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 Author  Topic: names
BobPic

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Feb 24, 2009 - 8:30am
PT167 was named "Who me?" and the logo was a duck pointing to himself as though he had just been assigned a dangerous mission. I inherited the role of "PT artist" simply because I had the only set of paints around. I painted logos and icons regularly. I even have the stencil I made for the 167.


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Will Day

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Will Day   Send Email To Will Day Posted on: Feb 24, 2009 - 9:27am
Marty: The Names list was compiled from a variety of sources; books, photos, conversations with surviving crew, etc. See the NOTES section at the end of the listing for a slightly more comprehensive explanation.

Will

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Drew Cook

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Drew Cook  Posted on: Feb 24, 2009 - 1:16pm
This is always an interesting subject, because of the fact that the boats weren't officially named, just numbered.

One of many old and traditional seafaring superstitions holds that it is bad luck to sail a boat or ship without a name, and this would have been well-known in the Navy (a recent cultural reference to the superstition can be found in the movie "Forrest Gump," when the old black shrimper tells Forrest this very thing, prompting him to immediately name his shrimp boat "Jenny," after the love of his life). PT sailors undoubtledly knew about the superstition, and some named, or nicknamed, their numbered PTs.

Of course, from what I've read, some boats seemed not to have a name or nicknamed attached, and were just called by the boat's number. Some names/nicknames are well-known, like the 213's "Spitten' Kitten/Gallopin' Ghost," the 108's "Lil' Duck/Plywood Bastard," the 132's "Little Lulu," the 157's "Aces & Eights," and the 190 and 191's "Jack O' Diamonds" and "Bambi."

A long list of PT names and nicknames can be found in the appendix to Frank D. Johnson's 1980 book "United States PT - Boats of World War II In Action," and they seem pretty accurate and consistent with what I've read in other sources, including this website, with some exceptions.

Johnson's book has PT 65 (and PT 264, as well) nicknamed "Hogan's Goat," but I thought I had read that PT 59 was nicknamed this, due to the 59's skipper Dave Levy being known as a Hogan's Goat because of his scrounging and procuring talents. Of course, that doesn't preclude other boats having the same nickname. Johnson's book has the 59 nicknamed "Gunboat," but was it really called that, or is this a postwar mangling of the boat's alternate designation as "Gunboat #1," or "GB-1" after its conversion under Kennedy? The book also lists PT 109's nickname as "JFK," as mentioned by a previous poster, but I too find this a highly doubtful, after-the-facts-became-legend tag. It's not mentioned anywhere in Robert J. Donovan's exhaustively-researched "PT 109 - John F. Kennedy in World War II," which contains much trivia and minutia about life on the 109 under Kennedy (for instance, JFK himself was nicknamed "Shafty," due to his constant use of the word "shafted," as in "I've been shafted [screwed]!").

Anyway, as I said, always an interesting subject!



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  Jerry Gilmartin

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jerry Gilmartin   Send Email To Jerry Gilmartin Posted on: Feb 24, 2009 - 1:42pm
I agree, I also have a healthy amount of doubt as to whether or not the PT300 was actually called "Kamikaze Val" by her crew in light of the fact that the PT300 was destroyed by a Kamikaze attack at Mindoro by a Japanese "Val" Dive Bomber. It just seems to be a little too much coincidence. Jerry

Jerry Gilmartin

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KatDerrick

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of KatDerrick   Send Email To KatDerrick Posted on: Sep 9, 2009 - 4:08pm
The website HTTP://WWW.PT108LILDUCK.COM does not exist anymore. Do you know of the new web site?

Proud Daughter of:
Lt. Emery M. Newton
PT 323
b. 1913 d. 1997

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KatDerrick

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of KatDerrick   Send Email To KatDerrick Posted on: Sep 9, 2009 - 4:12pm
PT-323 was called the Calamity Jane. My father was the commander of it until one week before it was hit.


Proud Daughter of:
Lt. Emery M. Newton
PT 323
b. 1913 d. 1997

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KatDerrick

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of KatDerrick   Send Email To KatDerrick Posted on: Sep 9, 2009 - 4:27pm
Quote:

I googled PT 323, The Calamity Jane, and came to this site. My father, David Myers, served on that boat in WWII, when it was Calamity Jane. I have a great picture of him with the crew in front of the boat.

Any information about it would be greatly appreciated. Anyone around who served with him?

Maggie Laughlin



Yep, My father was the Commander of it at one point when it had that name. I have quite a few pictures but would love to see yours.



Proud Daughter of:
Lt. Emery M. Newton
PT 323
b. 1913 d. 1997

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tom clark

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Sep 10, 2009 - 3:32pm
The 334 boat, Ron 24 was Heaven Can Wait.. She was sunk by enemy action on her first mission.


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tom clark

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Sep 10, 2009 - 3:37pm
MY mistake.. so sorry..Heaven can wait was the 337 boat-Ron24..Still sunk on her first mission.


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Will Day

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Will Day   Send Email To Will Day Posted on: Sep 10, 2009 - 4:25pm
The 334 boat was, at various times, BARRACUDA, MESC, VICTORIA and SEAHAWK.

Will

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