I am the oldest son of Chief Petty Officer Radioman Melvin Philip Thurlow, who served on the Salt Lake City for about a year, ending shortly after Pearl Harbor.

Dad was also the unofficial photographer on board. There are several binders comprising the five years of his service, some of which I know are from the cruiser.

Dad is very ill, but I'm sure he would love to hear from any of the guys. He has no email, but all 7 of his children do. He is W9NPL on shortwave.

The ship's log on your page starts on Nov. 28, 1941. I believe Dad was on the ship much earlier that year.

He says they were patroling the shipping lanes. He has quite a few photos of the "crossing the equator" initiation, and I'm sure my brother Jon has the whole story on his verbal history recordings.

I believe he left the ship when it put in to Pearl on Mar 4, 1942. He went stateside to (radar?) school and was assigned to the Titania when it launched from NJ. I'm assuming the promotion to Chief Petty Officer Radioman was concurrent with the assignment.

He left the Titania at Pearl in Aug 1946 and finished out his service on the Davy Crockett, waiting rotation home to Kansas. He took his BSEE at Manhatten, worked briefly for RCA in Marion, IN. (where he met and married Naomi Faye Powell of Asheville, NC), and in the summer of 1953 moved to Wabash, IN to take a job with a start-up company called Wabash Magnetics. He retired from there at the age of 62, after suffering a heart attack.

All 7 of his children adore him. He's a good storyteller. He has been an active member of the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church since they first broke dirt for the Wabash Church. Two of his children have been missionaries. As W9NPL, he has been an active ham his entire life, and 3 of his sons are now hams.

As a side note: Whenever we drove to NC to see my Mother's folks, we always stopped in Cherokee so Dad could see a Navy buddy. The man was the fire chief on the reservation. I don't know which ship he was on or his assignment. I wonder if there's any way to find out (if I don't get the chance to ask).

Dennis Erwin Thurlow, son
Jon Thurlow, son