"I remember my father, Alvan Engeman, telling me years ago having served with a Marine detachment on the USS Idaho on its sailing from the East Coast thru the Panama Canal to the West Coast. His honorable discharge verifies the assignment on this ship and I have a newspaper photo of the ship's refitting in Boston as well as his souvenirs from the ship's stop in the Caribbean area. My father completed his basic training at Parris Island, SC on May 20, 1934 as a part of Company 14 and was discharged from the Marines at Mare Island, CA (in the San Francisco Bay Area) in 1938." - John Engeman