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Recognition and Farewell Party Open House: USO Club, Bangor, Maine, Sunday, April 14, 1946
Get PDFLists members receiving USO Distinguished Service certificates and the civic groups and businesses of Bangor who sponsored the reception.https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/books_pubs/1173/thumbnail.jp
Eighth Infantry Division, a combat history by regiments and special units [U.S. Army. 13th Infantry Regiment]
Get PDFFrom History of the 13th Regiment, World War II, page 34:
The first action in World War II, in which elements of the 13th Infantry Regiment participated occurred on the 9th of July, 1944, when the Third Battalion cleared out pockets of resistance in the town of La Haye du Puits, capturing approximately 100 prisoners.
The real D-Day for the 13th Infantry came on July 13th when the Regiment passed through the 28th Infantry, south of La Haye du Puits. At 0800 it attacked to the south with the First Battalion on the right, the Third Battalion on the left, and the Second. Battalion in reserve. The dense hedge-row country through which the fighting progressed was strongly defended by enemy mortar, artillery, and small arms fire. Both the First Battalion and the Third Battalion advanced steadily all day against strong resistance and by darkness both Battalions had reached their objectives some 1800 yards south of the jump-off line. The fighting in the First Battalion area was particularly bitter near the town of Vesly. For its action at Vesly, Company B, commanded by Captain Allen J. Mauderly, received a Division citation. For the Third Battalion, the town of La Puits Ruault constituted the main strong point.https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/ww_reg_his/1122/thumbnail.jp
Log of the U.S.S. General Leroy Eltinge (AP-154)
Get PDFFrom The Ship and Her Travels
On February 21st, 1945, the General Leroy Eltinge was comissioned at San Francisco. When we fell in on top of Hatch No. 5 for the ceremony, the band was playing and visitors were gathered in the 20mm. gun tubs. The ship was presented to Captain Wakefield and he replied with a short speech of thanks. After the chaplain gave the benediction, the commissioning pennant was run up.
We were through with ceremony and ready for work. There was plenty of that -- we went across the bay and loaded stores for 48 backbreaking hours in an all hands evolution. During the days that followed there was much to be done to get things squared away in readiness for the shakedown cruise. At last, on March 4th, we got underway for San Pedro. On the way down we held speed runs, gunnery exercises, and dozens of other tests to find out everything we could about our new ship. And everything went well. After we reached San Pedro we went out for more gunnery exercises and for simulated strafing attacks and things still went well. We were ready for sea.https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/ww_reg_his/1146/thumbnail.jp
The Minnie, or, The war cruise of the U.S.S. Minneapolis
Get PDFFrom the Prologue
The Minnie is truly a veteran. Only a very few other fighting ships in Uncle Sam\u27s Navy have more battle stars than the Minneapolis. During one twenty-month cruise in the Pacific she covered a distance equivalent to nearly seven times around the world. She was in port only eight days during this period which netted each crewman 48 hours of leave. The Minneapolis has served with the Third, Fifth and Seventh Fleets and in all types of operations. Many times the crew could not help but believe that the old ship was classed as expendable, as whenever there was a job to do, the Minnie seemed to be assigned to help do it. Censorship kept her name out of the hometown papers because she was always in action. It has been said the ships that get the publicity are the ones that get sunk, but the Nips couldn\u27t sink the Minnie although they tried time after time.https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/ww_reg_his/1147/thumbnail.jp
The Manus Review: 20th Special U.S. Naval Construction Battalion
Get PDFIn the course of 20 months overseas the 20th handled every conceivable type of cargo from eggs to two-ton bombs. By late July 1945, the battalion had handled well over one-half million tons of cargo. For their continual good work under adverse conditions, the 20th Special received numerous commendations from high ranking Naval Officials.
Following the end of the war, an increasing number of men of the battalion began the long-awaited trip to the United States. On October, 22, 1945, the battalion received the welcome orders to begin inactivation. On November 3, 1945, the battalion was officially decommissioned.
To help recall the days on Manus the battalion is publishing this book. On this and following pages you will find many pictures which record far better than words, the humor, thrills and boredom shared by all during duty with the 20th Special Battalion. Every effort has been made to minimize the amount of copy and captions, in order that each man may relate his own personal story for every picture.
So, proceed, Mr. Civilian, the history of the 20th Special U. S. N. C. B. lies in your hands.https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/ww_reg_his/1161/thumbnail.jp
Cargo soundings album: April 1944 to November 1945 (28th Special Naval Construction Battalion)
Get PDFPrologue
Soon after the treacherous attack on Pearl Harbor, the idea was conceived by the Navy Department of forming construction units which would do all construction work overseas that would arise from the exigencies of war. Less than a year later a bottle-neck developed in the unloading of ships which made it obvious that the Navy needed not only experienced builders but capable stevedores, as well. Hurriedly the Special Battalions were formed. Their personnel consisting of some life-long stevedores, but in great part, of men who had never before been on a dock for a purpose other than boarding a ship or fishing.
These battalions came through in the best traditions of the Seabees and the U.S. Naval Service. From Port Hueneme, California, to the Philippines, from Davisville, R. I., to Burma. The Steve-bees have, in full battalions, detachments and units, performed miracles in speed of loading and unloading supply ships.
The 28th Special Naval Construction Battalion is typical of the fast-working, efficient, stevedoring outfits that have done so much to facilitate the logistic angle of the war effort. At Pearl Harbor it received commendations for its speed and capability, for its record-breaking handling of all possible manner of cargo. In the Philippines it continued its excellent work. Soon after V-J Day the battalion moved to Japan, where it was decommissioned.
When the 28th Special landed at the Philippine Islands, it found nothing in the form of living quarters waiting for them. A camp had to be built from scratch and there was no one around to do it but the stevedores themselves. The men fell to the job with a vengeance, determined to prove their versatility. Following in the footsteps of a Construction Battalion, they built a camp that was generally conceded to be among the best on the island.
It is to these men who have sweated on the docks through all hours of the day and night; who have outdone themselves in an unaccustomed construction job that this book, the story of their lives in the 28th SI\u27ecial, is respectfully dedicated.https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/ww_reg_his/1165/thumbnail.jp
Tour of duty: 103 Naval Construction Battalion, 1943-1945
Get PDFIntroduction
Naval Construction Battalion 103 was not among the first to go to war. World War II had been raging perilously for twenty-one months before our men mustered into boot camp. Yet this did not mean we were lax in responding to the battle call. For it was logical that the nation count on many of our kind to first build the industrial might by which we armed ourselves and our allies. Aircraft plants and planes, munitions plants and guns, shipyards and ships had to be built. Those who remained behind us had to be taught a multitude of artisan trades only the construction men could perform. Then, with the industrial potential leaping ahead, we put down our tools and tasks: We said goodbye to our families, children and friends, and solemnly shoved off for boot camp.
By average, the men in this battalion, and those who followed, are older in years of experience. When we entered boot camp a new system of military training, based on modern battlefield conditions, awaited us. When we took aboard our gear for the big overseas job, we found it to be the best equipment man could make.
This is a far different story than of our Construction Brothers who had gone on before. Ill-prepared, those men threw themselves before the yellow tide in the Pacific-and stopped it cold. Only a few bull dozers, a minimum of military training, and an amazing amount of guts did the trick. They diked up that yellow tide. Held it until we and others, well trained and well equipped, could move out into this war theater to secure and make ready the great offensive now launched from all quarters against the enemy.
Naval Construction Battalion 103, to date, has seen only the backwash of war: Marine casualties returned from tough campaigns; a handful of enemy flushed out, like sewer bugs from dank and odorous caves; a city and villages blasted to rubble and ruin; natives carrying life-time scars of torture. These sights have a profound effect upon all of us. Impulsively we want to drop the hammer and saw, take up the carbine and press on to actual combat. That chance may yet come.
We are on this tour of duty to build. We are here to construct the facilities by which the war progresses toward the unconditional surrender of the enemy. And we are bound to do these duties well for the sake of every man who came out here to fight and to build, but who will never see, with mortal eyes, his home again.
The Seabees were conceived at a ghastly, agonizing hour in our history shortly after Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941. They emerged as a surprise force, the one BIG NEW element in the waging of a surprise war, and have proven to be neither strictly sea goin\u27, in the Navy sense, nor landlubbers. Rather their ranks boast of men of the sea and men of the soil alike. They have brought their pontoon causeways through rough surf and shellfire to establish beachheads; they have tilled the soil of these far off lands to raise crops for desolated natives. Yet their main task has been to construct forward bases from which a mighty Navy and Army press home the attack.
Construction Battalion 103 is doing just that. And in this pictorial review of our tour of duty thus far, you will see a battalion of American men at work-and at play, too. For it is an American premise to see the lighter side, to fraternize with friendly people, to indulge in horse-play during those all too few hours of liberty.https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/ww_reg_his/1167/thumbnail.jp
Seventy-First Home station news bulletin: Souvenir Edition
Get PDFFrom the opening pages:
The Home Station News Bulletin is the brain child of Captain Donald P. Sherman, who has had service in the seventy-first infantry since December 22, 1911, who served through the first World War with the 54th Pioneer Infantry with service in the Meuse Argonne and the army of occupation and who, remained at his position as Superintendent of the Armory at Thirty-Third Street and Park Avenue during World War II.
The bulletin was conceived and carried on as a medium for keeping in touch with all the members of the seventy-first who were scattered throughout the entire world. It\u27s first edition appeared in November 1942, and consisted of a three page mimeographed news sheet sent to seventy-five known addresses. It continued to be published in mimeographed form for the first year and then graduated to a photo offset job. This was made possible through the offer of Mr. Silverman of the Progressive Photo Offset Company to publish it at cost. Mr. Silverman continued to publish the bulletin at cost up to the final copy and including this souvenir edition. Our hats off to Mr. Silverman for a grand job.
Donald P. Shermanhttps://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/ww_reg_his/1189/thumbnail.jp
History of 840th Engineer Aviation Battalion
Get PDFThis is our story -- not all of it -- but that part which printing can tell. No words, no photographs, no souvenirs, no recollections can fully recall nor retell the story of our life together as an organization. Here we have recorded some of the events in which we participated, the many places which, for short periods of time, we called home; our jobs and our accomplishments as constructors in an age of destruction.
But no page can record our emotions nor our thoughts as we wallowed through the never ending tasks which were our assignments in this conflict. No means of communication can transmit that spirit of hope which aided us to face that seemingly endless series of jobs which always confronted us. No medium can properly portray the worth of the friendships which we knew here, nor express the pleasure of those brief moments when we had a chance to enjoy ourselves. Here then is the story, our story of the thousand days of our lives which we gave to our country.
John M. Keane, Lt. Col. C.E. Commanding, 840th Engineer Aviation Battalionhttps://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/ww_reg_his/1210/thumbnail.jp
The Oracle, 1946
Get PDFDedication
In the hands of the teacher, man\u27s future lies. Theirs is a task which receives little material reward or lasting compensation; yet, no occupation contains more purport. Theirs is the task of molding character and guiding the individual. Within their grasp a new generation is being trained, and with this preparation the teacher holds the very destiny of a great nation and of all mankind in the balance. Through the teacher, world civilization has progressed; to the teacher, world civilization looks for its salvation. In the hands of the teacher, man\u27s future lies.
Thus, conscious of the teachers\u27 great responsibility, we dedicate this graduation issue of the Oracle, June, 1946, to the faculty of Bangor High School.https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/bhs_yearbooks/1010/thumbnail.jp