My Father's Photos from 1945-1946 on a U.S. Coast Guard Troop Transport

July 21, 2010 10:18 PM

My Father's Photos from 1945-1946 on a U.S. Coast Guard Troop Transport
My late father in 1945 at age 17 joined the U.S. Coast Guard, and served on the USS General H.F. Hodges, a troop transport. Last year I found 200+ photos of his time in the Coast Guard and had them scanned. The ship traveled around the world a few times and the photos show shipboard life as well as scenes from shore leave, including Egypt, India and New York City.

I had no idea these photos existed until I opened a box that had been sealed for twenty years and had been sitting on a shelf in my garage for ten years.

The originals are about 2"x3", with a few with two exposures on either side of one photo (none of those were of high enough quality to include).

Two interesting notes about the Hodges:
- The captain was Carl Hilton, brother of hotel magnate Conrad Hilton.
- One of the crewmen, Clyde Allen, is the father of the Thad Allen, former Commandant of the Coast Guard and currently in the news as the National Incident Commander for the BP oil spill. Here's an interview with Clyde Allen, including questions about his time on the Hodges.

posted by ShooBoo (4 comments total)

This project was posted to MetaFilter by The Whelk on July 29, 2010: The USS Gen. H.F. Hodges In Photos

These are lovely — thanks for scanning and uploading them.
posted by dreamyshade at 1:09 AM on July 22, 2010

What an awesome find! Thanks for sharing.
posted by gomichild at 4:06 AM on July 22, 2010

I find these incredibly engrossing, thanks so much for sharing!
posted by Saminal at 7:27 PM on July 22, 2010

Little late to this, but I plan on printing a few of these out and showing them to guys on my boat. Thanks for sharing these.
posted by QuarterlyProphet at 5:32 PM on August 22, 2010