George Joseph Emil Bissonnette, Sr.

This was my dad's Graduation Class from Sampson, New York Signalman school. My dad was at the bombing of Pearl Harbor in WW II. He saw his best friend get his arms and legs blown off right in front of him, when their ship was was torpedoed. My dad was a Signalman 2nd. class and fell from the Crow's Nest and woke up a week later in his bunk. When I was in my late 20's dad told me how he never reported his fall and had a long scar going down his outer thigh on his left leg, that was left after his ripped thigh was sewn back up. He was close to his discharge date and just wanted to get home from the Navy and never reported his accident and never collected the disability he should have received. He had the following medals: World War II Victory Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Theatre Medal, Phiilipine Liberation Medal and (1) bronze star. I also have an 11x14 brown/black and white picture of the battleship #713 he was on and I think this was the first battleship he was on as he had been on two different ones, one was blown out from under the men on board during a bombing raid. My dad passed away on March 3, 1999 in Holyoke, Ma. and is buried in St. Jerome Cemetery on Northampton St. in Holyoke, Ma. Any WW II Navy Veterans who served with my dad can find him on my "Public Family Tree," listed as: "Bissonnette-Christian-Brown-McAlpine-Barr-Wadsworth-Holden-Tiger-Root-Oatkey-Atkins-Nave-Branchcomb-Nichils-Walz-Gelinas-Vann, " and my public tree can be accessed through Ancestry.com or RootsWeb.com. Owner of Public Family Tree is (me): [contact link]. I would be happy to add any Naval Records, pictures, etc. from any of dad's Navy buddies who might be still alive and have any Naval stories to tell. My dad entered the Navy on October 2, 1943 and was discharged on April 11, 1946, his 21st. birthday.