YMS-299

in the Battle of Okinawa

Archive for category Trinkets

USS Rhea Model, Paintings, and Ribbons

Jan 24

Posted by Anthony D Paul in After the Battle, Photos, Seacadets, Trinkets | No Comments

Bob Donaldson, the artist of the USS Rhea watercolor painting featured in this post, brother of Chuck Donaldson, has sent me a photo of his memorabilia wall including an impressive model he built of the ship.

Model and paintings of USS Rhea by Bob Donaldson

Model and paintings of USS Rhea by Bob Donaldson

A photo of the model that I built of the Rhea, the two watercolors that I painted as well as the Youth crest that was used on board when I was a cadet. Above the model is the actual battle ribbon from the ship that was given to me by a friend and ex sea cadet officer who managed to obtained the ribbons before the ship was demolished and scrapped. —Bob Donaldson

Marty’s letter to grandson | Part 8 of 8: After the war

Mar 17

Posted by Anthony D Paul in Documents, During Battle, Letters, Soldiers, Stories, Trinkets, YMS-468 | No Comments

Some months ago, I was contacted by a sailor who served aboard a sibling minesweeper across the American, European, and Pacific theatres of WWII. Lieutenant Marty Roberts of Raleigh, NC served aboard YMS-468 as Engineering Officer and later Deck Officer, from 1943 to 1946. Marty wrote up this biography of his naval service for his grandson and was kind enough to share it and his photographs with us.

This post is an eight-part series. Below is an index of all parts. Enjoy!

Marty Roberts of Raleigh, NC | February 28th, 2014
Navy Days – A Letter to Joe

Part 8 of 8: Headed home and after the war

Soon thereafter my relief showed up and on January 3rd, 1946 I received orders home so the last time I saw the YMS-468 she was high and dry in a Japanese drydock. Our 4th officer, Clint Hill (an artist from Seattle) took over as Skipper and I learned some time later when Clint visited New York that they were sent over to Korea to sweep in that area. After that they were given orders to go to Singapore for some well-deserved R&R and on the way went through another typhoon in the East China Sea. Ultimately, the Navy sold the ship to the Turkish Navy! It’s hard for me to believe that little ship could travel so far around the world!

Having been relieved by a regular navy Ensign my orders were to proceed by the first available government transportation to the nearest staging center for further transportation to the officer separation center, New York, NY and then proceed home after release from active duty. Hallelujah!!

Actually, on January 7th I boarded the USS Baxter (APA-94) and headed for San Diego via Pearl Harbor. After a short stop at Pearl we departed but soon came to a grinding halt when the ship’s boilers lost power and we had to return to Pearl at reduced speed for repairs. As a result, I was sent to an officer’s club on the beach somewhere beyond the Pali Pass for R&R until I could continue home. The repairs were evidently going to be extensive so I was transferred to the USS Fond du Lac (APA-166) and finally arrived at San Diego on January 30th. On February 3rd, I boarded DC-3 and hopscotched across the US reporting in at NY the next day. February 6th I was detached with 2 months, 6 days’ accumulated leave and finally released from active duty on April 12th, 1946. At last I could rejoin my family and get to know our 2 ½ month old beautiful baby girl, Phyllis Ann.

Marty Roberts; Pan Am travel card (front); February 19, 1953

Marty Roberts; Pan Am travel card (front); February 19, 1953


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Marty’s letter to grandson | Part 5 of 8: YMS-468 in battle, up to Japan’s surrender

Mar 17

Posted by Anthony D Paul in During Battle, Letters, Photos, Soldiers, Stories, Trinkets, YMS-468 | No Comments

Some months ago, I was contacted by a sailor who served aboard a sibling minesweeper across the American, European, and Pacific theatres of WWII. Lieutenant Marty Roberts of Raleigh, NC served aboard YMS-468 as Engineering Officer and later Deck Officer, from 1943 to 1946. Marty wrote up this biography of his naval service for his grandson and was kind enough to share it and his photographs with us.

This post is an eight-part series. Below is an index of all parts. Enjoy!

Marty Roberts of Raleigh, NC | February 28th, 2014
Navy Days – A Letter to Joe

Part 5 of 8: YMS-468 in battle, up to Japan’s surrender

Our first operation consisted of more than 80 ships in an echelon formation that extended clear over the horizon and took all day to sweep one pass through the line of mines. Luckily for us, the Japs were meticulous in laying these mines in quite a straight line. Other ships were assigned the task of following the sweeps to destroy the mines that were cut and popped up to the surface from their anchored position just below the surface. Some days we were assigned that job and it really was fun to explode the mines with rifle fire as seen in the pictures below.

Around this time we began to hear some vague rumors about the testing of a new unbelievably powerful bomb. But no other news concerning it.

Mine disposal off Okinawa; July 1945

Mine disposal off Okinawa; July 1945


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Marty’s letter to grandson | Part 4 of 8: YMS-468 on the US West Coast, into the Pacific Theatre

Mar 17

Posted by Anthony D Paul in During Battle, Letters, Soldiers, Stories, Trinkets, YMS-468 | No Comments

Some months ago, I was contacted by a sailor who served aboard a sibling minesweeper across the American, European, and Pacific theatres of WWII. Lieutenant Marty Roberts of Raleigh, NC served aboard YMS-468 as Engineering Officer and later Deck Officer, from 1943 to 1946. Marty wrote up this biography of his naval service for his grandson and was kind enough to share it and his photographs with us.

This post is an eight-part series. Below is an index of all parts. Enjoy!

Marty Roberts of Raleigh, NC | February 28th, 2014
Navy Days – A Letter to Joe

Part 4 of 8: YMS-468 into the Pacific Theatre

Thus fortified with supplies, we left Pearl and headed for Johnston Island, a small atoll southwest of Hawaii and then set course for Majuro Island, another atoll, in the Marshall Islands which had been recently liberated from the Japanese. During this leg of our trip we crossed the International Date Line on June 18, 1945 and a few interesting events occurred. I still have the certificate commemorating the crossing. It’s called “The SACRED ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DRAGON” and was conferred on Latitude 11°-25’.

Sacred order of the Golden Dragon card bestowed for crossing date/time line; June 18, 1945

Sacred order of the Golden Dragon card bestowed for crossing date/time line; June 18, 1945


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Scale Model of YMS-135 Subclass

Dec 25

Posted by Anthony D Paul in Ships, Trinkets | No Comments

A friend and model-maker, Rob Weilacher, is working on a YMS model. It appears to be about seven inches in length. Nice job!

YMS-135 Subclass Model

YMS-135 Subclass Model

You can see more of his work on his website, Loose Cannon Models.

USS Rhea Wheel & Helm For Sale

Jan 23

Posted by Anthony D Paul in After the Battle, Ships, Trinkets | No Comments

I was recently contacted by Jim Howlett, another cadet out of Port Stanley. He informed me he ran across Rhea’s wheel for sale on a nautical antiques site:

Scruton Marine Services

Cool stuff! Of course, it is well overpriced, and I wouldn’t know what to do with such a large thing in my house, but it is a very neat find, nonetheless. I am curious how they validated the authenticity of it—and if it is truly WWII-era, or if it would have been replaced post-war. They have the YMS number wrong in their listing, which makes me wonder.

Silent Defenders Patch/Logo/Insignia

Mar 6

Posted by Anthony D Paul in Trinkets, War Context | No Comments

I had trouble finding any good versions of the Silent Defenders logo, so I went ahead and recreated it in vector format. You may download it for your own use at the bottom of this post.

Silent Defenders patch logo

Silent Defenders patch logo

 

M.V. Rhea Tally Cap, Shoulder Flash and Stories

Mar 5

Posted by Anthony D Paul in After the Battle, Seacadets, Ships, Stories, Trinkets | No Comments

In correspondence with Vernon “Vern” A.C. Mills, he’s been giving me some more bits of information about the post-war doings of the ship as a cadet training facility. Among his saved trinkets are a cap tally (a band that would have been worn around a sailor’s hat) and a shoulder flash (patch). Thank you to Vern for sharing these!

M.V. Rhea cap tally (band) and shoulder flash (patch); 1970s

M.V. Rhea cap tally (band) and shoulder flash (patch); 1970s

Vern served on the ship in the 1970s, alongside Charles Donaldson, the other former cadet whom has sent me a great number of photos of the ship.

Vern also pitched in this humorous bit of information:

I just remembered something that will give you one hell of a good laugh. During my time on the Rhea, I always worked in the galley with another guy named Brian Shuart. It was Brian who got the rest of the crew and even the officers to call me, “Captain Heartburn”.  Oh yeah, my culinary skills have improved since then. (I think)

 

Stamps

Nov 1

Posted by Anthony D Paul in During Battle, Trinkets, War Context | 1 Comment

After transcribing a few letters, I wanted to take a look at all of the stamps together. It turns out, I only have four unique stamps across the batch.

6 cents; Air Mail

6 cents; Air Mail

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Imperial Japanese Currency

Oct 8

Posted by Anthony D Paul in During Battle, Trinkets, War Context | No Comments

Tucked into one of the letters home following the occupation of Okinawa, I found a wad of Imperial bills. They are pretty nifty, I must say.

Imperial Japanese currency (front); one

Imperial Japanese currency (front); one

Imperial Japanese currency (back); one

Imperial Japanese currency (back); one

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Campaign Medals

Mar 7

Posted by Anthony D Paul in After the Battle, Trinkets, War Context | No Comments

Chuck was awarded three medals and a bronze star for his service in WWII. The medals would have been the same as those below. One of these medals would have had the bronze star pinned to the middle of the ribbon, though I am not sure which.

World War II Victory Medal

This medal was awarded to any member of the US military to serve between December 7th, 1941 and December 31st, 1946.

The medal’s front depicts Nike standing victorious, holding a broken sword, representing the broken power of the Axis, with one foot upon the helmet of Mars, the Roman god of war, representing the end of the conflict. Behind Nike is a sunburst, representing the dawn of peace. The reverse recalls the “Four Freedoms” speech by President Roosevelt, with a laurel sprig, surrounded by the words “United States of America”, and the dates of the conflict, “1941-1945”. The edges of the ribbon revisit the multi-colored rainbow ribbon of the Allied World War I Victory Medal. This again honors all the allied nations. The wide red center represents the new sacrifice of blood by World War II combatants. The thin white lines separating the central red band from the outer multi-colored bands represent the rays of new hope, two of them signifying that this was the second global conflict.

World War II Victory Medal

World War II Victory Medal

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48-Star American Flag

Mar 7

Posted by Anthony D Paul in During Battle, Trinkets, War Context | No Comments

Measuring smaller than a sheet of paper, this flag was tucked into the personnel file. It has holes in the corners, as if it were attached to something, though no rivets or visible weathering. With that in mind, it was probably not a flag hung anywhere on the exterior of the ship, but was more likely a rally flag that would have been attached to a stick at a parade. None-the-less, it is period and a neat little trinket.

48-Star, Handheld, American Parade Flag

48-Star, Handheld, American Parade Flag

Curious Receipt or Subscription

Mar 7

Posted by Anthony D Paul in During Battle, Trinkets, War Context | 2 Comments

If anyone reads Japanese, I am very interested in finding out what this is. It was amongst the rest of the naval paperwork. It appears to be a postal receipt or subscription to “The Rocky Mountain Times“.

Update: Thank you to Jeff Hannan of Cheshire, UK for the information on the history of the paper (see below).

Update: Thank you to M.S. for transcribing the receipt (see comment).

The Rocky Mountain Times

The Rocky Mountain Times

History of Rocky Mountain Times

Based in Utah, with a Christian focus, Rocky Mountain Times was one of four Japanese-American papers that published in the United Stated during the WWII. It was originally published by Shiro Iida, until it was absorbed by Utah Nippo (another Japanese-American paper) in 1927. Utah Nippo was a collaboration of husband and wife, Uneo and Kuniko Terasawa, begun in 1914. In 1939, when Uneo died, his wife took over the publication. Soon after, she added an English section to the paper that caused it to peak in circulation during the war. Then running three times per week, the circulation was up to 8,000 during the war. After the war, the paper steadily declined in circulation until Kuniko’s death in 1991.

Questions to Answer:
  • What country is this from (or what language is it in)?
  • What is it? A subscription receipt? A postal receipt?
  • Does it have a date anywhere on it?
  • What is the watermark at the bottom? (There is part of a block-type watermark facing backward at the bottom. It reads “MMERMU”.)