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Howdy from Florida


Cwnavy1
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This forum looks terrific!  I have been an off and on collector since the mid 1960s, starting with US Cavalry gear and related items.  After a time, I went into the public museum business and my active collecting days were essentially over.  After nearly 14 years at the National Museum of the Pacific War at the Admiral Nimitz Center in Fredericksburg, TX,  then 12 years as the director of the National Civil War Naval Museum at Port Columbus, in Columbus, GA, I hung it up and have now retired to The Villages in Central Florida.

I've been thinning my cavalry related stuff for some years now but still have lots of manuals, photos, documents and other items.  But the one area where i need help results from an inheritance I received back in the early '70s.  I received a pile of World War I navy material from the skipper of a mine sweeper in the Great War who received the Navy Cross for his work.  I have all his decorations, some of his uniforms, some of his later WWII items (mostly documents) and an incredible photo album from the first war with annotated photos not only of his service at sea, but documenting his time ashore which included expeditions to battlefields where he photographed destroyed tanks etc.

I need to dispose of this collection before my children have to.  I have offered it to the Naval Historical Center twice and been rejected both tines.  Any thoughts?

X Martin Smith artifacts copy.JPG

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That is a real nice set of medals!! - I would love to have these in my collection!!

I see that he is from Pennsylvania - Perhaps you could reach out to his hometown to see if they have a Museum - I am sure they would love to have material from a "Native Son"

Welcome to the forum - We are former Floridians (Kissimmee) but my wife's uncle lives in Wildwood right next door to you

Bill

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stratasfan

He's also listed here:

 

http://www.fleetorganization.com/subothercommand2.html

 

https://www.ozatwar.com/ozatwar/jcslaughter.htm

 

In late 1918 and early 1919 he was on the USS Aroostock, according to some Navy records on Fold3.

 

Here is his picture from his passport application. Around this time, he reversed his first and middle names and used MArtin Xavier Smith.

 

passport app picture.JPG

 

Here is the passport application:

passport app 1.JPG

passport app 2.JPG

 

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stratasfan

Hi Stratasfan,

You are amazing!  Though Capt. Smith and I are not related, he did keep company with my aunt in Callifornia for the last decade of his life.  I remember him as a real old time gentleman and he was very thoughtful about leaving items to my aunt and others in my family.  He did not mention much of the military stuff in his will, but he did some, like the photo of his ship which he had framed with lumber from the USS Constitution  which was refitted evidently in 1927.  On the image, he included some of the combat ribbon across the corner which makes it terrific.  He even included a battle star on one, and this is the vessel on which he was serving when he was awarded the Navy Cross.   I only got to spend one day at his place in 1973 since I was a student in Tucson at the time.  I wish I could have had more time, but I must have had an inkling about its value since I brought it home.

I have begun an Ancestry page for him but you have found more stuff on him than I have, and I have copied it and will be sure it gets on his page in case any real familly comes looking.  I still have lots of his civil engineering stuff which includes lots about the water situation in LA during the 20s and 30s.  I also had a great uncle living there at the same time who was a submariner in WWI, wish I could find more on him. Roland R. Randall.  He may have been associated with submarine F2.  

I've been trying to find a copy of Capt. Smith's will since I did not keep one back in the 70s.  I recalll he made lots of comments about his military service and material, but I have been frustrated in my attempts to do so.  Thoughts?

Thanks, Bruce2030271450_resized_XMSshipribbons.jpg.b5ad246e0cbffe45e237771ecf6dff3a.jpg

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stratasfan

Oh . . . wills. I'm not sure how you go about getting recent wills. Wondering if you can order them from the State, like Death Certs? I'll ask Mom . . . she might have a thought.

 

Any other info on Uncle Roland?  Birth and/or death and State would help! 

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stratasfan

Here is his WWII draft registration card . . . notice he had a rope tattoo . . . wonder if that was a USN souvenir from the Great War! 

 

WWII draft reg 1.JPG

 

WWII draft reg 2.JPG

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stratasfan

He enlisted in the US Navy on 25 May 1917 and was released on 19 Aug 1919.

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stratasfan

LOVE the frame! Would love to see a photo of it all. :)  That is so cool with the ribbon and the frame wood! What a cool guy to have known. :)

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stratasfan

That is an amazing picture of him!  And to have his discharge . . . so super cool! Your Uncle, you said? Really cool. Did you know him at all?

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I knew RR pretty well.  He was married to my Dad’s aunt who was a nurse in LA for decades.  Rr was an avid fisherman, mostly fly fishing, and they had a cabin at Big Bear in the mountains above LA.  We would visit frequently when he would go out in the morning and catch rainbow trout for our breakfast. My great aunt died after RR as I recall, and my Dad was executor.  He brought very little back with him, including the few thingS I’ve shown you.  RR was a lifelong photographer, Kodachrome slides mostly and I shudder to think what became of his image collection.  My Dad had little appreciation for old stuff.  Who knows what was lost.....

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Here is a relatively complete list of this group.  Price coming soon.

Lg mounted photo of Capt. Smith’s WWI command USSC 206, framed in wood from USS Constitution refit in 1927, 18.5” x 23”

Large photo album WWI experience, with good captions, North Sea Mine Barrage, tour of battlefields, tanks etc.

Medal bar from WWI, Navy Cross, WWI Europe w/Mine Laying bar, Expert Rifleman, Expert Pistol

Medals, Faithful Service-Navy, City of Norfolk for WWI service, engraved with name.

Souvenir North Sea Mine Barrage bronze flat half, engraved with the following words: D 8” An upper level Antenna Float For the Mark VI Mine From the North Sea Mine Barrage Laid Summer 1918 by US Mine Squadron. Inverness. Swept Summer of 1919 by U.S. Minesweeping Detachment, Kirkwall”, on turned wooden display base.

One WWI era USN officers billed cap and eagle insig., complete but for chinstrap, just good condition

One wool Watch Cap with Smith name tag, significant mothing

Navy Dress belt with buckle, very poor condition

Hat band with embroidered eagle for officer’s cap, poor condition

One small souvenir anchor, made from material from the USS Constitution

One roll of Army & Navy Journals, ca1930

Letter to XMS from Myron Selznick & Co returning John Paul Jones script 9/28/1936, script included

Invitation to a Dance, American Headquarters, Darwin 15 July, 1944

Printed “Programme” Melville Theatre Darwin, Jan. 1944, from CO, HMAS “Melville”

Thanksgiving Menu , US Naval Torpedo Testing Range, Piney Point, Md, 11/22/1945

         Pinned to the menu is mimeo’d invite for farewell and intro party for CDR and Mrs. XMSmith

Newsletter “The Liberty Hound” 8/11/45, USN Torpedo Testing Range, mimeo’d.

Period Christmas Card and Envelope, from LCDR and Mrs. Xavier Martin Smith

USS Miantonomah mimeo’d Radio Press Notice, all the latest war news, 6 pages, 11/17/42

Booklet: Regulations US Naval Mine Depot, Yorktown, VA , 1939, including map, 44 pp

Desk Nameplate, CDR X. Martin Smith, wood, triangular

Rough Log, Special Naval Detail, Boca Grande, FL, 7th Naval District, handwritten, 1942

Photo of XMS’s scotty dog, mounted, with cute paw print and wifely sentiment

Binding for book, Manual for Accounting Officers, US Navy, no content, binder only.

Small three ring binder with notes from visit to Navy Base San Diego, 3/13/41, lots of tech content

Medals, WWII service: Asiatic Pacific Theater, European-Middle Eastern, Victory, American Theater, American Defense, all boxed.

Several additional archival items

Below is a plhoto from the album which has hundreds of pics.  This one of a German UBoat.893089520_Uboats205kb.jpg.5d4c82d23a07d1b2c2248ecbf0aae15b.jpg

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