H.M.S. Kilbirrnie BEC 1?

Jack has often told stories about being assigned to the British Navy.  Me refers to the ship as the HMS BEC 1.  I think it is the HMS Kilbirnie BEC1.  It was made by the Pullman Standard Car Company in Chicago.n 1943.  But Jack would have been 22, not 19 as stated in the note. Here's some information:  "Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Company established a shipbuilding division and dived into wartime small ship design and construction.  The yard was on Lake Calumet, on the north side of 130th Street, at the most southerly point of the lake: you can see where it must have been but there is no sign of a shipyard there now.  Pullman built the boats in 40-ton blocks, just as we do today, the blocks being assembled in a fab shop on 111th Street and moved to the yard on gondola cars.  In two years, they built 34 PCEs, which were 180 feet long and weighed 640 tons, and 44 LSMs, which were 203 feet long and weighed 520 tons."Shipbuildinghistory.com  I also found that it was "temporarily assigned the hull number BEC 1 in expectation of transfer to Britain" Tiornu

U.S.S. Peto, First Submarine Built by the U.S. Navy on the Great Lakes

U.S.S. Pogy

Jack wrote a note on a message he received from a Jerry Bliss on the subject of the USS POGY and other Manitowoc-built submarines, Jan 10, 2006.  His note was "U.S. Navy submarines - manitowaoc, WI installed first submarine radar (SJ) 1942).  The letter from Bliss was a list of the vessesls build by Manitowoc and their histories.  Jack put check marks next to three:  the Peto, the Pogy, and the Pompom.  The checks probably mean that he installed radars on all three.  Here is a picture of the Pogy. 



So Jack probably installed the radar on the U.S.S. Peto.  Information about this submarine can be found at Peto."USS Peto (SS-265), a Gato-class submarine, was a ship ...named for the peto, a sharp-nosed tropical fish of the mackerel family.Peto was laid down on 18 June 1941 by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, Manitowoc, Wisconsin; launched on 30 April 1942;" These two photos are of a piece in the state of Wisconsin that is in Jack's possession.  The handwritten material on the back was probably written by Jack in Nov. 2011.  The Wikipedia article on the Peto indicates that the Peto used sound and radar alone in one attack in which it shot three torpedoes, May 5, 1942.  The image of the launching below is from the Wisconsin Historical Society   

Documents from Jack's War Years

As we were growing up Jack would often to refer to when he went to MIT and Harvard University.  As the  document above shows he completed an Engineering science management defense training course sponsored by the United States Office of Education on ultra high frequency technique at MIT July 1, 1942 to Sept.30, 1942.  As the document below shows he earlier completed a course on electronics for cathode ray tubes at the Harvard School of Engineering in April 1942.  Jack says that as soon as he was made a lieutenant he was flown across the United States (with several stops along the way) to Boston where he was enrolled in this program.  The Harvard document shows that he was an ensign at that time. (An ensign is equivalent in the Navy to a second lieutenant in the Army.  It is considered a junior officer and is below the grade of sublieutenant.) Cathode ray tubes were used in the display of radar targets.  Here's a quote from wikipedia "The cathode ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun (a source of electrons) and a flourescent screen, with internal or external means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam, used to create images in the form of light emitted from the fluorescent screen. The image may represent electrical waveforms (oscilloscope), pictures (television, computer monitor) , radar targets and others."  I got the historical order wrong here since the Harvard class ended in April 1942 and the MIT class began in July 1942.

Ultra-high frequency (microwave) is related to radar and its study was associated with MIT's radiation lab (the RadLab).  "The 'RadLab' designed almost half of the radar deployed in World War II, created over 100 different radar systems, and constructed $1.5 billion worth of radar. At the height of its activities, the RadLab employed nearly 4,000 people working on several continents." (taken from a RadLab history site.)

Jack has a document indicating he received an honorable discharge from the Navy on April 2, 1945.  In addition to Boston he served in Chicago, San Diego and Washington D.C.  Most of his war work was installing radar on ships, including some time on a British ship.  He even spent some time on a submarine.  He says that he had to sleep on the torpedo since he was too tall for a regular bunk.

Home Movies

Jane remembers how when she was young her Uncle Mac and Aunt Martha would visit.  Once her cousin Peggy was playing with Jane's new kittens, and perhaps Jane was a bit jealous since she told Peggy that the pig might eat her up if she played with the kittens (the kittens were in the pig's pen).  Then a scream was heard and Aunt Martha threw up her arms. Jane remembers this because her Uncle Mac captured it all on film!  He would show the incident at family get-togethers later. Uncle Mac came every year and would take the kids to the circus. 

Jane also remembers an early nightmare in which the train came to get her, literally, it walked up the stairs to the door of their house!

Clovis Library

The Jack and Jane Leddy family lived in Clovis, California (near Fresno) between 1950 and 1956. They lived on Crescent Drive in Tarpy Village.  This is the Carnegie Library in Clovis (as it is today).

I remember it being more lovely and having large trees in front.  The second picture, from the Carnegie Library site, is more like what I remember.  We used to have library volunteers read stories to us aloud o the lawn.  Here's a description I found at Waymarking.com "The Clovis Carnegie Library was constructed in 1915 with an $7000.00 dollar endowment from the Carnegie Foundation. It was used as a library until 1976. Designed by Fresno Architects Edward Glass and Charles Butner, it is described  as a simple classical building with Spanish Elements.The building's exterior has been renovated covering up much of its former glory. It does retain its original massing, wide eaved roof, and entry stairway that might give the untrained eye a thought that this building may have had another life. It has been used as the offices for the Clovis Chamber of Commerce since 1985. It was named Fresno County Landmark #157 in 1967." For more go to http://www.carnegie-libraries.org   Its address is 325 Pollasky Street Clovis.  

Leddy's Mens Wear in Pasadena and Wrigley Mansion

Wrigley Mansion, Pasadena

One of Jack's earliest memories is of watching the Rose Parade from the roof of Leddy's Men's Wear at the corner of Durango and Colorado in Pasadena.  He says that the store's employees consisted of a mixture of Jewish tailors and other employees who were Catholic.  His Uncle Joe (Joseph Leddy) ran the store.  Jack's job during Christmas time was to take wrapped gifts by bicycle to the homes of rich people (sometimes in the rain!), for example the home of William Wrigley (famous for chewing gum).  This house is now called the  Tournament House.  It was the favorite of the Wrigley's six homes and was purchased in 1914 for $170,000.  The Pasadena News of Jan2, 1911 lists Joseph Leddy as participating in the Tournament of Roses.  "The clothing men of Pasadena had one of the prettiest decorated autos in the auto division.  A five-passenger car was nearly hidden under a profusion of pink and white carnations..."  Leddy's Men's Wear is mentioned in a novel by David Ebershoff, Pasadena, "handsome face of an overcoat advertisement she had seen on the brick wall of Perkins and Leddy on Colorado Street."  Incidentally, my grandfather, Harold D. Leddy, is listed in the Bar Association bulletin of 1927 as being located in the 245 Security Bldg. in Pasadena.  The only thing I can find about the Security Building is that in 1952 there was a public accounting firm of Howell & Martin partnership formed by Wallace (Buzz) Martin, CPA and George Howell, PA. "The office was located in the Security Building on Walnut Avenue in Pasadena and had a total of five staff."

Watercolor with Rollin Pickford

Rollin Pickford   "Orchard"

Jane belonged to a watercolor group when she lived in Fresno 1950-about 1956.  They would meet meet on Wednesdays and would have a critique group with Rollin Pickford, the great California watercolorist.  She would bring the two toddlers, myself and my brother Bill and put us in a play pen with some food and toys and take us home when we got too fussy.  I'll make some pictures of her own work later, but here's one from a current show of Pickford's at the Pacific Grove Public Library.  There is a wonderful book on his work called California Light, and also a web site devoted to him. Pickford died in September of 2010 at the age of 98.    obituary