Nice keepsake.
My wife's uncle served in the Navy, and was on a destroyer that was part of
the task force that captured the U-505. Several years ago, when the Museum
of Science and Industry in Chicago decided that even though a World War
hadn't killed her, Chicago winters were finally starting to, they dug what
amounted to a sub pen in their front yard and lowered the 505 underground.
They did a really nice job with it - instead of just being a "see the big
boat we have!" exhibit, they turned it into a multimedia tribute to
maritime sailors. One of the areas talks about the capture, and features
6-foot-high glass panels with the crew manifests for each ship in the task
force.
Sheri and I carefully went through each panel, and finally found Uncle
Bud. That was pretty cool.
Unfortunately, war wasn't kind to Uncle Bud. Sheri's mom never talks about
it, but based on letters we found from Sheri's grandmother to their senator
trying to get him discharged and admitted to a hospital for psych eval, and
little hints here and there, looks like he not only suffered PTSD, but also
developed problems while still in the Navy. They were never able to secure
an early release, and he just had to tough it out.
On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 6:57 PM, Jim Nichols <jhnichols@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> During WWII, service men frequently sent home B&W 8x10 photos to
> commemorate completion of some phase of their training. This one was sent
> home by my mother's brother when he was training as a gunner aboard the
> Navy Grumman TBF torpedo bomber. His group went on to serve aboard the
> USS Franklin in the South Pacific.
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Navy+Training+Group.jpg.html
>
> He is second from the right in the front row, where he marked an "X".
>
> On October 30, 1944, the "Big Ben" was hit by a series of kamikaze
> attacks. My uncle was killed that day and buried at sea.
>
> Jim Nichols
> Tullahoma, TN USA
> --
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>
--
Paul Braun
Music Junkie
"Music washes from the soul the dust of everyday life." -- Harlan Howard
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