From Inside The Wall

[Rico]

I know I haven't been around much lately. With the new company, Christmas, Skyrim, and now Star Wars out, I'm suprised I've even slept! =) One of the other things I've been doing over the past month is going through and identifying stuff from a box of old photos my brother-in-law found. He was tearing down an old house in Oklahoma and inside the wall was a box full of hundreds of photos. Among them, about half were photos of US Naval ships, aircraft, and Sailors. He's a big history buff, and with some of my skills developed during my previous career, I thought I could help him identify them. So I put together a little book (I say little, it's about three-inches thick) for him listing what each is and giving some history behind it. Caution when reviewing the photos. I named them best guess, and then adjusted fire while putting the book together. Some might be mislabeled because I was too lazy to go back and change the filename. =)

In any case, I wanted to share these with my old friends. I thought you all would get a kick out of it. These ships saw action in Operation Torch, Leyte Gulf, Perl Harbor, Coral Sea, and plenty of others. My favorites of the bunch are the Shellback Ceremony on what I believe is the USS New York. That ceremony is a Naval Tradition dating back hundreds of years, honoring the point where Sailors cross the Prime Meridian or the Equator.

Hope you guys enjoy!

[T_O_A_D]

Where do we go to look at them Oklahoma?

[DD_Arthur]

If you check out the gallery or album sections you'll find 'em in there. Worth looking at too!

Anyone want to try and name them or even when and where?

[Rico]

Oops, sorry about that! I had intended to link to the gallery, but forgot. Looks like Arthur's got me covered, though. =)

Pretty crazy to think that they were in a wall, and who knows for how long. The one of the USS Colorado passing in front of New York City is actually from the same series of pictures as the one linked in the Wikipedia article on the Colorado Class Battleships. I happened to have scanned another picture, but the one in the article is in the box. Also found commendations and letters from the US Navy to the guy who took the pictures, so we have his name, and some dates to go along with them. It really was a fun several months going through these things and putting that book together.

[Jabo]

Hey Rico, good to hear from you again! Fantastic photos, what a record! I would have thought that a museum would love to get their paws on them.

Jabo