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ť Forum Category: PT Boats of WWII
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ť Forum Name: PT Boats - General
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ť Topic: What Welford West left behind
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Following Welford West's (torpdeoman 1/C, PT-157) burial this past weekend the family has begun to go through his house (Welford lived in his house until a week before died at 93-years old) and his nephew Don has reported to me that Welford and a lot of PT related things in his house including books (of course) but also his WWII uniform and a box of photos; most of which are of him in the Pacific. One photo, Don says, is of Welford standing at the wheel of the 157. I am being sent scanned copies by Welford's grand-daughter so as to review and possibly do an update the 'FIRST-UP' book as a new 'Welford's Scrapbook' section and also add to the PT section of Photo Bucket under Welford's name (with the family's permission of course).

I may help the family put together a presentation of Welford's personal memorabilia and his PT service for the Virginia Maritime Museum which is nearby where Welford lived.

Don was also very excited to have come across some commemorative book, apparently put together by ELCO, that has maybe 100 pages most of which are pages highlighting the many vendors who provided their products to ELCO used in PT making. Pages included vendors who provided the transmissions, the deck wood, V-gears and so on.

Has anyone seen one of these commemorative books before?

Bridge

Posted By: TheBridge | Posted on: Apr 3, 2014 - 5:38am
Total Posts: 318 | Joined: Nov 22, 2009 - 3:04pm

Bridge;
This is great news. I am glad Welford's family came to you first, I am sure your friendship with him and Bud, prompted Welford to ask his family to make sure these items were seen by you.
Take care,
TED

Posted By: TED WALTHER | Posted on: Apr 3, 2014 - 7:12am
Total Posts: 3059 | Joined: Oct 16, 2006 - 7:42am

This is great news Bridge. I love the idea of Welford's Scrapbook. I am sure Don and other family members will treasure these memories of Welfords life as I treasure the weekend we all shared together. Please keep us updated.

Posted By: Roy Forbes | Posted on: Apr 3, 2014 - 7:23am
Total Posts: 371 | Joined: Sep 5, 2012 - 4:57pm

Bridge, I'm wondering if this is the book you are talking about. It was published by Elco in 1948 and the first 37 pages offer an outstanding history of the company and the boats with many great photos both at the plant in Bayonne, NJ and on the front lines. The second half of the book is an equally impressive containing display ads from suppliers of parts for the boats and several other articles as well. The book has a total of 64 pages. I have seen a company selling rather poor quality copies of this book however an original copy is a true treasure and very rare indeed. Hope this helps.

Posted By: Roy Forbes | Posted on: Apr 3, 2014 - 8:13am
Total Posts: 371 | Joined: Sep 5, 2012 - 4:57pm

Bridge,

I have several of the books you are referring to in my Exhibit. It is a Treasure Trove of Vendors and ads that were taken out for this Elco Book Publication. I think it's great that his items will find a new home, where people can view and enjoy them.

Posted By: Frank Andruss | Posted on: Apr 3, 2014 - 8:13am
Total Posts: 3964 | Joined: Feb 9, 2007 - 11:41am