A camera persons reflections

Samar

This morning I included the USS Samar in my comments on HCR’s daily letter. Another writer replied to my comments with some inaccurate history about the naming of the Samar which my grandmother Elsie christened. Elsie or Mom Mom as I called her, was contacted by letter dated Oct 12, 1944 to ask her to be the ships “Sponsor” on Oct 19. The letter was written by J.M. Willis VP of the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore. The Samar would be the 384th and last Liberty Ship built there, setting a record for the number of same class ships built in one yard. That record stands to this day as far as I know.

The author of the piece I referenced above was claiming that the Samar was named for a battle that occurred on Oct 25, 1944…which obviously can’t be true. Here’s the letter

Here is a photo of Mr Willis with Mom Mom, Miss America, 2 Hollywood actors and another fellow.

I mentioned in my comments to HCR’s letter, that the word Samar comes with some baggage that was not one of our military’s finest hours. Here’s the story:

https://ushistoryscene.com/article/balangiga/

That is just one article, there are many others that support this telling of the history.

Just trying to keep the record straight and accurate.