From the collection of Henry R. Chidsey:
Tradition calls for the homeward bound pennant to be divided among the officers and crew, once the vessel is safely home. This set shows a crew photo from SC 344, and the segment of the boat's homeward bound pennant, from the collection of Ed Chisdey. Ed Chidsey's great uncle, Henery Russel Chidsey (1890 - 1958), a graduate of Lafayet Colledge, served as a Listener on SC 344.
The pennant segment was framed, with a pen-and-ink caption describing the ports the chaser visited during its tour of duty. The pennant appearst to have been hand-sewn, most likely by the chaser crew, when preparing to leave for the overseas journey.
Thanks to Ed Chidsey for submitting the items to The Subchaser Archives to be scanned.
From the colleciton of Arthur Van Allen Beaman:
Arthur Van Allen Beaman was trained as a radio man at the USN radio school held at Harvard, and served as an Electrician 3c, on submarine chaser SC 344. This chaser was assigned to Plymouth, England (Base 27) and later the Queenstown (Cobh, Base 6).
The photo in this set is a view from October 1918, at Queenstown. (Second view shows photo detail, with Arthur Beaman identified.)
Thanks to Stephanie Reidinger, Arthur Van Allen Beaman's daughter, for submitting the photo scan to The Subchaser Archives.
