Original U.S. WWI & WWII Navy Grouping of John William McGibbon, USS Oglala at Pearl Harbor with Engraved Good Conduct Medal with Bars, USS Arizona Pass and Outstanding Ephemera, Scrapbooks, Portrait, and More
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Original Items. One-of-a-Kind Group. This is the outstanding and extensive grouping of John William McGibbon of the U.S. Navy, who served with the Atlantic Fleet during WWI, in China during the 1930s, and aboard the USS Oglala during Pearl Harbor. On the morning of 7 December 1941 USS Oglala, flagship of the Pacific Fleet Mine Force, was tied up outboard of the light cruiser Helena. They were alongside Pier 1010 at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, with an eight-foot camel between them. Japanese torpedo planes of the first attack wave hit the cruiser with a single torpedo, which ran under Oglala to hit Helena's starboard side. The torpedo's explosion broke through the minelayer's port bilge amidships, and she rapidly took on water. A bomb that burst nearby caused further damage. With the marginal watertight integrity typical of older ships, Oglala's flooding could not be contained.
The group includes a great deal of ephemera from McGibbon’s service in the Navy with some fantastic material. This phenomenal grouping consists of:
- 8 x 12” scrapbook for USS Oglala, almost all pages are disconnected from the cover and are likely in the wrong order. There are some great shots in this album including two shots of gun crews of the Oglala. There are many photos from the places they traveled, elephant photos, native photos, and in the back were two large scale photos of German submarines during WWI, the first showing a German submarine in Spain in 1918, and the other showing U-56 with an interesting camouflage pattern before entering Santander. There are a lot of tourist photos in here too but they are likely around 25-30 great original shots.
- 7 ½ x 12” thick scrapbook put together in Hawaii, about 85% are tourist photos of places in Hawaii, with some added photos near the middle with his ship’s captains and some other crew photos. 25% of the book is empty.
- 11 x 15” Large scrapbook from China, mostly with tourist photos of locations there. A gorgeous scrapbook in general with great photos and separator pages. About half full. Just a tourist piece, no photos of him inside.
- Engraved Navy Good Conduct Medal, John Wm. McGibbon. USS MOHAVE 2. MAY1926. The medal has subsequent award clasps marked U.S.S. OGLALA and dated 1932, and the other marked 1941 and named to McGibbon on the back. Ribbon has fraying and should be handled very carefully.
- U.S.S. Arizona pass No. E-203 named to McGibbon with rank EM1c.
- U.S.S. Oglala pass No. 5361 named to McGibbon with rank EM1c, from his time at Pearl Harbor.
- 9 Additional passes including for the USS Edsall, USS Mohave, USS California, USS Edsall (2nd), USS Quail, USS Arkansas, USS Edsall, USS Oglala, and US Receiving Station. Outstanding collection of them all named to McGibbon.
- La Moscovita cigar box filled with uniform pieces including two Navy officer visor hatbands with badges, three sets of shoulder boards (one set green two sets navy blue) with globe insignia, extra ribbons, buttons from his uniform, and gold-tape chinstraps from his visors. Also a couple medals and a pocket watch with the glass missing.
- McGibbon’s Submarine dolphins, marking Sterling to the back.
- McGibbon’s WWI Victory Medal with Atlantic Fleet clasp, very rare in likely original box from private jeweler.
- McGibbon’s pre-war ribbon bar set with the WWI Victory Medal, Second Nicaraguan Campaign medal, Yangtze Service medal, China Service Medal, and American Defense Service Medal.
- McGibbon’s wartime medal bar with Second Nicaraguan Campaign medal, WWI Victory Medal, Navy Good Conduct Medal with four subsequent award stars, Yangtze Service medal, China Service Medal, American Defense Service Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, American Campaign Medal, and WWII Victory Medal.
- Porcelain cup with gold-finish name in gothic text with old style fire truck, likely presented to him.
- Box with countless photos from Hong Kong, Shanghai, China, and other places he was organized by clips with the locations. Also has typed prompts about some of the places with photos wrapped in this prompt. There is more than we’d ever be able to put into words. Many of these photos are likely postcards bought there as well.
- Seven different Navy visor covers, many different colors and some of which are named to McGibbon on the interior.
- Navy overseas/garrison cap, no insingia.
- Submarine Repair Unit Visitor’s permit no. 16, a hard black plastic permit, also noting “please do not blow horn”. 5¼ x 7¼”.
- Small photo of McGibbon likely during WWI in celluloid frame, very cute.
- International Signalcards in case, broken.
- Very short “riding crop” in rough condition with wrist strap. 8”.
- Heavy Navy ashtray stamped J.W. MCGIBBON C.E.M. U.S.N. / U.S.S. GRIFFIN. Great piece.
- 12 x 15” ovular framed photo of McGibbon in later WWII white dixie cap uniform, material on the back is coming off but a great shot.
- M1912 pistol belt, white Navy uniform cord, and a device we don’t know the purpose of.
- 8 x 24” rolled yardlong of the USS Mohave.
- 12 x 20” rolled photo of the USS North Dakota.
- Roughly 22 x 27” framed copy of painting of a Submarine, presented to Captain J. Fife and his shipmates, this is likely a copy furnished to McGibbon. Presented by McLelland Bartley USNR in May 1943.
- Rolls razor set, strange sort of case, named to McGibbon.
This is an outstanding grouping to a soldier who was present aboard the USS Oglala during Pearl Harbor, and led a very interesting career in the Navy before and afterwards. Comes ready for further research and display!
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