USO troupe posing for a photograph, Falalop Airfield, 1945
Description:
Photograph. United Service Organizations [USO] consisting of seven women and eight men posing in a mess hall. Personal caption on reverse: "The mess hall on Falalop on 'Ulithi Atoll' / April 9, 1945. / (Top Row) - Neil Shulet, Dick Baldwin, Jules Buddano (piano player) Jimmy Donally (manager) Billy Wayne - comic - Red Marshall, (comic) Housley [sic Houseley] Stevenson, actor and Set Director. / Bottom Row - Frances Donalon, Eileen [sic Aileen] Haley, Linda Deane, Annie Rooney (dancer) Bonnie Nolan, Nan Holliday, Joan Barton - Missing are Lee Trent (M.C.) and Dorothy Van Nuys - " Bureau of Aeronautics stamp on reverse. Falalop Airfield, Ulithi Atoll, Yap. 9 April 1945
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Items from the United Service Organizations (USO) service of Mrs. Emmy Lou Swann (née Sites), otherwise known as Nan Holliday, who was part of the troupe that performed “Girl Crazy” in the Pacific Theater of Operations. Swann was born in December 1923 in Ohio, but moved with her family to California by her mid teens. She became a performer, and in December 1944 she was assigned to a USO troupe to perform the musical “Girl Crazy.” Swann and her troupe performed at military bases on Oahu, Honolulu, Guam, Tinian, Saipan, and Falalop. Their tour ended in June 1945, and Swann returned to California. It is there that she met her husband, Frank William Swann, Jr., an actor who had served in the United States Navy during World War II. The collection consists of Army Signal Corps photographs as well as photographs Swann took. For more items relating to Swann’s USO service see 2008.538 as well as her oral history.
Geography:
Ulithi
Latitude:
10.000
Longitude:
139.667