~~~~==FLY NAVY==~~~~

January 17, 2006 4:01 AM

Cruiser Scout WW2 veteran's account of fighting in the Guadalcanal campaign.
posted by Heywood Mogroot (11 comments total)

Lovin' it.
posted by phaedon at 4:30 AM on January 17, 2006

I collect memoirs, and this is a good one. Kudos to whomever posted it. If you like WWII memoirs, there are more HERE.
posted by MarshallPoe at 4:46 AM on January 17, 2006

This is good.
posted by killdevil at 5:35 AM on January 17, 2006

My grandfather was there, though he was flying fighters. He's told me many stories about the same places. Interesting to see it now from such a different point of view.
posted by Lafe at 5:53 AM on January 17, 2006

Auckland was an adventure. It was like stepping back fifty years into Frontier Days to walk down the main streets of town. All the store fronts were fitted with big porches that served as weather protection, sidewalk and a place to set their long benches. It was cold when we were there in June, as a matter of fact, we had about a half inch of snow on the ground one morning. The buildings had no heat, and I was frozen stiff all the time. The New Zealanders and the Aussies were all strapping tall, hearty men. They liked their American friends and they also liked their "staike and aiggs" for breakfast. They all had bad teeth. By the time they were 21 years old, many of them had their first set of false teeth. Guess it must have been something in the water.

Fascinating stuff, thanks Heywood.
posted by LarryC at 6:39 AM on January 17, 2006

Making this a Guadalcanal Diary, I suppose.

(Truly sorry. Here's another interesting journal from someone who was there.)
posted by TonyRobots at 7:51 AM on January 17, 2006

Fascinating. Thanks!
posted by dazed_one at 8:26 AM on January 17, 2006

Really really great post, thank you Heywood.
posted by vito90 at 8:57 AM on January 17, 2006

I'm not sure I should publicize this fact, but the this guy is this guy's grandfather. I know this because I am related to both, and I talk too much.
posted by tcobretti at 11:31 AM on January 17, 2006

Heh. The guy who wrote the page LarryC links to must have been very young. Interesting to hear about snow in Auckland (oh, really?), and the 'snow-capped mountains' you can see around the city from 5000 feet in a De Havilland Mosquito (of which there were none in New Zealand until 1946, but anyway...). Sounds like someone might have been pulling his leg, and gave him a flight in an Airspeed Oxford trainer.
posted by Sonny Jim at 5:27 PM on January 17, 2006

Thanks Mr. Megroot and MarshallPoe. My step dad was at Midway and while he didn't talk about it much I do regret not being able to record some first hand accounts like these posts.
posted by infowar at 9:41 PM on January 17, 2006