Ted Garcia sent in this photograph of his father, David Julio Garcia. David served on the Calvert from ’45-’46 as a cook. Here he is at 86 years old, holding his Navy photograph from when he was 17 years old.
Mr. Garcia would like to hear from anyone from the ’45-’46 era who remembers him. Send me an email and I’ll put you in contact with his son, Ted.
I found this photograph of the Calvert on EBay. It is labeled Hiro Wan*, Japan, October 1945, It’s a great picture of the Calvert. Although she looks rather weathered and I suspect that she was undergoing a major overhaul: All landing craft are missing and paint crews are visible along the side of the ship. A larger photograph can be viewed by clicking on the image.
* Not Hiro Way as I originally posted.
I am excited to be able to post and share this color footage of the Calvert and her crew in action in the Pacific, during the summer and fall of 1944:
This video was provided by Hoyt Worthington, Gunners Mate 2nd Class (WWII). Hoyt recorded the showing of this film at the 1988 USS Calvert Reunion. He was kind enough to send me a copy to post here.
The story behind this color film footage is worth sharing. The Calvert’s official photographer was Chaplain Paul R. Elliott. During the Calvert’s time in the Pacific Chaplain Elliott took photographs and footage of the Calvert in action. At some point late in the war, or after the war was over, some of the footage was turned into this 30-minute documentary.
At several of the Calvert reunions during the 1980s and 1990s Chaplain Elliott would show the film. Hoyt was able to capture the film and narration using his video camera at the 1988 reunion. Although the original film had no sound, in this video you can hear narration from Chaplain Elliott and comments / laughter from the crowd while they watch the movie.
It it truly amazing to be able to share this footage, and to have the background narration for what would have been silent footage otherwise. The original film reels were listed as available through the National Archives and Hoyt made a valiant effort in the mid-1990s to get copies. Unfortunately he was never able to obtain the original film reels as all were lost to decay when they were opened by the National Archives staff. Had it not been for Hoyt’s work to capture this film via his video camera we would have lost a valuable glimpse into the Calvert’s and her crew’s time while at sea during the last half of 1944.
Here are the segments of the 31-minute film (some very short, some long):
Introduction: 00:00 – 00:40
Shore Liberty in Hawaii: 00:40 – 03:30
Crew Decorations by Capt. Sweeney: 03:30 – 04:00
Boarding the Ship: 04:00 – 04:20
Convoy at Sea: 04:20 – 04:40
Enjoying Time Deckside: 04:40 – 04:47
Battle Stations: 04:47 – 04:55 (with Dr. William G. Hook)
Deckside – Working Time, and More: 04:55 – 07:36 (FUBAR the dog can be seen starting at 7:04)
Combat Zone: 07:36 – 09:20
Landing Craft in Action: 09:20 – 11:10
Darken Ship & Enemy Aircraft: 11:20 – 11:35
Domain of Neptune Rex – Crossing The Line Ceremony, Oct 1st, 1944: 11:35 – 13:37
New Guinea – Natives on the Water: 13:37 – 13:50
Deckside: 13:50 – 14:13
Island Seafarers Diving: 14:13 – 15:15
Coming Ashore in New Guinea: 15:15 – 16:58
Lingayen Gulft Action: 16:59 – 17:39
Casualties Come Aboard: 17:39 – 16:46
Japanese (& Korean) Prisoners from Saipan: 16:50 – 22:30 (with Dr. William G. Hook)
Wounded US Soldiers Await Transfer: 22:35 – 24:10
Life-blood of Invasion (Diving & Swimming): 24:16 – 25:45
Top-Side: 25:45 – 26:22
Guns Firing: 26:22 – 27:21
Men & Materials: 27:21 – 27:35
Mail Arrives – DD591 USS Twiggs: 27:35 – 28:16
Rainbow at Sea: 28:17 – 28:30
Divine Services: 28:30 – 29:05
Night Guns in Action: 29:05 – 29:25
AA Flak & Japanese Plane: 29:25 – 29:35
Battle Wagons Pound Coast Line; Ships Hit: 29:35 – 30:20
Heavy Seas, 50 ft. Seas: 30:20 – 31:26
Mission Accomplished: 31:26 – 31:33
The End: 31:33 – 31:42
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.