Bill Kelly

Relaunching the website

I have just re-launched the website, converted from Wordpress which has gotten old, slow, and painful to a new website platform called Ghost which allows more visibility and flexibility. FIFTEEN! years ago, Steve and I started this blog and the new site allows much more access to really fun content.

Stephen McGrath

I was contacted by Stephen’s grandson who sent me this picture.

Honoring Veteran's Day

Remembering my Dad, and the Signal Crew and all who served on this Veterans Day

Remembering Pearl Harbor

On December 6th 1943, the USS Boston Steamed into Pearl Harbor.  We’ve heard from sailors that this was a very emotional moment, exactly one day short of 1 year from the day that will live in infamy.  The ships on battleship row were still smoldering.

Replacement of the Aviation Unit

I was surprised when I was working on newly found records of the USS Boston Aviation unit, that when the Boston was pulled from duty in the Pacific after months of fighting, the Aviation unit was removed lock, stock and barrel when the ship arrived in San Francisco on the

Naval Records

Radar and The USS Boston

I came across this picture when I was looking at Photographs from NARA.   Obviously this was censored because it showed the top secret radar installation on the destroyer next to the Boston. When the Boston returned in Early 1945 to San Diego, the radar and fire control systems were upgraded.

Vought-Sikorsky OS2U-3 Kingfisher

I came across this at the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum in Washington DC. This is the type of seaplane which saw service in WWII on the USS Boston.

From the Decklog June to July 1943

From the Deck logs that you can read here: http://www.ca-69boston.org/Decklog-Month/jul43dl.pdf , after the ship was commissioned the regularity of leave caused some issues. A small percentage of sailors had trouble with arriving on time; this caused each that missed the deadline to be punished. A

New Book is here!

Steve has just published Volume 2 or Baked Beans!!!  This volume is packed with stories and pictures from sailors who were on the ship and lots of pictures from the National Archives and private collections about CA-69. Volume II relates the events from Sept 1, 1944 through the end of

April 1944 Deck log

I just finished uploading a PDF of the April 1944 Deck log from the USS Boston.  For all the Decklogs, check out the Info tab on the main page of this blog.  The Decklog is an interesting place to find out small tidbits of the ships history.   Here is a

Searching for your father's service records

One of the most popular searches on this website is a blog post I wrote three years ago about finding my father’s records.  I’ve updated that blog post to include current data and links, and I’ve created a menu item under ‘crew records’ to help you find

I've created a group Facebook page

Facebook.com/ussboston ca-69 is a new faccebook group, please join! 🙂 Bill

History

Role of the USS Boston in World War II

It’s easy to overlook the basics when writing a blog, and I thought I’d take a few posts in the coming months and try to outline what the BOSTON’s role was in the war.  Many of us are here because we knew a sailor; but that doesn’

New Boston Book!!!

Order Steve’s New Book! The Book is called ‘Baked Beans – Life aboard the USS Boston CA-69’ This is Volume 1 of 3 Size: 8 x 11 124 pages 97.5% original, first hand, primary source material, including: photos of the boston from the National archives; interviews with 4 crew

Attention! New Look to the Sailor Records

I’ve cleaned up the viewing of searches and the display of sailor records.  It’s now looking more professional and less typish (I know it’s not a word!).  Just a reminder to get me those sailor photos for the records page.  If the picture isn’t there and

web site

New Website layout

With all the the people like me whose reading glasses are getting fatter and fatter each year, I thought I’d use an easier to read website layout. Enjoy, Bill

Memorial Day - A reflection

I’m always struck by the fact that the US as a country has come to use this day as one of the only times we say thank you to our veterans.  I’m remembering when we sought out support at the VA hospital for my father’s alzhiemer’s

John Hazard Carson and the arrival of officers

John Hazard Carson was the first commanding Officer of the USS Boston and the first officer to be added to the database.  He the USS Boston Commanding officer from April 5, 1943 to June 5 1944.  Commander Hazard was in charge from commissioning to full engagement in the Pacfic. He

SOPA and internet censorship

All, We are participating in the internet protest to work to defeat the bill working their way through congress right now; the bill is called SOPA or PIPA.  Content on the internet is vital to be free and have  legitimate process if someone removes content on a whim.  Two events

Info for the overly curious!

1-2-2012 All, You’ll find a new tab in the front page of the Blog labelled ‘Info’.  This is texual data about the USS Boston.  So far I’ve placed the first 4 months of Deck Logs in the tab marked info.  Deck Logs are an interesting read, complete with

crew member info

Return from NARA, Fill 'er up, and Ulithi

I just returned from the National Archives in College Park Maryland, where I was able to find some really interesting things about the USS Boston.  I had three strategic goals, find the rest of the crew members  on the Boston that I don’t have, expand the info and picture

crew member info

1 and 1217 with 3022 sailors watching :-)

Tonight I have finished entering all the arrivals and departures of all the sailors of CA-69!  We have 3,022 sailor records, as of tonight all their arrival and departure information is complete along with all of their promotions!  Yeah! So what’s with 1 and 1,217?  When I

Naval Records

Promotions from Seaman 2nd Class

As I work with the data from the Sailor Database I have been noticing trends, It’s faster to be promoted as a Fireman 3rd class than to a Seaman 1st class. In fact if your selected to be a fireman, you’ll be promoted six times faster on the

crew member info

April 1st 1946: USS BOSTON in San Francisco

I’ve just finished updating the arrivals and departures for April 1st 1946. In March, the Ship was in San Francisco where Sailors were busy some arriving an most departing. The war officially ended in August, but the Navy needed to move lots of men and supplies around, so some

Musings on first names

As I add and edit the sailor database from the USS Boston, I’m sometimes amused at how names have changed over the last 70 years. How many Aloysuis’s or Mortimer’s exist today (OK, even in 1943 those were middle names)? ON board the USS Boston in the