Irving R. Hall, Radioman 3rd Class, 1951-53, sent me these photos of the Calvert’s Radio Crew (Operations Division).
Irving is second from left, in this photograph:
Additional photographs of the Radiomen crew, from Irving’s personal photograph collection (all were taken by Irving):
In many of the WWII crew photographs you will see certain crew members of the group wearing a rather odd-looking belt around their waist, such as highlighted in the photograph below. These “belts” are M26 life preservers. Crew members were required to wear their life preserver whenever they were “on-duty” or “on-watch.”
Correct position was at chest-level and around under the arm pits, however the belts rarely stayed up at chest level and were more comfortably worn at the waist. However, inflating the belt at waist-level put the wearer at greater risk of drowning.
Apparently the CO2 canisters were easy to set off, and many of the crew would take the canisters out of their belt so that they wouldn’t be victim of pranksters and “accidental” inflation. The belts could still be manually inflated by blowing up the two bladders via two long black tubes.
Here is a link at WarRelics.eu with additional information, and a close-up view of these life belts.
I learned of Glenwood Long’s death via a comment from Arnold Dischler.
Glenwood was aboard the Calvert during WWII and served as Machinist Mate First Class: “He served from August 10, 1942 to November 21, 1945, in the U.S. Navy during WWII as Machinist Mate First Class aboard the USS Calvert during the invasion of Africa, Leyte, Marshall Islands, and the Solomons, including Kwajalein and Mindosa.”
Glenwood’s full obituary is available here or here.
Appreciation to Jennifer at the Calvert Marine Museum for sending this group picture showing the Ship Fitters crew, circa 1944, including the Calvert’s mascot, “Fubar.”
A larger version of the photograph may be viewed in a new window by clicking on the image.
Additional information*
* Information on crew members provided by Hoyt Worthington and William “Hunky” Habrat, September 2013, Des Moines IA, Calvert Reunion.
** Post updated on 2014-March-29 with information from Suzy Schneider, daughter of Laudell Dupree. Laudell enlisted in the Navy in May of 1943 and was honorablly discharged as a Metalsmith Second Class (M2c) in March 1946. While aboard the Calvert, Laudell was a welder. He is originally from Perryville, Arkansas and now lives in California at the age of 92.