Photos WW2 US Forces

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Eligible Sailors on a USN Carrier (Possibly USS Lexington CV-16) receive their “Federal War Ballots” to enable them to vote in the 1944 Elections - August 1944
While the Soldier Voting Act passed in 1944 enabled US service personnel overseas to vote, only 25 percent of service members actually voted in 1944
Personnel had to be 21 years of age to vote in 1944, many of these men were voting for the first time in their lives
The 1944 Federal War Ballot was write-in votes only (see picture in comments)
Incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Thomas E. Dewey in the 1944 US Presidential Elections
LIFE Magazine Archives - J R Eyerman Photographer

 

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M3A1 Stuart "Satan" flamethrower tanks in action on Saipan.

 

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P-38 Lightning construction, California 1944.

 

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Romans throng the streets of their city to welcome their allied liberators, June 1944.
Looking rather incongruous among them is an abandoned Sturmpanzer 43, sometimes referred to as a "Brummbär".
(LIFE / Silk)

 

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Abandoned German Vehicles that appear to have gotten stuck on the mudflats near Mont Saint-Michel France are examined by Allied personnel and curious locals - July 1944
The vehicles appear to be a Volkswagen Schwimmwagen, two Volkswagen Kübelwagens, and a Krupp-Protze L 2 H 43
LIFE Magazine Archives - Joe Scherschel Photographer

 

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New York Harbour, end of WWII, 1945.
The liner Queen Elizabeth is filled with the American troops coming home from war. Wow!

 

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U.S. Captain Byron B. Bradford in a trench during the fight against Japanese forces near Buna, Papua New Guinea - 1943
Bradford survived WW2;
Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel) Byron Bruce Bradford was born November 25, 1911 in Illinois, married in 1934.
Living in Austin, Minnesota from at least 1920.
2LT Minn. National Guard 23 February 1937.
In 1940 census living with his family in Austin, job listed as a car loader at a packing plant. 2LT Army of the United States 10 Feb 1941, 1LT 27 Jun 1941, CPT 11 Aug 1942.
He stayed in the Army after the war and served in Korea, according to his tombstone.
Bradford Died October 29, 1975 and is buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery, California.

LIFE Magazine Archives - George Strock Photographer

 

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USS Minneapolis CL/CA-36, circa 1942. Stationed at Pearl Harbour, but was on a training exercise away from base during the the Dec. 7th attack. The ship went on to fight in the battle of midway, Coral sea, Tassafronga, Phillipian sea, Guam, and a dozen more. The ship was awarded 16 battle stars for WWII service

 

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A fond farewell?
This American pilot looks wistfully at the USAAF officer's overseas cap he will now be wearing instead of RAF officer's service cap he was wearing until recently.
He was a former member of one of the RAF's "Eagle Squadrons" which comprised of US volunteer pilots ... Nos 71...121...133 Squadrons.
However, on 29th September 1942, the three "Eagle Squadrons" were officially transferred from the RAF to the US Eighth Air Force and thereafter became the 334th...335th...336th Fighter Squadrons.
This pilot now wears the Army Air Forces officers' uniform of his native country.
On his left breast are his USAAF pilot's silver wings...and on his right breast are embroidered RAF pilot's wings, a proud legacy of his previous service.
(LIFE / David Scherman)

 

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This Jeep was comprehensively destroyed during the advance on Rome, June 1944.
How it met its demise is not recorded....mine damage seems likely?
Notwithstanding the possible fate of its driver, there were plenty more where that came from!
( LIFE / George Silk)

 

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USS Alabama (BB-60) in Casco Bay, Maine, during her shakedown period, December 1942.

USS Alabama (BB-60) anchored in Puget Sound, Washington, March 1945

 

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Curtiss SB2C Helldivers from USS Lexington CV-16 during the Second Battle of Guam - July 1944
LIFE Magazine Archives - J R Eyerman Photographer

 

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USS Missouri (BB-63) anchored in port during her shakedown cruise, circa August 1944. She is wearing camouflage Measure 32 Design 22D. A K-type blimp is overhead.

USS Baltimore (CA-68) the lead ship of her class of heavy cruisers, off Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 18 October 1944

USS Alaska (CB-1) underway on 11 September 1944

USS Baya (SS-318) gets painted with shark "nose art" courtesy of the 102 Naval Construction Battalion. Subic Bay, Philippines 1945.

 

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"Lulu Belle" was a P-40N-1 Warhawk #44-2104590 flown by 2nd Lieutenant Philip R. Adair, a pilot with the United States Army Air Force's 89th Fighter Squadron / 80th Fighter Group / 10th US Air Force in the China-Burma-India Theater.
The 80th Fighter Group's main mission was defending military transport aircraft flying from India to China over the Himalayas, an air bridge that was nicknamed "The Hump".
Quote: "Adair flew 113 missions in "Lulu Belle", including one sortie on 19th December in which he singlehandedly attacked an incoming raid of 24 Japanese 'Sally' bombers and 40 Japanese fighters sent to bomb the U.S. air base at Nagaghuli, India.
Lt Adair managed to shoot down one bomber and one 'Oscar' fighter, but his relentless harassment so scattered the formation that they ended up bombing inaccurately, only causing minor damage at the strategically important airfield.
Adair's aircraft was hit 16 times in the action, but managed to return to base. Lt. Adair was awarded the Silver Star for his actions that day and went on to fly a total of 139 combat missions, before returning to the United States at the end of the war."
"Lulu Belle" has been replicated on a surviving P-40 airframe and is now a part of the "Hangar 11" collection here in the UK.
(LIFE / Vandivert)

 

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Flying "The Hump" over the Himalayas from India > China was a dangerous game...but the scenery was undeniably spectacular!
(LIFE / Vandivert)

 

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USS Arizona BB-39 plunges through heavy seas followed by USS Nevada BB-36 enroute from San Pedro to San Francisco - May 1932
From the Boston Public Library Collection - Leslie Jones Collection

 

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Sergeant William S Nishikawa, US Army WW2. Served in the Pacific, including the Aleutians, New Guinea and Phillipines (1944) campaigns, as part of a then-secret US Army Japanese-American intel unit.
Although he was born in California, William Nishikawa's family was interned in a relocation camp in Arkansas during the war. His son is my brother-in-law. His wife is alive and well on their farm in California, and still formidable with a shotgun.

 

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The T2 37mm gun motor carriage combined the jeep with a 37mm antitank gun.....and this vehicle is not that, but it is very similar. Anyone know what its called?
Thankfully, wiser heads prevailed and no one was sent into combat with one of these things.

 

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USS Nelson under tow back to Boston, after losing her stern to a German E-Boat at Normandy, 1944

USS Wisconsin, 1945