What's New?

Added a slide pop-out page on The Inside Story about the job duties for a Yeoman during WWII. Back in the day, I worked on job descriptions and classifications in public sector personnel work. At the time, clerical jobs were changing due to the implementation of information technology into the workplace. While it is easy to get current Navy job specs, I wanted to be historically accurate. How was the Yeoman's job defined during WWII? In short, what was my dad's job on the Elmore? The link is at the bottom of the page.

Added the story of Merrill 'Snafu' Shelton to the Passengers page. If you have read Eugene Sledge's memoir "With The Old Breed" about the Marines at Pelileu and Okinawa or have seen the HBO miniseries "The Pacific," then you know about Snafu.

Added the story of the last Japanese straggler on Guam to the Guam page.

Seventh record created on the Remembrance page for Chief Yeoman Joseph A. Dudash, the ship's historian and webmaster's son.

Added a 2005 video interview with Mike O'Connor, a coxswain (boat driver) on Elmore's crew. Mr. O'Connor was 81 years old at the time. The interview can be found on the Recollections page.

Added an entry for Mike O'Connor in the Remembrance page.

Added a 2010 newspaper interview with Mike O'Connor, a coxswain (boat driver) on Elmore's crew. Mr. O'Connor was 86 years old and he memory was still sharp. The article can be found on the Recollections page.

Added a page on the MacArthur Memorial in Leyte, Philippines. The link is on the Shipboard page in the Crew section.

Added a new entry on the Passengers page: Arthur Veysey. Veysey was a Chicago Tribune war correspondent who traveled on USS Elmore as part of the U.S. Army's 24th Infantry Division in the invasion at Leyte. 25 years after the landing (1970), Veysey wrote an amazing story recounting his involvement in the events in the Philippines. This was an amazing find from the Tribune's archives. Veysey's memory for names is incredible, as you will read. While on the Elmore for just a few days, he somehow managed to find most of the ship's crew members from Chicago. Having lived in Chicago for 30 years, I know how it was done: the Chicago accent. (Go to the Crew page and then to the Passengers link.)

Added a page on the landing at Palo "Red" Beach in Leyte in the Philippines. This is where General Douglas MacArthur made his triumphant return to the Phillipines. USS Elmore was there, one of four attack transports that supported the landing. It was here that one of Elmore's crew members was killed.

Added more ship descriptions to the APAs section: APA-215 to APA-249. This completes the APA section. All ships accounted for!

Added more ship descriptions to the APAs section: APA-194 to APA-214. This completes page 7 of the APAs.

Added more ship descriptions to the APAs section: APA-180 to APA-193.

Added six ship descriptions to the APAs section, APA-174 to APA-179.

The Recollections page highlights ab interview of Elmore's crew members, conducted for the Veterans History Center of Lt. Robert Auchmutey Jr in 2004. There is a transcript of the video.

The Survivors page finally has a biography of one of our three known survivors, Walter Hite, who just turned 93 this summer.

Much of the work centered on developing the Shipboard page. The idea is to highlight how Elmore was there for some important events in history. If you are familiar with the HBO miniseries, The Pacific, then you will discover how Elmore fits in. The events of General MacArthur's historical return to the Philippines has a very clear tie to Elmore, as does a trip by Bob Hope to the Pacific island of Espiritu Santo.

The Reunions page is now being developed. The first entry is for a reunion that occurred in Cleveland, OH. There are two photos from that reunion, courtesy of Dick Mullen.

The Passengers page is now being developed. The first entry is for Pfc. Leonard F. Mason, USMC. He was awarded the Metal of Honor for bravery in battle in the invasion of Guam. He was mortally wounded, taken aboard USS Elmore where he died the next day, and was buried at sea.

Fifth record created in the Remembrance page: Lt. Charles R. Archmutey, Jr.

Added a story on the Stories page from Lt. Auchmutey: "Docking Maneuvers."

Corrected about a dozen entries in the 1944 and 1945 timelines, primarily spelling corrections and the names of fleet officers mentioned in the logs. Also replaced the video graphic on the top of the What's New? page with a more fluid video theme.

Added a story to the Stories page from Mike O' Connor, Boatswain's Mate, 2nd Class, regarding the landings at Okinawa.

Changed the Remembrance page banner photo to WWII Memorial in DC and the photo of the webmaster (me!) on the Web Tech page.

Added two additional stories to the Stories page.

Added another story to the Stories page. Added Joesph N. Ermer to the Remembrance page.

Added two stories to the Stories page. Made some small biographical additions to the Remembrance page for Michael Annunziato and Carl J. Mullen.

Fixed link to Web Tech page. Several minor grammatical items were also corrected.

Second record created in the Remembrance page: Michael Annunziato.

First record created in the Remembrance page: Carl J. Mullen.

Updated APAs section: added 8 records.

Updated APAs section: added 9 records. Deleted John Burns section of Team Elmore page.

Updated copyright © year. Added Brian's photo to Team Elmore page.