CV-16 Lexington WWII odds & ends

[hatchet]

My uncle, Ralph William Masis was a yeoman on the Lexington from 1943 until November 1944. His battle station was providing ammunition to an AA gun near the island. The gun was in the area where an early kamikaze plane struck the Lexington on 5 Nov 1944. My uncle was the only one of the crew at that gun that survived, although he was badly injured and spent many months in the hospital. He was a yeoman first in the Air Office, and after that, in the Captain's office. I don't have a lot of info on exactly what he did, but I think he did some work in communications, and working with personnel reports. He kept a folder with various papers he saved from that time. I emailed the Lexington museum asking if they were interested in sailor collections, but received no reply. I have a feeling most of these papers are routine, but don't really know. So, I'm curious if anybody can tell me if any of this is interesting to anyone. If so, I can add scans here of particular items. Here's what there is:

• Last letter he sent, written a few days before getting injured, describing some of the things he does, mentions seeing the Princeton destroyed.
• Wartime letter from childhood friend F.T. "Ted" Bell, USS Ard 14
• Wartime letter from childhood friend Pvt. Tony Gimenez, 184th Chemical Service Platoon
• Burdett College News, Oct. 1943 which includes group photos of graduating Yeoman, WAVES, and SPARS classes
• Lyrics to song "Shoot That Bogey Down"
• Farewell message "To the Officers and Men of Task Force THIRTY-EIGHT" from Vice Admiral M.A. Mitscher
• Commander in Chief Pacific Ocean Areas Communique Number 168 (4 pages) detailing the 2nd Battle of the Philippine Sea Oct 1944
• Dates and areas ship traveled to from Sep 18 1943 to Oct 25, 1944
• Change of duty/detachment orders for 5 different crewmen (not sure why he still had these and the next item)
• Longevity Pay report for Chief Machinist James Douglas Smith
• Directive on Reports of Personnel Casualties Occurring in Action (19 Jan 1944)
• Procedure to be followed when an officer is detached 4/17/44
• Procedure to be followed when an officer reports for duty 4/17/44
• Skeleton Casualty Despatch
• Skeleton Airplane Accident Report
• Skeleton Amplifying Airmailgram which follows original casualty despatch
• Sample MIA Airmailgram for airman "Ensign John Paul Jones" 27 Nov 1943
• Sample Amplifying Casualty Despatch Airmailgram for airman "John Paul Jones"
• Subpoena and Summons Extraordinary, The Royal High Court of the Raging Main to R.W. Masis (the Lexington briefly crossed the equator in Sep 1943)
• Very Special Order from Commanding Officer, U.S.S. Lexington regarding The boarding of this vessel by the Royal Scribe, Davy Jones, … Sep 21 1943
• 5 Psyops leaflets. I've previously shared these with Ed Rouse, and he added one to his website

[hatchet]

Sorry, meant Herb Friedman on the psyops, not Ed Rouse (but too late to edit that post).