This is the ONLY wartime photo of my dad, excepting his training photo and official Navy photo. It was taken on Samar Island, the Philippines, about August 1944. The photo was in the possession of Dad's fellow squadron member, Jim Mullaney, and was sent to dad by him in a wedding invitation a few years after the war. I found an obituary for Jim and was sad to know that he died in 2017. I would have loved to have talked with Jim about my Dad as Dad was reticent to share his experiences of the war in the South Pacific.
Notice the cock-fighting signs behind my Dad. If you look closely, you can see men sitting in the stands on the far left, one of whom has turned around to see what was going on during the shooting of the photo. The man behind Dad is unidentified.
I did not know this photo existed until yesterday and found it while going through a box of my Dad's stuff (which I'll discuss in the Chat this weekend).
My younger brother looked just like Dad at the same age (and still does pretty much).
Click here for the image details page or here for the full-sized version (960 x 694).
