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USS Republic - Bugs in a helmet - insignia


disneydave
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I recently purchased three pieces of stationary for the United States Army Hospital Ship USS Republic. The sheets feature the vessel's Disney-designed insignia, created by artist Hank Porter in the spring of 1945. The wounded bug on the right almost appears to be doing a Kilroy impersonation...LOL. Enjoy.

 

blog republic hospital ship.JPG

From history.navy.mil:

 

In 1924 the inactive passenger liner Republic, which had previously been the USS President Grant and had served as an Army transport earlier in the decade, was refitted and then placed in commercial operation by the United States Lines.

 

In August 1931 Republic was transferred to the War Department and resumed service as an Army transport. For the next 10years she was mainly employed on the route from New York to Hawaii, but on occasion steamed further west to deliver troops and other passengers to the Philippines, China, and Japan.

 

The Navy took her over in July 1941, placing her in commission as USS Republic (AP-33). Later that year she made a voyage to the Pacific, to carry personnel and cargo to Hawaii, the southern Pacific, and Australia.

 

In January 1945 Republic was returned to the Army and converted to a hospital ship, with no change in name. While at sea between Honolulu and Manila in February 1946, she was once again assigned to Army transport service. USAT Republic was placed in the Olympia, Washington, reserve fleet in May 1949 and sold for scrapping in March 1952.

 

Here she is in service as a transport at Pearl Harbor in August, 1942.

 

h84008.jpg

 

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That looks like a "D" bail para helmet to able to take on those oars. :o

 

Excellent subject matter.

 

How hard is it for you to find something you don't have or don't know about as far as these unit patches are concerned ?

 

And when I ask that question I'm taking into account all services and everything Disney did.

 

Thanks for showing this.

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I don't add a lot to the collection these days, maybe a dozen or so items a year if I'm lucky.

 

Original Disney insignia art does come up for auction on eBay and in a variety of auction houses but I can't afford to spend a lot...mortgage and three kids. But I scour eBay and other sites looking, and if I can't afford the item I at least make a copy of the image and other details for reference purposes.

 

I own pretty much all of the more common items and I do have quite a few items where I think I have the only one known to exist at this time or where there might only be one or two other known examples. I have some pretty rare items and most of them are near mint to mint condition. Some I have lucked out and paid next to nothing, while others I have had to pay a lot for. And "a lot" is relative.

 

For example, I paid around $300 for a pencil illustration by a Disney artist that showed Mickey, Donald, and Goofy marching, a la the Revolutionary War image created by Archibald Willard titled "The Spirit of '76." But, what made the illustration cool is that I knew what it was used on - the art was the cover illustration created for a stage show called "It's Fun to be Free" that was put on by the Fight For Freedom Committee to Defend America. I own the program and there are only two known copies. Mine, which is mint, and a second, which is in tatters and has been dismantled. I wanted the art to go with the artifact. Truth be known, I would have paid a lot more for the art but I got off relatively easy. One other Disney war collector said if he had seen the art at auction he would have gone well over $1,000. I think it's worth even more than that. And the neat thing about the illustration is that it was also used on a small handbook (that I also own) that contained the entire contents of the show - scenes, lines and music for the cast...and there are only two of those known to exist!

 

I see insignia art come up for auction every once in awhile - both the pencil drawings and the finished, watercolor art. I own around 24 pieces of pencil art and three finished watercolors. They are getting pretty pricey these days. Usually I just tell another Disney WW II collector friend - he has a huge collection too but he has a lot of disposable income. So, he usually wins the art and I get to see it when I visit.

 

I stay away from patches. They are usually too expensive and I am not versed well enough to determine if it's a fake or real. So I stick to items featuring Disney-designed insignia like unit newsletters, cachets (envelopes), stationary, matchbooks, decals, gummed stamps, lithographs, manuals, etc. that were created and sold or given to servicemen in the units.

 

Funnily enough, a lot of people come to me with items they want appraised. They usually contact me through my Facebook group or through my blog. I shy away from doing appraisals as I don't have the time and when I do, the owner usually puts the item up for sale using my quote as a starting point. Or they don't even bother to thank me for my time, which bugs the snot out of me. So I tell people I collect, I don't appraise, but if you want to sell the item and when you know your price let me know and if I am interested I will buy it. I usually don't make offers.

 

I've had veterans give items to me for free (and I never ask vets for anything, other than their memories) and I even had one guy offer me an item done for the Shriners. He contacted me through my blog and asked what he had and if I was interested. It was a litho created for a Shriner's temple in South Carolina. The illustration showed sick children looking up in the clouds, and in the clouds were healthy kids playing. In this instance I told the fellow this info...the item was used by the Temple as a bond fundraiser. Those who bought a subscription were given the heavy-stock cardboard litho. The Shriners used the money to buy war bonds, which in turn were used to fund some of their hospitals. Only reason I knew this is because I'm writing a Disney artist's biography and included in research material sent to me from the artist's family was a photocopy of the litho in question and the two-page letter written from the Shriners to the Disney artist thanking him. The fellow offered it for sale but I couldn't afford anything at the time because the company I had worked at for almost 20 years had outsourced my job and I was now looking for a new employer. He said he'd had the item sitting in his closet for 10 years and if I promised to display the item and enjoy it he would send it to me for free, which he did. When I offered to at least pay the postage he declined, and ended-up sending the item to me via courier. Very, very, cool.

And finally, I'd say my collection is equally split between home front and insignia-related. I find it easier to locate home front items than insignia-related but that's probably because the home front items were usually produced on a much larger scale.

 

Hope my rambling makes some sort of sense!

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Disneydave,

 

Thank you so much for taking a considerable amount of time and thought to answer my questions.

 

Military Disney art was always something I knew about, having been a patch accumulator, but never realized how deep it went.

 

Your answer reveals the intriguing allure and sentimentality of collecting something that is whimsical yet deadly serious at the same time.

 

I look forward to your new finds.

 

Peter

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Thanks Peter. I've been trying to find a museum that would be willing to do a Disney WW II display. Walt Disney's daughter, Diane Disney Miller, told me she wanted their Museum, The Walt Disney Family Museum, to do a special war exhibit to coincide with Pearl Harbor's 75th. But she passed away in November from complications due to a fall, so I'm not sure if they still want to proceed with the idea, or not.

 

I spent a lot of time trying to convince the Boeing Museum in Seattle to mount a display, and they discussed the idea internally at length. But in the end, the reply I got back was they were afraid Disney would sue them. Why they thought that I have no idea. They told me they'd revisit the idea in a couple of years.

 

I've given a presentation about Disney combat insignia - it was a couple of years ago at a Seattle Disney collector's convention. I had around 150 slides and told the story of the Disney artists who created the insignia, about 1,200 designs in total, and I showed images of many, many designs including some that haven't been seen since the war. I've since located some related film clips and audio. And my e-book Service With Character should hopefully be in print as a paper book in a couple of months. I get a lot of satisfaction researching an item's history.

 

Anyhow, thanks for your interest.

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If you have any displays or presentations in the future let us know.

 

If you are in SoCal I would love to go. :)

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