I have worked a little with genealogy lately. I have been swamped with so much to do. I feel it is important to work on this, even if it is just for a few minutes. I plan on starting out with my paternal grandfather. My family had little information about him and it is so interesting to find everything that I have found! It has been rewarding to find this information!
My Paternal Grandfather - Willie Albert Johnson Pt. 1
The information I have found on my grandfather was located on Fold3. I knew he was in the U.S. Navy. I plugged in his name and found muster rolls and an application for his headstone when he died. I found many things listed on these documents. For one, I found out that my grandfather served on the U.S.S. Boise (CL-47). He was on board after it's tragic destruction in 1942. The ship was sent back to the U.S. and was overhauled. He joined the Navy on December 7, 1942.
World War II started in 1939, but my grandfather was born in 1925. He was only 14 at that time. What is interesting, if you do the math you will see that he was actually 17 when he joined the military! He lied about his age! I remember when I was younger, my family and I had gone to West Virginia to look for his military certificate. My dad had a hard time finding it because he had lied about his age. I did know prior to finding his muster rolls on Fold3 that he lied about his age. My father said that he joined with cousins, I believe. I think that was very common during WWII.
My grandfather was honorably discharged on February 17, 1946. One of the awards he received per his headstone application was the Victory Medal. At this time, I am not sure if other awards were given. My father is working on getting his military records. When we receive those, we should be able to know more about what medals he earned.
Willie was a watertender. The U.S.S. Boise CL-47 was a steam vessel. The watertender was responsible for keeping the boiler from exploding. The reason is because the water in the boilers must be watched constantly. If they go dry, it explodes (American Merchant Marine at War, n.d.).
His muster rolls on Fold3 give me different information. It gave me his service number. It was also on his headstone application. However, this is how I was able to know it was him. I was able to see that he enlisted in Charleston, WV. The U.S.S. Boise left NYD Portsmouth, VA shipyard on May 29, 1943. The destination was listed as unknown. If you look at wikipedia, you will see that the U.S.S. Boise CL-47 (be sure to use the CL-47 since a second U.S.S. Boise existed but isn't the same ship) traveled to Italy, Borneo, Philippines, and New Guinea. It participated in the invasion of Sicily. It participated in several other invasion and bombardments. General Douglas MacArthur was even aboard the ship for a few days (Wikipedia, n.d.).
There is a book on Amazon regarding the history of the U.S.S. Boise during World War II. I plan on purchasing this book so I can read about all the remarkable places it traveled and what part in our history it played. I plan on doing a few more posts on the information that I have found regarding my grandfather. Hopefully, I can get a picture to post of him. I never knew him since he died in his early 30's. He was involved in a motor vehicle accident caused from a truck. He was living in Ohio my grandmother, my dad and his other siblings.
References:
American Merchant Marine at War. (n.d.). Duties of Seamen in Ship's Engine Department. Retrieved
from www.usmm,org/engine.html
Wikipedia. (n.d.) USS Boise (CL-47). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Boise_(CL-47).
