steve

Clarence Walter Hutson, GM3c

4-17-14 Clarence enlisted in Cleveland, OH and reported to CA-69 two days after her Commissioning, on July 2, 1943.   He served aboard her for more than a year, mustering off the ship on Aug 2, 1944.   He was transferred to Fleet Service School in San Diego, CA. photo submitted by

Glen Hartman, S1c

3-25-14 Glen arrived in Boston from Springfield, Il and reported to the ship on the 6th of August, 1943 (about 5 weeks after her Commissioning.)   He was part of the Signal Gang, and was a pal of my father (William Kelly) and Roland Tougas, among others.   [Several snapshots of Glen

More on Frank

3-21-14 Frank Studenski, working on one of his Boston models (2008). Compliments of his friend, Laurie Wasilewski Laurie sent me this photo of Frank, and alerted me to the wonderful post by Art Hebert on the Shipmates’ website.   If you haven’t read it, check it out!   www.ussboston.org.

In Memoriam: plankowner Frank Studenski, S1c

3-12-14 I’m saddened to say that Frank Studenski, avid USS Boston CA-69 savant, writer of the incredible WAR DIARY, master model-maker, great story-teller, beloved and invaluable member of the USS Boston Shipmates, lost his battle with cancer this past Saturday (March 8.)   Frank was three days shy of his

Ronald F. Sullivan, S1c

2-2-14 Ronald came aboard the ship on 11/12/45 and was transferred off the ship on June 17, 1946.   He was aboard for the Boston’s final trip home from Japanese waters, and he was part of the skeleton crew that prepared CA-69 for decommissioning in Bremerton, WA. USS

POWs

1-19-14 I mentioned in a way – earlier post that I had just finished reading No Ordinary Joes, an amazing book about about captured submariners who endured the bulk of the war in squalid prisoner-of-war conditions working as slave laborers in Japanese factories that made war materials. I have just recently

Donald Newton Hoppe, S1c

1-5-14 Donald mustered onto the ship during Occupation Duty off the shores of Japan.   He was transferred off on January 25, 1946. submitted by his son, Don Hoppe, Jr.

Christmas 1945

12-21-13 Christmas aboard the USS Boston in 1945:   Many of the original crewmembers had left the ship already –   transferred off in waves during Occupation Duty.   For the men still aboard, this last CA-69 Christmas was relaxed, but full of anticipation.   Home sweet home beckoned the men, many of whom had

Christmas 1944

12-14-13 The second Christmas at sea for the men aboard CA-69 was NOTHING like the first Christmas (1943), which they spent anchored in Pearl Harbor. By the time they dropped anchor in the Ulithi lagoon on Dec 22, they had endured: the Marshall Islands Invasions / Campaigns, the Crossing of the

Thanksgiving 1944

11-27-13 The crew spent another Thanksgiving Day at sea – enroute to drydock at Manus Island in the Admiralty Group. (compliments of Bob Knight) Happy Thanksgiving. steve

PICTURE YOURSELF . . . HERE . . .

11-23-13 Okay, here’s the situation.   You’re 19 years old.   You had never been away from home, friends, family   –   on Thanksgiving Day before this.   It’s November 25, 1943, and you and your 1,500+ shipmates are sharing Thanksgiving Dinner while steaming up along the Mexican shoreline, about a

Every day is Veterans Day here

11-9-13 Monday is Veteran’s Day.   Veteran’s Day is a day of remembrance that is tied to Armistice Day, which marked the end of WWI, when hostilities ceased on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month (1918).   In 1954, the remembrance of veterans of WWI

Happy Birthday, John Cooper GM3c

10-27-13 Tomorrow (Oct. 28) is John Cooper’s 88th birthday. John arrived on the Boston on May 30, 1944, and stayed aboard until June 8, 1946, when the Mighty B was mothballed in Bremerton, WA. He is a retired Union Pacific Railroad Engineer and is currently the Chairman of the

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NORM

10-14-13 Anyone who has read (or is still reading) Baked Beans Vol.3 should recognize this picture.   It’s at the very end of the book, (Christmastime, 1945) when the men still left aboard the Boston are celebrating their last Christmas on the ship.   A month later, they were heading

Roland J. Tougas, Cox

10-6-13 Roland was a Plankowner, rostering onto the ship on Commissioning Day (June 30, 1943).   He served for a time as a signalman (striker), but eventually advanced to Coxswain.   Long after most of his shipmates were gone and back home, Roland left the ship on July 22, 1946, after mothballing

Sometimes you just need a little lovin' . . .

9-18-13 I get email, cards and letters from readers of the books and the website from time to time.   When I first published A Bird’s Eye View (a hundred years ago), a woman sent me a pile of documents from her late husband’s service on the Boston.   He

VOLUME 3 - BAKED BEANS finally available

8-31-13   So, I’ve finally reached the end of the Baked Beans adventure.   After publishing the first CA-69 book, A Bird’s Eye View, my brother Bill and I put our heads together and created first a “book website” (www.ussbostonbook.com), and later a “ship-in-the-war” website (www.ca-69boston.org)

68 Years Ago . . .

Aug. 9, 2013 On this day in 1945, the United States of America unleashed a hydrogen bomb over the Kyushu city of Nagasaki.   The Nagaski disaster tends to take a back seat to Hiroshima, the Honshu city that was leveled by the first Atomic bomb three days earlier.   History kind

IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL

7-19-2013 In the early 70’s, I met a guy named Dennis Westerlind.   We were in the same photography courses at the Worcester Art Museum School and later found ourselves in the same college.   We were pals, but I was newly married and we spun in different orbits. Thirty years

Mister Smoothie - ship's tenor Pat Fedele

6-22-13 Then and Now I called Pat the other day just to check in and chat.   Pat is a very enthusiastic “fan” of the BOSTON books, and if you have read Vol 1 and/or Vol 2 of Baked Beans, you know that Pat has shared lots of great stories

Frank Studenski, Plankowner

June 15, 2013 I also met Frank Studenski.   Frank was a fire director for Quad 5, an elevated 40mm gun turret on the starboard side of the ship, right near the signal bridge. Ever since I read his AMAZING War Diary   –   U.S.S. BOSTON CA69, I’ve wanted to

I visited 2 Plankowners

June 8, 2013 John Farkas reading an issue of the ship’s primary newsletter, the BeanPot. So, in my last entry, I was whining about losing my book into the Great Cyberspace Dump.   Three weeks later, not only have I rebuilt the 90 pages that I lost, I’ve finished

UGHH! When it really sucks to be a writer . . .

5-18-13 So here I am working on Volume 3.   I have 91 pages assembled into a complex Adobe Acrobat file, a composite of files from 4 different software packages. . . wait, did I say “have”???   Strike that and change it to “had.”   A few hours ago, while I was saving a

Volume 3 - under construction

April 28, 2013 I’m about halfway through the third (and final) “installment” of the “Baked Beans” series – the follow-up to my first book about the USS Boston (CA-69), “A Bird’s Eye View.”   I started writing by deciding, for various reasons, to divide the story of the “Mighty B”

James B. Husted, Ptr3c

4-13-13 James enlisted in Erie, PA on Dec. 15, 1943.   He arrived on the Boston on Aug. 4, 1944, while she was anchored in the Eniwetok (Marshall Islands) Lagoon. When the ship left the lagoon on August 31, it was “all-action” from then on, starting with the Philippines Campaigns.   John