Project Ivory Soap

[gunners_son]

Hi,
I spoke to my father, Cpl Joseph C. DeRosa, and he believes he remembers your dad and served with him on the Duncan. He also was also present when Doolittle visited the ship and remembers it well.

My father and I would be interested if you or others might know the status of the following that were on the Duncan: Ed Gigliardi, Al Cadaret, "Boots" Braden, William Wilson, Tony Bacina, Joseph Larkin, Bob Evans, Edward Yorke, and Bob Sharkey.

Attached are a photo of the Duncan and a photo of her crew. Let me know which of these is your father, Beaman Cole. Also, Please post some of the material you have.

 

[Propeller daughter]

Hi,

I will have to figure out how to upload the photos (I'm not that computer savvy). I don't see my dad in the photo. The one that I have of the crew is of them in shirt sleeves on the deck and another of them in the bay where they worked on the planes. I have the exact same photo of the ship. I wish I could ask my dad but he has been gone for 12 years now, he was 30 when he was on the Duncan.

Can you tell me how you loaded photos into this?

 

[gunners_son]

Hard to tell you all the detail of how to post a picture, as I don't know what type of a computer you have. First, you need the photos digitized. They must be scanned. If you don't have a scanner, Walgreens, Target, or others can do it for you and give you a CD with them on it. Then you should load the photos from the CD to a folder you create on your system (or you can just insert them from the CD into a document). The reply or post on this website is a "document" per se. In your post or reply, there is an icon (a small yellow square above the reply box, second from right), that is clicked on if you want to insert a photo. Just put your cursor in the reply or post area, click that icon, and go the the folder, CD, or photo file and click the appropriate box to insert it. Or, go to a store that sells computers and ask them to show you. That's about the best I can do...Good luck

 

[DBII]

thanks for sharing the photos.

DBII

 

[Top]

I founld this forum while researching Project Ivory Soap. There seems to be so little information about the Aircraft Repair Units (floating). My father was on the Weaver ARU-3 (F) from Nov 1944 to Sept 1945. I imagine most of the men, like my Dad have passed away or are very old by now...but I'm still giving it a shot at contacting some. The picture of the Duncan ARU is great! I wish I had some to post but unfortunately most of his photos were from his previous duty in Alaska. He did have a ships log of sorts that was given to him when he left for the States. It said many of the planes dropped bombs nearby either by accident or on purpose before landing. It also mentioned many air collisions, some from pilots just messing around dog fighting each other. When I get finished converting the log into a PDF file I'll post a link to it from here...I don't know much about planes but it might be of interest. Thanks for sharing the info and photo...greatly appreciated.

 

[syscom3]

Thanks Top.

His logbook sounds interesting.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yes that sounds really interesting. Thanks for being willing to shair that with us.

 

[beaupower32]

Thats pretty cool, I gues we learn something new everyday.

On a side note, when I first started reading the article, I thought they were patching bullet holes with Ivory Soap. LOL, now that would be a site to see. Plus your plane would smell fresh and clean.

 

[gunners_son]

Hi,

I will have to figure out how to upload the photos (I'm not that computer savvy). I don't see my dad in the photo. The one that I have of the crew is of them in shirt sleeves on the deck and another of them in the bay where they worked on the planes. I have the exact same photo of the ship. I wish I could ask my dad but he has been gone for 12 years now, he was 30 when he was on the Duncan.

Can you tell me how you loaded photos into this?

Haven't you been able to get any help on uploading the photos you have?

 

[Glider]

Its not quite the same but the RN HMS Unicorn was designed to operate mainly as an aircraft repair vessel. She looked like and for a short period was operated as a light fleet carrier but was designed and mainly used as a repair ship.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Wow Syscom , I do believe you've started something here. Way to go!!!!!

 

[syscom3]

Did anyone see the helicopter and a landing pad on the picture of the ship?

 

[Propeller daughter]

Ok. I finally have the photos and orders digitized. They include various photos of the crews, mechanics, gunners, officers, the ship, and Gen Dolittle. I am also including orders for the bronze service stars, promotions, and the unofficial ship log.

I am sorry that this has taken me so long. I hope that it is stil helpful for your family.

It looks like I will have to do this in stages, as it is only letting me upload 5 images at a time.

 

[Propeller daughter]

Well, Here are the rest of the photos. There are quite a lot, since I had to do the orders on separate pages.

 

[syscom3]

EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!

8)

I like the one of the USO event on the ship.

 

[vikingBerserker]

I agree, that's fricken awesome!

 

[Njaco]

Propellerdaughter, I want to thank you for the fantastic editions to this thread! I hope you and gunner get in contact and learn more about your father's history. Great job!!!

 

[VERSUCH]

I had never heard of these ships....or about the choppers..
WELL DONE.. to all.
Regards Mike

 

[gunners_son]

To PropellerGirl,
just to make sure you get my message.....here it is in reply to your post...

The photos you posted are perfect. I now know that my dad and yours were on the same ship. My dad is in one of the photos, and his name is on the crew manifest. Upon seeing them, I am printing them out and getting them to him so he can go overthem.
I found the log particularly interesting and read it to him. He recalled all of the stuff that was in it. Also, I correlated it to stories he used to tell me about his experience, even where he was in the Pacific when I was born.
I'll get back to you again after I show him the pics. Might take some time as he is not a computer guy and we live about a thousand miles apart.
Thanks again,
gunners_son

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

WOW!!! Excellent material folks. And a salute to Propeller daughter's and Gunners son's fathers!