December 1953, the USS Helena CA-75 was in Manila, Philippines.
On 23 December 1953, the ship hosted a Christmas Party for Philippine War Orphans.
The following are excerpts from a letter to my Dad and Brother Bernard.
It has not been edited for spelling or grammatical error and is post marked DEC 25, 1953.
To read more of this letter to my Dad, click HERE.
Dec, 24, 1953
Christmas Eve.
Dear Dad and Bernie,
Yesterday we had a party for 50 kids in one of the mess halls. "Santa" came by helicopter, and, of course, I was there to take pictures--both black & white and colored. I hope they come out. The crew served ice cream and cake to the kids. Later we showed a movie of cartoons.
The following colored pictures have been scanned from 35 mm slides and are posted here for your enjoyment.
All are dated December 1953. Captions are also copied from the slides.
Here comes Santa.
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There he is!
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Now to see a few kids, eh?
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This is better.
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Party given for war orphans.
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Everyone gets a present.
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Cute?
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Everyone smiles.
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Down for some cake.
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