In the thread “Former / Active Duty Military Members Roll Call” (and again, a personal thank you to each and every one of you that served and defended our country) I mentioned that my Granddad was the Navigator and, eventually, the XO on the USS Corregidor (CVE-58) in the Pacific theater. These aircraft carriers were called Escort Carries or Jeeps. While most everyone is familiar with the Yorktown Class of carriers (think Yorktown, Enterprise, & Hornet at the Battle of Midway), most aren’t familiar with Jeeps/Escort Carriers - the Bogue Class (most of which were leased to the Royal Navy - Britain), Casablanca Class, and Commencement Bay Class of carriers. While the Commencement Bay class were primarily built to be aircraft carriers, a majority of the Bogue & Casablanca class were actually converted halfway through construction to serve as carriers. As a result, these class of carriers were typically half the length of their more famous counterparts, had minimal armor, and had much less defensive capabilities.
So what’s the connection to them being named “Jeeps?” A majority of these carriers, especially the Casablanca class, were built by Kaiser Shipyards. The same Kaiser Shipyards owned by Henry Kaiser who purchased Willys-Overland and turned it into Kaiser-Jeep. On a side note, he also started Kaiser-Permanente to provide healthcare to his own employees during the war.
The USS Corregidor spent a majority of it’s time operating as part of a hunter-killer group tracking down submarines near the Marshall Islands. She also participated in offensive campaigns against Saipan & Guam while my Granddad was stationed on her. In both roles, he had the ability to take photos that, while I don't know the full story, was able to keep copies of them despite most being labeled "Secret" or "Top Secret." Here is a sampling of his photos. I keep the scrapbook in a temperature/humidity controlled case but, if anyone is interested, I can open it and get some photos of his navigation maps, ration cards, etc. I even have a copy of his ticket stub to the only Army-Navy game played in Soldier Field.
Time for hazing the Polliwogs - aka those who had never crossed the Equator before . . .
A majority of the aircraft based on the USS Corregidor were the TBM-3 Avenger Torpedo Bombers
An Kamikaze just missing off of Starboard. . .
A photo taken off of a dead Japanese soldier. On the back of the photo, written in Japanese, are the names of each of them.
So what’s the connection to them being named “Jeeps?” A majority of these carriers, especially the Casablanca class, were built by Kaiser Shipyards. The same Kaiser Shipyards owned by Henry Kaiser who purchased Willys-Overland and turned it into Kaiser-Jeep. On a side note, he also started Kaiser-Permanente to provide healthcare to his own employees during the war.
The USS Corregidor spent a majority of it’s time operating as part of a hunter-killer group tracking down submarines near the Marshall Islands. She also participated in offensive campaigns against Saipan & Guam while my Granddad was stationed on her. In both roles, he had the ability to take photos that, while I don't know the full story, was able to keep copies of them despite most being labeled "Secret" or "Top Secret." Here is a sampling of his photos. I keep the scrapbook in a temperature/humidity controlled case but, if anyone is interested, I can open it and get some photos of his navigation maps, ration cards, etc. I even have a copy of his ticket stub to the only Army-Navy game played in Soldier Field.
Time for hazing the Polliwogs - aka those who had never crossed the Equator before . . .
A majority of the aircraft based on the USS Corregidor were the TBM-3 Avenger Torpedo Bombers
An Kamikaze just missing off of Starboard. . .
A photo taken off of a dead Japanese soldier. On the back of the photo, written in Japanese, are the names of each of them.
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