USA, 1942: The War at Home

Went through some of my grandfather’s personal effects and documents this evening. He and his brothers operated a gas station / mechanic’s from around 1932-1942. As you can see from the photo below, when he / they got drafted in 42, they had to sell it. I imagine there were a lot of signs like this at that time.

So, he was an auto mechanic from 32-42, then an aircraft mechanic from 42-45 (23rd FG, China), then an auto mechanic with NACA near DC for most of 45, then when he became a civilian, he went right back to being an automobile mechanic. After the war he married and raised two children.

WWII Allied China Burma India Theater Photos

Since we just passed the 70th anniversary of the end of the war in the Far East, it seems like an appropriate time to post these photos.

My maternal grandfather was an aircraft mechanic in China with the US forces there. If I recall correctly, he was with the 23rd Fighter Group, not the American Volunteer Group.

I apologize in advance for the quality of the photos, but i have tried to retouch them as best I can. They are simply old, dirty, grainy and frequently poorly exposed.

I’m going to separate these into ‘aircraft’ and ‘other’ pictures.

Others:

Water buffalo plowing a field?

City street scene in India?

City in India?

City street scene in India?

CNAC car, with a Delco battery. My grandfather is on the right.

People bathing in a river?

Allied personnel in China?

Building in India?

Street scene with trolleys in India?

Aircraft:

Man prepping a P-51 Mustang for a shark mouth to be painted on?

Santa(?) in a cargo aircraft?

P-51 Mustang with shark mouth.

Airfield in China?

P-51 Mustang with two men.