About Pacific Ship and Shore Historical Review
Pacific Ship and Shore Historical Review began life in 2003. It went into hibernation in 2006. We're now back online, with luck for yet awhile!
In Pacific Ship and Shore, the intent is to take the reader back in time to either learn of events of which he never knew, or to refresh his memory of isolated happenings he had tucked away, nearly forgotten; or maybe just needed verification after having slipped out of the pages of modern-day school books and histories written by others more hesitant to bring up stuff that might rock the boat of cultural or international relationships of the modern day.
I was in the United States Navy as a Hospital Corpsman at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 during the Japanese Navy’s surprise attack; and in the early war years of WWII was aboard the heavy cruiser USS San Francisco and the battleship USS Pennsylvania. I was appointed a Navy Warrant Officer in 1944, and at end of World War II was a Chief Warrant Officer. Later as a Chief Petty Officer I served on several other ships and stations in the USA and overseas.
In 1959 to 1961 I was assigned in the Legal Office and as the administrative assistant to the Chief of Medicine, U.S. Naval Hospital, San Diego, California, where in 1961 my active naval service ended with my requested transfer to the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Reserve.
After my active naval service ended in 1961, I was employed as the Medical Administrative Officer in the Office of the Regional Flight Surgeon, Federal Aviation Administration, in Los Angeles; then in 1962-1965 as the Executive Officer, Medical Certification Division, Office of Aviation Medicine, in Oklahoma City; and then in Washington, D.C., where from 1967 to 1972 as the Executive Officer (GS-15) in the Office of Aviation Medicine, Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, D.C. In 1972 I retired from federal service, and was also placed on the retired list of the United States Navy as a Chief Warrant Officer.
In 1972 I incorporated The Banner Publishing Company, Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, and authored and published a history of aviation medicine, Civil Aviation Medicine in the Bureaucracy. Also in the following years I wrote and published The History of the USS San Francisco in World War II and other naval histories of subjects which I was interested in, including The History and Times of the USS Portland.
I dissolved the company in 1979 and moved to Dixon, California, where in semi-retirement I have continued active in naval and military organizations. For many years I also served as Editor of The Frisco Newsletter, and have served as Vice President and am a past President of the USS San Francisco (CA-38) Association.
One of the interests of Pacific Ship and Shore — and of a good many others who served in the Guadalcanal Campaign of World War II — is to bring about the building of a Callaghan/Scott historical center at Land’s End, on that cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean there in San Francisco, where the shell-torn bridge of the USS San Francisco is a national monument. The site is owned by the National Park Service. There’s plenty of room for an extended national display which could tell the whole Guadalcanal story, both at sea and ashore.
The project is in the good hands of the USS San Francisco Foundation, which is well represented by members of all of the Armed Services.