When I started this website and blog nearly 6 years ago I had no idea how far it would reach. It’s been amazing to see how many people not only visit the site that are related to family members of STRONG, but others as well. I’ve been visited by students, researchers, historians, and more. One of these visits by Stephen Harding in 2013 led to the writing of The Castaway’s War, published and released in 2016 and if all goes well it will be a movie in the next 2-5 years. Hollywood takes a while, but I remain patient (and indebted to Steve!). My commitment to the site and to STRONG also helped me maintain a great working relationship over nearly 6 years now with David Mearns, the shipwreck hunter. News on his upcoming US book publication of The Shipwreck Hunter is forthcoming, as is an article on David in Military History Magazine’s next edition. I’ll let you know when that will be released.
It’s also led to reuniting of families who have not communicated in years, mysteries solved and questions answered and has helped other people contact me who I may never have heard of before, such as Bill Brown. Bill was a naval radio operator working out of the tunnels on Guadalcanal with Acorn Red One. He was the operator who received the distress call as it came into headquarters the night STRONG was bombed. I still shake my head over that one, and that Bill was so willing to tell his story. There is a blog about this from November 9th, 2014. Just one of the many meaningful and poignant stories I’ve collected, and they keep coming.
One really neat aspect of my website host is I can track the IP addresses. I can see where in the world these people are, and it has been global. As an example of some of the places I’ve gotten hits: all 50 states, including Puerto Rico, France, the Ukraine, Russia, China (yeah, I wonder about the last three), Poland, Australia, Canada, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Oman, Djibuti, United Arab Emirates, all over the UK (England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales), Asia, New Zealand, Germany, Italy, Japan, India, Iraq and Afghanistan, Iceland, Sweden, Papua New Guinea, Chile, Spain, Portugal – I could go on. This is exciting and humbling and I hope has been helpful to people seeking research information on their loved ones or on WW2 history in general. Aside from tracking the location of the hits I can collect statistics. January this year I had 26,261 hits, the most ever. It shows the reach of the website is widening and I couldn’t be happier.
The next mission is to keep STRONG families informed of the actions of the RV Petrel in the South Pacific. I currently am in contact with nearly 100 family members of these men – children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and more. As information on the possibility of another survey of the Kula Gulf comes available, this website will be the method of informing everyone. For now we wish the crew of the RV Petrel much luck and safety in their current mission and keep our fingers crossed that there will be time left in the scheduled time at sea to visit the gulf and do a sweep for STRONG and HELENA.
Stay tuned!
Tammi
It’s also led to reuniting of families who have not communicated in years, mysteries solved and questions answered and has helped other people contact me who I may never have heard of before, such as Bill Brown. Bill was a naval radio operator working out of the tunnels on Guadalcanal with Acorn Red One. He was the operator who received the distress call as it came into headquarters the night STRONG was bombed. I still shake my head over that one, and that Bill was so willing to tell his story. There is a blog about this from November 9th, 2014. Just one of the many meaningful and poignant stories I’ve collected, and they keep coming.
One really neat aspect of my website host is I can track the IP addresses. I can see where in the world these people are, and it has been global. As an example of some of the places I’ve gotten hits: all 50 states, including Puerto Rico, France, the Ukraine, Russia, China (yeah, I wonder about the last three), Poland, Australia, Canada, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Oman, Djibuti, United Arab Emirates, all over the UK (England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales), Asia, New Zealand, Germany, Italy, Japan, India, Iraq and Afghanistan, Iceland, Sweden, Papua New Guinea, Chile, Spain, Portugal – I could go on. This is exciting and humbling and I hope has been helpful to people seeking research information on their loved ones or on WW2 history in general. Aside from tracking the location of the hits I can collect statistics. January this year I had 26,261 hits, the most ever. It shows the reach of the website is widening and I couldn’t be happier.
The next mission is to keep STRONG families informed of the actions of the RV Petrel in the South Pacific. I currently am in contact with nearly 100 family members of these men – children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and more. As information on the possibility of another survey of the Kula Gulf comes available, this website will be the method of informing everyone. For now we wish the crew of the RV Petrel much luck and safety in their current mission and keep our fingers crossed that there will be time left in the scheduled time at sea to visit the gulf and do a sweep for STRONG and HELENA.
Stay tuned!
Tammi
RSS Feed