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 Author  Topic: Calvertville
Nathaniel Smith

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Nathaniel Smith   Send Email To Nathaniel Smith Posted on: Jun 16, 2008 - 1:40pm
It is possible Earl is right and all the other historians miss-copied Samuel Eliot Morison. If you ignore the period and the end of the first sentence it reads 'Calvertville on Florida Island'

History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Samuel Eliot Morison, page 102
http://books.google.com/books?id=3A5tmLpVlEoC
&pg=PA102&lpg=PA102&dq=calvertville+%22florida+island%22
&source=web&ots=b24hAZDyVX&sig=b_xWhY4itch3gWmBVgmOyo2JpWA
&hl=en
&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5
&ct=result

'Up-harbor, where there used to be a native village called Sesape, a swarm of motor torpedo boats is moored and new barracks for their crews have been built across the harbor at 'Calvertville.' On Florida Island, behind Gavutu and Tanambogo, which were captured only last August, Seabees are completing a seaplane base.'

natsmith

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EARL RICHMOND

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of EARL RICHMOND  Posted on: Jun 16, 2008 - 2:36pm
THE AREA I WAS IN HAD NO BARRACKS.IT WAS AN OLD NATIVE VILLAGE THAT WAS TAKEN OVER AS A "BASE" I THINK c>j> CAN REMEMBER THIS AREA.WE HAD ONLY METAL AIRPLANE TREADS TO KEEP US FROM WALKING IN THE MUD.THE QUARTERS WERE HUTS M,OSTLY BUILT UP ON "STILTS".WE WERE RIGHT AT THE EDGE OF THE JUNGLE THAT WAS SEMI-CIRCLED AROUND US.I THINK THERE WAS ONLY ONE PIER,NOT SURE,TO DISEMBARK FROM THE BOATS ON.AT THE END OF THE TRACK,FROM THE PIER TO THE BACK,ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE WAS THE HUT WE HAD TO SIGN OUR WILLS AND MAKE SURE OUR INSURANCE BENIFITS PAPERS WERE COMPLETED.THERE WERE ALSO SOME TENTS THERE.I THINK ,SOMEWHERE, I HAVE A PHOTO OF A NATIVE GIRL,WOUND UP ON BETTLE NUT,DANCING LIKE CRAZY.ONLY HAD A GRASS SKIRT ON.I THINK SHE WAS IN FRONT OF A REPAIR SHOP THAT WAS ON THE LEFT OF THE TREADS.THAT WAS AT THE END IOF THE PIER???THE ANIMALS,ETC WENT CRAZY AT NIGHT TIME AND THE BUGS WERE TERRIBLE. WE ATE OUT OF OUR MESS KITS AND WATER WAS IN LISTER BAGS.


earl richmond

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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: Jun 16, 2008 - 6:26pm
How about somebody posting a good copy of that overhead aerial-view photo of the "PT base at Tulagi" we've seen published ad infinitum over the years...

Maybe Dick W. can blow it up enough to see the "Calvertville" sign over the Marsden Matting walkway (if it's in that famous photo)...


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Nathaniel Smith

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Nathaniel Smith   Send Email To Nathaniel Smith Posted on: Jun 16, 2008 - 6:40pm
I found this image on the internet:
http://kennedy.e-monsite.com/rubrique,heros-de-guerre-1,1031645.html

Will this help?

natsmith

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EARL RICHMOND

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of EARL RICHMOND  Posted on: Jun 16, 2008 - 7:47pm
i must be getting dotty.seems you had to pass calvertville to get to sesapi.they were opposite each other. some references to kennedy place him at both places.
checked the site you gave. very good.if someone goes to boston maybe they can go to the kennedy library and clear this up.seems to be "dragging on" some earl

earl richmond

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  Pat Rogers

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Pat Rogers  Posted on: Jun 17, 2008 - 12:59pm
I spent some time at Tulagi and Calvertville also and I don't claim to be any map expert.
I always thought that as you went into the area, you stayed to the left because there was a series of "sh**" toilets extended out into the water on stilts to the right. When I received an advancement in grade, a few individuals on board my boat, PT154, decided that they would veer to the right and throw me overboard close to that vicinity. Thiis was their way of celebrating my promotion. Fortunately, I was versed in the breast stroke in getting to shore as I swam to the left. I don't recall any other crew member being treated in this manner..


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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: Jun 17, 2008 - 1:32pm
Nat, that indeed is the photo I was talking about.

Still needs a good, clear Dick Washichek enlargement...


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Nathaniel Smith

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Nathaniel Smith   Send Email To Nathaniel Smith Posted on: Jun 17, 2008 - 4:45pm
Maybe Calvertville is the more residential part of the PT boat base at Sesapi. This would also explain why Earl said you had to pass Calvertville before getting to Sesapi. I think Pat's message implies they were near each other.

Pat I hope a certain CO did not condone your grade advancement 'baptism'.

'PT-109 joined MTB Squadron FIVE and shifted to Panama, replacing the first eight PT boats that sailed on transports for the south Pacific in early September. Six of the Elco boats, PTs 109 through 114, were then transferred to MTB Squadron TWO on 26 October 1942 and prepared for deployment to the Solomon Islands. The boats were loaded on cargo ships and sailed west, arriving at Sesapi, Tulagi harbor, Nggela Islands, at the end of November. There, the Elco boats joined the earlier boats--which had established the MTB base at Sesapi in October--to form Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla ONE, under Commander Allen P. Calvert.'
http://history.navy.mil/danfs/p/PT-109.htm

I found this picture on the internet and I inserted a field-of-view map to explain my best guess as to what you are looking at. There does not appear to be a base across the water on Florida Island


natsmith

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EARL RICHMOND

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of EARL RICHMOND  Posted on: Jun 17, 2008 - 8:18pm
nathaniel could you send me your e mail address?pt108earl@aol.com

earl richmond

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  Pat Rogers

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Pat Rogers  Posted on: Jun 20, 2008 - 12:32pm
Nat,

Apparently, my memories about cooks going on patrols is completely different from other people. As I recall, in Ron 9 and in the bases on which we served, the cooks generally established a mess hall and congregated to do the cooking and serve the meals in a mess hall or tent area. This was the case on Russell and Munda (you call it Rendova). I don't recall Taboga but I believe we ate on the base there also.

I don't believe your father was talking about Habenicht when he was talking about spam tasting like real food. I am not sure of when the incident occurred but I think it was on our trip from Noumea to Tulagi in Feb 1943. We were finally moving into the battle zone and several Ron 9 boats were travelling on their own power. I recall that it was a beautiful ride as the ocean was so calm, the boats were new and we could really travel. I also learned that the flying fishes could just about keep up with the PT boats. I would watch them as they came out of the water and fly through the air. We did make a stopover at Espiritu Santos and that was one of the prettiest islands that I got to see. I believe it is now called Vanadu.

"Cookie" Habenicht was preparing the meals on the trip. Something occurred that disturbed him in respect to the officers. Cookie was from the Carolinas and he liked to spice up some of his meals. One of the officers objected so the next meal for the officers was even hotter. The crew was fortunately spared. It wasn't long after that that Habenicht was no longer a crew member of PT154. I am going by my memory.

I recall that we came ashore for meals when we were stationed at Russell and Munda. At Munda, the PT base was on a small island at one end of the harbor and the big base, where the LST's docked, was at the other end. We had an air raid in June or July in which a cook by the name of Todd was killed on the PT boat island so that the island got to be called Todd Island. (I recall seeing pictures on this message board where lcations were named after Schwerdt, Beckett and McLaughlin.)

On Treasury Island we had a new cook (can't recall the name) and that is the one that I think your father was talking about. Here each boat more or less established its own little base and there was a cook assigned to each boat crew. PT154 had a guy who was a regular cook at Ford Restaurant in San Francisco and he was an excellent cook. That was one of the enjoyable features about Treasury Island . I never went to the Ford Restaurant in S.F. but other people considered it very highly. To the best of my memory, the cook was not on board when we were hit off of Bougainville on Nov. 13-14, 1943.

If I knew how to attach pictures to this message board, I could send some pictures of our "dining" area on Treasury Island.

Smooth sailing,
Pat Rogers











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