Tag Archives: John Mays

John Mays – WWII

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John Mays joined the navy on May 28, 1943. He was discharged on March 9, 1946. He served as a radio operator on several ships that saw action in the Pacific (USS Mount McKinley; USS Appalachian; USS New Jersey; USS Iowa; USS War Hawk). He seldom spoke of his war experiences, but took part in several invasions and was aboard ships that came under attack.

The Japanese surrendered on August 15, 1945. My mom was in St. Louis for New Year’s Eve, and the new year must have looked a lot brighter. She’s three chairs in on the right side of the table. Little hat with veil.

Evelyn Perry (Hotel Jefferson) - 600

John Mays reporting

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I have a lot of photographs of my father when he was very young and quite a few from his later years, but not so many from the middle years. Among Mr. Rudy’s many treasures, was a cardboard poster promoting one of KBOA’s many news programs.

“John Mays on KBOA at 8:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday for Midwest Farms Regional News Report.” Note on the back said this was taken in 1967 so John would have been 41.

John Mays died last week.

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It was about eight o’clock in the evening on Tuesday, March 5, 2002. He was 76 years old. He’d been ill and in a nursing home for the last few years. Lots of John’s friends came to the funeral and it was comforting to see my father through the eyes of people he had known and cared about for fifty years. John was a radio announcer for about half of his 76 years and that’s the way I prefer to remember him.