Hello Everyone,
My Grandfather Tony Padula served on the USS Enterprise CV6 in World War II. I was very close to my Grandfather and unfortunately he passed away 14 years ago. He was always very proud of his service, but didn’t talk about it much.
Because I was young and stupid I didn’t ask him much about his time during the war. Since the internet has come along I have read all I can on the Enterprise, have posted in a few veterans boards but haven’t been able to come up with anything about him. Since SD seems to be so diverse I was hoping that maybe someone here either served on the Enterprise or might know someone that did that they could put me in touch with.
Not a day goes by that I don’t think of my Grandfather. I can’t believe all the wasted years when I didn’t ask questions and now this great man is gone. Any help anyone might have would be greatly appreciated.
Don’t know anything about about CV6 but I have been to the Navy memorial in Washington DC. My dad’s ship (DE 440) had reunions there a couple of times and that was just a tiny speck of a ship compared to CV6. I can’t imgine that the Enterprise doesn’t have a reunion group as well. They have a lot of information about navy personal at the memorial and, I seem to remember, if they don’t have someone in their records it is easy to add them.
I didn’t know the gentleman personally, but I’ve done a lot of business with his company. James Crawford Taylor flew Hellcats (F6F’s) from the carrier Enterprise during WWII, and used the carrier’s name when he founded his business. Enterprise Rent-a-Car.
Although the Enterprise wasn’t at Midway, I recently finished this book about the search for the sunken USS Yorktown. Learned a lot about the battle and about life aboard a WWII American aircraft carrier: Amazon.com
The History Channel repeats a series from 2005 or so: “Battle 360” About 6 one hour episodes on the USS Enterprise in WWII, with some state of the art animation for the battle scenes.
The show was financed by Enterprise Rent a Car.