USS Boston CA-69 in WWII

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.

11-24-21

The Boston was ordered on November 21, 1944 to detach from the rest of the Task Force (enroute to Ulithi Atoll) and report to drydock at Manus Island (Admiralties) for an overhaul.   The ship arrived at Seedler Harbor (Manus) the the day after Thanksgiving, November 24.

9/6/2021

September 4, 1945:
Today after the Peace Treaty was signed a lot of the ships from the task groups were headin back home with “Homeward Bound” pennants flying.   We watched a lot of ships leaving Tokyo Bay.

OCCUPATION DUTY:
We received orders to form a task group for occupation duty.   The task unit composed of the Boston, two destroyers and an U.D.T. , the unit is commanded by our captain. Our duties were to move up and down the coast of Honshu, to inspect and insure demilitarization of Japanese coast defense, suicide boat bases and midget submarine bases.   We got underway from Tokyo Bay on September 8th   for Katsuura, Sendai, Yokohoma, Kataura Ko, Inubo Zaki, Wakayama, Hiro, Kure, Nagoya on the east coast and inland sea of Honshu and Kogoahima, Nagasaki and Sasebo on Kyushu Island . . .

Occupation Duty is an “under-reported” part of the War.

Thanks to Frank Studenski who wrote his amazing War Diary of his days on the Boston.     Without his diary, it would be hard to piece together anything more than a glimpse of what it was like to sail aboard CA-69.

Men left the Boston in three major departures: dates based on time served, hardships, etc.

. . .   The ship remained in Japanese waters until January 28, 1946, when she left Kure Harbor for the return trip to the states.   She arrived at San Francisco on February 190th and left for Puget Sound Ship Yard, Bremerton on April 3, 1946 and arrived on April 6, 1946 and went into the inactive fleet. On October 26, 1946 she went into the mothball fleet.

steve

May 14, 2021

A while back, we got an email from May Koenig, telling us she has a picture of her grandfather, Clyde W. Day in uniform. She sent it in, and Bill added it to this site’s crewlist.   I then asked her if she could tell us a little about him.

Her reply:   “He was one of my favorite people ever. I am named after his sister. He was compassionate, honest, hard-working, and a great example to everyone in our family and beyond.   He was an engineer after he left the Navy, and after retiring, he ran a clock repair business until he was 95!     He volunteered thousands of hours with the local hospice and other organizations, and was a pillar of the community.   Here is a link to his obituary if you’d care to read it  http://www.kingsvillerecord.com/obituaries/clyde-wickliffe-day/article_08b26078-920d-11e9-9770-07e4c3e97d6c.html

Steve

4-11-21

While the ship was under repair in San Pedro, the men left on leaves   –   half gone for three weeks and the other half doing light duty on the ship (with plenty of leaves and down-time.)

Bob Knight:
I had a twenty-one day leave and I came home.   At that time, they had DC3’s. I spent most of the time on my flight home sitting on the coffee urn talking to the stewardesses. We stopped in Texas and another place or two on the way home.
After I went home, I headed back to San Pedro.   One of my old girlfriends from high school was married and living in San Pedro.   I visited her a couple of times.
My aunt had a cousin who lived in Hollywood, right next door to Walt Disney. I got to meet Walt and tour some of the studios.   Jane Russell was just coming in at that time and I got a quick peek at her in the studio.

Frank Studenski:
We had lots of leave. Me and a buddy from the division (his name was John Slade) met a couple of girls in Long Beach and we stayed with them for a couple of days and nights   –   dancing, drinking, you know . . .   When it came time to leave, I said to Slade, “I’m going back to the ship – pretty soon we’ll be AOL.”   Slade said, “I’ll have one more drink and catch up with you.”
I never saw him again. He never came back to the ship.

Steve