U.S. Navy Seabee R.S. Leslie's WWII Pacific Footlocker

R.M. Leslie was one of my relative's dad. He fought in the Pacific in World War Two as a Seabee. About ten years ago, Jeannie, his daughter, gave me the contents of his old Navy footlocker for my teaching and research on World War Two. These photos show most of the kit. He had two blue cloth jackets, a lighter summer white jacket, and a khaki jacket. He also had pants to match the blues and the whites. The clothing is all in pretty decent shape considering it was packed away in a box for fifty years before I got it. Enjoy this little slice of U.S. Navy history and thanks to R.M. Leslie for his service to his family and his nation. Sadly, I do not have a photo of Leslie, but I'll continue to try to find one.

Note ruptured duck on right breast, bullion insignia device, and 'CB' badge on lower sleeve.

Amazing bullion on the blue and the gray shoulder insignia patches.

Where in the World Have I Been?

Marine Second Lt. Robert 'Bob' Crowton's Navy Cross, awarded for heroism at Okinawa.

My former teacher Pete Benavage as a Marine Sergeant before heading to Iwo Jima.

Joseph Lajzer as he appeared after over three and a half years of Japanese captivity, including the Bataan Death March and slave labor in Japan.

Have been interviewing a gentleman who was on the Clark Field Baseball Team in Philippines before war broke out. He was on the Bataan Death March, then helped build the airfield at Palawan as slave labor, then took a Hell Ship to Japan and spent a long time "digging coal for the Emperor" at Hiroshima Omine and saw the A-bomb fall thirty miles away that fateful August day. He is in the photo above. (Name withheld)

This youthful gentleman was my Western Civilization teacher in high school. He is Major Pete Benavage, United States Marine Corps (Ret.). As a young sergeant of Marines, Pete helped lead a platoon on Iwo Jima. This is a photo capture from a Japanese TV program about Iwo Jima entitled 'Island of Death'.

Pete Benavage, teacher and friend.

Marine Second Lt. Robert Crowton's "Old Breed" First Marine Division patch that he wore on Okinawa, where he won the Navy Cross for heroism.

Marine Lt. Bob Crowton's lovely wife, Marge, admires his Navy Cross, awarded at a hospital in San Diego after he had undergone surgery to shrapnel damage to his face. (Bob Crowton collection)

Bob's Purple Heart and the box for his Navy Cross.

Bob awarded his Navy Cross in San Diego, CA.

William Morrison, who as a young Marine guarded a gun emplacement at the base of Mt. Suribachi and saw the flag go up.

Navy Corpsman William 'Bill' Lynne, who served with the First Marines at Peleliu and Okinawa. The corpsmen fought alongside the Marines, and saved many lives in battle. (Bill Lynne photo)

The wounded Corpsman in this famous press photo is Bill Lynne. (Bill Lynne collection)

Greetings to my faithful readers, all 26 of you. :)

Sorry I have not written on the blog much lately. I've been very busy working on my next book, and since it is not about WWII airmen, this page hasn't gotten the attention it did before

Right now, I am deeply involved in researching a book about the Pacific War. Lately, I've been working on two chapters in depth. The first involves the men who were on the Bataan Death March and the ensuing years as POWs. The second involves men who were at Iwo. These are but two chapters but I tend to immerse in just a few at a time. I've already put a lot of time into Pacific aviators and into Okinawa, the USS Indianapolis, and Navy Corpsmen. I have also been interviewing several Pearl Harbor survivors. This on top of the fact that I work sixty to seventy hours a week in the highly lucrative field of teaching high school.

I am putting a small sampling of photos of some of the guys I'm writing about at the moment, and who will all appear in the book when it comes out next year.

Stay tuned. I will be back.

B-24 gunner receives Purple Heart for heroism in WW II

Staff Sgt Roy E. Talbott is shown third from left in the bottom row with fellow crewmembers during World War II.

by Robert Goetz

12th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs

8/22/2007 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- The scene in the rotunda of Randolph's Taj Mahal Aug. 21 probably seemed like too much hoopla to one former Army Air Corps staff sergeant. But all the TV cameras and reporters there to capture the moment, the remarks by an Air Force major general and the admiration shown by servicemembers and civilians alike more than fit the occasion -- a long-overdue ceremony to honor a true American hero. With one of his daughters at his side, Roy E. Talbott, 84, a self-effacing veteran who once served as a B-24 gunner with the 72nd Bomb Squadron of the 13th Air Force's 5th Bomb Group, received the Purple Heart for injuries he received in an attack by Japanese fighter planes in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

"The majority of his life has been about one thing only -- service to his country," said Maj. Gen. Anthony Przybyslawski, Air Force Personnel Center commander. "We look up to his generation. His generation taught us what we should be like." The general said that "because of actions like his," Mr. Talbott and the Airmen of his generation "created today's Air Force." "It was a time of duty," General Przybyslawski said. "The whole nation was mobilizing, and Mr. Talbott stepped forward."

Maj. Gen. Anthony Przybyslawski stands with Roy E. Talbott after presenting him with a Purple Heart Aug. 21 at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas.

Mr. Talbott volunteered for the Army Air Corps in October 1942. The Missouri farm boy subsequently was assigned to the 72nd Bomb Squadron, which moved from base to base as Pacific operations against Japanese forces progressed. On that fateful morning in May 1944, the squadron was based on Los Negros Island in the Admiralty Islands chain. He and his crewmembers were returning to their base after completing a bombing mission on a Biak Island airfield when Japanese "Zekes" ambushed their B-24 and others engaged in the mission.

"We got hit by antiaircraft fire," Mr. Talbott recalled prior to the ceremony. "Everything happened so fast you didn't have time to think about it. There was a lot of dirt and dust flying." The crippled bomber managed to limp to New Guinea, which had just been invaded by American troops. It crash-landed on a dirt runway -- originally placed there by the Japanese -- near an Army field hospital, where the crewmembers were treated for their injuries. Mr. Talbott suffered shrapnel wounds to the thigh during the attack and a broken wrist and a knot on his forehead during the crash landing. He said he was fortunate compared to some of his crew mates. "Other personnel were hurt pretty bad," he said. "But we all survived. My injuries were minor compared to what the others' were. I was what you call a walking casualty."

Mr. Talbott left the South Pacific after a month and spent some time convalescing in an Army hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla. He was later reassigned to Combat Crew Training School in Pueblo, Colo., to train B-24 and B-29 crews. He left the Army Air Corps shortly after the war ended but re-enlisted in the Army about three years later and retired as an Army sergeant first class after a 20-year career.

He now lives in Sedalia, Mo. General Przybyslawski, who also described the details of the attack by reciting a report filed by the squadron's intelligence officer that day, said the veteran didn't request the Purple Heart. "His generation wasn't in it for themselves ... but he most certainly deserves this recognition," he said. It was through the intercession of Mr. Talbott's daughter, Army Col. Donna Talbott, who is assigned to the Army Medical Department Center and School at Fort Sam Houston, that his heroism was acknowledged. She enlisted the help of the Air Force Personnel Center and the Military Order of the Purple Heart to ensure that he received his due. "He never would have done anything," she said. "He feels he was just doing his duty. But I heard him talk about his experiences the more he got older, and I realized he needed to be recognized as well."