Person:Godfrey Homes (2)

Godfrey Morgan Homes was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on May 24, 1917. He married Jacqueline Casey. They had 3 children. Godfrey (Jeff), Richard, and Jacqueline. The marriage did not last. Godfrey left the family and joined the Navy. Served in Navy during WWII where he was a Seabee. His unit saw action in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska and helped build the airbase on Tinian Island.

After the war Godfrey settled in California where he remarried. He died of pancreatic cancer on May 7, 1960 and is buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Francisco - Section 2b Site 721

13th NCB "Black-Cats"

Naval Mobile Construction Battalion THIRTEEN 13th NCB RNMCB-13 ‘Black-Cats’ Commissioned at Camp Allen, Norfolk, Va., July 13, 1942, the 13th NCB was soon transferred to Port Hueneme. The outfit left Hueneme Aug. 15, and embarked at Bremerton, Wash., on Aug. 18, arriving at Dutch Harbor Aug. 26. The following Spring two detachments were sent to Akutan, Alaska, and returned to the Battalion in June and July. On Aug. 14, 1943, the outfit sailed for the States, arriving Aug. 19 to end their first tour of duty. Beginning its second tour, the Battalion embarked at Port Hueneme June 9, 1944, and arrived at Pearl Harbor a week later. The outfit, minus a rear echelon, left for Tinian on Sept. 29, 1944, and went ashore on Oct. 24. The rear echelon arrived at Tinian Nov. 19, 1944. War's end found them operating at Okinawa. The following excerpts are from the Government Printing Office publication ‘Building the Navy’s Bases in World War II’: Dutch Harbor: The purpose of the naval installation at Dutch Harbor was to provide a naval operating base farther west in the Aleutain chain than Kodiak. Air facilities, a submarine base, and numerous minor activities were included. Dutch Harbor is on Amaknak Island in Unalaska Bay, a bay in the island of Unalaska, the largest and most important island of the eastern Aleutians, Unalaska, 67 miles long and 23 miles wide, is the largely mountainous. Unalaska Bat provides one of the best anchorages in the Aleutians, with depths sufficient to accommodate the largest vessels, but the prevalence of bad weather causes operating conditions there to be even more difficult than at most other Alaskan stations. Army and Navy construction work at Dutch Harbor began in 1940, as an extension to the cost-plus-a-fixed-fee contract originally awarded for work at Sitka and Kodiak. In July 1942, the estimated total probable cost for this project was $44,000,000, of which $20,500,844 was for Army work, including harbor-defense installations, housing for troops, and the facilities and utilities necessary to serve them. The construction work was carried on entirely by the contractor until the bombing of Dutch Harbor in June 1942, after which the construction effort was reinforced by the Seabees. The 4th Construction Battalion, the first to be ordered to Alaska, arrived at Dutch Harbor on July 5, 1942, improperly clothed and without suitable tools or equipment. On July 14, it was reinforced by the 8th Battalion; on August 26, by the 13th Battalion; and on October 18, by the 21st Battalion. By the middle of December, all of the contractor’s personnel had left Dutch Harbor, with the exception of several members of the supervisory force who remained to assist in the inventory work and the settlement of the contract. The contractor had completed nine of the original 28 projects, the value of which reached $4,484,428. Work had also been started, but not completed, on an additional 10 projects. This work, as well as all new construction, was taken over by the Seabees. The air station at NOB Dutch Harbor included a 300-by-4385-foot, gravel-surfaced, emergency runway and concrete parking area, a concrete seaplane ramp and its facilities, for patrol bombers and scout planes. Hangar space was provided in a permanent blast-pen-type hangar, 115 feet by 310 feet, and a semi-permanent Kodiak-type hangar. Other buildings included a permanent 72-by-122 foot repair shop and parachute loft, a 30-by-50-foot semi-permanent photographer’s laboratory, and an air-operations building. Installed as part of the air-station equipment was a catapult with a launching platform and arresting gear. Storage facilities included tanks for 1,069,000 gallons of aviation gasoline and complete facilities for storage and handling of small ammunition, bombs, and torpedoes. The submarine base possessed facilities equivalent to a submarine tender, including hull, machine, electrical, optical, and radio shops. In addition, a large torpedo shop and storehouse and three magazines to store types of ammunition other than torpedoes were provided. Diesel oil was stored in seven tanks; three were underground, and the others were of the oil-dock type. The 13th Battalion finally left Dutch Harbor for the United States in August of 1943. Pearl Harbor, Honolulu: During 1942, the Navy enlarged the facilities at the Pan American Airways terminal on the southern tip of Pearl City Peninsula, for use by the Naval Air Transport Service. However, as ship traffic in the adjacent Pearl Harbor waters increased, it became evident that the continued use of these waters by seaplanes would be impractical. Consequently, the Navy took over the John Rodgers Airport, a commercial facility at Keehi Lagoon on the south shore of Oahu, midway between Pearl Harbor and Honolulu, subsequently designated Naval Air Station, Honolulu. In May 1944, the 133rd Seabees were assigned to the air station; during their five months stay they increased the aviation-gasoline storage capacity to 500,000 gallons and completed the two concrete seaplane ramps. They also built eight floating piers for docking seaplanes, five aviation-material storehouses, machine shops, several 250-man frame barracks and two-story, 40-by-100-foot, Quonset barracks, an officers mess, WAVES quarters, and did additional work on the landing field. The 133rd was augmented by the 13th Battalion in June 1944. This unit assisted on the landing field and road work, in addition to constructing utility systems, a 60-by-205-foot cold storage building, six line-storage sheds, a concrete-block paint and oil storehouse, and three underground 5,000-gallon oil tanks. The 13th also installed concrete slab ripraps along the waterfront and moved 35 houses several miles. The 13th Battalion left in September 1944, and the 133rd followed in November. Tinian: Tinian, the third of the three largest islands of the Marianas, lies just southwest of Saipan and is separated from it by a strait only 3 miles wide. The invasion of Tinian was principally a shore-to-shore operation from Saipan by landing craft. On July 24, 1944, the Fourth Marine Division landed on two narrow beaches on the northwest coast of the island. The North Field project was assigned to the 30th Regiment, which in turn, divided it into several phases and assigned principle responsibility for phase to a battalion. The first phase was the development of Strip No.1, to its required length of 8,500 feet and width of 300 feet, and the construction of taxiways, hardstands, and aprons necessary to serve it. The 121st Battalion, which had rehabilitated the old Japanese strip in this location during the assault period, was named as lead battalion for this phase. The other battalions of the 30th Regiment assisted it, acting as sub-contractors. Strip No.1 was completed nine days ahead of the date set. The first B-29 landed on December 22, 1944. The second phase included the extension of the No.3 strip to 8,500 feet, with the 67th as the lead battalion. The 13th Battalion drew the responsibility for the next phase, which was the construction of a strip, designated as North Field No.2, between the two earlier strips, including taxiways, hardstands, and a service apron for a projected fourth strip. Strip No.2 was completed and received its first long-range bomber on February 27. Although the records show that the 13th Naval Construction Battalion was decommissioned in December of 1945, it was once again reactivated as a Reserve Battalion under the 21st Naval Construction Regiment, Davisville, Rhode Island. Reserve Naval Mobile Construction Battalion-13 continued operating as an active reserve battalion up until it was once again decommissioned in 1995. Many of the men from RNMCB-13 were then transferred to RNMCB-21.

U.S. Naval Construction Battalion 13, July 13, 1942 (cover). Anon. N.p., 1942, 16 leaves, paper cover with multicolor map of Alaska and Aleutians, 16.5 x 22.5 cm, photos, ports., roster. Dornbusch 1951 supp.: 1512, Smith: 9937. SMPH.

Pictorial Record of the 13th Naval Construction Battalion, 1942-1943. Anon. N.p., [1943?]. 18 leaves, Controvich 1992. No known copy location. The author has not seen this book so further details are lacking. It is possible that this reference is the same as the one above, but this seems unlikely.

13th USNCB Second Cruise. G. W. Riedell, ed. San Francisco: Schwabacher-Frey Co., 1946. 200 pp., blue hardcover with gold printing, 23.7 x 31.1 cm, photos, ports., map, roster. Dornbusch 1950: 1075, Smith: 9938. NYPL (rebound), SMPH.

SSNum438011326

Name: Godfrey Morgan Homes Veteran's Rank: MMR 1 Branch: US Navy Last known address: 1300 Sneath Lane San Bruno , CA 94066 Birth Date: 24 May 1917 Death Date: 7 May 1960 Veteran Service Start Date: 12 Jun 1942 Veteran Service End Date: 19 Oct 1945 Interment Date: 11 May 1960 Cemetery: Golden Gate National Cemetery Buried At: Section 2b Site 721

Godfrey Homes Death Certificate

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 1930 United States Federal Census (3).

   Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census. [database on-line] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2002. Indexed by Ancestry.com from microfilmed schedules of the 1930 U.S. Federal Decennial Census.1930 United States Federal Census. [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2001. Data imaged from National Archives and Records Administration. 1930 Federal Population Census. T626, 2,667 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, ED 219, roll 810, page 22B, image 876.0.

2. ↑ California Deaths 1940-1997.
3. ↑ California Death Index, 1940-1997.
4. ↑ U.S. Veterans Cemeteries, ca.1800-2004.

   National Cemetery Administration. U.S. Veterans Cemeteries, ca.1800-2004 [database online]. Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2005. Original data: National Cemetery Administration. Nationwide Gravesite Locator.