Dist. Flying Cross recipient's coffee mug

[Bob Hudson]

This was on the shelf at a local antique store and after going home and researching this guy, I had to go back and liberate it:

 

 

 

The late Capt. Frank Kidder Upham, known as "FK Upham," was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross during a Navy career that lasted from 1934 to 1964. A graduate of the US Naval Academy, FK Upham was part of a family steeped in military tradition. He was born Dec. 8, 1910 in the Philippines when his father, Army Major John Southworth Upham (who was himself born on an Army post and retired as a Colonel) was stationed there. Capt. FK Upham was named after his grandfather who was 1st U. S. Cavalry officer Frank Kidder Upham (he retired as a Major). Capt. Kidder's uncle was Frank Brooks Upham, who retired as an Admiral after a notable Navy career that included duty as Commander in Chief, Asiatic Fleet (he may have been the only Admiral born at Fort Apache).

 

FK Upham, who died on Feb. 25, 1995 in Coronado, California, had more than 600 carrier landings during his Navy carrier and apparently at least one water landing when shot down off Formosa. He flew F3F, SOC, PBY, PBM, F6F aircraft. He was commanding officer of squadrons VP-32, VJ-4 and VF-81 and possibly VP-46 during World War II as well as Carrier Air Group 4 beginning in Feb. 1945. As such, he led what one source says were "the first carrier-based attacks on the Japanese Mainland since the Doolittle raids of April 18, 1942."

 

He also apparently had a tour duty at Pensacola, because the backside of the mug shows that it was presented by the Maintenance Department at Barin Field, one of the many Pensacola area fields used for training.

 

[Holloman]

Dude, I need to find more thrift stores like the ones around you........

[Bob Hudson]

Dude, I need to find more thrift stores like the ones around you........

 

It helps living near Camp Pendleton and all of the Navy bases in San Diego. But even with the predominantly Navy and Marine presence here, you also find lots of Army stuff and surprising amounts of British stuff. I make regular rounds of shops covering an area from San Clemente, 20 miles north of here, to Chula Vista, 50 miles south and then I go eastward another 20 miles or so, covering an area of perhaps 1400 square miles.

[Holloman]

I wish I had that kind of gas money....

[Bob Hudson]

I wish I had that kind of gas money....

 

Me too!