12-16-17
We have recently had several folks reach out with pictures of their Boston family member. I will post those up when I can. We also heard from Judith Armstrong. She sent this picture of her dad and pals at the “Moana Surfrider.” Anybody recognize any of these sailors?
Task Force 58 website up and running, mostly done, will be tweaked from time to time. Take a few minutes to check it out. The Boston was a unit of Task Force 58 and 38, so her stories are always in the context of the Task Groups and Task Forces. www.taskforce58.org.
Baked Beans: After I finished the Baked Beans books, I started working on a “Boston in the broader context of Task Force 58” book – which has been sitting half-baked on the back burner ever since. I am pushing to get it going again, which is why we went to work on the TF58 site. However, because I am never satisfied and don’t always stay on task with laser-focus, all that activity kept reminding me of how, in retrospect, I needed/wanted to improve the Baked Beans trilogy. When I wrote them, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. (I still don’t know anything. Just ask my kids.)
I can tell you that I am restructuring the books, adding some things, and re-arranging some things. The basic reason for my dissatisfaction is simple: I met some of the guys after Vol 1 was published. And, I met Frank Studenski as I was just about done with Vol. 2. I had access to his incredible diary all along, but I did not feel comfortable using his material until I looked him in the eye and asked for his blessing. The revised books, when they are finished, will contain all of Frank’s diary entries across all three volumes. This will flesh out the Boston story in remarkable detail and enhance any reader’s understanding of what life aboard the ship was like.
Having said that, I am reminded of how much I miss Frank. And John Farkas. And Norm Bayley. And George Pitts. All of this Boston activity in my life, by the way, because a copy of Frank’s diary came into my possession a few years before my father died. I gave a copy to my dad, and after reading it, he still wouldn’t talk about the war with me. After he died, I read Frank’s War Diary and filled with regret, I began my quest to find out what I could about his ship and his War.
The Posts of Christmas Past: whether or not you celebrate Christmas, you might enjoy scrolling backwards (click through the “older posts” arrow at the bottom of each post – organized in in reverse order) and checking out the Holiday Feast menus – everything from turkey to cigarettes on the menu! The guys didn’t have much to celebrate over their tenure in the Pacific . . .
Many of us celebrating our traditional holidays at this time of year. To our old friends and new readers, Happy Holidays!