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Looking for Aviatiion Repair and Overhaul Unit #1 veterans

Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:40 pm
by r-evan4
AROU#1 was a US Navy unit which served in the Admiralty Islands for eighteen months during WWII. The island on which we worked is named Los Negros, and it is north of New Guinea and two degrees south of the equator, with 180 inches of rain per year, and lots of sunshine. I was editor of a yearbook, titled _Two Degrees from the Middle_, which has photographs of all of the 1500 or so men, and a narrative that tells most of what we did.
We had skills and equipment which would have allowed us to build or repair any type of aircraft. Our mission was to remove damaged planes from aircraft carriers, repair the planes, and fly them out to the carriers for further service. However, the mission was flawed from day one: instead of bringing the damaged planes back for us to repair, the crews of the aircraft carriers simply pushed them over the side.
Fortunately, someone realized that these skilled men should be doing something worthwhile, instead of vegetating on a tropical island. Every airplane which came off the assembly lines was already obsolete, needing a hundred or more updates to incorporate the newest designs. While the new, but obsolete, planes spent a month or more on jeep aircraft carriers enroute to the South Pacific, revised drawings and new parts were being prepared and flown out to us. Our job was to bring the planes up to date and fly them out to combat aircraft carriers.
If anyone is interested in our yearbook, I have a copy, and can share photos from it. It would be nice to see if there are any survivors from AROU#1; it would be good to exchange notes with them.
Ruupert N. Evans

Re: Looking for Aviatiion Repair and Overhaul Unit #1 veterans

Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 1:20 am
by co2+o2poffusn
My name is George A. Poff USN serial #316-90-38. I was with AROU #1 when it began by changing our original designation as "MARS 1. I was trained in Chicago at Navy Pier and graduated as an AM3/C. Then to Norfolk ABATU and then to Alemeda NAS. Ther I worked in the A&R until we shipped out on the 8th of May 1944. It took us 37 days to get to Los Negroes where we spent the firstseveral weeks assisting the SEABEES in building our facilities. After almost exactly one year I moved to the P. I. and joined AROU #2. Discharged in December 1945 and have lived in Renton WA since. Bob Courtney contacted me when the book was in work and I still have my copy which I have perused many times. My Email address is gandlpoff@comcast.net and we are in our 25th year of retirement. George Poff

Re: Looking for Aviatiion Repair and Overhaul Unit #1 vetera

Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 2:03 pm
by tedpierson
I am Ted Pierson and was the Engineering Officer with AROU1 and with Mars 1 in Norfolk before that. When our Unit was dicommissioned I returned to the states via 3 months in Guam and was assigned to the Air Station in Phila until I had enough points to get out. I never received a copy of the year book you mention. I have lost track of most personnel except Harry McFerren who ran the Carburetor Shop and now lives in FL and Stu Ficklen the Exec who died about 10 yrs ago in Greenville NC. I live in a CCRC in Skillman NJ, email tap3rd@comcast.net. I don't suppose there are many of us left. I just stumbled over this web site by accident.

Re: Looking for Aviatiion Repair and Overhaul Unit #1 vetera

Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 10:57 am
by K7PBY
For each of those who have served with AROU-1, I wish to share my greetings and extend an invitation to contact me. I have questions about a transport flight to Los Negros in July of 1944. This flight and the 17-sailors aboard never made the landing. Their plane was missing for more than 25-years. Details of the crash are mistakenly omitted from many websites and narratives. In the memory of those who were aboard and for the benefit of those who support the Pacific Wrecks cause, I want to ask for your help to correct this. My cousin Frank Harvey Dodge was one of the 17 aboard that flight and as we fast approaching the 70th anniversary of the flight, I want to explore returning to the crash site and placing a memorial for them. PLEASE contact me at your convenience. The aircraft is still in-place and we need to begin the process to document the events and biographies of those aboard. I look forward to hearing from you and gathering the resources to make this happen. MARK DODGE - K7PBYMark@gmail.com - I am very interested in reviewing the book mentioned 2-degrees from the Middle - this would be an invaluable resource to complete my research. Best regards to all - Mark. Lest We Forget...

Re: Looking for Aviatiion Repair and Overhaul Unit #1 vetera

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 7:28 pm
by arpiti
I realize that this is a long shot, but my father- Theodore Piti- was stationed at AROU #2 back in 1945. Unfortunately, he never really shared too many experiences with us about his Navy days, so I was hoping someone out there may know a thing or two about that naval post? I believe it is Samar Island possibly?

My email is arpiti@hotmail.com, if anyone here would know anything at all- either my father, or perhaps his surroundings.

Happy Veteran's Day,
Tony Piti