I came across this photo of my dad today while looking through some old family photo albums. It’s in better condition than it appears here.
He is in his dress blues during World War II. I still have two pairs of his dress blues in storage. Maybe the same ones he is wearing in this photo.
This photo was most likely taken in front of his old family farm in Bath County, Virginia. I learned from the back of the photo that he was assigned to the USS Noonday, which was a transport ship in the Pacific. I never knew the name of his ship before today.
An amazing find!
UPDATE….
Social media has lots of drawbacks, but it does have some positive aspects as well. Here’s one.
Earlier this week I posted a photo of my dad from 1944/1945 that I found in an old family photo album. It pictured him in his dress blues from the U.S. Navy in World War II.
On the back of the photo, it mentioned that he was an Armed Guard stationed aboard the USS Noonday, but I could not find any information on the Noonday.
Fortunately, one of my Facebook friends, Brian Davis, came to the rescue. He discovered that the USS Noonday was built in 1944 by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company and was used as a Merchant Marine vessel in the Pacific during the latter years of WW II. It carried men and cargo across the Pacific to the Philippines, Guam, etc.
U.S. Navy Armed Guards were assigned to the vessel to protect it during passage, including my dad, Troy L. Bolling. How neat is that.
Here’s a picture of the Noonday, which was rebranded the Flying Enterprise II by the American Export Isbrandtsen Company following the war.
Thank you, Brian, for all your work in finding this information. It made my day!
