Papers (1941-1945) of U. S. Naval officer, graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy (1941), including his Reminiscences of World War II.
Eugene M. Ransom Jr. was born and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. He played baseball and football in high school and continued playing football at the U.S. Naval Academy. He first went to Georgia Tech for one year before attending the U. S. Naval Academy for two years. He returned to Georgia Tech for three years and participated in the ROTC program while earning his degree in Textile Engineering. After graduating in May of 1942 he received a commission to the U.S. Naval Reserve and was assigned to the U.S.S. New Orleans. He first saw battle on August 8, 1942, when his ship and a few others were ordered to help Marines land at Guadalcanal. On August 10, 1942, the Japanese sank three of the ships in their task force.
Eugene received an honorable discharge in July of 1945. Afterwards, he worked in the plastic seat cover industry, Lummus Cotton Gin Company, and taught for a year. He earned his Library Science degree from Florida State University and spent eleven years as a librarian at the University of Georgia. He and his wife had three children and two grandchildren.
The first letter in the collection glosses over Eugene's time in the Navy but does not give much detail about the different operations he was a part of. The second letter provides very little detail about any actual operations, but does have an account of when a Kamikaze hitting the U.S.S. Cabot and a brief account of the U.S.S. New Orleans being torpedoed. He also gives a few details about his time off and his time making supply runs in both letters.
Gift of Mr. Eugene M. Ransom, Jr.
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Processed by Jessica Reed, February 2020
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