The USS Gen. H.F. Hodges In Photos

July 29, 2010 7:18 AM

From 1945 to 1946, Leonard Rudoff served as Apprentice Seaman, 3rd Class on the troop transport USS Gen. H.F Hodge as it made its way to India, Egypt, NYC, and San Francisco. And he took photos along the way..[via mefi projects]

Check out the "Best of" gallery (It has a puppy!) or meet the sailors, the places they went, the ship, or the photographer himself.

posted by The Whelk (6 comments total)

oh man i LOVE this kind of stuff.

my grandfather raised me. he joined the navy at age 17 in 1952, so stuff about the navy from this era always me feel like i get to see a little bit of his life on the sea. (he died in 1997, so he's not around for me to ask questions about his life anymore.)

thanks for posting this!
posted by sio42 at 7:38 AM on July 29, 2010

Bookmarked under 'show fellow cosplay buddies during weekend'. Thanks!
posted by buzzman at 8:51 AM on July 29, 2010

I love this kind of stuff too. My father and my uncles were in the US Navy during this period, wish they had taken some pictures!
posted by mareli at 8:56 AM on July 29, 2010

These are fabulous. First the color photos from the depression, now this. Thanks.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:50 AM on July 29, 2010

Yep. My dad served on a destroyer a little later, starting in '54, but I sent these to him anyway. What a cool thing!
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 9:55 AM on July 29, 2010

(This are my father's photos; a little more info is on the mefi projects page)

I haven't had luck finding any of the sailors identified in the photos (or at least their families), but any still alive would be in their eighties or nineties now. It's too bad I didn't find these ten years ago when they were more likely to still be around.
posted by ShooBoo at 11:08 AM on July 29, 2010