Crew Lists

At the end of the month, I’m planning a trip to the National Archives outside of Washington D.C. to research more information about the USS BOSTON. The archives have the original deck logs, war diaries, photographs, etc. from the USS BOSTON. The preparation has been a little daunting since in researching this topic, you find out that a deck log is a very large piece of paper that can have 4 pages on a boring day and 120 pages on an exciting decklog day. The USS Boston in World War II (CA-69) has six bound volumes that are 11 inches by 10 inches.

In addition, the archives houses war diaries, and muster rolls (who has on the ship) have been declassified are available on microfiche. One startling fact Steve and I came across from looking at the BEANPOT was in the first year at sea, 1/3 of the crew of the BOSTON was reassigned to other ships, often at liberty spots like Ulithi Atoll in the Pacific. The crew list we currently have is from one place in time which is just shy of 1600 sailors (I haven’t yet added the Officers). So if the turnover was constant we’ll exceed 2,500 sailors.

I’ll update everyone on my DC adventure…

Bill

Web Site Progress March 8th, 2010

I finished uploading a set of pictures I received from the national archives (the above picture is one of the entries). Please click on the left hand tab ‘Official Photos CA-69’. Most were shot in boston harbor after the first shakedown cruise. One was taken off the coast of California as the Boston was being escorted by the USS Grand Island (PF14).

I’ve made great progress on the crew list, soon the enlisted men will be complete.

I’ve added three new links, two are to the Rye Fire department of Rye New York which found themselves as the owner of the USS Boston’s anchor, the first story is trying to figure it out, the second story found some history as to how the anchor showed up in Rye New York. The third new link is for CA-69 Sailors who are still alive who want to join an organization devoted to US Cruisers, this site is added to the already existing USS Boston Shipmates site which is devoted to sailors and their spouses from all the the previous USS Boston’s, including CA-69.

I’ve deleted the chat function. We only had one person sign up and I was getting about 10 spam registrations a day. If we get 4-5 people who think this would be a good idea, then use the contact us form and let me know.. For now, just comment on a blog by clicking on the blog title and clicking ‘comment’.

Web Site Update

We’ve added some new pictures into a link called ‘Official Photo’s of CA-69’. I purchased these photos from the National Archives and modified them to fit on the website. I’m trying to incorporate their national archive name as the link so anyone could order the picture from the National Archives if they want to.

I’m considering eliminating the bulletin board section of the web site in the next month or so, the ‘Chat about the Boston’ on the link section. I’m getting three to four request from spammers to join a day (really? three crew members from russia want to join? a day? Humm.) These spammers are really persistent, one of them has attempted to use a different form of the same email address over 100 times (he or she comes from russia, turkey, Luthuania, China, and at least two places in the US!) I’ll close down the experiment of a bulletin board in about a month if it isn’t working.

If you want to comment on one of these blogs, feel free to use the comment section and enter a comment. Just click your mouse on the ‘No Comments’ title below the heading of the blog and you’ll be asked the enter a verification to make sure that you’re an actual human being, and not computer generated spam. 🙂

-Bill

WHO WE ARE

My father served on the Boston during WWll.   He was assigned to the ship while it was still being built and spent months in the city of Boston barracked at the Fargo Building.   He almost never spoke of the war or his Navy days to his family.   When he died four years ago, my brothers, my sister and myself could only remember a handful of anecdotes that he shared with us.

After he died, I spent three years researching and writing a book about his service on the Boston, titled “A Bird’s Eye View.” Many years earlier, a copy of a diary written by one of dad’s shipmates, Frank Studenski was given to me (the details are spelled in the book).   Using Frank’s Diary and a mountain of info from the internet, I was able to piece together the remarkable story of the Boston and what her crew endured.

The task was a bit daunting, to say the least.   I was never in the Navy.   In my entire life I stepped aboard a ship 4 times: as a boy scout I visited “Old Ironsides” in Boston, and in the last four years I have visited the Missouri at Pearl Harbor, the Hornet at Oakland, CA, and the USS Salem (the only heavy cruiser still afloat) at the Quincy MA shipyard — where the Boston was built.

The book was completed in the early months of this year, and is available on Amazon and on my website: www.ussbostonbook.org.

In the few months that the book has been available, to my knowledge two of my father’s shipmates have read the book.   One crewmember and his wife have invited me to their home for dinner and an overnight stay.   The other emailed me   “I have already read it and it is great.   You say it just the way it was!   I loved it. Brought back memories that I had forgotten a long time ago.” A few emails later, he ordered five more books — one for each of his children.   I am very gratified by their response to my book.

A few months ago, my younger brother Bill and I decided to start this blog site, devoted to the Boston during WWll in the Pacific.   We are not experts, we are not Navy guys, we are not part of any organization.   We are not affiliated with any other group or website.   We’re just a couple of guys with enthusiasm about our dad’s ship, the action she saw, and what the guys endured while serving our country and fighting our declared enemy.