Shipmates in the BB-42 Galley in WW2

My dad, Russell Mesenbrink, served on the battleship West Virginia (BB-42) during World War 2. I never heard a lot about the time he spent in the war, a bit relayed to me by my mom, but nearly nothing from him. He was a cook. Dad kept some memorabilia from his time in the service. I remember seeing the Japanese occupation money he saved from the war, and being in awe of it as a child. But nothing was more mysterious than the pictures of some of his shipmates, mostly without names, in the family albums. I always wondered who these men were, where they were from and what happened to them.

John Henry Robertson

John Henry Robertson - This is one of few that was identified. He was born in Litchfield, Illinois in 1923, died in 1995 and is buried in the National Cemetery in St. Louis. He grew up in East St. Louis. I haven't found any more information on him.

Silvio Rende

Silvio Rende was easy to pick out from the book "USS West Virgina Crosses the Equator Again" in October 1944. The group on page 61 has a lot of my dad's shipmates.

Silvio and my dad were both born March 10, 1915. They were probably the oldest ones serving in the kitchen. Silvio was born in Colorado, but lived in San Mateo California. He died in 1995.

Russell Mesenbrink and Howard Schoen

These two are my dad, and shipmate Howard L. Schoen from Hillsboro, Oregon. He was born in Portland Oregon in 1925, died in Astoria, Illinois in 2009. He was buried in Oregon, next to his wife whom he married in 1962, several years after serving on the West Virginia. Find-a-grave shows their stone. He must have been an avid fisherman.

Silvio Rendez and others

This crew posed for a picture, but no names on the back. On the left, is Silvio Rendez, Second from left is possibly F. L. Essex. My best guess for the third from left is A. C. Haack. A wild guess for the one on the right is R. W. Cook.

Russell Mesenbrink, R. P. Matthews, George White, Robert Grimes

These sailors from left are my dad, R. P. Matthews, George White, and Robert J. Grimes. I love the expressions on these guys. (To put this in perspective, the original picture shows the table of drinks in front of them.) My dad looks like he was caught, Matthews looks like he still isn't happy, White is ready to call it a night, and Grimes is just getting started.

I love this photo. I think I see my dad's eye behind the other faces. I don't know who Butch is, or Harriet for that matter. But see some faces from above.

I'll keep looking for more information. If anybody here is a relative of yours, please let me know. I may have names wrong, so I apologize for that.

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Family History Notes and Photos by Bob Mesenbrink

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