John Mays joined the navy on May 28, 1943. He was discharged on March 9, 1946. He served as a radio operator on several ships that saw action in the Pacific (USS Mount McKinley; USS Appalachian; USS New Jersey; USS Iowa; USS War Hawk). He seldom spoke of his war experiences, but took part in several invasions and was aboard ships that came under attack.
The Japanese surrendered on August 15, 1945. My mom was in St. Louis for New Year’s Eve, and the new year must have looked a lot brighter. She’s three chairs in on the right side of the table. Little hat with veil.
ChatGPT: What the photo itself suggests
Your dad is on deck, relaxed, reading a newspaper. That already hints at a moment where no one was at battle stations, no drill underway—just downtime. These kinds of scenes were almost always photographed casually by fellow sailors.
The blur, scratches, and the way the light reflects tell you this isn’t an official Navy photographer. It’s some kid with a small personal camera—likely a Kodak Brownie or similar roll-film pocket camera that tons of sailors carried.
Who most likely took it
Here are the realistic possibilities:
1. A bunkmate or friend.
This is by far the most common scenario. Sailors took pictures of each other the way people take casual iPhone shots today. Someone probably thought your father looked cool or calm or simply “photo-worthy.”
2. A guy who enjoyed photography.
Every ship had one or two hobbyists. They took pictures of everything—shipmates shaving, sleeping, reading, cleaning guns, staring at the horizon. If your dad mentioned a friend who always had a camera, that’s your best suspect.
3. A trade: “I’ll take yours if you take mine.”
Very common. Sailors swapped turns with the camera and later swapped prints. Why someone would take that specific moment
My guess: Your dad looked like a man at peace in the middle of war. There’s something about the composition—him reading while the ocean churns behind him—that feels almost cinematic. Somebody probably saw that and thought, That’s a great shot. That’s how we’ll want to remember this. Photos were rare enough in 1940s life that people took them with intention, even casual ones.
How the print got to your father
In the 1940s Navy, prints were shared in a few ways:
1. Darkroom on the ship (larger vessels only).
If he served on a destroyer escort, cruiser, or carrier, there was often a shipboard darkroom for processing film. The guy who took it could have made prints as soon as the film was developed.
2. Shore leave print shops.
More common. When a ship reached port—Hawaii, San Diego, Pearl, Brisbane, Ulithi—sailors rushed to get their rolls developed. They’d come back a day or two later with envelopes of prints. Those envelopes got passed around the ship like candy.
3. Mail home.
Many sailors sent prints of their buddies to the buddies’ families. Sometimes the photographer mailed multiples to everyone pictured.
Did your father know the photo was being taken?
Hard to be certain, but I’d say probably not. He’s not posing. He’s not looking up. His shoulders are relaxed. That’s a candid moment. He might not have known until the print surfaced later.
Why these can’t be answered definitively—but the mystery is part of the charm
These gaps—Who was behind the camera? What were they thinking?—are built into old photos. They’re the footprint of another consciousness brushing past your father’s life for a second, leaving this one artifact. And that’s enough. The “unknown photographer” captured a moment of your dad’s existence that otherwise would have vanished completely. There’s something beautiful about that.
My Dad served aboard the USS Appalachian under Admiral Conolly. He lives in Florida and is very interested in communicating with fellow sailors that were aboard the USS Applachian during WWII.
He doesn’t have a computer, but I will forward an address or phone number to him if you are willing for him to get in touch with you via ‘snail’ mail or telephone. Thank you so much for your response. If you know of others who also served aboard the USS Appalachian that would like to get in touch with my Dad, that would be wonderful for him. (He is still a sailor at heart. He is 83, and is currently building a sailboat. I wish I was as active and as in good shape/health as my Dad.)
Thanks again for your response.
E. Barrales (Valdosta, Georgia)
This is so strange, I tripped over this site looking for info on my grandfather’s war experience. His name was Bill Mays, he was in the airforce, he was a radio operator too. He was also on a ship that was torpedoed. But he’s from Scotland, not a Canadian like me. Have you had much luck with this type of website generating legitimate comments? Thanks in advance for a reply.~aly