Sharing copies of WWII Documents

Enjoyed those, thanks!

 

Very interesting photos and documents. I also liked the story. Thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks, lrusso. I have only read a little tonight. Shall be back to read the rest - very interesting.

 

I´m the daughter of Riet Braam-Steijlen you've mentioned in your quote from February 10th, 2008. For some reasons I was searching the internet about information of my mother, and found your request for information.
I'm very sorry for you, but she is not the Riet Braam you're looking for. My mother (maiden name Steijlen) was living in Harderwijk during the war, and came to Nijmegen in 1955 where she married my father. Braam was her married name.
May be I can help you to find Riet Braam. I will ask my uncle. He did a genealogy research on the Braam family. May be he knows a Riet Braam in the Nijmegen area.
Wish you all the best with your search for Riet Braam.

 

Here's a nice piece. This is the squadron tactical organization for VF-3 aboard USS Yorktown (CV-5) for the Battle of Midway. This document reflects the changes necessitated by the death of the executive officer, LCDR Don Lovelace, in a flight deck landing accident on 29 May 42. Most of the fighter pilots aboard Yorktown with VF-3 were TAD from the more experienced VF-42. 10 pilots were from VF-3, 16 from VF-42. And they were put to good use, of four division leaders, three, Crommelin, Leonard, and Brassfield were from VF-42 with Thach leading the 1st Division. Of 12 sections, nine were led by VF-42 veterans:

I beleve that this is the only copy of this document in existence.

 

A cute story that occasionally floats through the cyber-ether, but no, not from a brownie camera, not hidden away all these years, nor taken by someone aboard a ship that was not even at Pearl Harbor on 7 Dec 41. These are all commonly available official USN photos. For any one person to have taken these photos he would have had to have moving about the Pearl Harbor area at the speed of light as these are taken from widely and wildly separated viewpoints.

Go through all the links here and you’ll eventually find them all.
Pearl Harbor Raid, 7 December 1941

USS Quapaw was launched on 15 May 1943 and commissioned on 6 May, 1944.

 

But we can go from the beginning of the war to the very end.

These are actual message forms from CTF38 communications center.

This is the "Peace Warning" message from FADM King to FADM Nimitz, with Com3rdFlt as an addressee. It is a 2 pager:

 

And this is the message, also as recorded by CTF38 Comms, sent to the Japanese to further the surrender process. It announces to them his appointment as SCAP and directs establishment of communication procedures beween his HQ and the Japanese authorities

 

And this is an envelope postmarked aboard USS Missouri, 2 Sep 45. The letter inside includes the following, "This is in post haste. Jim Thach has offered to mail this tomorrow in Tokyo. He and the Admiral(s) are going to attend the ceremony. The special cachet is supposed to be quite valuable so that’s why I am making a hash of this letter just to get a stamp on the outside."

The Jim Thach mentioned, of course, was the the same as in 'Thach Weave' and was the then CTF38 Operations Officer.

 

hey every one ive got origional pictures that ive uploaded given to me by my grandfather taken by my great uncle during the invasion of france and d-day i even have one of eisenhower which he took check it out on my profile page under photo albums

 

None of the Crommelin's (all good Alabama boys, I'd note) was ever awarded the Medal of Honor.

-- John G Crommelin, USNA 1923, naval aviator, retired 1 Jun 1950. Awards included LM(V), NCM, PH. Was a major player in the late 1940's "Admirals' Revolt". It cost him an active duty promotion to RAdm. He was advanced to RAdm upon retirement based on combat awards. Died in 1996.

-- Henry Crommelin, USNA 1925, surface line, retired 1 Nov 1959, VAdm. Awards included SS & BS(V). Died in 1971

-- Charles L Crommelin, USNA 1931, naval aviator, killed in mid-air collision, 28 Mar 1945, near Okinawa, CDR. Awards included NC, DFC (x2), AM, PH. His father-in-law was RAdm Elliott Buckmaster, who was Captain of USS Yorktown (CV-5) when Dick Crommelin was aboard in VF-42 and VF-3 from June 1941 to June 1942.

-- Richard G Crommelin, USNA 1938, naval aviator, killed in mid-air collision, 15 July 1945, near Hokkaido, LCDR. Awards included NC(x2), AM, PUC, NCM.

-- Quentin C Crommelin, USNA 1941, naval aviator, retired Capt. Awards included LM, AM. Died in 1997.

Attached are a couple of messages relating to loss of LCDR Dick Crommelin in July 1945. The first notes him as missing after a collision. The report also mentions LTJG Eagleston and his rear gunner ARM1c Rasmussen from VB-85 also as missing. Eagleston was killed when their plane crashed after unexpectedly clipping a hillside in the fog. Rasmussen walked away and managed to evade capture for some 65 plus days, finally presenting himself to newly arrived USN authorities in north Hokkaido in late September 1945.

The second message is a follow-on describing strike results in the Murosan area with a last line reporting negative results for a search for the missing CO of Yorktown's VF-88, Dick Crommelin.

Rich

 

Von Poop,
Just joined today and found in this thread Wittman's documents.
Used to have a cottage in Les Moulinets (SW of Sermentot on the map).
Wittman must have driven his Tiger down the road next to our cottage! and it isn't very wide! the road that is - not the cottage.
Will try to post a photo of the cottage at some point.

Spooky - fancy finding that in first day as WW2F member.

Mike