Old Photos Pre-WWII
These were some old photos that Uncle Larry supplied years ago on a series of 3.5″ floppies.
Note that a few of the pictures had some corruption issues (requiring me to do some data recovery from the discs) so the “thumbnail” for those images does not display. However, the image will display despite the issues with the file itself.
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Here is a ZIP Archive if you would like the originals
Family Comments on the Photos
Philip
I think that is a picture of the General Mitchell leaving the Navy Pier in San Diego in November of 1946. That was the start of the trip for mom and her (then) three boys enroute to China. I don’t know who took the picture. We had been staying in San Pedro so maybe Grandpa Young brought us down there.
The picture is taken from the south side of the Navy pier after we had backed out from the north side. The USS Midway is presently permantently moored there. By the way, mom had bought me a toy truck to play with on the trip and your father grabbed it from me and threw it over the side into the water.We had a battalion of Marines riding all the way with us to China. We spent Thanksgiving day at anchor in Honolulu and then sailed to Guam where we, and the Marines, changed ships. We sailed from Guam on the President Adams to Manila, then Shanghai and got off in Tsingtao on December 18. The Marines went a little further north to Tientsin (sp?). That port was the terminus for the rail line from Peking. The Marines were sent to provide security for that rail line. It is my understanding that they did take some combat casualties in completeing that mission. I had not thought of that episode in years. Your dad might be able to research that battalion as it obviously came from Camp Pendleton.
I tried to read the name of the ship on the placard on the side of the bridge. Best I could see was it might be Mitchell. I will be commenting on some of the other pictures as I get a chance. This one was probably the shortest narrative. If you have any questions or need clarification let me know.
Larry:
ALY 19XXa:Anna Lydia Young (Aunt Anna) sometime 1930-1935(?)
Donald Riddle-1963:Don’s school photo from 1963(?)
Capt E.E. Young-1892:Grandpa Young photo from 1895 (+/- 5)
Capt E.E. Young-19aa:Grandpa Young in the mid 1940s(?)
Capt E.E. Young-19zz:Grandpa Young on the bridge 19??Capt E.E. Young-1944a:Grandma and Grandpa Young 1944(?)
Eleu-01:Tug Eleu once captained by Capt Young 19??
gen-whg1:USNS General Walter H. Gordon, our “cruise ship” to China
(or, at least, Dad said he THOUGHT it was the ship we were on)
George Edward Riddle 1912a&b:Grandma and Dad plus some of the
neighbors (I can’t remember their names)
George Edward Riddle 1931a:The day Dad sewed on his “crow” (i.e.,
he was promoted to Radioman 3rd Class)George Edward Riddle 1942a:Dad in his chief’s tropical white uniform
George Edward Riddle 1942b:Dad in khakis at the “Q Station” at PearlI’m working on a very slow connection and it is taking me forever. Will stop here for now and try to find the photos here so I can get a better (and faster) look at them.
It is of the USNS Gen Walter H. Gordon arriving at Fort Mason (San Francisco) in June of 1952 with, among about 2500-3000 others, about 500 men of the 40th Infantry Division. The 40ID is better known as the California Army National Guard.Dad (who did not make that restful ocean voyage with Mom and her three stooges) was not sure what ship they were on, but “thought” it was the USNS Gordon. Phil was there. If he says it was the USNS General William Mitchell (AP-114), I’ll take his word for it.
By the way, please take the dates on the photos as guesses or approximations. None of the guesses were made by yours truly. Some are from Mom, some from Grandma, some from Dad, and some from Aunt Anna. Just do not ask me to remember who made which guesses.
For some help in assigning approximate dates, Phil suggests these milestones: 29 Jan 1945 (Larry born) family living in Wilmington, CA and Grandma Ollie comes out to assist Mom (duration of stay unknown but I think she did work in LA for a while). 7 May 1945 (V-E Day) Family still in Wilmington. 15 Aug 1945 (V-J Day) Family is in Galveston, TX (traveled by train from SoCal). Date unknown – Mom and the three stooges leave for Tsingtao, China to be with Dad.
Mary Ellen
Picture # 24/49 is Ellen Bluett, Olive Riddle Ludvigsen Jacobsen, Philip Riddle, Martha Riddle
This picture, I was told by Grandma” was taken in front of Uncle Ed’s Store”. Now in this case, I do mean Uncle Ed. Uncle Ed was her brother. I guess she called him “Uncle Ed” for her children. I also spoke to Lauren Holbrook, who is Ed Bluett’s granddaughter. She said that her Granddad owned a store in Chicago. We talked about what pictures she had and I had, but her’s were destroyed in a house fireWho are the people in 15/49? I assume they are Nellie Hollingsworth and her mother and mother-in-law? Names?
Who are the people in 14/49? I assume they are Martha and Margaret’s Grandma’s. But what are their names?
If anyone is interested, I can fix the #40/49 and 25/49 pictures in photoshop.
what I can contribute to this is the picture #10 is:1912 Chicago
Front – Myrtle Legg and Lilian Legg
Upper Right – Olive Bluett Riddle with her baby George
Man is Olive’s Uncle Dan Egan
Can hardly wait to fill in some of the gaps of our family line. Still a lot more to do tracing the geneology of our families…am looking forward to the names, etc of your photos.