Members and visitors must agree with the stated conditional use of this forum as shown at the bottom of this page.
Home
The Forum
Documents
Photo Gallery
_
Register
My Profile
Log-in
PT Boat Forum
Moderated by:
Dick
,
Jeff D
The PT Boat Forum
ª
PT Boats of WWII
ª
PT Boats - General
Post a reply to: PT 59
Message:
Please type your message in the box to the right.
Click Here to see: Message Tags
How to use colors, images and urls in your message.
Click On -
The "Upload Images" button to upload and include a photo from your computer.
[StartQuote] To Scott C: CJ Willis is alive and well, now 95 years young and hunkered down in his assisted living bunker due to COVID where I, his son, can only communicate with him by texting or yelling up at him on his 2nd floor balcony. He no longer can use his computer to be active on this site and sadly due to his deafness (maybe due to to the twin 50's he fired) a phone conversation would not be possible. I do know a lot about his PT experience and will relate that the unfortunate killing of the 109 crew member Albert by the Japanese prisoner in October 1943 was fresh on everyone's mind when he joined the 242 around the 1st of November at its base in Vella La Vella. His crew was told by their officers that they were not picking up any enemy from the water and two months later when the 242 and 243 sank two Japanese barges off the coast of Bougainville they did not search for survivors. For the first two weeks or so after he joined the 242 it berthed at night at Vella La Vella next to the 59 boat still skippered by John Kennedy. One of the crew of the 59 who had been on the 109 was going home on leave and gave him his .45 cal pistol which CJ carried throughout his PT deployment. He and I had the wonderful experience of going out to Portland a few years ago to ride on the 658 down to the Oswego Boat Show and kudos to Jerry Gillmartin for all he did for us. To see him and the other PT veterans on that boat was memorable. I also accompanied him to Washington D.C. on an Honor Flight and while that was a great experience it did not compare to seeing him in the port side gun turret of the 658 with the rumble of those three Packard engines down below. Randy Willis[EndQuote]
Emotion Icons:
Choose an icon to be displayed next to your message or click on the icon to include it in your message:
None
Options:
Check the check boxes to the right for the options you would like to use.
Would you like to include your signature in this message?
Would you like to recieve notification via email when a reply is received to this message?
Would you like to preview this post before posting?
User Name:
Have you registered?
Password:
Have you lost your password?
Click 'Post' to post your message.
Who May Post?
Registered Users
Search
Links
Privacy
Cookies
Moderator