Wartime Voyages of the U.S.S. Sumner (AGS-5) from 1 November, 1942 to 12 February 1946 and the occupational period

A personalized commemoration of a sailor’s World War II cruise(s).

This heavily annotated map captures the route taken by the U.S.S. Sumner (AGS-5) during her numerous World War II Pacific voyages. A dotted path covering thousands of miles can be traced from debarkation in San Francisco to Hawaii, Bora Bora, the Solomon Islands, Australia, the Philippines, Japan, China, and more. Numerous ‘stops’, listed in a table in the lower center, are labeled on a sheet otherwise largely devoid of detail. Sparse decorative features include a compass rose, seahorses, and mermaid.

This particular example has been updated in black ink to memorialize the individual experience of a Navy mechanic who was stationed aboard the Sumner, as well as the U.S.S. Shackle. These and other ships are named on the map, along with a handful of dates, distances, and notes. The verso provides further information, offering a handwritten ‘After Action’ report for the unnamed mariner that lists the repaired ships and submarines. It also presents a chronology of his campaign, from training at N.T.S. Great Lakes in November 1942 to discharge in Minneapolis in February 1946. The text proudly concludes with “I in the Navy over 43 months.”

The map is apparently unrecorded, with no copies listed in WorldCat or other online repositories as of August 2024. The further extensive annotations make this example an important and rare commemoration of often overlooked efforts during World War II.