U.S. World War II Navy

The USS LSM(R) 404  Underway ca. 1946.

Specifications:
Displacement 758 t.(light), 993 t.(attack) 1,175 t. (fully loaded)
Length 203' 6" o.a.
Beam 34' 6"
Draft 7' forward, 9' aft
Speed 13 kts.
Complement 6 officers, 137 enlisted
Armament

one single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mount

two twin 40mm gun mounts

four twin 20mm gun mounts

ten twin tube continuous loading 5" spin stabilizer rocket launchers

four 4".2 mortars

two .50 cal machine guns on the forecastle

two .30 cal machine guns on the bridge wings.
Armor 10-lb. STS on conning station, pilot-house, radio room, radar plot, and rocket control, 10-lb. ASPP around 40 and 20mm gun mounts and directors
Propulsion two General Motors 16-287A (non-reversing with airflex clutch) diesels, direct drive with 1,440 BHP each @ 720rpm, twin screws, Endurance, 3,000 miles @ 13kts 

LSM(R)-401 Class Landing Ship Medium (Rocket); 

As you can see above, LSM(R) was the class of ship.  

 Laid down, 6 January 1945, at Charleston Naval Yard, Charleston, S.C.

Launched, 25 January 1945

Commissioned USS LSM(R)-404, 25 April 1945, LTjg. J.P. Ryan, USNR, in command

My father Donald J. Howie served aboard this ship.

His final rank was Seaman First Class.

NOTICE OF SEPARATION FROM THE U.S. NAVAL SERVICE
serial no. 567-XX-XX
HOWIE, Donald James
Seaman First Class USNR V-6
315 E. Howard Street
Pasadena, California
Los Angeles, County
Place of Separation: PSC NB TI, SAN PEDRO, CALIF.
Character of separation: HONORABLE
Race: White
Sex: Male
Marital Status: Single
U.S. Citizen: Yes
Date and place of birth: 28 Sept 1927, Derby, Orleans County Vermont.
Means of entry: Enlisted
Date: 04 AUG 1945
Date of active service: 28 SEPT 1945
Place of entry: Pasadena, Calif
Qualifications, Certificates held.
See rating booklet # 15165
Seaman First Class
Marksman
Ratings Held: AS, S2c, S1c
Services schools completed: None
Service (Vessels and stations served on)
USS LSM (R) 404
Remarks:
Victory Medal World War II
Signed by: J.B. Warner, LT. COMDR., USNR


Education completed prior:
GRAM: 8 Y.S.: 4 COLL: 0 MAJOR: None
Date of separation: 17 AUG 1946

Front of Victory Medal World War II

Rev. Victory War Medal World War II

The World War II Victory Medal is a decoration of the United States military which was created by an act of Congress in July 1945. The decoration commemorates military service during World War II and is awarded to any member of the United States military, including members of the armed forces of the Government of the Philippine Islands, who served on active duty, or as a reservist, between December 7, 1941 and December 31, 1946.
The World War II Victory Medal was first issued as a ribbon, and was referred to simply as the “Victory Ribbon.” By 1946, a full medal had been established which was referred to as the World War II Victory Medal. The medal's front depicts Nike standing victorious, holding a broken sword, representing the broken power of the Axis, with one foot upon the helmet of Mars, the Roman god of war, representing the end of the conflict. Behind Nike is a sunburst, representing the dawn of peace. The reverse recalls the "Four Freedoms" speech by President Roosevelt, with a laurel sprig, surrounded by the words "United States of America", and the dates of the conflict, "1941-1945". The edges of the ribbon revisit the multi-colored rainbow ribbon of the Allied World War I Victory Medal. This again honors all the allied nations. The wide red center represents the new sacrifice of blood by World War II combatants. The thin white lines separating the central red band from the outer multi-colored bands represent the rays of new hope, two of them signifying that this was the second global conflict.
There is no minimum service time limit for the issuance of the World War II Victory Medal, and the National Personnel Records Center has reported some cases of service members receiving the award for simply a few days of service. As the Second World War ended on September 2, 1945, there are also cases of service members, who had enlisted in 1946, receiving the decoration without having been a veteran of World War II. The reason for this late date is that President Harry S. Truman did not declare an official end of hostilities until the last day of 1946.

In The Name of the Lord

November 02, 1631, The Lyon, the first ship of three hired by Rev. Thomas Hooker and the Braintree Company of Braintree, Essex County, England, arrives in Boston Harbor.  Immigrants aboard were prepared to do battle with the savages in the name of the Lord.   Among those landing were William Westwood, and Deacon Stephen Hart.    These were very wealthy men.  William Westwood, although only thirteen years old, held title as Yeoman.  They were the first to settle Braintree Massachusetts, but soon there after formed Newtowne, which today is Cambridge.  Rev. Thomas Hooker had been invited by the Puritans to come from England to be their pastor.  Approximately 350 Immigrants arrived in the Braintree Company to the shores of New England.  They brought with them smallpox. During the twelve week voyage many died of smallpox and were buried at sea.  When they arrived, the smallpox quickly spread and was wiping out the Native American Indians.  The puritans saw this as Gods work to clean the new land of the savages.

May 14, 1634, Deacon Stephen Hart was admitted as a freeman in Cambridge.  Then in 1635 he moves with Rev. Hookers group to and area now called Hartford.  He was one of the original proprietors and built his home near the ford he discovered where you could cross the Connecticut river at a low stage of the water.  Thus the town was named "Hartsford," which soon just became Hartford.  Born in 1605, Hart was now thirty years old, and along with Hookers group had taken much of the cleared pasture and meadow from the Indians. On March 04, 1635, Westwood takes the freemans oath at Newtown, and on September 05, 1635 was sworn in as constable of the Plantation Connecticut.  Then by March of 1636 Westwood was given a commission to govern the people of Connecticut in the first court. The first general court had great power.  It acted as both the court and the legislature under the Mosaic Laws of the Church.

July 1636, on Block Island just off the coast of Connecticut, members of the Narragansett tributary tribe kill Captain John Oldham.  In retaliation, John Endicott sets sail out of Boston for Block Island and he and his men spend two days setting fire to the Indian huts, destroying food reserves and shooting their dogs.  By winter of 1636 the Indians return the white mans attack, and besiege Fort Saybrook and attack the Wethersfield settlement.

In the winter and early into 1637 Westwood and his court declare war on the Pequot Indians.  On the 10th of May Captain Mason set sail down the river with three ships and seventy men.  Then on May 26, 1637, under the command of Captain John Mason the Puritans joined with 90 men from the Mohegan and Narragansett tribes to surround the Pequot Village of Misstuck (Mystic).  Within one hour 700 men, women and children are put to death by sword and burned to death as the entire village was burned.  On there return the Puritan soldiers were granted a lot known as a Soldiers field.

Why am I telling you this story about The Pequot War?  Because Deacon Stephen Hart is my ninth Great Grand Father and he was there killing the Pequot Indians and burning down Misstuck village in the name of the Lord. 
He had a daughter, Mary Hart who married John Lee.  We are descendants from this branch of the Lee family.  Not from Robert E. Lee of  the Virginia Lee's, but that story is for another posting.

Here is the pedigree which links me to Deacon Stephen Hart, my 9th Great Grand Father, the proprietor of Hartford Connecticut, and to the Lee family descendants of John Lee.

Deacon Stephen Hart (1602 - 1683)

is your 9th great grandfather

Mary Hart (1631 - 1710)

Daughter of Deacon Stephen

David Lee (1674 - 1759)

Son of Mary

Jedediah Lee (1697 - 1749)

Son of David

Elias Jedediah Lee (1723 - 1795)

Son of Jedediah

Daniel Lee (1753 - 1806)

Son of Elias Jedediah

Ede W Lee (1791 - 1867)

Son of Daniel

Dorothy Ann Lee (1824 - 1885)

Daughter of Ede W

Helen Desdemonia Rider (1857 - 1927)

Daughter of Dorothy Ann

William Rider Howie (1882 - 1965)

Son of Helen Desdemonia

Donald James Howie (1927 - 2005)

Son of William Rider

Richard Scott Howie

You are the son of Donald James 

I want to thank Google for making available on Googlebooks the Lee Family Genealogy 1634 - 1897 By: Leonard & Sarah Marsh Lee.  The book is more than 700 pages, but if you get a chance, at-least read the introduction. 

 

Masonic Compass

I recently started looking to cemeteries to help me in my family research.  This has brought me huge success.  The day is here when you don't have to travel around the country looking for the cemetery, and then wander around a cemetery for hours on end with disapointment and frustration that you were not able to locate your ancestor.  

I have found a couple of websites where you can travel to virtual cemeteries.  The premise is an all volunteer system.  You volunteer to go to cemeteries near your home and take photos, and someone else does the same for you. Just this past holiday I received my first request to find a family plot here in Texas near my home.  I was given the GPS coordinates of Longitude and Latitude and I headed out on my quest. 

I found the family plot, and if you know me, you know that I had to talk to someone and ask questions for sure, right? Well the family cemetery plot was on private land, on a huge cattle ranch on the north shore of Lake Travis.  Back in the mid - 1800's the area was known as Travis Peak.  The area is still mostly rolling hills covered in Cedar and Oak trees.  Very beautiful place that will probably in my life time be swallowed up by the growth of the city of Austin.  Well, me having a jeep, I just drove right on in to the ranch.  I met the current resident of the ranch and we talked briefly about the history of the area, and the original family, it was great!  I explained I was there to photograph the family cemetery plot, so he showed be the way, and he went on about his day.

The cemetery was on a bluff over looking a beautiful valley with a creek in the bottom.  It was enclosed within a rusty old white painted iron fence that had since been knocked over by the 150 plus years of cattle.  Directly in the center of the plot and surrounded by a few family headstones was a newer granite monument.  On the top of the monument for this family was the Masonic compass. 

I have seen this compass symbol everywhere in my family research, and have to say that I am very ignorant regarding this organization, which peaks my interest all the more.  My knowledge I guess is limited to the book and movie by the same name, The Da Vinci Code, and I had a friend in college who is a Mason.  

Since many of my ancestors were Masons in Quebec Canada and were from the Golden Rule Lodge in Vermont at Owls Head, which is in Newport.  I decided I need to began my inquiry into this secret society.  I thought I should start small first, and find out why the Masonic Compass appears on the headstones. 

I first discover that like any organization, people branch off.  Besides Masons, I also find there are Freemasons, and The Scottish Rite.  I decided this would be too much work, I do not want to write a PHD thesis here. The one thing I find they all have in common is the Masonic Compass.

One of the most common symbols of The Masonic Temple, Freemasonry, and the Scottish Rite is the symbol of the crossed compass and set-square. The compass and square are architect's tools, and symbolize God as the architect of the universe, among other things.

As measuring instruments, the tools represent judgment and discernment.

The compass, which is used to draw circles, represents the realm of the spiritual- eternity. It is symbolic of the defining and limiting principle, and also of infinite boundaries.

The angle measures the square, the symbol of earth and the realm of the material. The square represents fairness, balance, and firmness, which is reflected in phrases such as "on the square" and "squared away." Something that is squared is something that is stable, a foundation for building upon.

 Together, the compass and square represent the convergence of matter and spirit, and the convergence of earthly and spiritual responsibilities. The two symbols together form a hexagram, forming a union of the earth with the heavens, matter and mind. 

What I take away from this, is the union between life, and death, and the joining of the two through the cycle of life on earth with that in the heavens.  Seems very appropriate now to me.