Another photo of him in uniform at what I think might be a retirement ceremony. Also some more insignia and misc.

 

 

 

More things from later in his career:

 

 

More pre-war Hawaii - did we mention hula girls and horseback riding?

 

 

Pre-WWII photos of US soldiers and sailors in the Pacific always seem to show such an innocence, as none of them could have even imagined what was to come in a few years when the bombs hit paradise and and the course of their lives would take what were often horrific turns.

 

 

 

 

 

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That is a wonderful group Bob! PT Boat groups are few and far between.

Dick

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That's the last of the album photos.

 

I wanted to ask about the larger photos of ships and boats. One seems to be a sub tender, but another mothership seems to have a bunch of small surface vessels rafted alongside. Anyone know what they are? I love the photo of the ship careened on the beach for cleaning and/or caulking. I've done that with my own sailboat when I was too poor to have it hauled out in the boatyard. There appear to be junks sailing in the background.

 

 

 

 

Bob, the top twp are the ASR I mentioned, the USS Pigeon.

 

One of the tenders could be the Jason or Canopus.

 

(I liked the photo of the "Black Cat", no Pre-war Hawaiian service album is complete without it).

Great grouping! Interesting that being a long time sailor that the US PUC rated higher than the USN USMC one. Also, do you think he rated the Yangtze or is that ribbon just loose in the grouping?

 

Kurt

Okay, in the photo posted earlier of the grouping when he was wearing a jumper he has the USN USMC PUC on his ribbon rack. But in the later warrant photo, it is not there??

 

 

Kurt Barickman

Bob, the top twp are the ASR I mentioned, the USS Pigeon.

 

One of the tenders could be the Jason or Canopus.

 

(I liked the photo of the "Black Cat", no Pre-war Hawaiian service album is complete without it).

 

 

I didn't realize those were destroyers alongside the one ship, but this same image shows up on a US Navy site and ID's it as USS Black Hawk with the USS Pillsbury (DD-227), USS Pope (DD-225), USS Ford (DD-228), USS Paul Jones (DD-230), USS Peary (DD-226) and USS Parrott (DD-218) alongside in Chefoo, China.

 

As for the USS Pigeon on the beach - it was not a deliberate grounding after all:

 

"Undergoing refloating operations after she ran aground during a typhoon at Tsingtao, China, September 1939.
Note the short range battle targets hung amidships"

 

Almost forgot about this. It's a 48-star Union Jack, marked "No. 9" - the year was stamped right where a grommet attaches. It has some mothing and/or wear. Could this have been presented at a retirement ceremony?

 

 

 

The Jack has "MI" stamped on it, meaning it was made at Mare Island - so far the only other Mare Islands Jacks I find online all have WWII dates on them.

Bob, I am sitting here reading this extensive thread with my mouth hanging open. The "wow" factor is really incredible with this one! PT Boats have always had an attraction to so many collectors, even if this is not what they collect. I think it has something to do with their relative vulnerability and small size along with their lethal ability to take out much larger vessels. It truly was "Hit and Run" for these guys.

Yeah, the one is a destroyer tender, but I do not know if it's the same ship as the photo with the subs alongside. The Asiatic Fleet had a Destroyer tender and a Submarine Tender.

Yeah, the one is a destroyer tender, but I do not know if it's the same ship as the photo with the subs alongside. The Asiatic Fleet had a Destroyer tender and a Submarine Tender.

 

Different ships - the sub tender is the USS Canopus (AS-9) - I found a Navy photo of her with that distinctive bow.

 

 

 

Two more large photos I forgot to scan. Don't know how this vessel fit into his career.

 

 

That's the Coucal, another ASR. You can see the diving bell in the first picture.

 

Since it wasn't commissioned until he was a POW, it would have been postwar.

That's the Coucal, another ASR. You can see the diving bell in the first picture.

 

Since it wasn't commissioned until he was a POW, it would have been postwar.

 

I'd forgotten that his officer data cards show his sea service and he was indeed on the Coucal post-WWII. Pre-war he served aboard both the Canopus and the Pigeon as well the as the subs S-40 and Tarpon. In looking at these photos, I recall now too that his son said the Union Jack came from the Sperry, his first post-war sea duty. The Sperry was built at Mare Island in 1941.

 

Looking at his data card you reposted, I'm sort of surprised there was no postwar sub service? Excepting the PT's and the last assignments he had quite a bit of experience with them.

Here's another look at his service through the end of WWII - there are differences in the dates between this and the officer data card, but I can see how it might be hard to remember all of the changes. This one has an obvious mistake where Tarpon get listed twice in place of Pigeon.

 

I imagine that after being on a pre-war sub, serving with an MTB in the PI, fighting with the 4th Marines on the "Rock" and then a POW for three years, he was quite happy serving on tenders and not back with a MTB Ron or a sub in his post-war service. Great grouping.

 

Kurt Barickman

I imagine that after being on a pre-war sub...

 

I have wondered what kind of hot, stinky place the old submarines must have been.