Anyone have any images or info on CAP Coastal Patrol 15 in Corpus Christi? Any one serve there?
"From Maine to Mexico" has a nice chapter on them that includes a lot of photos.
Quote from: RiverAux on August 17, 2007, 10:09:46 PM
"From Maine to Mexico" has a nice chapter on them that includes a lot of photos.
I was thinking along the lines of new materials that we could compile.
Good luck with that.
Quote from: RiverAux on August 18, 2007, 12:11:09 AM
Good luck with that.
You'd be surprised. I've been scouring the Archives and Micro-film down at TAMUK in Kingsville, I have found a lot. I figure all that training as an historian should go to good use.
I have been tempted to go diving into the National Archives looking for reports CAP would have submitted about these activities, but have too many other historical projects on my hands as it is.
I have had great luck with reading newspapers from the time getting information on my local State Defense Force as well as CAP activities within the state. Almost no censorship of that stuff and the papers regularly printed stories about them. Count on 1-2 hours to read a years worth of a weekly paper and 1-2 hours per month of a daily paper (depending on how big it is).
However, the coastal patrol stuff didn't really make the papers very often durng the war itself, but you might have some luck reading the local paper for 1945-6. You might fund some interesting stuff about what happened there as the rules loosened up.
I normally start with the newspapers. From there, for example, I got all the news on the initial formation of the "proto-unit." I know, for example, the names of all those involved in forming the unit. Where General Curry went and who he meet...where the first meetings were held and how many people were there.
From there, its off to explore other leads. I'm giving it about four years. On the 70th or birthday of the unit I will present my works for publication. That's the plan anyway.
Besides looking through the military records (beyond the CAP-specific files used in M to M) about the only other option I can think of is to start doing biographical research on the CAP members assigned there. You might get lucky and find a family member who has a box of old photos and letters. Very hard to do since in most cases you're not going to have much info to start with on most of them.
Quote from: RiverAux on August 18, 2007, 03:27:58 AM
Besides looking through the military records (beyond the CAP-specific files used in M to M) about the only other option I can think of is to start doing biographical research on the CAP members assigned there. You might get lucky and find a family member who has a box of old photos and letters. Very hard to do since in most cases you're not going to have much info to start with on most of them.
At this point, I refuse to believe that all that history is lost. Give me a change, however, to have my spirit broken. :'(