Welcome. My name is Lee, and this site is dedicated to my grandfather, or pappap as I've always know him. He passed away in 2013 a few weeks shy of his 93rd birthday. That's a picture of us from a few years back. I may look a little different now, but I feel like he always looked about the same to me.

On a trip home for thanksgiving a few years ago, I stayed at my grandparent's house and wandered my way into his old room. Not his bedroom, but the room in his house where he kept just about everything. Before I knew it, it was 2 AM and I had boxes upon boxes pulled apart and their contents strewn about the room. From what I found, it looked like he had taken on the herculean task of trying to organize and compile his keepsakes in the later years. The process was far from complete. Within the same box, I found a receipt from an old boiler, a VCR instruction manual, and a bundle of letters he had sent home to his family during his tour overseas. I decided to pickup where he left of and bring his collection to the 21st century.

Over the course of the last couple years, I digitized and transcribed as much of his personal collection as I could, but there is still some work to be done. Feel free to contact me at lee@louismurtha.com if you any questions, comments, or additional information about the 161st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron.