Please help find info on my Grandpa

Hello..I posted back in 2009 looking for information on my Grandpa who was a Seabee in WWII. My Grandpa passed away last weekend so now I am wanting more than ever to get information about his service. I know my aunts are looking at all of his service information and I was wondering if anyone would have any information for me if I can get you the specifics on where he was. I know he was one of the first guys in Nagasaki (I think) after the bomb. I miss him sooo much already and feel the need to know even more about him than I do already.

Also, I want to get a small tattoo in honor of my Grandpa...I had the thought of getting a small Seabee with their motto beside it with some other wording...my husband said that since I was never in the military that it would be disrespectful to get a military tattoo without serving. The last thing I want to do is to disrespect anyone who has served and if that's the case, I will get something else to remember him by.

I hope someone can help me if I get more specific information.

Thanks,


Dawn
"Seabeegrandaughter" ​

 

Dawn, sorry to hear about his passing, I sure some rouges here can help, just give them a little time.

 

Thanks Lou...I am hoping to get more information at his military ceremony at Camp Ripley on Monday. I guess they are going to go through all of his military information there so as soon as I know, I will write back and let you know. Thanks so much for the link, I will look through that. He has 2 or 3 tattoos on his forearms...one is an anchor with something on it and the other I want to say was a horse head that looked like a chess pawn. They were very hard to identify because they were very very dark and kind of smudgy...I guess they didnt have as high tech tattoo equipment 60+ years ago as they do now!! ) I will figure it out though.

Thanks again,
Dawn

 

Sorry to hear about your grandfather, I wish you luck in your research.

 

Hello Lou,

Well, my Grandpa was laid to rest yesterday...by far the hardest day of my life thus far...no words can explain the flurry of emotions behind the playing of Taps and the firing of the guns...mixture of pride and emense grief.

I did get some more information in regards to his service. I have a copy of his discharge forms from The Dept. of Separation from US Naval Service. Under box 24 it has "service" (vessels and stations served on): NTC, Sampson, NY; 116th NCB; 31st NCB; 98th NCB. I know that he was stationed at Tinian Island until about June 1946. The Sergeant that was speaking at the funeral about my Grandpa's history said that the air base on Tinian Island, he thought, was built entirely by SeaBees. He also said that a specially designed B-29 Bomber (named?) Enola Gay took off from Tinian to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945. I know from conversations that my Grandpa was one of the first groups of soldiers to land on Nagasaki (I think it was this one..he talked about it quite awhile ago and my memory fails as to if it was Nagasaki or Hiroshima). My Grandpa was awarded the Pacific Theater Ribbon, American Theater Ribbon, and the Victory Medal.

Also, can you or anyone advise me on the issue that I brought up before about getting a rembrance tattoo for my Grandpa. I don't want to offend anyone by having the tattoo, but I want to honor him in some way...I just want to do it right. Anyway, I hope this can help a little and maybe ring a bell with someone and give me a tish more information that I already have.

Thanks & have a great week,

Dawn

 

.