| date | written at
|
TR's notes* | scan | transcription | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1945.01.01 | Guam | HHR&JCR | Mention of mammal skull collection at home & esp. natural history observations on Guam. | html | |
| 1945.01.08 | Guam | HHR&JCR | On Guam (but no info re same). Mentions Christmas presents, softball games, etc. | html | |
| 1945.01.22 | HHR&JCR | Nothing much—conventional. | html | ||
| 1945.02.06 | USS Hornet | HHR&JCR | At sea again, but for the first time on Hornet, CV12, ready for combat. Not uninteresting, re comrades & comments about the War’s 2 fronts & my aircrewman Leland Ives Jr. | html | |
| 1945.02.22 | USS Hornet | HHR&JCR | A week after first combat, described in a later letter. This mentions “flying foxes” and white terns (seen at Ulithi, in the Carolines, an atoll large enough for the fleet anchorage). “Liberty” (time off) was at Mog Mog, an islet. | html | |
| 1945.03.05 | USS Hornet | HHR&JCR | Much about books, greetings from friends, etc. | html | |
| 1945.03.13 | USS Hornet | HHR&JCR | More of same. | html | |
| 1945.03.25 | USS Hornet | HHR&JCR | First letter about Hawaii, Guam, and T.R.’s first combat mission—to an airfield south of Tokyo instead of Yokosuka (from which we were diverted, supposedly because of poor weather). (By then allowed to mention places visited a month or more before.) | html | |
| 1945.04.01 | USS Hornet | HHR&JCR | Reminiscences about Hooded Mergansers, etc. Life aboard ship, description of cabin, room mates, etc. Also books read. | html | |
| 1945.04.11 | USS Hornet | HHR&JCR | More about aboard ship, but also conversational (comments on letters, etc.). | html | |
| 1945.04.18 | USS Hornet | HHR&JCR | Similar. | html | |
| 1945.04.28 | USS Hornet | HHR&JCR | Describes a Paradise Flycatcher, then unidentified, which landed on the ship, and a "Barn" Swallow. | html | |
| 1945.05.07 | USS Hornet | HHR&JCR | Describes Okinawa, Iwo, and other islands & islets, including looking at coral fishes at Mog Mog. | html | |
| 1945.05.28 | USS Hornet | HHR&JCR | Describes a typical mission from take-off to landing (except for the details of an actual attack, target, etc.). Much discussion about war ending, going home, etc. | html | |
| 1945.06.06 | USS Hornet | HHR&JCR | Yamato attack in some detail; books read. | html | |
| 1945.06.19 | USS Hornet | MHC | Describes Hawaii, Guam, Honshu, Mt. Fuji-yama, Kyush. | ||
| 1945.09.06 | San Francisco Bay area | HHR&JCR | html | ||
| 1995.02.01 | Concord, NH | HR | [Describes the situation in which TR found himself during the kamikaze attack on the Hornet depicted in the well-known Shepler painting] | html |
Related papers
| date | description | scan | transcription |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notes from TR's 1945 letters | |||
| 1942.07.02 | Official US Navy Photograph of TR with OS2U Kingfisher | ||
| 1943.04.24 | letter to TR from 1st Lt. Philip Field, USMCR | ||
| 1943.05.19 | letter to TR from 1st Lt. Philip Field, USMCR | ||
| 1943.07.30 | letter to TR from PFC Joseph C. Bradley, USA describing North Africa campaign | ||
1945 |
Typed letter written by the chaplain and mimeographed so all hands could send one home. Describes VB–17's missions. | ||
| Citation for Gold Star in lieu of second Distinguished Flying Cross | |||
1945 |
Christmas card and letter to TR from Lt. B.F. McCarney, USA | pdf |
|
1941–45 |
TR Service Record | ||
| 1945.09.11 | TR Notice of Separation from US Navy | ||
1947 |
Bombing Squadron Seventeen Almanac for 1947 | ||
| Condolence card from USS Hornet Association on the ioccasion of TR's death |
Key to letters’ recipients
| initials | name
|
dates
|
relationship to TR
|
|---|---|---|---|
| HHR | Henry Howe Richards | 1876–1968 | father |
| JCR | Julia (Coolidge) Richards | 1889–1961 | mother |
| MHC | Mary Hill Coolidge (Mrs. J. Randolph Coolidge) | 1862–1952 | maternal grandmother |
| HR | Hamilton Richards | 1913–1998 | brother |
TR’s notes
These notes are a combination of
- Post-it™ notes attached by TR to many of his letters
- notes in an index prepared by TR.