Writing book about the man in photo, late father of a friend. Name is Chester K Britt - West Point. Help with cars in photos

[Larry Schramm]

Everyone of the soldiers/participants in WWII have a grateful thanks for their service.  My Dad was in Pittsburgh, Ca waiting to be shipped out to the Pacific theater.

 

If you every get to Europe and go to Normandy, going to the American, Commonwealth, and even the German cemeteries is a significant emotional event that we all have thanks to those that gave the ultimate price for our freedom.  All of the cemeteries are different.

 

If you then walk the beaches, Utah, Juno, Gold, Omaha, and Sword one can only partially comprehend the the tough fight the American & Commonwealth soldiers endured. They were real men in a time of real men.

 

If you want to experience what they sacrificed for, go to one of the concentration camps.  We have visited Dachau in Germany.  Just walking across that ground gave me goose bumps of the evil that occurred.  There will NEVER be a question in our minds about the Holocaust. It did happen.

[John Duresky]

Don't even need to go overseas.   Go to almost any cemetery in any American city or town and you can find rows of white crosses and Stars of David showing the last resting place of so many veterans.   Then of course you need to look into the stories of the individual men.   That is the one good place to kneel for an American flag, but to kneel in appreciation and respect for all of them. 

[lump]

Hello again, John. Thanks for the kind words, and thank you for working to make this important book a reality. I'll certainly check it out on Amazon. 

 

By the way, in re-reading this thread, I realized that we never did answer you about that sedan which Japanese troops had camouflaged to resemble a tank. So let me right that wrong now; the car was a 1936 Chevrolet. 

 

Thanks again, and good luck with the book. 

[Restorer32]

On 12/21/2019 at 10:41 AM, padgett said:

If really interested in WWII in the Philippines & those who didn't surrender, see Wendell Fertig.

Back in 1966-1971 I had a college professor who was in Intelligence in WWII.  When the war ended he was tasked with going with an interpreter on a canoe into the interior of one of the Philippine Islands to try to convince Japanese holdouts the war was over.

[John Duresky]

That's pretty cool to know someone like that.   Quite a few held out for a long time.    The very last two to surrender did so in 1974.    After the Japanese surrendered in Sept 1945 there was still some mopping up to do on different islands with some fanatical holdouts.      Pretty remarkable jungle survival skills.    The atom bombs were truly horrible weapons, but if we had needed to invade the Japanese home islands it would have been in incalculable bloodbath making the fighting on Iwo Jima and Okinawa look like picnics in comparison.   For those who might not know it, Japan is a very mountainous country, very forested, and ideal for defense.   Every mile that had to be taken would have cost hundreds or thousands of Allied and Japanese lives, and the bombing by B-29s and other planes would have been nonstop.   America had about 60 carriers ready for the invasion, we had 3 for the battle of Midway.    

[bryankazmer]

I'll submit a semi-educated ID - 1936 Holden (Aussie Chevy)?

[John Duresky]

Just had an idea.   I'm working on our website to go along with the book.    Slow going as I'm doing it when time allows.    I've thought it would be interesting to have a tab called Planes Trains and Automobiles.   I can handle the planes and trains Chester was on pretty well.    Automobiles are a specialty, and really near and dear to the American heart.    If anyone from AACA would like to do a summary of all the autos I've come across in Chester's life as a volunteer it would be greatly appreciated.    This includes the cars he and his family owned, the car used by the Japanese as a kind of armed car, and even Gen Douglas MacArthur's car which was taken by the Japanese and as I understand it, was in the hold of the Oryoku Maru which was bombed and sunk in Subic Bay and from which Chester swam to shore.    If someone wants to write to volunteer, it's first-come, first-volunteered and I can send you all I have from johnduresky@hotmail.com   Would give all the credit for the summary to AACA and the volunteer.  

[mike6024]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/minters-ring-the-story-of-one-world-war-ii-pow-40301808/

[John Duresky]

OK, here is one to really test you experts.   I bought an extremely clear original photo from a seller in Japan taken maybe a day or two after Corregidor was surrendered by General Wainwright on May 6, 1942.      Shows some details lost in other copies of this moment.    On the left hand side you can even see groups of men up in the hills and it's easy to imagine them swapping stories about the battle they were just in to take Corregidor.   I noticed two vehicles which were almost untouched by the bombing and shelling - a two door sedan and a woody station wagon.   Vehicles had to have arrived on the island no later than December 8, 1941, because after that nothing was getting through the Japanese fleet around the islands.    If the vehicles could be better identified by make and model we might be able to connect it to a list of owners of vehicles on Corregidor and find out the fate of the owner.   In the Woody photo you can see someone sitting in the driver's seat, probably imagining driving it.      Our book is doing OK for sales.   We'll be remembering the men and women who served then at an event in 1LT Chester Britt's hometown on November 11, also the hometown of Dave Britt the author and myself.     Thanks, John Duresky

[dictator27]

The sedan is  a 1941 Ford four door not a two door.  The station wagon is harder to identify but possibly a 1940 or 41 Chev.

[Peter Gariepy]

The forum reduced uploaded photos in size to save space.

If you email me the original photo I can zoom into the vehicles better.

petergariepy@gmail.com

[John Duresky]

Hi Peter, just sent the photos from my email   johnduresky@hotmail.com    Thanks

[Peter Gariepy]

Better?

 

[John Duresky]

Would anyone know roughly when these cars might be dated?     I'm hoping the view and date might closely coincide with the attached newspaper article related to in our book.    Thank you, John Duresky