I enlisted in the Navy on Feb. 18, 1944, my 17th birthday. I reported aboard the SLC on or about June 27, 1944, having spent the intervening time in Radio Technician training in Chicago, IL, College Station, TX and finally at Treasure Island, CA where I was awarded the rating RT3c. After 30 days leave, I was shipped to Pearl Harbor where I was assigned to the SLC.

On or about Oct. 7, 1944, after the SLC was ordered back to the USA, I was transferred to the fleet minesweeper USS SWIFT AM122 to replace a Radio Technician, who had considerably more sea duty that I, to return to the States. Therefore, there are no pictures of me while on the SLC.

Some later pictures were taken after I was promoted to ETM2c (the Navy had changed the name of the rating from "Radio Technician" to "Electronic Technicians Mate" to more accurately describe our duties) while on the USS SWIFT, shortly before the SWIFT was ordered to Shanghai for Christmas R & R. The pictures were sent to my mother, but I never could find them after my discharge on June 9, 1946. The photo above could have been taken at Shanghai or San Diego, where the SWIFT was being prepared for "mothballing" or possibly just before my discharge at PSC Lido Beach, NY.

Best Regards,
Ron Tucker

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