[Rarebooks] FS: US Sailor's WWII Photo Album

[Bob Petrilla]

Waltos, Roger J. ALBUM OF ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS & EPHEMERA, COMPILED BY THIS
US NAVY SEAMAN FIRST CLASS AND SHIP'S COOK DURING WORLD WAR II. Original
photograph album. This album was put together by Roger J. Waltos, a young
Torrington, CT, man who served in the navy during WWII during 1944 and
1945, most of it in the Asiatic Pacific theater, including a long stint on
the battle cruiser “USS Guam.” The album documents his naval experience and
is filled with photographs and ephemeral items that relate to his time on
the “Guam”, in Panama, in Honolulu, in Norfolk, and even at home in
Torrington, during those years.  The album, bound in pictorial blue
leatherette over padded boards, contains 48 pages full of mounted
photographs and ephemera, along with some loose items, interleaved with
protective sheets, and is signed on the cover by Waltos. 7.75" x 10.75"
Very Good. Leatherette.
Items in Seaman Waltos's album include news clippings (most from the
Torrington Register and other local papers), not only concerning Waltos and
his brother Howard (also in the navy) and concerning the role of the USS
"Guam" in battles, but also war poetry clippings, magazine cartoons, etc.
There are several professional photographs of various sizes, notably of
Waltos in uniform, sometimes with a uniformed buddy or two. Also present
are many small (ca. 2” x 3 ½”) photos with printed labels, including 14 of
Norfolk, Virginia, where Waltos was first stationed, and 20 views of
Panama, including Colon, the Canal Zone, and Panama city. There are also a
number of postcards, some color, some b/w real-photos, including a few in
Japanese showing Japanese sights, and several depicting Torrington
landmarks, and at least one has Waltos’s written message on the verso (a
postcard from Panama). Also seen are many snapshots, including some of
sights and seamen aboard the “Guam”; sights when Waltos was on “R & R” in
Honolulu (including scenes of native huts, hula dancers, beaches, public
buildings, native fishermen, surfers, “The Crossroads of the Pacific”,
etc.); and even a series of Connecticut winter shots of skiers and snowy
scenes. ~~ Epehemeral items in the Waltos album include a small eagle
patch; a Cuban beer bottle label
(“Cerveza Hatuey”); a map of the USS Guam’s route to and from the Far East,
Hawaii, and
Panama; and two “Souvenir of Cuba” embroidered napkins/handkerchiefs. More
personal
are Waltos’s Connecticut State Guard card (Co. H, 3 rd Bn. 1 st , M.D.);
his Service
Decoration Authorization (he was ultimately allowed to wear a battle ribbon
with three
stars, a Philippine Liberation ribbon with star, an American Theater ribbon
and a Victory
ribbon); and his “Order of the Golden Dragon" card, issued March 6, 1945,
when the
USS Guam first entered “our domain” by crossing the 180-degree longitude
line, and the
card is signed by Leland P. Lovette, later Vice-Admiral. ~~ Roger J. Waltos
was the son of Torrington’s Charles Waltos, and started his naval service
in May, 1944, as a seaman 2c—as a ship’s cook—working his way up to Seaman
1c. News clips in his album trace not only his naval career, including
about six months in combat. ~~ The USS Guam was a battle cruiser, one of
two of America’s version of a “pocket battleship,” which carried
12-inch-barrel guns and covered patrolled from Okinawa to the fringes of
Japan’s Inland Sea. She protected the carriers in her escort during the
Okinawa invasion, and later led a task force into Jimsen, Korea, helping to
liberate Korea from the Japanese. After that, she was used to carry Pacific
theater veterans back to the U.S. She and her crew also served in the
Panama Canal Zone between September, 1944 and December, 1945.
$250.00

Trade terms, postpaid in US



    *  R & A  Petrilla*



*          Antiquarian Booksellers                     PO Box 306
   Roosevelt, NJ 08555                   (609) 426-4999
<%28609%29%20426-4999>*

*      Member:  ABAA, ILAB, IOBA*