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147th Field Artillery Letters to home from Norbert Urban

Discussion in 'War in the Pacific' started by Skipper, Sep 10, 2008.

  1. Navy CPO

    Navy CPO Member

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    I just found out there is a 147th museum at Mitchel SD. I am going to contact them to see if they would like the original documents that I have. They might be a good source to contact for some history on your dad.
     
  2. Navy CPO

    Navy CPO Member

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    This is the newspaper picture of the band leaving for Ft. Ord. I do not know the town or the paper. However it says Millwauke depot in the write up.
     

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  3. Navy CPO

    Navy CPO Member

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    These are pictures on the train on the way to Ft. Ord. Some of these are contact prints and are pretty small. Sorry about that.
     

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  4. Navy CPO

    Navy CPO Member

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    This is a picture of the Band at Ft. Ord. My dad is standing 2nd over to the left of the Sousa phones. He played the French horn in the marching band and Tenor Sax in the swing band. He could also play tuba and baritone. He was a pretty good musician until he lost part of his hearing in the war.
     

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  5. Navy CPO

    Navy CPO Member

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    The following picture were stamped by the Comonwealth of Austrailial, Department of Information. On the back of the first one is written Oro Bay New Guinea. (Bodies are of Japs)
    On the back of the 2nd Picture is written Jap Zero New Guinea.
     

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  6. Navy CPO

    Navy CPO Member

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    The attached are a series of Pictures from the Willard A. Holbrook. This is the ship that the 147th was on while on the way to the Philipines. They never made it that far. My Dad is in the lower right hand picture with the life ring showing the name of the ship. I would suspect that most of these were taken on the way from San Francisco to Honolulu.
     

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  7. Navy CPO

    Navy CPO Member

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    This is the 2nd set from the Holbrook. The 2 bottom Pictures were taken on December 5, 1941. I know this because I also have my dads original shellback certificate. The left Center Picture is one of the 75mm howitzers chained to the deck. Jack spoke of this in his earlier posts.
     

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  8. Navy CPO

    Navy CPO Member

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    This is the last of the Holbrook Pictures. Taken on Dec, 5th, 1941 on Shellback day. By the way I am also a card carrying Shellback.
     

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  9. Navy CPO

    Navy CPO Member

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    Here are 2 pictures of Damaged Aircraft. The first one looks to be a B-17 that has seen better days.
    The 2nd picture is of a crashed Japanese Zero. The dead pilot can be seen next to the wreckage of his aircraft.
     

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  10. bigfun

    bigfun Ace

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    Hey Greg!
    Fantastic stuff! Keep them coming! If I ever get to SD again, I'm going to try to get to that museum! Thanks again!!
     
  11. Navy CPO

    Navy CPO Member

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    The following group of pictures is of various locations and subjects. The two small pictures were taken on the train to Ft. Ord. The pictures on the ship were taken on board the Holbrook. The kangaros I would guess were in Austrailia. The howitzer emplacement I am not sure of the location, and the Award ceremony in Jungle dress must have been somewhere in New Guinea.
    May be Jack will recognize some of the places.
     

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  12. Navy CPO

    Navy CPO Member

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    The upper right picture is of the 147th on a train. I am guessing this is the train that took them to Ft. Ord but I could be wrong. The camp that is being torn down looks to be from Fort Ord. The Lizard Pictures would most likely be for New guinea some place as would the pictures of the band of natives.
     

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  13. Falcon Jun

    Falcon Jun Ace

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    Fascinating pictures! And with the Southwest Pacific Vet on hand clarifying what the pictures or giving a backgrounder, it makes for a very informative combination.
     
  14. Navy CPO

    Navy CPO Member

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    Here is a letter That was in the Redfield Press Dated Thursday, August 27, 1942
     

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  15. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Good Ol' Boy Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    Pooh, we can't see it well enough to read it.
     
  16. Navy CPO

    Navy CPO Member

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    Here is a clipping of the Aberdeen American News Dated December, 19, 1943
    In this article he mentions the USO Show. I will Post the Autographs he got there next post.
     

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  17. Navy CPO

    Navy CPO Member

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    The first page is the description written by my dad. The second page is the actual autographs of Phylis Brooks, Gary Cooper, and Andy Arcarie.
    These were stars that traveled and performed with Gary Coopers USO show.
     

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  18. Navy CPO

    Navy CPO Member

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    Sorry about that. I am attaching all the files as Adobe acrobats as those can be enlarged and then you should be able to read them clearly. That by the way is how my scanner copies them.
    Greg
     

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  19. dauis2

    dauis2 Member

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    I know there hasn't been anything posted here for some time. There is a Facebook page "Miles Peg NT - WWII in the Northern Territory" that has pictures and videos about the 147th Field Artillery when it was in and around Darwin in early 1942.

    There is also a website milespegnt.com that has information, including pictures of campsites where the 147th was camped.

    I have started to put all of the information I have acquired into a "book". I have completed one chapter which covers their trip from San Francisco (November 1941) to a camp roughly 40 miles south of Darwin (June 1942) if anyone would be interested.
     
  20. SDNGMuseum

    SDNGMuseum New Member

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    Please let us know how we can get a copy of your book.
     

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