Sepia Saturday challenges
bloggers to share family history through old photographs.
This week’s Sepia Saturday photo prompt depicts some men
inspecting a gun.
Check out this gun:
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| Orvin Owen Davis, Jr. 1925 - 1987 |
My mother’s brother Orvin Owen Davis, Jr. was in the
Coast Guard during World War II, primarily in the Pacific. He served on an invasion transport ship which
delivered marines and amphibious vehicles to battle zones. Two newspaper articles saved by my grandmother indicate Orvin Jr. contributed to the success of at least two significant battles.
The first was the Second Battle of Guam (1944) in which
the United States took back territory that had been captured by the Japanese in
1941. The article appeared just two days after the conclusion of the battle.
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| Orvin Jr. is second from the right. He is listed as "Orrie O. Davis," a nickname I had never heard before. Was it a play on "Oreo" or merely an error on part of the reporter? |
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| The reporter mistakenly gave Orvin's name as "Alvin." Click to enlarge |
The important role played by the Coast Guard is evident in this photo from Wikimedia Commons. The photo was taken in Guam, but the sentiment could have been extended to any part of the Pacific theater.
Marines salute
Coast Guard
for their big part in
the invasion of
Guam
They put us here and
we intend to stay
With so many of our participants living in North America, Europe, and parts "down under," you may need an amphibious vehicle to make your way around Sepia Saturday.
©2014, Wendy
Mathias. All rights reserved.
Too bad they mispelled Orvin's name in the newspaper article.
ReplyDeleteOrvin looks like a little kid in the first photo. How old do you think he was in that shot?
When I first saw it, I thought it was a little boy playing war.
Great post about your uncle. A nice tribute - and at least you spelled his name correctly.
Now that you mention it, Orvin was a kid. If that picture was from 1944, he was just 19.
DeleteYou have some great family stories! Have you ever thought of using them to write historical fiction? So much inspiration... :)
ReplyDeleteWhat? Are you practicing your stand-up routine?
DeleteIt's so cool that you have those newspaper clippings; what great memorabilia of your uncle.
ReplyDeleteIt is cool. I'm glad my grandmother saved them even though she didn't do much to keep them from getting wrinkled and torn.
DeleteDefinitely a young looking 19-year-old. Brave man.
ReplyDeleteMy "mother hormones" kick in whenever I hear the news of yet another 18/19/20-year old soldier being killed in action. They're just babies. We owe so much to all those babies who fight for us. Brave, indeed.
DeleteOoh, Oreos! My research tells me they were invented in 1912, and did you know they had both a vanilla and LEMON filling? Yum!
ReplyDeleteThat battle in Guam was depicted in the film, "The Thin Red Line", I believe. Have you seen it? Marvelous movie, if you like a good war film.
Kat
I'm not really big on war movies, but I'll add "The Thin Red Line" to my Netflix queue since I should be able to relate. Lemon Oreos? Never knew that. I guess that could be good. Mint sure is.
DeleteWhy oh why did you mention the lemon filing! Wonder where on earth I might find one of those now. It must be time for lunch.
DeleteLiz, have you seen my food blog? I see "oreo" of any description, and I'm going to run with it!
DeleteGreat cast in it - Nick Nolte, Sean Penn, Jim Caviezel,John Cusack, Adrien Brody, John Travolta, George Clooney ... the list goes on and on!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cast! John Cusack - I'm there! (Yeah, yeah -- he's not handsome like George Clooney, but John Cusack is just so darn adorable.)
DeleteI'm with YOU; I'll take Cusack any day over Clooney!
DeleteIt's hard to imagine 19 year olds having so much responsibility and
ReplyDeleteaccomplishing so much. Your Uncle was very brave and I hope the rest of his life was peaceful.
Oh yeah, he had a good life and good family. He was just the funniest guy.
DeleteWhen I see the newspaper clippings, the war doesn't seem so long ago.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet for kids today, WWII probably feels like ancient history.
DeleteA fine micro-bio story, Wendy. Orvin's typical sailor's tatoo seems too tame compared to the kaleidoscopic inked skin displayed by today's youth.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that the truth! He also had a pig on his leg which helps explain his nickname, "Hambone." In fact, that's the only name some people knew him by.
DeleteNice little family story Wendy, he looks like a nice Uncle to have had too.
ReplyDeleteThank-you. He was a funny man who kept us on our toes with his teasing.
DeleteWonderful that you have those newspaper clippings! Be sure to preserve them.
ReplyDeleteWe all a huge debt of thanks to all those branches of service.
Colleen
You're right - I need to find some kind of archival sleeve for those newspaper clippings before they turn to dust.
DeleteGreat post Dry Bones! I wonder if Bushel Butt has read this about her daddy?
ReplyDeleteLove,
Stinkie (yeah he was a riot)
Thanks for outing all of us! HA HA
DeleteWhat an expressive face and twinkling eyes. He does indeed look like someone younger joking around a gun and saying can you believe this. It really brings home how very young those brave men of WW2 were.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I wonder if fighting the enemy shirtless was allowed.
DeleteWow, how interesting and what a treasure to have about your uncle. Big guns for sure! Great photos all of them. It's funny about the newspaper spelling it wrong, as a child I remember arguing with my mother that a word was right because they wouldn't spell it wrong in the newspaper! Ha! One of my first lessons, besides, yes my mother was always right! Ha! Ha!
ReplyDeleteAnd the newspaper SHOULDN'T spell anything wrong! But yes, mothers are always right.
DeleteNever knew the Coast Guard operated so far from home. Or was the Guam coast also part of their territory?
ReplyDeleteGood question, Peter. The Coast Guard's job is to protect the borders and if Guam was US territory, then their job extended there too. Now as for the Philippines, that's something else. I'm guessing that the CG was providing transportation for the Marines.
DeleteReally awesome post Wendy! Orvin was so young in that first photo! And what a story about Orvin and his pal reuniting on that ship! Great stuff! Do you know if his pal made it through the war okay?
ReplyDeleteI really don't know, Jana. In fact, I never knew any of my uncle's wartime experience until I actually read these clippings in preparation for Sepia Saturday.
DeleteWonderful tribute to your uncle - from the first photo of him behind the big gun (what a dangerous job!), to the old newspaper clippings and the tribute to the Coast Guard.
ReplyDeleteThanks, QB!
DeleteThis is great! I wonder if he ever ran into Cary's dad when in Guam (Troy was in the Navy SeeBees). The Guam folks might like a copy of that last picture, Wendy.
ReplyDeleteKathy M.
Wouldn't that make us all sing "It's a small world after all"?
DeleteThe heavy involvement of the Coast Guard was a surprise to me too. That first photograph of your Uncle seems to capture his essence. Great that you have not only the photographs but the story to go with them.
ReplyDeleteI really like that photo of him.
DeleteEveryone seems in agreement about the extreme youth of people like your uncle. It was ever thus. Wars were really fought by boys (and girls) not long out of school. This was brought home to me the first time I toured WW1 cemeteries. We owe them so much.
ReplyDeleteSo true!
DeleteYou've certainly pulled out the big guns here.
ReplyDeleteInteresting angle on a difficult chapter of Mankind's History.
Too many sacrifices...
:/~
HUGZ