Home of the "Little Known Blogger"
One of my family members put together this pictorial essay of the “Carr Sisters” to pass out at the inaugural reunion of sailors who served on the USS Carr, FFG-52. Their first reunion was in the hometown of Paul Henry Carr, Checotah, Oklahoma, and the descendants of my mother’s parents were very involved and part of the reunion also.
The top picture includes Continue reading “Not a Weak One in the Bunch”
My cousin Nancy of WWND fame… WWND being What Would Nancy Do... One of my brothers and I were on a backpacking trip and having a discussion about a hypothetical moral dilemma. We were of differing opinions, but I resolved it to both our satisfactions by asking, “What would Nancy Milam do?”
Anyway, I wander… Nancy had a box of VCRs related to the USS Carr and Paul Henry Carr. Two subjects which the 3.141592 regular readers of my blog will know about. I took her videos and digitized them. After all, VCRs have gone the way of 8-track tape players. “What,” I can hear the younger generations asking, “are 8-track tapes?” Future generations may well find all our digital files are unreadable also. Ultimately, you need the right technology to access them.
Anyway, I wander again… Once I had them digitized I uploaded them to YouTube and placed them in a playlist Continue reading “YouTube Playlists: USS Carr and Paul Henry Carr”
This last weekend Señora and I went to Checotah, Oklahoma. On the very long shot chance you do not know about Checotah, it is the birthplace of yours truly. Way back in 1952 there was actually a three bed hospital in Checotah on 3rd street where I was born, delivered by Dr. N. E. Cornstubble. It is also the home of Carrie Underwood and the Steer Wresting Capital of the World, having many champion steer wrestlers from around Checotah. When I was a kid there was a rodeo arena within walking distance of my grandmother’s house, and we used to walk down there to watch them practice. If you are a fan of cowboy clothes you will know about the line of cowboy shirts from Wrangler named Checotah.
My great grandparents and grandparents farmed/sharecropped in this part of Oklahoma, ending up in Continue reading “USS Carr Crew Reunion with Carr Family”
A video of the “Sammy B” 4 miles down and a bit of the story of the discovery
Graphic video reenactment of the USS Samuel B Roberts last battle
This is a huge deal for my family. As readers of my blog may know this is the ship, USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413), that my Uncle Paul died on during WW II. He was the gunnery captain on aft 5 inch gun that blew up after the ship lost power and they were firing and loading manually. For his bravery in this action he received the Silver Star and for 30 years there was a missile frigate, the USS Paul Henry Carr (FFG-52) floating around the seas on various naval missions. Quite an honor for my uncle and for our family.
Here are some links to the stories on the finding of the shipwreck:
Explorers find USS Samuel B. Roberts shipwreck
World’s deepest shipwreck, the Sammy B, is discovered by explorers
BBC article: USS Samuel B Roberts: World’s deepest shipwreck discovered
In 2018 my Uncle Paul was inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame. At the time I wrote a blog article about that experience:
Paul H. Carr inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame
I am sure there will be more coming out on this discovery as the story just broke a few days ago.
And so it goes.
This is the ship that Paul Henry Carr served on and died on… Paul Henry Carr was my mother’s brother, and for many years there was a US Navy missile frigate on active duty that borne his name.
I have an interesting problem that has cropped up in the last 5 or 6 weeks. I have several caps and shirts with the emblem from the FFG-52, USS Carr on them. I wear the hats a bunch. Partly because I like the way they look, but mainly in honor of my Uncle Paul H. Carr. The ship was named after him for his heroic actions in WWII.
I’ve been doing this for years. The ship was actually decommissioned a few years ago. So a rough estimate would be 25 years or more. Occasionally folks will ask me about the hat. What has been really cool over the years is how many folks I have run into that have served on the ship. When they see the hat they frequently come over to talk to me. I have had some very nice conversations Continue reading “Thank you for your service…Maybe”