Daddy's Photo Album

Bell of the SS Ancon

Snickelfritz — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 05:24:42 +0000

If I hadn’t committed to scanning and posting all of the photos in Daddy’s album, I might have skipped this “bell picture.” It’s not a great photo, I know that.

But I did commit and so I pulled this one out of the album. I imagined some tough times ahead as I tried to research “some bell in Panama”, but I found this note by my father on the back:

Seeing that note and examining the photo (the bell is clearly stamped “1902″ and much less clearly “Shawm??”), I was off to Google. I quickly (well, somewhat quickly) found this site which not only has much better pictures of the bell, it explained:

The 9,606 gross ton steamship “Shawmut” was built in 1902 for the Boston Steamship company and was sold in 1908 to the Panama Canal Commission and renamed the “Ancon.” It was used to haul cement and other material components required for the construction of the Panama Canal from the US to the port of Cristobal. The ship made the first official passage of the Panama canal on 15 August 1914 and officially opened the Panama Canal.

- Don Winner

Thank you, Mr. Winner. I now know a bit more about a history that my father felt was important enough to document with photos. The bell is housed at The Panama Canal Administration Building — pictures of the administration building coming soon.

Neil J Amundsen

Snickelfritz — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 07:39:45 +0000

The original of this photograph is about a 1.5″ square — at that size, I can barely tell there’s a jeep in the picture, much less a driver. Then the electronic magic of “scanning” happens and suddenly I see my dad looking so very young… and it makes me remember him when I was a little girl — that is something I haven’t done in a good long while.

And it is good thing to do.

The Brig

Snickelfritz — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 04:02:22 +0000

Granted, this is not the building most Marines want to remember about their time in service, but this was where Daddy was proud to serve. As one Marine signed-off in my father’s autograph pages “to a good guy and a rugged turnkey.”

Eggleston and Langin

Snickelfritz — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 23:40:00 +0000

From an earlier photo, I know that the gentleman on the left is PFC Ray (or Roy) Eggleston.

The gentleman on the right is Staff Sergeant Langin.

Donald L Hughes

Snickelfritz — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:48:00 +0000

Mr. Hughes’ face is quite blurry in this photograph. For a better closeup, check previous photos found here and here.

Pisano

Snickelfritz — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:09:19 +0000

I don’t know if “Pisano” is this soldier’s surname, a nickname, a misspelling of “paisano”, all of the above or none of the above. Maybe photos from later in the album will provide some clues.

Mallon

Snickelfritz — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 20:00:27 +0000

Another photo of Mallon. See previous Mallon photos here and here.

Ray Eggleston

Snickelfritz — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:37:13 +0000

From writing on the back of the photo, this is PFC Ray (maybe Roy) Eggleston. No additional information.

Neil J Amundsen

Snickelfritz — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 04:29:44 +0000

This is my father, Neil J Amundsen (1928 – 2005). Yep, he was, in today’s jargon, an MP (Military Police, though not so named when he was in the service).

And a quick check of the insignias for Marine Corp Ranks shows that he was Private First Class at the time of this photograph.

Team Marksmanship Trophy

Snickelfritz — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 22:16:54 +0000

Can you identify the trophy pictured here?

This photo is one of many (many) in Daddy’s photo album with no handwritten notes explaining what it is or why he kept it for 55+ years (until his death).

Of course, that makes it one of the photos I find most curious. We know Daddy was a sharpshooter and we know he attended multiple marksmanship tournaments. We don’t know if those tournaments happened when he was on active duty (1946-48) or when he was called up from the reserves (1950-51).

The glare in the photo makes the engravings difficult to read. I know that the middle section includes the phrase “Team Marksmanship” and the following records of what appear to be tournaments:
191? Marine Barracks Washington SCORE ?287
1911 Marine Barracks Annapolis MD SCORE ?725
1913 Marine Barracks Winthrop MD SCORE 2732
1915 Marine Barracks Port Royal SC SCORE 3482
1916 Marine Barracks Port Royal SC SCORE 26??

There are similar engravings on the top section for later years (appear to be the 1920s).

My best guess is that this is a trophy that on display somewhere that Daddy was, but I’d like to know more about it. If you know about this trophy (or others like it), don’t hesitate to contact me (snickelfritzdaddysphotoalbumcom) .