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USS Boise
USS Boise (CL-47) was a United States Navy Brooklyn-class light cruiser, with a length of 185 m. Named for Boise, the capital city of the state of Idaho. Built by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, construction started on April 1, 1935 and she was launched on December 3, 1936. In February 1939,
Boise joined Division 9, Cruisers
Battle Force, at San Pedro, Ca. She operated
alternately off the west coast and in Hawailan waters until November 1941.
She then escorted a convoy to Manila, Philippine Islands, arriving 4th of December 1941.
At the outbreak of war in the Philippines, on the 8th of December 1941, Boise
joined TF 5 in the East Indies. In September 1942 she helped cover the landing of Marine reinforcements
on Guadalcanal and was she was hit by
Japanese shells in the Battle of Cape Esperance and was repaired at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. During the landings on Sicily in 1943
she acted as a cover and fire support ship. In 1944 she took part in operations along the northern shore of New Guinea. In the spring she carried General MacArthur on a 35,000 mile tour of
the Central and Southern Philippines and Brunei Bay, Borneo,
and then returned to San Pedro, California.
21st Jan 1942 Damage
22nd Jun 1942 Convoy
Jul 1942 Raiding
1st Sep 1942 Cover
12th Oct 1942 In Action
19th Nov 1942 Repairs
8th June 1943 Setting Sail
21st June 1943 Preparations
15th Nov 1943 Arrival
31st Dec 1943 Arrival
27th April 1944 Landings
2nd Jun 1944 Tour
7th Jul 1944 Arrival
20th Oct 1944 Arrival
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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Those known to have sailed in USS Boise during the Second World War 1939-1945. The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please
Add a Name to this List
Records of USS Boise from other sources.
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Want to know more about USS Boise? There are:15 items tagged USS Boise available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Vincent A. Langelo USS Boise A book giving the details of the Boise during WWII was written by a former member of the crew and was published in 2000. The book provides a great deal of information that relatives of the former crew members may find interesting. With All Our Might
by Vincent A. Langelo
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Don Tucker USS Boise My Uncle Don Tucker, my father Joe Gilliam, his twin brother Warren, all served on the Boise. All three were Radiomen and were ship's company by mid 1941.
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Warren Gilliam USS Boise My father Joe Gilliam, his twin brother Warren, and the fellow who became their brother-in-law after the war, Don Tucker all served on the Boise. All three were Radiomen and were ship's company by mid 1941.
My Uncle Warren was transfered off the ship after the Battle of Cape Esperance and served on an LST for the rest of the war.
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Radioman Joseph Gilliam USS Boise My father Joe Gilliam, his twin brother Warren and the fellow who became their brother-in-law after the war, Don Tucker all served on the Boise. All three were Radiomen and were ship's company by mid 1941. My Uncle Warren was transfered off the ship after the Battle of Cape Esperance and served on an LST for the rest of the war. My father and his brother have both passed away, but Uncle Don is still alive and lives in the Palm Springs area of California.
A book giving the details of the Boise during WWII was written by a former member of the crew and was published in 2000. The book provides a great deal of information that relatives of the former crew members may find interesting. With All Our Might
by Vincent A. Langelo
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Joseph F. Leary USS Boise My Grandfather Joseph F. Leary, Store Keeper 2nd class fought on the USS Boise from 1942 until 1946. He is 87 years old and still speaks often of his time on the ship and the men he served with. We would be very interested in hearing from anyone who remembers him.
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Aaron A "Buster" Blackwelder USS Boise CL-47     My grandfather was Buster Blackwelder and along with two of his brothers, Brent and Otto, served on the USS Boise from mid-1941 before the war through 1942 when the Boise returned to Philadelphia Navy Yard for repairs after the Battle of Cape Esperance. "Buster" was my grandfather's nickname, but when he enlisted that was the name he gave. Years later when he joined the Reserves he updated his records to show his "real" name which is Aaron A. Blackwelder. The Boise took my grandfather all over the world before and during the war with stops in many exotic locales. He had a large world coin collection that he put together that eventually made its way into my hands. Many countries from his travels are represented in these coins!
During the war the men were not supposed to keep diaries in the event that
Japanese got their hands on them and learned something from the information. Somehow my grandfather found a way to keep a journal which is now in my possession. His first entry was a few weeks before the war, dated 18 November 1941, and he wrote that the Boise was escorting merchant ships to Manila in the Philippines. This was almost 3 weeks before the Japanese attack on Pearl. It appears that he wasn't keeping the diary every day and probably went back to add or edit information days after it really happened because some of the dates and events don't line up exactly with the official records of the Boise. Regardless, his short entries, when he decided to note something, are to me an interesting view of how a typical seaman saw world changing events happening around him. He notes things like spotting Japanese subs at night, meeting up with other ships to
patrol, spotting and chasing enemy ships, Christmas dinner while stuck aboard ship and docked at Surabaya, and the fall of Corregidor, Many other entries repeated several times the boredom of waiting to leave port or simply steaming to another assignment. Most entries are a terse 2 or 3 lines in length. The importance of the Battle of Cape Esperance in comparison to all other events prior to October 1942 are revealed in the page and a half he gives the afternoon of Oct. 10 leading up to the battle and the battle itself which happened just after midnight on Oct. 11.
For days after the battle he wrote that they kept finding and removing bodies and parts of bodies from the turrets that had been blown up in the battle. My grandfather loved talking about the Navy (he stayed in the Reserves until 1979), but I don't recall him ever talking about that experience although my grandmother told me once that he had told her of the overpowering smell of those bodies as they slowly rotted in the tropical heat before they could be removed from the damaged areas. He lost his best friend in one of those turrets so I can't imagine that made the labor of repair and body retrieval any easier. The last entry of my grandfather's journal was the day the Boise finally arrived in Philadelphia --19 Nov 1942-- which was a year and a day after he started his diary. While his brothers Brent and Otto stayed aboard the Boise for the duration of the war my grandfather was transferred to another ship. His future wife, my grandmother, traveled to Philadelphia and they spent some time
sightseeing there and in Boston before my grandfather was eventually transferred to his new ship that patrolled the North Atlantic based out of Canada. Later, he would be transferred to another ship before the war ended. It wasn't until after his death in 1989 that I even knew my grandfather had served on a ship other than the Boise because the Boise was all he ever talked about. He loved that ship and attended a number of reunions (if not all of them) before his death in 1989 in Rock Hill, SC.
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Merl Clark Merl Clark had a 20-year career in the US Navy and was a WWII Veteran where he received 13 battle star citations and 5 personal citations from the Navy. Six of those twenty years were served on the USS Boise CL47. The USS Boise was part of the Pacific fleet and during his tenure with the ship, Mr. Clark participated in The Battle of Cape Esperance (sunk 4 ships), the Battle of Guadalcanel, The Lone Tokoyo Raid; and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Mr. Clark was aboard the US Boise during the Lingayen Gulf Landing (Philippines) with General McArthur aboard.
During his Navy career, Mr. Clark was the commanding officer of approximately eight different LCU, a recruiter, deep sea diver, and an instructor for boot camp. He received six letters of commendation for his service (one for citing the enemy during WWII as a gunner on the Boise and another for attaching a coaxial cable on the enemy’s submarine). He was also awarded “Outstanding Chief” of an LCU during his tenure. Overseas ports of call included: Sicily, Gibraltar, New Guinea, Portugal, Panama, most major Pacific Isles, Sidney Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Philippines, West Indies, Bombay India, Colombo Ceylon, Brunei Bay Borneo, Athens, Korea, Naples, Algiers, Plymouth and Cannes France to name a few. He participated in two fleet campaigns and was in Torino the day that Sicily surrendered and took 700 commandos as prisoners. When he was not on an ocean campaign, he spent most of his Navy career in Navy bases located in Virginia and California.
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Jesse Gene Peck USS Boise Jesse Gene Peck served on USS Boise. I believe he was a gunner's mate.
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George Pugh USS Boise My grandfather, George Pugh, was on the USS Boise from I believe either 1939 or 1941 to 1946. I was wondering if anyone remembers him or had any information about him during that time?
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Nicholas M. Haas USS Boise My Dad, Nicholas M. Haas, was a Marine aboard the USS Boise. I know he was on board during the Sicily campaign and fought aboard her in the South Pacific afterwards. He passed away in 1954, and I have some items of his and some notes. I have to check the dates, but I believe he went aboard sometime in 1942.
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Jack Prescott Easton USS Boise My grandfather Jack Prescott Easton served on the USS Boise during WWII.
That is the only information I have. He didn't like to talk about it.
I sure would like to find some photos or others that knew him.
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Yn. Herman Wayland Campbell USS Boise My father, Herman Campbell never spoke much about the war, except about the good times and some of the great people he met. This one time, he spoke about being on the USS Boise while under attack. Explosions hit the ship and he was trapped below deck. With water pouring in and the dead and wounded all around, he managed to find an elevator shaft and get to the top deck. He pointed the shaft out to others that were capable of moving so they might be able to get out. His brother was also on board the Boise. It was quite a while before each one was able to find out if the other was OK. My uncle’s name was Wyman Campbell. My father described a few of the horrors, but I would rather not write about them. Thanks much to all the brave men, living and deceased, who served during WW2.
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GM Leland Rex "Tubby" Stonger USS Oklahoma My father Leland Rex Stonger was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma when it was stationed at Pearl Harbor in late 1941. On Dec 1, 1941, he left Pearl Harbor for 30 days leave. A cargo ship took him from Hawaii to California. After arriving, he began hitchhiking back to Kansas. During that time, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor happened. His family received a telegram from the military stating that he was missing in action. A day or two later he walked into his parents' home in Kansas. They were totally shocked to see him alive and well. We have a newspaper clipping with a picture of his family hugging him. I’m sure he was in trouble with them for not calling home as soon as he heard about the Pearl Harbor attack!
He was ordered back from leave immediately and was then assigned to the USS Boise. He served 16 years, most of the time aboard a ship. He served in both WW2 and the Korean War, and was a true patriot until the day he died.
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Sea. Wilhelm Louis Guttormsen USS Boise My dad, Wilhelm Guttormsen served with the US Navy in the Pacific, first on the light cruiser USS Boise and then, after Guadalcanal, on the submarine USS Toro.
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