I took a look on YouTube to see what kinds of YMS videos there are. Surprisingly, there were more than zero…which is about what I expected to find. Here’s what I found:
Archive for category Soldiers
Our Muster Roll and More!
Jan 23
In other news, I was also contacted by Jim Harlan, son of John Harlan, who served alongside my grandfather on the ship. He happened upon the YMS-299 muster roll I’d been searching for. I got my hands on dozens of pages from several roll calls. I am in the middle of transcribing them all and will begin posting pieces of them very soon so people may Google their family members’ names and find this site.
I am holding out a glimmer of hope that one or more of the soldiers on my ship are living. I know it isn’t very likely, but I have found another YMS sibling’s crew member who is living. It isn’t my ship, but I’d like to visit soon to ask questions about the ship that I was never able to ask my grandfather.
I have a handful of photos of Chuck with his friends stationed in California for training, then in Hawaii. I’m not sure if any of these guys are still alive. I don’t have all of their names, but their nicknames and such are on a few of the photos.
Photos include (in order of appearance):
- William “Bill” Loren McIntyre, RdM3c (Svc. #896-64-93), of Hattiesburg, MS
- Charles Dean Paul (CDP), MoMM3c (Svc. #660-35-65)
- William “Bill” “Red” Hatch Davis, SoM3c (Svc. #884-88-90), of Salt Lake City, UT
- Joe Aragon, S2c/RM3c (Svc. #381-95-02)
- Welch
- Richard Millington George, S1c (Svc. #564-97-25), of Los Angeles, CA
- John, Eugene, Charlie, and Barbara (in the car photo)
Update: I found a family member of Joe Aragon and confirmed this is him on Find a Grave (1926–2012).
William ‘Bill’ Loren McIntyre, RdM3c, of Hattiesburg, MS and CDP; December 1944, Hawaii
43-452, San Diego, CA, 1943
Nov 22
San Diego, CA, circa 1943, 43-452 after boot camp
Questions to answer:
- How would someone try to get a list of names for a photo like this? Read the rest of this entry »
After the surrender and occupation of Japan, the veil of censorship was lifted and the soldiers were then allowed to write freely to their families. Early messages were filled with assurances that everything is fine and that morale is high, despite missing home. These letters tell a different story and express the need for venting after over half-a-year of daily battle.
September 7, 1945; Letter to Home, from Chuck
I got this action report from Richard Thornton, son of the captain who drafted it. It details the events leading up to the the beaching of YMS-103 in the first month of the Okinawa operations. You’ll see YMS-299 was in the same detail. My grandfather discusses these events in his journal as well.
YMS-103 Action Report; April 25, 1945; Table of Contents
Also via Richard Thornton, this is the first page of the YMS-103 muster roll. I don’t have the equivalent of this for YMS-299 yet, though I was curious what the document looked like.
YMS-103 Muster Roll; March 21, 1945
Letter home (page 1); December 5, 1944
Envelope (front); December 5, 1944
Envelope (front); November 19, 1944
Well, this is exciting! This is the first letter postmarked from the YMS-299.
The stomach problems have returned, that are presumably a mixture of butterflies for war and seasickness. He is tired of water and yearning for the land in back in Utah.
Ending this letter, he talks about laundry by brush. They never did get a washing machine. There isn’t room for it on such a small ship. I have an audio interview that I’ll post when I can, where he discusses the process and humor in laundry. They would tow their clothes on a line in the water to wash them, then lay them out to dry. They collected so much salt in them that they would become stiff and crispy, making velcro-like sounds when you moved in a freshly “cleaned” pair.
Envelope (front); November 12, 1944
Chuck mentions news about “the islands” that he is in. I am assuming he is referring to Hawaii, as he hasn’t shipped to the war yet and the post office is still in California.
The ship he is referring to likely wouldn’t be his own ship, but the USS Signet (AM-302). The Signet is, I believe, the transport ship he is going to take into the war. I’m guessing the crew and supplies on the YMS itself would need to be as trim as possible to make the long journey quickly and with fuel efficiency.
Envelope (front); November 6, 1944
This letter has one of my favorite bits of artwork of all of his stationery. The disc behind the hula girl is a tropical scene a bit hard to make out. The right is a trunk of a palm tree, with some leaves coming from the top. I am not sure what is in her hands, but I’m guessing it is some sort of rattle/instrument. It appears to be made of coconut shells.
Stationery artwork; October 24, 1944
He mentions some love interests. Neither are anyone he ever married, so I don’t have backstory on them.
Also interesting, he acknowledges that he is not allowed to keep a wartime journal. This was common on both sides because picking journals off of the enemy could give intelligence on movements and strategy. Of course, he kept a journal anyway. Keeping a journal would have been a religious conviction (Mormons are urged to keep journals for posterity), but it is out of character for Chuck to break the rules, so I’d be curious what swayed his decision to keep the journal anyway.
Envelope (front); October 24, 1944
Note the “see code” reference. It looks like Frank’s handwriting. Again, I haven’t attempted decoding any of the letters yet.
In this letter, Chuck is already thinking about what he wants to do after the war he hasn’t even been in yet. He mentions drumming. Playing in a jazz band was something he enjoyed through his life, actually playing weekly until his death in his 80s. He never worked on rail, as he mentions. I’m not sure what he did immediately post-war, but the bulk of the work he talked about was at the Coors canning plant.
Envelope (front); September 27, 1944