US WWII Photo Album & Medal Grouping, Named, Normandy & Okinawa, Army Signal Officer
This item is listed for historical interest only. It was listed on our site previously but has been sold and is no longer available for purchase.
Sold for: $395.00

Original era photography. A large format photo album covering this officers service inthe ETO aboard the USAT Ancon during the Normandy Invasion, and later in the Pacific Theater duringthe Okinawa Campaignin 1945.According to WWII Iowa Bonus case files, Dean William Alderman, served with the following units as a Signal Officer, 11th Amphibious Force ETO, Amphibious Group 12 Pacific, and later with the Alaskan Signal Depot.At some point during WWII Alderman was assigned to the USAT Ancon, which was designated Flagship of Amphibious Force 11 forthe Normandy Invasion. On May 25 1944, King George the VI, accompanied by Field Marshall, Sir Bernard Montgomery, visited the Ancon in port. According to online sourcesa junior officer refused the King entry into the Ancon's intelligence center, as the King was not listed on the clearance (BIGOT) list.The photo album contains 20 original black and white images of the King's visit to the Ancon, each one captioned as to content. The Ancon stayed in the ETOuntil September 1944, when she was ordered back to the US to prepare for Pacific service. She arrived at Pearl Harbor in February1945, and sailed for the Ryuku Islands in March of 1945, with Transport Squadron 15.There are 83 black and white images of the time spent in Hawaii, and Leyte in preparation for the Okinawa invasion. Almost all of them are identified, including a group photo of officers with Alderman identified. Arrivingoff ofOkinawa on 1 April 1945,she made a trip back to Saipan, and then once more to Okinawa; whereshe was moored off of the coast for three weeks, under daily threats of Japanese air raids. The album contains 37 black and white photographs of the invasion of Okinawa, many of them large format photographs, with most of them identified to content.August 1945 found the Ancon moored between the Battleships USS South Dakota and USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, where the crew of the Ancon had a ringside seat to the Japanese Surrender. The medals include; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign with 3 stars, ETO Medal, American Campaign Medal, Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal, National Defense Medal, and Department of theArmy, Meritorious Civilian Service Medal named to Alderman. In addition there is an assortment of rank insignia and DI's.From a local estate.