American History Memorabilia

[bengineno9]

My Great Uncle Philip fought and served in the Navy during WWII in the Pacific aboard the USS Quail. A small minesweeper ship that saw a lot action in Manila Bay. They even managed to knock down quite a few Japanese war planes.
When Corregidor Island was invaded by the Japanese, Wainwright ordered the surrender. The Captain of the Quail was ordered to scuttle the ship so it wouldn't fall into the enemies hands. Shortly after the Captain, Philip, and 15 other members of the crew stocked a 36 ft. long diesel boat full of supplies, food, and ammo and fled the island at night. They snuck past 55 Japanese warships and endured multiple strafing attempts from dive bombers. After 30 days of island hopping and hiding in small coves they traveled 2,000 miles to Darwin, Australia.
Philip was the Captain's right hand man. He had a great set of eyes and was the watch out man. He was also an expert with maps and direction. He documented every detail of this journey.
Before their arrival to Darwin he pieced together and sewed an American flag with a pair of Kahki pants and some red and blue dye for the boat.
A couple weeks later after the safe arrival he was promoted to Quartermaster and reassigned to the USS Jarvis. Days later his ship was hit by a Japanese torpedo and sunk. All hands on board lost. Over 250 men. Philip had his American flag with him.
Philip was listed MIA and information sent back home was limited. Great Grandma wrote the Navy and Red Cross to no avail. She always thought he would show up on the doorstep one day.

I wrote a school report about him in the 5th grade and found it several years ago. Did some research and found the book "South from Corregidor" that was written by the Captain of the Quail. The book documents the journey day by day from Corregidor Island to Darwin. I became great friends with a man who republished the book and does presentations about it.
I met up with him in 2014 at the Naval Academy in DC to be apart of his presentation. Also got to meet the only remaining member of the 17 men that escaped. His name is Lyle, 93 years old.
Pretty much the only person alive that personally knew my Great Uncle and he shared many great stories that left me with goosebumps. A truly amazing man. I will never forget that day! It was an honor to represent my family. And to think 70 years later I would be the one to get all of this information.
I would of given anything for my Grandpa to read this book. It would of gave him closure.

So to the topic of this thread. I had a newspaper clipping from our local newspaper made into a nice picture. A picture of the men on their diesel boat given to me in DC. Both on display in my basement. My prized possession is the original, hard to find first published book "South from Corregidor" signed by Lyle. Several Saturday Evening Post magazines that wrote stories of the journey. Even have three comic books. Several wire photos and a newsletter that came from the Quail.
Also since I'm a Kansas boy I collect Eisenhower bust coin banks.
Sorry for the long read!



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