School Play 1930

The photo tells the story. Great image of students in a school play back in 1930 when Shirlie was 12 years old. BTW: That's Shirlie on the far right.

Lieutenant Nathan Bond WW2 Artillery Soldier in the Dutch East Indies

Nathan J Bond was born 6 Feb 1917 in Ida Grove, Iowa. An outstanding multi-sport athlete in high school and college, Nate enlisted in the US Army in November of 1940 while he was still in college. He was assigned to the Field Artillery Battery F out of the Vermillion South Dakota. This unit was part of the 147^th Battalion which was mobilized in late 1941 to head out to Northern Australia. 

According to an account from the South Dakota State Historical Society, Journey to Timor: South Dakota National Guardsmen in the Dutch East Indies, 1942 by Robert G. Web, then Sgt. Nate Bond performed some feats of courage while in the southeast Asian waters. (For the complete chapter from this publication click here.)

"When the 147th and 148th Field Artillery regiments arrived in Darwin, they found the military situation in the South Pacific discouraging. In British Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, and the American Philippines, Japanese forces were advancing at an alarming rate. To help strengthen Allied defenses in the Darwin area, the two artillery units were assigned to the Australian Army's tiny Northern Territory Forces. On 24 January, the Northern Territory Forces became part of the newly created American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Com- mand, the first Allied command of the war. British general Sir Archibald Waveil headed the command, establishing his headquarters at Batavia, Java, in the Dutch East Indies. Wavell's orders were to hold the Malay Barrier, a hastily drawn Allied defense line that included British Malaya, the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Timor in the Dutch East Indies, and northern Australia. In addition, the command was to operate as far beyond that line of defense as possible in order to check Japanese advances and restore communications with the Philippine Islands.

"On 29 January, as part of the attempt to fulfill these orders with the limited resources available, ABDA Command called upon the 147th to furnish an officer and fifteen enlisted men for a special mission. Each man was to be a volunteer and a strong swimmer. The individuals selected included Sgt. Nathan Bond of Ida Grove, Iowa; … Except for Sergeant Bond, who belonged to Battery F of Vermillion when the 147th mobilized in 1940, the non-South Dakotans were either draftees or regular army enlistees assigned to the regiment at Fort Ord in 1941

"… While the Peary (the ship Bond was on) stood offshore. Burnside (officer in charge of the volunteer unit) and his men hoisted the gasoline barrels, which had been lashed into rafts, overboard and used the ship's lifeboats to tow them toward the beach. The scheme might have worked in calm seas and daylight. Instead, the surf was high, and the night was dark as pitch.

"As Private Meyer recalled: "We got toward those big waves, and those barrels came right aboard. We either had to get out of there or get crushed. We saw what happened to the other boat. We cut the barrels loose but still couldn't get to shore—the waves were that big." Lieutenant Burnside ordered the men, who were wearing life jackets, to jump into the sea and make for the beach. "You know," remembered Meyer, "some of the guys took their shoes off and everything, but I kept my gun on my side and kept my shoes on. … While the original call for volunteers had stipulated that all the men be good swimmers, three soldiers apparently had not been informed of this requirement."' Pvt. Kenneth Wold, a non-swimmer, hesitated to go over the side of the boat. Meyer remembered that Wold's eyes "were as big as saucers." Sgt. Nathan Bond, who stood six feet, two inches tall, weighed 225 pounds, and had been an outstanding athlete at the University of South Dakota, took Wold into the water with him. Together, they rode the breakers into shore."

Nathan J Bond would be promoted to Lieutenant before he left the Army at the end of the war. He went back to school to get his teacher’s certification and was a popular high school athletic coach for many years in his home state of Iowa.

Sometime in 1941, Nate met Shirlie Montgomery on his way to Fort Ord in Monterey California for training and ultimate deployment to SE Asia. As Shirlie did with so many soldiers and sailors who stopped in San Jose during WW2, she and Nate struck up a friendship and wrote each other often. Nate sent her numerous photos (and a bunch of negatives for her to print) as well as some Japanese “funny money” from the war.

A while back I put a number of letters and photographs from Nate Bond for sale online. Tom Saluzzo of Arizona purchased a few of lots from me and created a really nice display … he said he wanted to keep this WW2 correspondence together. What a great idea … and he did a very fine job.

I want to thank Tom Saluzzo for sending me photos of his excellent display and for finding the article about Nate in the East Indies.

Happy 101st Birthday Shirlie

Shirlie would have been 101 today. She really wanted to make it to at least 100 ... because she wanted Willard Scott to wish her Birthday Greeting! Alas, Shirlie made it to 94 ... but RIP. So I thought a little 100+ years tribute was in order. (I know, I should have done this last year .... but when I got the idea, June 9th had passed me by.)

George Lanning and the "Three Sensational Royals"

July 4th 1937 ... Shirlie was at Santa Cruz Beach as usual. She just loved the beach ... more than her precious "Valley of Hearts' Delight." Shirlie had just turned 19 years old, two years out of San Jose High School. Still finding her way and enjoying every minute of it.

Happenstance, the Santa Cruz Boardwalk had booked "the greatest aerial act of all time," the "Three Sensational Royals." Headed by an equally young George Lanning, this act did acrobatic and trapeze stunts atop a 100 to 150 foot tall rotating and swaying pole. Gads! 

The two met and must have had a great time, as George wrote Shirlie a week later saying the group would be in "Frisco a couple more weeks" and wanted to see her again. 

What happened to their relationship ... I do not know. Shirlie never mentioned it to me, but George wrote again (at least once) in February to let Shirlie know they were back in San Francisco. He re-introduced himself as "the crazy guy that you met at 4th of July at Santa Cruz 1937."

Well George became pretty successful with his aerial trapeze act, traveling all over America at fairs and carnivals. He was written up in local and national newspapers and such publications as Billboard.

The_Enterprise_Ledger_Fri__Nov_6__1942

The_Elba_Clipper_Thu__Nov_5__1942

Billboard Mar 28, 1942

Alas, he who lives on the edge, .... George Wesley Lanning perished in a horrific accident in front of a crowd of 1,200 spectators when his trapeze bar broke during a performance. That was on the evening of May 12th 1949, at the "World of Pleasures Show" in Battle Creek Michigan. George was only 31 years old, married with two young sons. Shirlie had a beat up old clipping of his death notice among her mementos.

The_Sandusky_Register_Fri__May_13__1949

The_Fairmount_News_Thu__May_19__1949

Shirlie always seemed to attract men with stories to tell and adventures to live. George Lanning (1918 - 1949), "The Sensational Royal," was another one of those.

The Storms of Jan - Feb 1969

Recent heavy rain makes me think about other historical storms here in San Jose. I remember the big storm at the beginning of 1969. I had recently rented a house on Lencar Way … the landlord gave me free first month rent if I would plant the backyard with grass. I said “sure.” Got it rototilled, amended the soil and spread the seed. Then the storm hit! Ruined everything I did as the whole backyard became a swamp … water turning the beautiful soil into eight inches of mud. Seed washed away, buried under mud or pooled into the puddles that dotted the surface of the soil.

Shirlie was already an established photojournalist by this time … and other than photographing wrestlers, her favorite assignments were disasters. Like car crashes, big fires, murders, strikes and, in this case, flooding in downtown San Jose.

The rainy season of 1968-69 poured an average of 27 inches of rain over the state. A series of powerful storms in January and February of 1969 resulted in widespread flooding across California, resulting in at least 60 deaths, according to one federal report. Forty California counties were declared disaster areas during that series of storms that also contributed $300 million in economic losses. Here’s a couple of storm photos that Shirlie took for the San Jose Mercury … with deep watery streams where roads are supposed to be.

Flooding on East Santa Clara Street. The Foursquare Church in the background has a sign: "Moved to 1470 McKinley Avenue" a move they made in the beginning of January 1969.

Flooding in front of the Williams Funeral Chapel on Santa Clara Street between at Seventh and Eighth Streets.

Happy Valentine's Day Shirlie Bug

In amongst other cards and stuff from Shirlie, I found this homemade, handmade Valentine card from Kenny. Thought I'd share it.

For Shierley Bug

God I’m glad yer my chum

Cause you are a little plum

But listen here ole pal of mine

Won’t you be my Valentine?!

Tee Hee!!

Maybe you would rather be

A Valentine to Dear S.C.

But I fergot – Tsk Tsk, Dear, Dear

You were their Valentine last year

Or if I were a little Kanakee

I’d take you to my grass shackie

Then let it rain or let it pour

But we could take a little detour!

But I’ve Thot ‘n Thot real hard

And remembered about a cute life guard

So I guess you’d rather be

A Valentine to Kenny – Whee!!

So There!!!

Santa Clara University Footall Programs 1930s

Back in the late-1930s and again in the late-1940s, Santa Clara University had great football teams. Tops in the nation. Went to post-season bowl games, at a time when that meant something, not like today. Here are a couple of programs from that era. (These came out of Shirlie's collection.)

For a lot of facts & fun stuff about SCU football through the years, check out History of Santa Clara University Football