Today I wanted to get an item out of an old chest that was stored at my parents home that I saved when they passed. I wanted to get my Fathers burial flag out because I’m going to get a display case for it. I’ve been shooting pictures at Arlington Cemetery for years now and I thought I’d put something together with a few of those shots, his flag and picture.
Held up well after 8 plus decades.
Photo by Mike Hartley
I’m just making my way through the treasures in here. Yeah it has been a long time. I can’t explain it. I just have trouble going through my Dads things. Losing him when I was young was probably the hardest thing I’ve experienced in life. Even 5+ decades later I have a number of feelings and emotions that are incredibly strong.
Until today, I never knew the history of this chest. Going through this scrapbook of my Fathers I discovered this picture of this chest sitting on his bed. And as his caption reads “a picture of my trunk my mother gave me before I went into the Navy.” I had a thought it might be his or an old trunk of my Mom’s but didn’t know it was my Fathers from his Mother.
Dated May of 1941.
Photo by James Hartley
Also in this scrapbook I found some shots of a trip he took to Niagara Falls in April of 1941. It’s the year the Niagara Falls bridge was being built. I believe it’s called the Rainbow International Bridge now. Now I’m going to have to buy a print scanner to get these and many other images I’ve found digitized and available to the family.
As I was going through a few envelopes of his military ribbons, I found this from Operation Highjump in 1946 that he went on. It seemed he took a good number of shots on this journey and at Little America. And these include a number of fellow servicemen with names in the photos. So maybe another family might enjoy some history also. Of course it would probably have to be sons and daughters. Not many surviving parents from that era left. As time goes on I’ll try to post some of those. Maybe I’ll set up a rig just to photograph them so it can be quicker and less wear and tear on these old items.
Operation Highjump ID’s and crossing record.
Operation Highjump ID’s and crossing record.
Random Thoughts of the Day
If you can’t appreciate a warm shower, you aren’t living.
So many interest, so little time.
Working really cuts into my idea and creative time.
