MANY THANKS

Mom and Dad, Sederquist Sisters, Keith Nephews, Chastaines, Hagertys, Warrens, Ways

THE GREATEST GENERATION, US Navy, and all other Military Branches

Beads Beads, Orange, CA

czimages.com, Bill McLaughlin, Webmaster

Bruce DeWald, WWII Historian 

Club Kistler, Orange, CA

DVD Your Memories, Irvine, CA, dvdyourmemories.com

Facebook group "The Eighth Air Force Historical Society (official)"

Facebook group "392nd Bomb Group (H) Wendling ~ England 1943~1945 WWII"

Field of Honor, Georgetown, TX, georgetowntxfieldofhonor.org

Field of Valor, Orange, CA, communityfoundationoforange.org

Foster Johnson Studios,   fosterjohnson.com

Fullerton Photo, Fullerton, CA,   fullertonphoto.com

Legacy Digital Productions, LLC, Orange, CA,   legacydigital.net

Netherlands American Cemetery, Leon van Dinteren, Adopter of Donald Sederquist's Name

NICOM, Inc., Washington DC, National Archives Research Consultants, nicom.com

Orange Web Group, Orange, CA

Pro Photo Connection, Irvine, CA, prophotoconnection.com/

Rod Gillespie, American Legion Posts 716 in Los Alamitos, and 142 in Fullerton

VPNavy.org, Nevins Frankel, Webmaster

This site is dedicated to the memory of one of my 7 sisters, Linda Marie. She always encouraged me with her appreciation, fascination, excitement, and fun responses every time I shared our Dad’s Navy history, photos, documents and other discoveries via the many emails sent to all Sederquist Sisters.  She often emailed questions about dad's service to our country while he was stationed here and abroad from 1934 to 1961. Linda and I worked on printing a coffee table book of Dad's Navy Album for her to display.  I received Dad's Official Military Personnel Files (one Enlisted and one Officer status) and now I can finish his album set, which consists of his Career album, Flight Logs album, and the OMPFs.  This patriotic photo of Linda Marie on Veterans Day in 2020 is taken at the Field of Honor in Georgetown, Texas. She proudly stands with our dad’s flag that she dedicated to him, in honor of his service.  "Every Day is Father's Day!" 

I am a writer and photographer, plus I can restore vintage photos fairly well. My mom asked me to organize my dad’s Navy Career Album in 2001 so we could work on it with him. The 3 of us created version 1 of Dad’s Album. After my dad passed away in 2003, mom and I went through our family photos, which were in 4 unorganized boxes. Mom and I organized all of the family photography and she bought me a scanner so I could scan and share all of the photos with our large family. I created a few more albums with mom, including Dad's 4 Flight Logs Album, which includes his Continuous Service Certificate, my parents' August 20, 1944, Wedding Album, and mom's family heritage album.

Dad’s Navy photos were in mom’s desk with lots of documents, certificates, 3 honorable discharges, instrumentation qualifications and more. Mom saved everything pertaining to dad’s career from the time they were married in August 20, 1944. Dad already had items that were dated 1934 when he entered the Navy. We are blessed to have a very significant collection of his historic photos, documents, and memorabilia.

We were a Navy family from 1944 -1961, when we traveled and transferred from coast-to-coast, sometimes every 6 months, and sometimes we would be stationed for a wonderful 2 years at a Navy Base. Keeping photos organized and in albums was not a priority. Everything was in excellent shape, though. I discovered his 4 flight logs in a different box in a different closet. I opened up the first one at random to see what it looked like inside, and the December 1941 page appeared. It listed his (squadron’s) trip from being stationed at NAS Argentia, Newfoundland, to Pearl Harbor. He’d talked about it so seldom, and only said a few things about it. I started writing a story in 2015 about my dad’s role as a Naval Aviation Pilot after the attacks on Pearl Harbor.

At first, I wrote a 2-page story just for the family that was inserted in the Navy Album. Then, as I discovered and added more to the story, I wrote the local American Legions and presented dad’s story at meetings for 4 different Posts. I had a video made because a request by one of my sisters. 

I hired the perfect video producer, as well as a narrator/veteran/military historian/teacher from American Legion 716, to partner with me. We published on Veterans Day in 2016. 

My husband and I were already planning to go to Pearl Harbor and stay on Oahu for a week during the 75th Anniversary of the Attacks on Pearl Harbor. I called the Navy Public Relations department at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam to ask about parking for the week. The PR representative asked me if I was a Survivor's daughter or a Veteran's daughter, and I told her a Veteran's daughter and I emailed her the story about my dad.  She invited my husband and I to attend the main ceremony at Kilo Pier on December 7, 2016, at 7:00 a.m.  I could not begin to explain how thankful we were to have the priviledge of participating in such an honorable event. 

We had business cards made with my dad’s 1940 graduation picture from NAS Pensacola Flight School, with the YouTube video link on the card, and the title of the video, “Orders to Pearl Harbor.” After the ceremony, we gave cards and told dad’s story to everyone from Admirals to Miss Hawaii! I've been giving the business cards out whenever the opportunity comes.  Now, I am writing a book called "Orders to Pearl Harbor.” Stay tuned!