Carrier Service Unit Number One (CASU 1)

srehling · 09-12-2007, 08:16 PM

My grandfather (a Word War II Veteran) passed away without ever speaking of World War II. Out of respect we didn't ask, but we have always wondered about his experience. When he plassed away he left me much of his service insignias and ribbons and we have his records, but his records don't say much.

From those records we have learned that he was assigned to Carrier Aircraft Service Unit number one (CASU 1) in the pacific and also in CASU 33. We can find nothing on these units anywhere on the internet.

My hope is that my grandfather was not the last member of those units to pass on. If anyone can point me in the right direction to find information about these units I would greatly appreciate it. My greatest goal would be to find someone who new my Grandfather. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

J. Rehling
Grandson of W. J. Smith.

ccheese · 09-12-2007, 09:16 PM

J. Rehling: Can you provide a full name and service number ? I have some
civilian friends who work for the Navy at the Bureau of Personnel. Maybe,
just maybe, they can help.

Charles

srehling · 09-15-2007, 04:18 PM

His name was Walter Junior Smith. He has to be the only Walter Junior Smith in the world. I have not been able to figure out his service ID from the paperwork we have been able to look at. I don't have custody of the paperwork (it is in Michigan - I am in Virginia).

I know he enlisted in the spring of 1943 and transfered to CASU 1 in June or July of that year. I have only a few copies of pages from his service record but I am fairly certain that the only number on any of the pages is not related to his service ID. I will send you a link to the pages in case I am wrong.

srehling · 09-20-2007, 05:10 PM

This person has great pictures from CASU-1. I have not been able to make contact with him yet, but I thought I would post it here in case anyone else went looking for CASU-1 information.

Matt Genné's slideshow on Flickr

DOUGRD · 09-23-2007, 12:39 AM

srehling, I have been searching but like you I've come up empty handed so far. I did find some other info you posted on another forum but other than that only bits and pieces in articles on other subjects. I did find out that "CASU" stands for Carrier Aircraft Service Unit. That VP site had it wrong. Will keep searching as time permits.

srehling · 10-26-2007, 09:24 PM

Nothing left to do I guess but wait for the records. They tell me it can take six months or longer. I wish I had started this search a long time ago. I have not been able to find any members of CASU 33 and only one member of CASU 1 (who did not know my grandfather). I am forced to wonder if time has taken away all who knew him. I suspect another six months will not help that situation any.

ccheese · 10-27-2007, 07:34 AM

srehling: I contacted the people I know at BuPers, but have heard nothing
back from them. I will give them another call on Monday.

Charles

srehling · 11-27-2007, 07:35 PM

So we got the response back from the SF180. Most of what we got back was from the reserves after he got out. Almost nothing from World War II from what I am told. I am waiting to see the file (being shipped to me from Detroit). I guess we got some evals, but not much more from his active service record. All roads lead to dead ends...

evangilder · 11-28-2007, 07:14 AM

From what I have read, CASU 1 was based on Ford Island at Pearl Harbor to support the carriers that came and went through there.

ccheese · 11-28-2007, 09:37 AM

Good film clip, Sunny. Wonder how many of those young men are still
alive ?

Charles

srehling · 11-28-2007, 05:22 PM

CASU 33 is the big hole in time as far as we can tell. We know he was in the South Pacific. I found one person from CASU 1 that says that was out of scope for CASU 1. My guess is that CASU 33 had a section that was in the South Pacific, but I cant really prove it. References to the CASU 33 unit were limited. My grandfather was part of CASU 33 from the start, but did not stay with CASU 33 until the end of the war. I continue to post because if any of them are left a stray message such as this one might find someone some day. I believe that finding a person who knew my grandfather is the best way to get to some real facts about what happened.

srehling · 02-13-2008, 09:04 PM

So I finally got the paperwork and it turns out I was totally wrong about which CASU he was in. Although he did a short period with CASU 1, his main unit was CASU 31, not CASU 33. The records don't say much. We have his evals and transfer dates but not much more.

The search for CASU 31 has turned up some information already. Appearantly they had a very active reunion group. Although the coordinator of that group has since passed away, he left behind a contact list that his wife still has. We are hopeful we will find someone from CASU 31.

We are certainly interested in anything anyone would know about CASU 31. Anyone with information would be greatly appreciated.

srehling · 04-27-2008, 07:09 PM

Someone from this forum pointed me in the right direction for finding more info on CASU 31 and I wanted to pass the information back in case someone else comes looking for CASU 31. Although CASU 31 was home based in HILO, it also had a presence Ponam in the South Pacific near the Bismarck Sea. The links below will take you to pictures of the air field as it was being built and while it was in operation. I don't control these sites, but I have PDF files of them should they ever be taken down.

Picture of the Airfield at the time it was built.
Seabees_page 1

Great pictures of the way it looked back then:
Seabees_page 2

A bunch of pictures and some other links...
Papua New Guinea Forum - Ponam Island - True Holiday destination

NAREEVES · 06-28-2008, 02:03 PM

JREHLING,

Did you ever get the information you were looking for on the CASU's?? I have printed out a lot of navy documentation on the locations of the CASU's and will be glad to help you out if you are still looking.

NAREEVES