More on the TEMPLE BELL 10-26-11 Well, the story of the bell gets more and more fascinating! The previous blog resulted in this comment from Paul Creager: I’d be happy to provide your group some information about the USS Boston bell. I researched this bell and four others like it for a documentary film
THE TEMPLE BELL 10-22-11 Several weeks ago, we got an email from Bob Knight, who, like my father, is a plank owner — a member of the original crew aboard the Boston. Bob asked us if we knew anything about a bell that the crew of the Boston brought back after the War. Naturally,
OCTOBER 13, 1944 10-13-11 I couldn’t let this day pass without calling attention again to the incredible story of the tow of the Crippled Cruisers during the Battle of Formosa. I’m not going to spend much time on the details (see last year’s posts several pages back.) The Boston was
Jean Edward Dekay 9-24-1 Compliments of Lois Dekay Jean Edward Dekay, S1c, CA-69 Enlisted: Los Angeles Jean joined the Boston on January 13, 1944, while she was anchored in Pearl Harbor. Jean was aboard the ship for all the action and battles. He left the ship on Nov. 6, 1945, after serving on
CRUISE BOOK 6 8-27-11 Here’s one more picture from the Cruise Book that I could not resist posting. In other pictures, we’ve seen barbers and dentists and navigators and signalmen – glimpses of life aboard the ship. Bear in mind that the Boston was a heavy cruiser – a ship designed to hold
CRUISE BOOK 5 8-21-11 I just bumped into a formatting limitation trying to post 2 pictures together . . . . so here’s one more pic from the Cruise Book:
CA-69 CRUISE BOOK My father didn’t have a Cruise Book. Since other children of plank owners have written us and mentioned their dad’s Cruise Books, my brother Bill and I have wondered why we never saw the Cruise Book growing up. Since my father, a child of the depression and a
R.I.P. Theodore A. Pilger Theodore A. Pilger Posted On July 14th, 2011 – Honolulu Star-Advertiser July 10, 2011 Theodore A. Pilger, 86, of Kula, Maui, a Haleakala Observatory machinist, restaurant owner of Ole on Oahu and Crow’s Nest in Lahaina, and a Navy seaman first class with the USS Boston who served during World
Naval Records Database Update: Reached the end of the war With my laser focus on just adding sailors on and off the boston, I have reached September 1945 when the war ended. Given the gaps on the records and the readable records this will take a while to completely clean up, but I have 2,363 records to date in
JULY 4, 1944 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
Naval Records Database update: Remembering July 4th Last night as I watched fireworks and heard lots of patriotic music and saw fireworks, I thought of my Dad and the many soldiers, sailors and air personnel who have participated in wars for our country. I wondered whether they had mixed reactions to seeing and hearing the BOOM of
Happy Hour on the Fan Tail 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
Catch a quick swim from 60 feet up 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
Swimming in the Marshall Islands 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
MEN AT WORK 7 5-21-11 Attention!! Captain Herrmann inspects his crew in this picture dated 9 March 1944.
MEN AT WORK 6 5-14-11 This picture, taken in mid January 1944 while the Boston was still in Pearl Harbor, shows R. Adm. Thebaud coming aboard to inspect the crew of his new command ship. He is seen here, over the 40mm gun turret, inspecting the detachment of Marines. The camera is looking aft
MEN AT WORK 5 5-7-11 All pictures in this series are from the National Archives, retrieved by Bill last year. This one is for fans of the starboard side, Laurie. We are looking aft (rear) on the starboard (right) side. This is the “fantail” section of the ship. In the upper left we see
MEN AT WORK 4 4-29-11 While in the ship is in drydock, the men work to repair the propeller. That’s the biggest damn wrench I’ve ever seen!
MEN AT WORK 3 4-23-11 Men Overboard!!!! While in drydock in Espiritu Santo in March 1944, the men took shifts on rope harnesses scraping rust and barnacles off the sides of the ship prior to repainting.
MEN AT WORK 2 4-17-11 (from the National Archives) Battle Stations!! The 40mm anti-aircraft guns are manned and ready during Operation Desecrate (the raid on the Japanese stronghold Palau east of Mindanao ) at the end of March 1944. The Boston (shown here) was a unit of Task Group 38.1. One of the heavy
MEN AT WORK 4-9-11 This photo is from the National Archives, retrieved by Bill during his research in Washington DC. The photo is dated 14 September 43-45. I don’t know what that means. When pictures are posted on the internet, some definition is lost because of “file-size” constraints and that people have
