Month: March 2020

The Anthony Love Letters, Part 2: March 28, 1944

thingsweleavebehindhistoryblog Leave a comment

The History

The USS Waller, a Fletcher-class destroyer, was launched from the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Kearny, New Jersey on August 15, 1942 and departed New York on November 31 for service in the South Pacific. [1]

Radioman 1st Class Morris D. Anthony reported onboard the USS Waller on September 17, 1943. [2]  The veteran sailor, having served on escort duties on the battleship USS New York and on Destroyer Squadron 22 operations on Waller’s sister ships was a good match for the destroyer which had quickly become a combat veteran.  Through the end of 1943 and into 1944, the USS Waller was taking part in operations throughout the Solomon Islands.  During this period, the USS Waller was clashing with Japanese destroyers pressed into service as transports and supply ships.  This use of destroyers to resupply garrisons in the Solomon Islands was known as the “Tokyo Express.” [3]

Throughout the rest of the USS Waller’s participation in the Solomon Campaign, she shelled multiple enemy positions.  The USS Waller had turned to make a port call at Pearl Harbor in early 1944, to give her crew much needed rest and the opportunity to receive mail.

Continue reading →

The Sino-Japanese War Medal (1894 – 1895)

thingsweleavebehindhistoryblog Leave a comment

IMG_0118

The chocolate bronze medal was in a century old black enameled kiri wood box.  Resting in a faded red velvet bed, the obverse shows the Imperial Mon (or crest), a Chrysanthemum, superimposed between two “Rising Sun” flags of the Japanese Empire.  The medal is suspended by a bar from a ribbon of light green with a lighter, almost white green stripe down the center.  On the reverse of the medal in four Japanese characters is the title, “Commemorative medal for service in the war.”  The inscription around the edge of the obverse reads, “Meiji twenty seventh through eighth years” or 1894 – 1895 in the Julian calendar.  The medal commemorates the Sino-Japanese War.

Continue reading →

The Anthony Love Letters, Part 1: Meet the Anthonys

thingsweleavebehindhistoryblog Leave a comment

 

“USN LCDR (Ret.) Morris Duane (M.D.) Anthony, cherished father, passed away on October 7, 2004 in Colorado Springs.  M.D. was preceded in death on July 17, 2004 by Helen, his devoted wife of 65 years.” [1] When I start researching an artifact, I never know where that journey will lead.  Call me a hopeless romantic, but I smiled at the humble glimpse and insight I got into this 65 year love story, that started with some letters from World War II and a photo of a sailor and his loving wife.

Continue reading →

The Larry Spencer Diary, Part 3: The Crash

thingsweleavebehindhistoryblog Leave a comment

IMG_9854

Christmas Day was on a Tuesday in 1945.  Early that morning – at about 9:00 A.M. – Jack Stearns Barrows and Gilbert Marvin Crolius left the Crolius residence telling Mrs. Crolius they were going to the airfield at Ontario, California to look at a plane which was for sale.  Gilbert Crolius worked for the American Airplane Company, while Jack worked for a lumber company.  Both boys, 17 years in age, had about 10 flight hours each as student pilots. Sometime after 1:00, the two boys took off from Ontario Field in a stolen C-47 “Skytrain.”  Eyewitnesses stated, “…after taking off, the plane gained altitude rapidly and suddenly went into a spin, diving almost straight down” crashing into a vineyard about 01:55. [1]

Continue reading →