170AMODELA

WELCOME TO 170 A MODEL A

MOUNT RANIER IN WASHINGTON STATE

AUSTRALIAN TRIBUTE TO AN AMERICAN SOLDIER

FOR WORLD WAR II ACTIVITIES

It all began with the Military Career of

Al Rapp

NOTE: Al Rapp is a long standing member of the Gallopin’ Gertie Model A Ford Club in Tacoma, Washington. Throughout this web site you will note a considerable amount of activity where Al was involved, especially work shops and helping fellow members with their Model A projects (Ron & Betty Aasens Special Coupe was only one of the many).

A BIT OF AL’S MILITARY CAREER HISTORY IS PROVIDED WHICH LED UP TO THE WORLD WAR II ACTIVITY WITH THE AUSTRALIAN SOLDIERS WAS AS FOLLOWS

Enlisted in the US Navy in 1942

Boot Camp in Farragut ID

Applied for Aviation Machinists School out of Boot Camp.

Signed up for Temporary Ships Company while waiting for school. Assigned as Galley Store Keeper as a Seaman 1^st Class. Was very good with numbers and did such a good job the Galley Chief encouraged him to take the test for Store Keeper. Actually passed and was on his way to Norman Oklahoma for Aviation Machinist School when notification was sent. Turned that down.

While at Aviation Machinist School, he was offered an opportunity to sign up for Officer Candidate School. Was having such a good time working on airplane engines that he declined that offer. As with most patriotic young men, he wanted to get into the war action. He asked his instructor about getting Sea Duty and was advised his chances were poor as they wanted experienced mechanics at sea.

Signed up for Catapult and Arresting Gear School and was sent to Naval Air Station Philadelphia where he learned all about the equipment onboard a carrier to launch and recover airplanes.

Upon completion of Cat and Arresting Gear School, he was advanced to Petty Officer 3^rd Class and assigned to the Block Island CVE. Delays in the production of that carrier resulted in his reassignment to Sunset Bay, another CVE out of Astoria, OR.

Before the Troop Train carrying himself and the 5 other members of his crew arrived in Portland, their orders were changed again to Tacoma Barracks to await final tests of ships equipment on the USS Cape Gloucester, CVE 109 being built here in the Todd Shipyard.

While waiting for the Gloucester, Al and his crew did a couple of short cruises on the CVE Puget Sound and attended various Gunnery Schools on the coast.

The Cape Gloucester finally left the area in late 1944. Sailed to Alameda CA where they picked up some derelict aircraft and transported them to San Diego. Offloaded those aircraft and picked up a Marine Squadron of Corsairs and TBMs, 1 F4U and 1 F6F.

Sailed across the Pacific and pulled into Manila Harbor in the Philippine's. Was very impressive to look out and see nothing but Naval Ships as far as you could see.

The Marine pilots they had onboard were very good. Only one hit the barrier. Ask me later about that.

They then cruised to Okinawa. The war was just about over. They were at a deep water berth when the USS Pennsylvania came in and they moved out of that berth. That night, Japanese bomber planes attacked and partially sunk the Penn.

The Cape Gloucester was one of the first US Naval Vessel to arrive in Naka Saki after the bomb had been dropped. The ship had combat air patrol aircraft up 24 hours a day to keep the area clear of any Japanese vessels. Al was amazed at how the area was leveled by the bomb. Looked like freshly plowed fields.

At that time the Air Department was shutdown. All Officers and Petty Officers were assigned duty of caring for Allied Prisoners of War. This was the worst thing Al saw. These POWs were in similar condition to the victims of the Holocaust camps. The Cape Gloucester had 180 POWs.

Al was assigned 5 Australian prisoners. They had been working in Japanese coal mines. All were about 6’ 2” and weighed less than 100 pounds. Al had to watch what they ate and prevent them from eating too much until their systems were used to normal food again. He also assisted them in getting around the ship. All were nice guys but Al was concerned if any would make it home, they were in such bad shape after their imprisonment.

The Cape Gloucester took them to Guam for other transportation home to Australia.

The Cape Gloucester picked up a Construction Battalion and returned them to Hawaii then sailed home to the United States.

Al was discharged December 20, 1945 in San Pedro, CA.

The following was sent to Al Rapp from Australia through Don Bader, and was read to the Club by Don at the June 2008 General Meeting.

“Anita and I have made several trips to Australia to attend Model A rallies. One thing that happens is sometimes some of them follow you home. The last time this happened was in 2007 with Steve and Joy Pulford from Brisbane, Queensland AU arriving to attend the Regional at Pendleton Oregon. As usual they are very interested in meeting other Model A Club members and kicking tires and sharing stories. We took the Pulfords to meet several club members. While at Al Rapp’s, Al mentioned the story about the Australian POWS. Steve and Joy were very touched by the compassion of the story and before they left they stated that they wanted to do something special for Al in recognition of his caring for the Australian POWS”.

Righteo – here goes.

Joy and I came to your part of the world in 2007 for the Pendleton Regional Rally. As you can imagine, we met a whole bunch of people – some who we knew – most who we didn’t. Of course coming from the other side of the world and having a strange accent that no-one could really understand was a bit of a difficulty as you can imagine.

Don Bader took us around to meet a lot of Model “A’ers and have a look in their sheds. It was like a shed crawl (in Australia we have a thing called a “Pub Crawl” which is going from pub to pub to have a drink). Well this was so much better – going from shed to shed and as a man knows, there is nothing like going into another enthusiasts shed.

One of the sheds I went to have a look at was a guy (mate in Aussie terms) called Al Rapp. He got talking to me about World War II and how he picked up 5 Aussie POW’s. After all these years he is still amazed at their spirit and outlook on life and how they kept on stating that “tomorrow will be a better day” after all the adversities that they had been through [which is a true Aussie outlook]. He could not speak any more highly of these 5 men. Obviously these men made quite an impression on Al as Al has, in turn, made quite an impression on Joy and I.

In Australia our sport is held in the highest regard by the vast majority of us, but there is nothing held in more esteem than an Anzac Digger and anyone that has the compassion to help or look after our diggers (while in those adverse times) is also held in extremely high esteem. A lot of people seem to forget that without these diggers and the help from the USA troops, we would not have the Australia that we have now.

This brings us to the little gift that we are going to give Al. First there is a pin for Al with the sands of Gallipoli (from World War I) in the pin. This is where the Anzac was born and many died (too many to even think about) so these sands mean a hell of a lot to us Aussies. To us, this is the greatest gift we could give Al.

Next there are the miniature medals which are copies of the medals that our Diggers received for their Bravery and Service to Australia and we would be honoured if Al would take them as a token of his assistance – all those years ago – to our brave Aussie Diggers.

We really hope that Al enjoys our little gift to him and how much it means to all Australians the assistance that was given to us by our American friends.