I received a note from my sister Jo in California yesterday morning which included this, in part:
That's the top of an Air Force issue footlocker, which was part of a hold baggage shipment back in the day. From my reply...
Ain't technology GRAND? It's been well over 50 years since I was in that part of the world as a child and we spent more than a few hours walking back the memories yesterday. For some of the back story of Ma Vie En France... see One of My Boyhood Homes and When I Was Eight, Part III.
I went back to Paris on numerous occasions while I was stationed in London during the '80s, taking The Second Mrs. Pennington to the old boyhood home, among other places... like this:
Ah, Former Happy Days.
In the garage was a trunk from Dad's military days. It was full of scrapbooks and turkish cookbooks. Unfortunately the entire bottom of the trunk along with 2/3 of the contents were completely rotted out, bug eaten and disintegrated. I saved some of the books and the top of the trunk. A picture of the top is attached. I wondered if you are interested in having these items, or perhaps Bucky or Sam. Even if you don't want the stuff, just the picture of the trunk is nostalgic. Too bad there is not a date on it.Here's the picture...
That's the top of an Air Force issue footlocker, which was part of a hold baggage shipment back in the day. From my reply...
I most certainly would want the contents of the box and I'm sure Buck and Sam feel the same way. The trunk IS dated... you just don't know the code. ;-) This footlocker was part of Dad's "hold baggage" when we were transferred from Paris To Ankara, Turkey in 1956. A quick google search reveals this:
So then we set off to Google Maps at the link above and captured the following street views...
APO 163 was located at Seine Area Command at 2 Rue de la Faisanderie. It sorted mail there for APO 163 and APO 230 which was at Rue Marbeuf.
Going to Google Maps, I found the location and a street view which leads me to believe this was where Dad worked. I don't believe I ever went to his office but I DO know from old war stories that he worked in an unmarked USAF facility not far from the Étoile. As for the rest of it... AO 861760 was Dad's serial number and Det 20 was the support organization in Ankara. My family was in Ankara from late 1956 until early 1958. You can't believe how many old, long dormant synapses you've managed to fire off with one picture...
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| My Dad's office is annotated, the Étoile is at "A." |
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| Close to the Étoile on Avenue Foch |
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| Further down Avenue Foch |
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| My Dad's office would have been in the stone building at left. |
I went back to Paris on numerous occasions while I was stationed in London during the '80s, taking The Second Mrs. Pennington to the old boyhood home, among other places... like this:
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| Sur La Seine près de Notre-Dame (click to embiggen) |
Ah, Former Happy Days.
How very cool to have your dad's footlocker! I love your stories and pics from Paris. I can just picture you as a little boy riding your bike up and down the streets of Paris...
ReplyDeleteGoogle is cool too!I can't wait to see it for myself.
And, that is one of my favorite pics of you and TSMP. The look on your face is priceless.
DeleteThank ya, Ma'am. That look on my face? My father-in-law... who didn't speak to me for eight or nine straight years (you know the story)... was taking that picture.
DeleteSpeaking of foot-lockers, I still have my Dad's WW II wooden one which I used to go to school at LSU (repainted, of course, we rootless Protestants are very unsentimental) BTW, GREAT "back-story." When Dad came home from Europe his unit shipped all their footlockers (keeping only their duffle-bags) ahead separately to their place of residence (for those on leave prior to being assigned to a new Division for the invasion of Japan) Somehow in some transshipment depot someone (or the paint crew?) lost and/or mixed his records with someone else. As a result when the locker arrived at home it had "MIA" stenciled all over it. As Dad was still in-transit mid-Atlantic on a troop-ship and incommunicado, Mother was, needless to say, absolutely frantic. It was two weeks before Dad arrived home totally unaware of what transpired (Few called long-dist in those days due to COMSEC plus sheer cost of a long-dist call for the most ordinary of things, so Dad never even gave it a thought when he hit NYC/NJ to take a couple of days to process out of the 42ndDiv and get his new orders to China, then wait more days to board a troop-train going west to St. Louis and then bus it home to east-central Ill)) All's well that ends well, as they say, but what a classic case of bureaucratic SNAFU! (to use WWII terminology, lol)
ReplyDeleteI KNOW your Mom was simply frantic and I also understand why your Dad didn't call... how could he have known? That footlocker top that's pictured is from WW II; my Dad had three or four of the things. I'm pretty sure this one is the last and it and most of its contents were rotted beyond repair.
DeleteFootlockers! We kinda had footlockers. They were welded to the deck and nobody shipped them anywhere. All of our stuff had to fit in the seabag.
ReplyDeleteOf course, for ossifers it was a different story. I have a big wooden box, painted haze gray, with LT. E.B. Larson stenciled on it that was used to ship home my stepdad's goodies from the South Pacific. I think GS would like me to do something besides store it.
I think you should do something with that footlocker, too. They literally don't make 'em any longer.
DeleteThis one's a one of a kind. The ol' man was one to make deals to have stuff made for him. At the time this particular box was built, he was Convoy & Routing Officer on Adm. Kincaid's staff. One can only speculate about what was traded for the box.
DeleteGreat story and great pics. It's sad that so much of the stuff was ruined, but I'm glad you were able to save a little of that history. All it takes is a "little" to get the old memory drive cranked up. And thank the powers that be for that!
ReplyDeleteIt remains to be seen how much was saved, Dan. My sister is going to inventory the surviving contents and send me a list. Thanks for the good words.
DeleteJust two words.
ReplyDeleteWay. Cool.
Thank ya, Sir.
DeleteHere is a photo of 2 Rue de la Faisanderie probably in the 50s. APO 163 was located in the basement. Sorted mail for several US locations in Paris and surrounding areas.Looks just like it did when I left Dec 58.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.usarmygermany.com/Units/ComZ/Partials_SAC%201.htm
Thanks for that, Anon. There was a lag in posting your comment because Google thought you were a spammer.
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