Michael John Flanagan's final US Navy duty assignment, the USS Thompson

USS Thompson refuels from USS Arkansas, April 1944. Department of Defense photo.

When my grandfather, Seaman Third Class Michael John Flanagan (1927 - 1997) left the USS Mervine on February 20, 1948, he transferred to the USS Thompson for his final month of service in the Navy.

The USS Thompson (DD-627) was a Navy destroyer commissioned July 10, 1943. Prior to Michael's assignment on the ship, the Thompson had seen action in the East Coast, North Africa, Europe (including the 1944 Invasion of Normandy), and the Pacific. The Thompson became based out of San Diego, California on October 2, 1947, operating first as a destroyer, and then conducting west coast training operations through the rest of 1948. The Thompson continued to see Pacific activity throughout the Korean War, and was eventually decommissioned on May 18, 1954.

February 20, 1948 muster roll showing Mike's transfer from the Mervine to Thompson.
Click on the image for a larger view.

Although the Mervine had been stationed out of San Francisco for two years, and the Thompson out of San Diego, both ships must have ended up in the same port sometime during February 1948 when when my grandfather transferred duty between ships. I assume San Diego was the mutual port since it was the official home base of both ships, and since Michael and Elsie's first child was born in San Diego in 1947 (which would mean Elsie had already moved from the Bay Area to San Diego after they married).

March 15, 1948 muster roll showing Mike's transfer off the USS Thompson for discharge from the Navy.
Click on the image for a larger view.

Michael's last appearance on the US Navy muster rolls is dated March 15 1948, when he transferred to the Naval Receiving Station "for processing and separation from the Naval service". SC3 Michael John Flanagan received an honorable discharge on March 18, 1948, in San Diego, California, at 20 years of age.

Sources

Ancestry.com. U.S. World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2011.

Department of Defense. (n.d.). USS Thompson, DD-627. Retrieved from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Thompson_(DD-627).jpg

United States of America. (2003, October 16). Certification of Military Service: Michael J. Flanagan.

United States Navy. (n.d.). Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Thompson. Naval History & Heritage Command. Web. Retrieved May 19, 2013, from http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/t5/thompson-ii.htm

USS Thompson (DD-627). (2013, May 10). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Thompson_(DD-627)&oldid=543687617

Anniversaries: Leonard Jackson Harless, my husband's great-great-grandfather, born on this date in 1858

I am quite a bit jealous of my husband's family history; three of his ancestral lines are already very well researched, documented, and certified by other genealogists (unlike my poor immigrant peasant lines). His Harless lineage is one such family line. There is even a published book on them, available on Ancestry.com, and for free through HathiTrust.  His great-great-grandfather, Leonard Jackson Harless, belongs to this well documented Harless line.

Leonard Jackson Harless was supposedly born in the Nebraska Territory on May 20, 1858, to Miles (Myles) Washington Harless and Margaret Gann, while his parents were en route migrating to California from Missouri. Miles is our family's connection to the famous Hatfields and McCoys.

This branch of the Harless family arrived in California later in 1858, settling first in San Joaquin County and Calaveras County, before moving to Mariposa County where Leonard Jackson spent the rest of his life. However, the rest of Leonard Jackson's life is a subject for many more blog posts.

embeddable family tree updated live from WikiTree

View Harless Family History in a larger map

Sources Cited:

Pritchard, J. Le Roy. (1962). Harless genealogy, John Philip and Anna Margaretha (Preiss) Harless: pioneers in western Virginia and some of their descendents. [2d ed.] Cupertino? Calif.].

Michael John Flanagan and the USS Mervine

USS Mervine (DD-489) off New York Navy Yard, 23 January 1943.
Photo courtesy of the US National Archives.

As Memorial Day approaches, I am honoring a World War II veteran who thankfully made it back home -- my grandfather Michael John Flanagan (1927 - 1997). Grandpa claimed to have served on multiple Naval ships while in the war including one that sank. But Grandpa was a huge tall-taler (true to his Irish roots), so his children and grandchildren really never know what to believe.

One ship name that his children remembered Grandpa mentioning is the Mervine. The USS Mervine was a US Navy Destroyer originally launched on May 3, 1942 as DD-489, then reclassified on May 30, 1945 as DMS-31. She saw duty during the Second World War in North Africa, Mediterranean Europe, the North Atlantic, and the Pacific. Decommissioned on May 27, 1949, the Mervine was sold for scrap in 1969.

According to the US Navy Muster Rolls, Michael served on the USS Mervine from October 14, 1945 to February 20, 1948. He joined the crew of the Mervine 16 months into his Naval service (I have not yet identified where he was previously assigned). The Mervine arrived at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on September 28, 1945, after being reclassified, and shortly after the September 2nd Japanese surrender. On October 16, 1945, Seaman Second Class Michael J. Flanagan and his shipmates sailed out of Buckner Bay.

Muster Roll listing dated October 16, 1945. Click image for a larger view.

October 16, 1945 Muster Roll header. Click image for a larger view.

The Mervine and its crew reported to San Francisco, California on March 31, 1946 (confirmed on the April 1, 1946 muster rolls), where she spent two years engaged in west coast operations.

Just shy of two months after arriving in San Francisco, Michael (now a Seaman Third Class) met his future wife Elsie Charlotte Hayes for the very first time on May 23, 1946, while out with a bunch of his shipmates on Michael's 19th birthday. Mike and Elsie married less than one month later, on June 22, 1946. The marriage license shows Michael living at the Alameda Naval Station at the time of their wedding, however muster rolls show him still assigned to the Mervine. Michael served with the Mervine during the birth of his first child (muster rolls do show he was granted a leave of absence for her actual birth), and when their second child was conceived.

SC3 Michael J. Flangan transferred off of the USS Mervine on February 20, 1948, right before the Mervine returned to Pacific operations in Japan, China, and Pearl Harbor. I would assume this was so that he could remain closer to his young growing family.

Where he transferred to is the subject of another blog post.

Sources

Ancestry.com. U.S. World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2011.

File:489mervine 01.jpg. (2005, December 17). Wikimedia Commons. Wiki. Retrieved May 19, 2013, from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:489mervine_01.jpg

United States navy. (n.d.). Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Mervine. Naval History & Heritage Command. Webpage. Retrieved May 19, 2013, from http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m9/mervine-ii.htm

USS Mervine (DD-489). (2013, May 10). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Mervine_(DD-489)&oldid=544081252