Sharing ancestors, one person at a time. Genealogy and history.
The month of June marks the full return to post-COVID normal in my world, as is evidenced by my lack of blog posts. And it will not get better for the rest of 2021 for me. In our haste to return to normal, my client/employer has opted to cram as much travel as possible into … Continue reading Letters Home: Grandma was a Rosie
Upon returning to the Pacific, the USS Massachusetts, powered by Fireman First Class Kenney Rhoades (and others) took part in more training while the U.S. beefed up her defensive strategy and finalized plans to transition to an offensive-defensive phase. There are indications that Kenney did write more letters during these months, but these have been lost … Continue reading Letters Home – Russell Islands 1943
There still are no letters to transcribe since the Battle of Casablanca (Operation Torch). But while I continue to pull some strings on Kucks and Grandma's mtDNA, I will give you scuttle butt from the U.S.S. Massachusetts. Big Mamie came home to Casco Bay in November after the Vichy French surrendered at Casablanca. The crew … Continue reading Letters Home – Back to the Pacific in 1943
Operation Torch Soon after the events at Pearl Harbor and the U.S. official entry into the war, military leaders had settled on the primary strategy of defeating Axis efforts in Europe before focusing on the Pacific threat. https://youtu.be/_hFXXbgtIZw So in July 1942, while Kenney trained off Main's coast with his new shipmates aboard the recently … Continue reading WW II letters home – Operation Torch (November 1942)
I have not been remiss in posting letters home from Kenney. The truth is, I do not have letters to post until November. Kenney either forgot (because he was too busy) to write home, or the letters have been lost. This has been a series of posts that have been great for putting Kenney on … Continue reading On the Map – Kenney’s Travels in the East
