The USS Boston in World War II

Joseph S. Pulaski, S1c

4-3-16 I received an email from Diane Balsam this morning.   She told me that her father, Joe Pulaski, aged 91, died earlier in the day. I live on the “other coast’ from Diane, and, as such, I haven’t met her face to face.   Nor did I get the chance

March - April 1945

4-2-16 Frank Studenski:   March 25, 1945       Early this morning, I got my first look at the California coast line.   We pulled into Terminal Island Navy Yard flying our Homeward Bound pennant.   While the N.O.B. Band   played, Ginny Simms sang, “Oh What a Beautiful Morning,”   with a lot of

Goin' Home

3-12-16 Frank Studenski:       March 6, 1945       After 16 months of continuous duty we weighed anchor and headed out of the lagoon streaming a 700 foot homeward bound pennant.   The pennant is so long it is held up by balloons.   Our first stop will be Pearl Harbor. George Pitts:     March 6,

A watershed moment

3-8-16 Just before Christmas of 2005, nine months or so after my father died, I went with my Mom, Bill, and his family to Hawaii for a couple weeks.   On a day when Bill and his crew were off doing something, my mother and I flew to Oahu from Maui.

Good news on March 2, 1945

3-3-16 Frank Studenski:     March 2, 1945:   This morning we fueled from tankers, we are heading back to Ulithi. Tonight we finally got the word we are going back to the states.   We have been waiting and dreaming for a long time. George Pitts:       March 3, 1945: (ignore the discrepancies in

Last words on Iwo Jima

2-27-16 From Feb. 23 through the 27th, the ships focused on launching carrier plane bombing strikes on Tokyo and the surrounding areas, where much of Japan’s airplane industries were centered.   The goal was to continue to lessen Japan’s abilities to move planes and launch airstrikes against what was

More Iwo

2-24-16 From George Pitt’s diary: Is this not amazing? We’re not quite done with Iwo Jima yet . . .

Feb 23, 1945

2-23-16 There, I caught up with the calendar! Frank Studenski:   February 23, 1945       This afternoon we fueled from tankers.   Tonight we are heading back to the Tokyo area. The water is getting rough and we are about 500 miles from Tokyo.   This time of year the weather is always rough.

Feb 22, 1945

2-23-16 From George Pitts Diary:

Feb 21 part c

2-22-16 I guess I’m “all in” on this: Let’s hear from Frank Studenski:   February 21, 1945: This morning we are with the rest of the cruiser bombardment force, we are nearing the island.   Destroyers can be seen in close, firing star shells at the island.   We teamed up

Feb 21 part b

2-22-16 sorry, i couldn’t fit all 4 pages into one post.   Here continues the rest of Feb 21 . . . From George Pitt Diary steve

Feb 21

2-22-16 Well, I’ve done pretty good so far, staying on task for many days in a row (not my strongest suit.)   But now, today, I am actually a day behind in the “daily” telling of this story.   So, here is “yesterday’s news.” From George Pitts Diary:

Feb 20

2-20-16 Did you notice that George noted on his “Dog Day” entry that this was the “10th Amphibious Operation”   that the Boston had supported?   In one year!   The ships left Pearl Harbor in late January 1944, assembled into Task Force 58 and tore up and down the Pacific   – everywhere from

More Feb 19

2-20-16 Several years ago, my brother Bill took a week+ trip to Washington DC to visit the National Archives.   His primary interest was to access all the deck logs and personnel archives related to the Boston –   so that he could (painstakingly) create an accurate “Crew List” of the men who

D-Day Feb 19, 1945

2-19-16 From George Pitts Diary:

Feb 18th

2-18-16 Hope you’re enjoying this look at the Iwo Jima Operation from the diary of signalman George Pitts.   The entry for today (2/18/45) is short, so I’ll take advantage of the opportunity . . .   Tomorrow (1945) is ‘D-Day’ on Iwo Jima.   The ships of TF58 provided firepower support

Feb. 17

2-17-16 from George Pitts Diary:

Feb 16

2-16-16 The Boston and her task group is still focusing on the Tokyo region on Feb 16, 1945. From George Pitts Diary:

More George Pitts' Diary

2-12-16 The last couple of days, I’ve had a series of frustrating technical “issues” around getting GP’s diary entries posted.   I am happy to say that it wasn’t ALL operator failure!   Many unsuccessful attempts at posting older, stored files, however, caused me to go back to the

G. Pitts - Iwo Jima 2

12-11-16 From George Pitts Diary: steve

George Pitts - Iwo Jima 1

2-9-16 Readers of this website know that several years ago, as I worked on the Baked Beans books, I had the remarkable blessing of meeting, interviewing, and becoming friends with several original crewmembers (and one officer) – all in their late seventies / early eighties. It was fascinating!   You have seen me

More "Before Iwo Jima"

2-3-16 The Boston dropped anchor in the giant lagoon anchorage at Ulithi (Caroline Islands, south and west of Guam) on January 25.   The men rested and the ship was reprovisioned and rearmed over the next several days.   The Task Force changed again from TF 38 to T 58, with Admiral

Before Iwo Jima

1-24-16 In early January 1945, the ships of Task Force 38 were not quite done with the Philippines yet.   They spent much of the early part of the month bombarding Formosa and other targets.   On Jan 9, the Task Force headed into the South China Sea.   Halsey believed the bulk

Full Speed Ahead

1-7-16 Inside joke.   No, really.   Bill is working on the officer list for the site.   He automated the crew list years ago, and was able to access crew data in a way that was relatively “user-friendly”.   Through programming and various tedious cross-checks, he put together the crew records database that

History is a long, slow, burn

January 1, 2016 Happy New Year History is a long, slow burn.  The story of our species on this planet is piled high with ethnic hatreds – sometimes centuries in the making; ambitious and ruthless conquests of peoples and territories, colonialism and long-simmering resentments.  Oh, and the story is also piled