Description:

SOUVENIRS WHICH SURVIVED THE KAMIKAZE ATTACK ON THE USS TERROR
Pair of silk souvenir fringed pillow cases, each 20" x 20", typical touristic items sold to a sailor in Hawaii and Chinatown in San Francisco ca. 1942. The interesting thing about these souvenirs is that they survived one of the worst kamikaze attacks of World War II. The sailor who purchased these items served aboard the USS TERROR, the only minelayer of the fleet built specifically for minelaying during World War II. The vessel served in North Africa, then the South Pacific at Guadalcanal, the Marshall Islands, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. On May 1, 1945 as TERROR lay at anchor, a kamikaze dove toward the ship. Darting through a hole in the smoke screen, the plane crashed into the ship's communication platform and one of its bombs exploded. The other penetrated the main deck before it, too, exploded. The aircraft's engine tore through the ship's bulkheads to land in the wardroom. Fire flared immediately in the superstructure but flooding of the magazines prevented possible explosions. The attack cost 171 casualties: 41 dead, 7 missing, and 123 wounded. These souvenirs, in the path of the destruction, survived untouched. With a letter of provenance from a veteran, the son of the sailor who purchased these relics and was aboard at the time of the attack.

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December 8, 2011 11:00 AM EST
Stamford, CT, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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