Update: There was more than one Russell I discovered today when I was scanning in more of Mary Grace's scrapbooks. The war years must have been tough because she didn't exactly put them together in order. That's about all the blame I can pass on to her for mixing up the Russells. The Russell in the South Pacific was Russell Bosley as he told her or perhaps it was Bosler. He was born in 1919 in Watkins Glen, New York. She went with him to a winter formal on January 29, 1944. By February he had been sent to the South Pacific. He sent her the photos from there the following January.
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| Russell Bosley and Mary Grace Winter Formal, January 29, 1944 Topeka |
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| Russell Bosley, Staff Sergeant in the Army Air Corps |
So to those of you who felt that men didn't serve in both the European theater and the Pacific theater, apparently you were right--at least in this case. I must admit I didn't think the Russell in Topeka in 1945 looked that much like the Russell in the South Pacific, but it wasn't enough to stop me from publishing the blog. It was, though, enough to keep me from sending the photos or copies of the photos to Russell Hains' survivors.
Mary Grace spent a lot of time at the USO, dancing with the GI's and helping to distract them from the war. Her mother gave her this cartoon, saying it reminded her of Mary Grace. She kept their photos and mementos through the war years, adding comments like, "I didn't even dance with this 'little guy'." Among these are nearly 20 photographs, Russell Leroy Hains sent her from his posting with the 5th Bombardment Group in the South Pacific.
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| Cartoon from 1944 The things you're saying to these boys sounds pretty serious -- I don't want a troop of soldiers marching in here to quarrel over you! |
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| "A picture of our pet parrot, George. That's me beside him. Nice tan don't you think." |
These photos are a sampling from what he sent her. I haven't been able to pinpoint where he was stationed, but it may have been in the Solomon Islands. Clearly somewhere warm as these are dated either December 15 or Christmas Eve 1945. Russell was born in August 1924 so that would make him only 20 years old.
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| December 24, 1944 Another view of our celebrating Christmas in the Islands. |
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| December 15, 1944 E. Moodie, our ballgunner with bananas and tree. |
Russell saw Mary Grace when he returned to the states in 1945. On this day in August he and Mary Grace posed for several photographs. In her My Life, Mary Grace wrote that she almost got engaged to one of the soldiers she met through the USO. At this point, no one knows or remembers which one of her suitors she meant, but she has more photos of Russell than anyone else. She and Ray had been dating off and on by then for almost four years with engagements occurring between them every so often. They eventually married in July 1946 less than a year after this. In Mary Grace's scrapbook, near the photos of Russell in Topeka, is a clipping describing the 30th McClenny reunion, including the information that Mary Grace Burkhardt attended. Russ left Topeka soon after these photos were taken. The last reference of Russ is a postcard from him saying he was on his way home to Philadelphia.
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| December 15, 1944 - Solata, my radio operator and me. Things that look like rocks are coral. |
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| Edna and Russell August 1945 Topeka |
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| Russell and Mary Grace August 1945 Topeka |
Those are really interesting photos of the 5th Bombardment Group and of Grandma and Russell.
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