.
The impact of war at home.
--GreGen
It is not known whether Dr. Uyeyama or his family were interned. But they did find out he was a 1934 graduate and a clinical member at University California-San Francisco. He left the U.S. Army as a Lt.Col. in 1949.
Census records show that he and his whole family were born in the United States.
Other military records show a USAF Lt.Col. Terry Uyeyama, born in San Francisco in 1937. He was interned by the North Vietnamese 1968-1973 and recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, legion of Merit, Silver Star and POW Medal.
The impact of war at home.
--GreGen
Monday, January 19, 2015
The Day After Pearl Harbor, San Francisco-- Part 1
From Shorpy Dec. 7, 2012, "Cafe Ginza: 1941" Taken in San Francisco the Monday morning after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The picture had framed pictures on the side of the building with Japanese writing. One looks like a samurai with a woman. A sign next to the cafe is for Dr. Kahn Uyeyama" Phusician and Surgeon" with Japanese letters underneath it. There is a big Coca-Cola sign also in the photo.
Comment: "Empires may crumble and Reichs turn to dust but the Coca-Cola Company endures."
Comment: Many of the doctor's neighbors ended up in internment camps. The 1940 census has Yaneo (age 39) and Shizuku (40), identified as proprietor and manager of the restaurant. The names and ages match those of internees at Manzamar and Heart Mountain Relocation Centers.
--GreGen
The picture had framed pictures on the side of the building with Japanese writing. One looks like a samurai with a woman. A sign next to the cafe is for Dr. Kahn Uyeyama" Phusician and Surgeon" with Japanese letters underneath it. There is a big Coca-Cola sign also in the photo.
Comment: "Empires may crumble and Reichs turn to dust but the Coca-Cola Company endures."
Comment: Many of the doctor's neighbors ended up in internment camps. The 1940 census has Yaneo (age 39) and Shizuku (40), identified as proprietor and manager of the restaurant. The names and ages match those of internees at Manzamar and Heart Mountain Relocation Centers.
--GreGen
Hitler's Plans to Destroy Paris
From the Nov. 14, 2014, Chicago Tribune "'Diplomacy' imagines how Paris was saved in WWII" by Kenneth Turan.
Hitler's plans for Paris in case he was forced out was one of massive destruction. Thirty-three bridges over the Seine River were to be blown up. That was to be followed by Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Opera and then submarine torpedoes were to be attached to each leg of the Eiffel Tower to bring it down. "Paris as we know it was to be destroyed."
This was Adolf Hitler's command to his German occupying troops should Paris evacuation become necessary. Only the decision of the commander of Paris, Gen. Dietrich von Cholitz to disobey the order saved the city.
Historians even to this day argue why he did this. Now, there is a fictionalized movie "Diplomacy" to examine what went on between the general and Swedish Consul Raoul Nordling between August 24-25, to make such a decision.
It was never released around me, but I would have liked to have seen it.
--GreGen
Hitler's plans for Paris in case he was forced out was one of massive destruction. Thirty-three bridges over the Seine River were to be blown up. That was to be followed by Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Opera and then submarine torpedoes were to be attached to each leg of the Eiffel Tower to bring it down. "Paris as we know it was to be destroyed."
This was Adolf Hitler's command to his German occupying troops should Paris evacuation become necessary. Only the decision of the commander of Paris, Gen. Dietrich von Cholitz to disobey the order saved the city.
Historians even to this day argue why he did this. Now, there is a fictionalized movie "Diplomacy" to examine what went on between the general and Swedish Consul Raoul Nordling between August 24-25, to make such a decision.
It was never released around me, but I would have liked to have seen it.
--GreGen
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Death of a Tuskegee Airman in 2012
Retired Lt. Col. Herbert Eugene Carter, 95.
An original Tuskegee Airman in the first group to be trained for the 99th Fighter Squadron.
Flew 77 missions and crash landed once.
A Hero in More Ways Than One. --GreGen
An original Tuskegee Airman in the first group to be trained for the 99th Fighter Squadron.
Flew 77 missions and crash landed once.
A Hero in More Ways Than One. --GreGen
Battleship North Carolina Curators Keep History Alive-- Part 2
Items in this storage area are divided into 2-D and 3-D classifications. The 2-D collection has more than 4,000 photos and 25,000 blueprints of the ship. Many of these were still on the ship when it arrived at Wilmington.
Since then, diaries have been donated (even though the crew was not supposed to keep them. On April 6, 1945, a sailor described a "friendly fire" incident that killed three crew members. He said how he was eating breakfast with one of the three that very morning and the man had joked that he didn't want insurance because the minute you get it, something bad happens to you.
There is a pilot's leather jacket among other items in the 3-D collection. Others of this group were found on the ship like boxes of empty liquor bottles smuggled on board and hidden inside the bulkheads. They have lots of dress uniforms and blue wool uniforms, but only two chambray shirts-- the blue work shirts enlisted sailors wore most of the time.
Worth Checking Out. --GreGen
Since then, diaries have been donated (even though the crew was not supposed to keep them. On April 6, 1945, a sailor described a "friendly fire" incident that killed three crew members. He said how he was eating breakfast with one of the three that very morning and the man had joked that he didn't want insurance because the minute you get it, something bad happens to you.
There is a pilot's leather jacket among other items in the 3-D collection. Others of this group were found on the ship like boxes of empty liquor bottles smuggled on board and hidden inside the bulkheads. They have lots of dress uniforms and blue wool uniforms, but only two chambray shirts-- the blue work shirts enlisted sailors wore most of the time.
Worth Checking Out. --GreGen
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