Category for WWII US Navy Bombing Squadron [closed]

+5 votes
163 views
Are bombing squadrons a viable category or is it too fine a detail?  My dad served in the US Navy during WWII as a radioman/gunner aboard the USS Ticonderoga in Bombing Squadron (VB) 87.  I'm new here and very new to categories.  Thanks for your patience.

  J Clark
closed with the note: Solved: Categories created.
in WikiTree Help by J Clark G2G3 (3.6k points)
closed by Natalie Trott
I’ll be very interested in what the responses are here. My dad flew PBYs, VPB53, in the South Pacific in WWII.
My dad was in the Pacific Theater, too.  VB-87 was consisted of Helldivers, SB2Cs, known rather non-affectionately as the "Woodchoppers".  My dad's pilot told me before he died that SB2C stood for "Son of a B, Second Class", but with more colorful language.  :-)
Looks like your dad had more action in the front. Mine was further back, a few bombing runs, some reconnaissance, search and rescue.
They were part of the bombardment on Okinawa and Japan.  I need to trace all of his movements, but I think those were the main engagements they were in.  They did a lot of torpedo defense and protecting against kamikaze at sea, and they helped sink the Hyuga.  

I think all who served in WWII were extraordinary people. It was the luck of the draw if you were going to be asked to give the greatest sacrifice and they all were prepared to do that.  I have the utmost respect for veterans.
Same here!

I have, temporarily, my dad’s flight log book for February thru November 1945, and March ‘45. Lots of islands mentioned for the ‘45 pages. Only the March ‘46 entries have no places listed, just flight time.
What ship was your dad aboard?  Mine started out on the Randolph, then the squadron was moved to the Ticonderoga after it was repaired from a kamikaze attack earlier in '45.  He was discharged in late '45 in Washington state.  

I have his log book, too and his squadron book.  Its fascinating stuff.
My dad (Seaman 1st class) was land based, so no ship. My late father-in-law was on the USS Blue Ridge, Lt. jg. and a communications officer. Funny thing, my dad and my future father-in-law were on Samar Island, Philippines, at the same time, and as far as I know never met.
I feel like maybe we should move this to private message as we seem to have gone far afield of my original question.  Being new, I am unsure what the etiquette of G2G is for this kind of thing.  Is this cool to have this conversation in this thread?  

To be clear, I could talk about WWII all night.  My dad had some awesome stories, some funny, some tragic.

  J Clark

We can, if you wish. Or we can just keep yakking until someone finally answers your question. smiley My dad told me very few stories about his experiences during the war, but my brother heard more, I’m pretty sure. I need to get those stories from him. 

Please do get your brother's remembrances.  That is precious stuff.  My dad loved to tell "colorful" stories, being a sailor everything that came out of his mouth was "colorful".  I tried to get him to let me record his stories, but he wanted none of it.  

He had dementia and toward the end all he could talk about when he was lucid was flying over the prisoner of war camps.  It really shook him to see them so emaciated and sickly.
Same wih my f-i-l. He saw up close the POWs, and never forgot or forgave. When he was working in Mexico at a high connection job, he was invited to the Japanese Embassy for some get together. There was a showing of the movie, Tora, Tora, Tora, and is was all he could do to stay in his seat and not leave. If he had known ahead of time, he would have made some excuse, not that it would have done any good. He was expected to be there because of those connections.. embassy, CIA, etc. This was a story he told to my wife.
Wow, that must have been so hard for him.  My dad had some pretty serious conditioning before he went over and that stuff just cemented the feelings further.
Give me a bit of time ..I need to see if the USS Ticonderoga has a WWII cat, too.
The Ticonderoga does have a category.
Yes, but it needs a WWII category too. I just created it.
J, the Navy ship categories have a main peacetime category then parallel categories for their time during wars. Some ships were involved in multiple wars. Ticonderoga now has a WWII category.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:USS_Ticonderoga_%28CV-14%29%2C_United_States_Navy%2C_World_War_II

Now to figure out the Bombing Squadron.

If you would like to see a complete profile with a USAAF bomb group attached, please see one of my "pride and joy" profiles. I was proud to feature this man. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Allman-689

And I love to hear about WWII military people! LOL at "Son of a B, Second Class".

Also: this will help if you have military categories to create in the future.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:MilitaryHelp-Military
I went to the Military help page you linked before I posted and didn't completely understand it.  I've been on here about three weeks and am trying to get up to speed, but for some reason that just did not click.  Thank you for taking the time to work with me on this.  

Where my dad was in the planes, it makes sense in my mind that he would have a further descriptor than just USS Ticonderoga.  Thanks, again.

J Clark
The page for Allman is amazing!  Thank you for sharing it.
I agree. A wonderful profile.

[[Category: Bombing Squadron 87 (VB-87), United States Navy, World War II]] 

J., it just takes time and a lot of work in categories, so you're already getting some of it! Hang in there.

The user who set up the military categories did a fantastic job, but didn't finish it, so I'm trying to honor his work by sticking to his system. It's pretty logical. Anyway, I hope I have done it correctly.

And thank you for the kind works, J and Pip. I did a lot of research on Lt.Allman and even wrote to one of his friends,who provided me with the photo of he and his wife.
Thank you, Natalie!  I have updated his profile with the correct categories.
Great! You're welcome.

1 Answer

+2 votes
Let me look at the WWII Navy setup. I know there are Ships so far and we have USAAF Bombardment groups, so why not Navy?
by Natalie Trott G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)

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