In February, 2004, I received a number of good quality scans from Ed Gunderson, III., son of Marine Private First Class Ed Gunderson, Jr., who was awarded a Bronze Star for his service aboard the USS Santa Fe.  Ed, Jr. passed away in 1975.  Here are the scans Ed, III. sent, along with a few of his comments:

These newspaper clippings were in an envelope to my dad from his mother.

This hand made hand painted valor star hung in the window to show that a son was in the service. Note that the red, white and blue is done in the Norwegian flag proportions and colors.

Is this Capt. Wright?  The artist was Santa Fe Marine John Garner of Washington, DC.

Photo of Santa Cruz convalescent hospital

This is the only photo of an attacking aircraft I have. It seems a different shot than the ones you have posted.

This cliipping from Life was in a letter from James Briggs Mar. 15 1945 who was in the Great Lakes Naval Hospital also recovering from burns to his hands but soon to return to duty. He states he received the purple heart and will receive silver star but  "it looks like we got credit for the plane".

The sign reads:

JAPANESE 8” BATTERY

            These 8-inch guns opened the battle of Tarawa, firing the first shot at the USS MARYLAND approximately 12,000 yards to the southwest.  The batteries then turned to open fire on the transports just north of the entrance to the lagoon.  These guns were then taken under fire by the USS MARYLAND, which silenced them after two salvos.  The MARYLAND then moved in to approximately 2,300 yards and enfiladed GREEN BEACH 1 and 2 down to the other battery on the northwest point for a period of three hours.  On D plus one Day, the USS SANTA FE methodically ripped the same area to pieces from average range of about 3,000 yards using slow fire and working from the north to south point for a period of two hours.  These 8-inch guns were of British manufacture and possibly moved to this site fro Singapore.

Can anyone explain why incomplete due to security regulations?

This small clipping is about the bronze star award. Interesting it shows the address of our mothers parents. Amazingly we have a date on the other side. He was a long time in the hospital.