Lem Waggoner Jr. - WW2 Veterans - Mickey Strand - Veterans Series

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World War 2

Click on Veteran's photo to see their service story. These Warriors served during the World War 2.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Where can I donate?

I have created a way to accept donations to grow the project, use the WWII Veterans Portrait Series Go Fund Me.

Where are you located?

I live in the San Diego area but have traveled to many locations to interview and photograph Veterans.

How Long is an Appointment?

Appointments usually last an hour. But please free up time for Mickey to set up lights and cameras, hold the interview, and take some still photographers for in the project.

Do you accept reservations?

Yes is the simple answer to the question. Each appointment is set up as an individual session. Group sessions have been set up when I visited a senior living facility or many of the California Veterans Homes.

United States Navy Gunner’s Mate First Class World War II Lem Waggoner Jr. was born on July 13, 1922, in Canadian, Texas, located at the top of the state’s panhandle. He was the son of Lem Sr., who managed an ice company, and Ruby, a homemaker. Growing up with one brother and two sisters, Lem lived on the outskirts of town and walked over a mile to attend Canadian High School. He was an early bloomer, starting school at age four in a private kindergarten and graduating high school at the age of 16. His upbringing in the country provided him with significant mechanical familiarity with firearms, as he and his brother were raised around guns from a young age. Lem enlisted in the United States Navy in 1942, shortly after the United States entered World War II. Because he had already graduated from high school, he was able to enlist at age 17 without parental consent. He traveled by train from Texas to San Diego, where he completed his physical and attended boot camp at the Recruit Training Center (RTC). After completing his initial training, he was sent to gunnery school at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, north of Chicago. There, he specialized in the maintenance and operation of the 5-inch 38-caliber guns, machine guns, and M1 rifles, earning the Gunner’s Mate job rate. Following A school, Lem was assigned to the advanced gun school at the destroyer base on 32nd Street in San Diego. While there, he was recruited by an officer for a unique assignment: hand-painting large-scale technical schematics on classroom walls. Using a projector at night, Lem transformed small, complex drawings into multi-foot illustrations. These large-scale diagrams were essential for instructors to demonstrate the inner workings of weaponry to large groups of sailors. Lem’s specialized role in the Navy was much like a human magnifying glass; he took complex, miniature technical diagrams and projected them onto a massive scale so that an entire classroom of sailors could see and understand every moving part of a weapon simultaneously. Lem was later deployed to the Philippines to help establish a new Navy gunnery school at Subic Bay. His primary responsibility was to determine the layout of the classrooms and to paint the same instructional schematics he had created in San Diego to train sailors coming off ships. During his time in the Pacific, he also served at Samar, traveling across the bay by boat to support the training facilities there. On this assignment, Lem earned the rank of Gunner’s Mate First Class. While serving in San Diego, Lem met Marian Angelina Bell through her brother, who was a member of his Navy company. Although she was initially engaged to someone else, Lem persisted in asking her out, and the two eventually began dating. They were married on October 22, 1944, at the chapel in Old Town, San Diego. The couple settled in San Diego and had six children. After the war ended, Lem returned to San Diego in November 1945 aboard the troop transport ship SS William Mitchell. Lem declined the opportunity to join the occupation forces in Japan, choosing to return to his family and a new daughter he had not yet met. He was honorably discharged in early December 1945. In civilian life, Lem utilized his painting skills to secure a career with the San Diego Unified School District. He spent 38 years building and painting classrooms for the district, continuing the professional trade he developed during his military service.

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Lem Waggoner Jr. - WW2 Veterans - Mickey Strand - Veterans Series — United States Navy Gunner’s Mate First Class World War II Lem Waggoner Jr. was born on July 13, 1922, in Canadian, Texas, located at the top of the state’s panhandle. He was the son of Lem Sr., who managed an ice company, and Ruby, a homemaker. Growing up with one brother and two sisters, Lem lived on the outskirts of town and walked over a mile to attend Canadian High School. He was an early bloomer, starting school at age four in a private kindergarten and graduating high school at the age of 16. His upbringing in the country provided him with significant mechanical familiarity with firearms, as he and his brother were raised around guns from a young age. Lem enlisted in the United States Navy in 1942, shortly after the United States entered World War II. Because he had already graduated from high school, he was able to enlist at age 17 without parental consent. He traveled by train from Texas to San Diego, where he completed his physical and attended boot camp at the Recruit Training Center (RTC). After completing his initial training, he was sent to gunnery school at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, north of Chicago. There, he specialized in the maintenance and operation of the 5-inch 38-caliber guns, machine guns, and M1 rifles, earning the Gunner’s Mate job rate. Following A school, Lem was assigned to the advanced gun school at the destroyer base on 32nd Street in San Diego. While there, he was recruited by an officer for a unique assignment: hand-painting large-scale technical schematics on classroom walls. Using a projector at night, Lem transformed small, complex drawings into multi-foot illustrations. These large-scale diagrams were essential for instructors to demonstrate the inner workings of weaponry to large groups of sailors. Lem’s specialized role in the Navy was much like a human magnifying glass; he took complex, miniature technical diagrams and projected them onto a massive scale so that an entire classroom of sailors could see and understand every moving part of a weapon simultaneously. Lem was later deployed to the Philippines to help establish a new Navy gunnery school at Subic Bay. His primary responsibility was to determine the layout of the classrooms and to paint the same instructional schematics he had created in San Diego to train sailors coming off ships. During his time in the Pacific, he also served at Samar, traveling across the bay by boat to support the training facilities there. On this assignment, Lem earned the rank of Gunner’s Mate First Class. While serving in San Diego, Lem met Marian Angelina Bell through her brother, who was a member of his Navy company. Although she was initially engaged to someone else, Lem persisted in asking her out, and the two eventually began dating. They were married on October 22, 1944, at the chapel in Old Town, San Diego. The couple settled in San Diego and had six children. After the war ended, Lem returned to San Diego in November 1945 aboard the troop transport ship SS William Mitchell. Lem declined the opportunity to join the occupation forces in Japan, choosing to return to his family and a new daughter he had not yet met. He was honorably discharged in early December 1945. In civilian life, Lem utilized his painting skills to secure a career with the San Diego Unified School District. He spent 38 years building and painting classrooms for the district, continuing the professional trade he developed during his military service.