While the battleship is famous in its own right, a letter from a sailor on board,

Charles A Payton, to our mother on September 25, 1945 is what made our day! For background, according to his mailing address, Charles Payton was a WT, a water tender with petty officer ranking who tended to the boilers in the ship's engine room in the US Navy. So, how does a boiler room WT crewman aboard a Pacific battleship connect with our mother?

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You're gonna laugh! WT Charles Payton was going through a bundle of (donated) rags that were used in the boiler room, and he came across a pair of panties with our mother's name and address on them. For those much younger reading this story, those were the days when people put labels on everything including their underwear! So Charles took those panties to his room and though he lost the label, he remembered enough. Good for Charles, right? With panties in hand, he drafted his letter telling our mother how he found her panties and how they were with him now and present at the signing of the surrender and peace in the Pacific in 1945. He started by saying how they boosted his morale too but we won't go there!

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Knowing our mother, who was only 21 then, she loved it and Charles' sense of humor. After all, she saved his letter and we have his address on September 25, 1945, should this post make its way to the family of a young sailor on board the USS Hansford in the Pacific in 1945.

Charles A Payton, WT

USS Hansford APA 106

B Division, c/o Fleet PO

San Francisco CA

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While some of his fellow crew said he was being foolish, others egged him on, telling him to go for it. He did! And now we have a story for the ages about a pair of panties aboard a Pacific battleship and present at the historic end to WW II.