Author: steve

Theodore A. Pilger

7-4-11

What was it like to be aboard a warship in Task Force 58 during the Pacific War?   Here’s a glimpse of one day . . .

From the diary pages of Augustus Harris, SC1, CA-69 (compliments of his family.)

Another peek, with more detail . . .

From the diary pages of Pat Fedele (compliments of Pat)

And, from the incomparable War Diary of Frank Studenski (whose entries became the basis for the book A Bird’s Eye View)

July 4, 1944

This morning at 0500 hrs our planes were launched to bomb the bases and airstrips of Iwo Jima.   At 1530 hrs the Boston, Canberra, San Juan, Santa Fe, Mobile and about 15 destroyers went in to bombard the island.   We fired our 8” and 5” guns. We got in close to the island to fire 5” shells.   We launched one of our catapult planes for spotting duty over the targets.   We were hitting the southern airfield where almost 70 aircraft were lined up.   We also hit gas storage tanks.   We were hitting all of our assigned targets.   Looking through the binoculars, I could see a lot of planes on the field blowing up.   There was a lot of large fires and explosions.   The smoke was thousands of feet in the air.   A ship was sighted leaving the harbor, so we immediately opened fire on her. A destroyer went in to finish her off.   One of the planes from the Santa Fe that was spotting for us was shot down by Jap fighters.   The crew was picked up by one of the submarines.   All together this day 116 Jap planes were destroyed and five ships were sunk or severely damaged.   This was a great way to celebrate the Fourth of July, killing Japs.

That’s how the crew of the USS Boston spent the Fourth of July, 1944.

P.S. I would be remiss if I did not point out the remarkable behind-the-scenes work my brother Bill has been doing on creating the crew records data-base.   Please read the following post!     If you want to sample his database work, which includes pictures of the sailors (when people supply them), check out my father’s entry: Kelly, William L.

Happy 4th of July
Steve

6-17-11

Happy Hour on the Fantail.   April 9, 1944.   The Boston is anchored in the Majuro Lagoon in the southern Marshall Islands.

They are anchored there for a few days for replenishment and resupply, just prior to the start of the Hollandia Invasion, Gen. MacArthur’s attacks on strategic enemy strongholds in New Guinea.

This photo will be the last of the Men at Work and Men at Play pictures for a while.   We have more, and will revisit them later.   In upcoming posts, I plan to talk about Lagoons visited by the ship and other topics that strike my fancy.

I also plan to spend more time working on a book-in-progress (about CA-69). Actually, there are two books in progress . . .     Bill and I are winding down on major repairs to my domicile.   When we first tackled this project a year and a half ago, we were optimistically thinking about six months, maybe.   Well, seven days a week a year and a half later, we’re almost done.   I will soon able able to reconvene all my stuff in one location and plan to be “re-organized” enough to actually start writing again.

Thanks for all the emails and encouragement.   Thanks for sharing your bits and pieces and threads of info from your dads, uncles, grandfathers who served their nation on this great ship.

Happy birthday, Steve.

6-11-11

Same day, same beach as the last shot.   I like this wider view, because you can see more of the ship.

Several readers have told me they remember their dads telling them that the ship’s Marines stood guard on deck, rifles in hand, on the lookout for sharks whenever the men got a chance to swim.   My father never told me that. However, he did tell me that under no circumstance could they dive off the ship   –   and if they were caught, they would be court martialed. As you can see in this picture, the boys did not always behave.

6-4-11

This photo (from the Archives), dated May 13, 1944 was taken while the men had short liberty while anchored in the southern Marshall Islands lagoon at Majuro. I have reason to believe this shot was taken from ill-fated sister ship USS Canberra which was to be on the receiving end of an enemy torpedo five months later during the Battle of Formosa.