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Grace
New Member
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Posted on: Aug 6, 2020 - 6:36pm
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Frank my Dad was in MTB RONS 2, 3, and 31. There is a fair amount of information out there. If you have not written for his records from the National Archives, I recommend doing that. I got over 70 pages of my Dad's records/documents. I mostly got his medicals but as I went through them, I found when his rank changed and where he was at different times. Ancestry has many records/documents available, especially if you add Fold3. Although it is out of print, you might find a used one, there is a book written by the commanding officer of MTB RON 31, It is called Tales of Tulagi by CDR John M Searles, USNR (Ret). If you want to honor your Grandfather, you can add him to the WWII Memorial for free. If you want some first hand stories, you can look up the Library of Congress Veterans' History Project and search for PT Boats, Motor Torpedo Boats or USS PT Boats (there are some men who appear in more than one and others that are only on one or the other. These are interviews by the men who served.
I hope some of this helps,
Grace
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FRANKL
New Member
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Posted on: Aug 8, 2020 - 4:15pm
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Grace, thank you for all the information, I did check out the library of congress veterans project and found John Kearney 8 videos and watched all of them as he served with the 31 squadron like my grandfather and wow what a man he was and as i was watching them he reminded me of my grandfather, he never does say what boat he was on though? I will look into adding my grandfathers name to the ww2 memorial as well as the other research you suggested.
Frank
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FRANKL
New Member
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Posted on: Aug 29, 2020 - 7:59am
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I was in Kingston ny a couple weeks ago and saw 5 pt boats
And several engines.
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Jeff D
Moderator
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 Posted on: Aug 30, 2020 - 5:39am
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Thanks Frank. Nothing a few tons of cash can't fix up... :(
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Jerry Gilmartin
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Aug 30, 2020 - 9:57am
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Pretty sure the Elco PT boats gasoline capacity was 3000 gallons vice 4000 shown on sign at Kingston. Not trying to nitpick but want to make sure we strive for accuracy.
Jerry Gilmartin
PT658 Crewman
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Stearman
Advanced Member
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Posted on: Aug 30, 2020 - 8:07pm
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The top speed reminded me of the old PT boat poem:
Oh, some PT's do seventy-five,
And some do sixty-nine;
When we get ours to run at all
We think we're doing fine
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Stearman
Advanced Member
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Posted on: Aug 30, 2020 - 8:13pm
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Wasn't a section removed from the 77 footer, making her shorter? Wish I had gone into computers back in the day, If I was lucky I would be a billionaire! This Elco 77 footer and the USS Olympia would be where I would have put a chunk of change!
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Total Posts: 150 | Joined:
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Grace
New Member
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Posted on: Sep 27, 2020 - 11:58am
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Sorry, Frank, I just found that you had responded in August. The notification was in my junk mail.
John Francis 'Jake" Kearney was Skipper of PT 40 however, he skippered both Elco and Higgins PT Boats and I am trying to find out some of the other PT Boat numbers he skippered. From what I am finding on MTBRON 31, PTs assigned were 453, 454 (Tufts, Nikoloric, DePala) 455( Bechtel, Nilkoloric), 462 Furbay, icks, 463, 464 A.E. White, 465, 466, 467 Kernell, 468, 469 (R.S. Swan,) 470 (Blanchard,) 471, 472( Nikoloric), 473 (this I believe was one of Kearney's) I have no proof thought. As you can see, it looks like they skippered multiple boats. Is there any way to exchange emails? I have some pictures on Ancestry that I found after Dad passed in 2009. I got in touch with Jack Searles, their CO and a good friend of my Dad, and he tried to identify them for me. He did identify some. I had the honor and pleasure of speaking to him between my Dad's death and his. If you belong to Ancestry, perhaps you can contact me personally that way? A small, out of print but available as a used book, is Tales of Tulagi by CDR John M. Searles, USNR (Ret.) He was the Commander of MTBRON 31. It might not tell you anything specific but if you are interested in what your Grandfather experienced and saw, it is a good book. Thank you for watching Dad's Library of Congress Veterans' History Project. I hope it gave you a little more information on what your Grandfather saw and experienced.
Good luck, Grace
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