I had the distinct pleasure of hearing from the son of one of the men who served in the Pacific with my grandfather during WWII. He came across this post of mine while searching for images of Marine Air Group - 15, the unit in which my grandfather was a surgeon attached to the headquarters squadron in 1944-1945. His father was a career Marine, retiring as a Major but a 2nd Lt. at the time they were in the same outfit together. Apparently we have some of the same photographs in our respective collections that were kept by these two men, along with many other items and remembrances from their service. I look forward to sharing what we have with each other in the coming weeks, but in the meantime here are some additional photographs that belonged to my grandfather that may be of general interest.
I'm fairly certain the boxing match depicted above was on Kwajelein, while the Marines disembarking are landing on Abamama Atoll in April, 1944.
The damaged building is on Saipan, in an image made by my grandfather on a trip "up the line" later in 1944. The flooded camp is Kwajelein in late 1944 or early 1945. I do not know what storm triggered the tidal surge that would have produced such flooding, but Kwajelein has been swept completely over by such surges in the past. Others more knowledgeable than I might be able to say whether it could have been flooding associated with the Typhoon of December 17, 1944 that pummeled the US Third Fleet off the Philippines, sinking 3 destroyers, seriously damaging 9 other vessels and costing more than 800 men their lives. I suspect not, but have not been able to pin down the precise weather event that flooded Kwajelein during this time.
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