I have been able to find information about the Liberty ship SS HOWARD STANSBURY and can suggest websites and a book where you may be able to find additional information.
HOWARD STANSBURY was built in early 1943 by the California Shipbuilding Corporation ("Calship"), in Los Angeles, CA. Her keel was laid 31 December 1942, she was launched 30 January 1943, and she was delivered for service on 15 February 1943, 46 days after keel-laying. She was scrapped in 1961. See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergency/wwtwo/kcalifornia.htm and scroll down to hull #130.
According to http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/LibShipsH.html#HenryT, she was scrapped in 1961 in Everett, Washington. My guess is that her World War II career was uneventful since I find nothing of significance with a Google search. Other sources indicate HOWARD STANSBURY operated as a civilian cargo ship at least as late as May 1952, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Additional detail about the ship may be found in a reference book entitled "The Liberty Ships," by L. A. Sawyer and W. H. Mitchell, published 1985, which may be available in public or university libraries. Most ships have at least a few sentences or a short paragraph of history, including information as to when they were lost, scrapped, or otherwise disposed of.
There is an excellent website that provides information on World War II convoys and the ships that sailed in those convoys, known as ConvoyWeb (see http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hague/index.html). A search of ConvoyWeb finds 22 convoys between July 1943 and May 1945 in which HOWARD STANSBURY sailed. You can make a "Ship Search" at the above page to find those convoys, the applicable dates, and possibly some additional detail on the individual ships in the convoys. ConvoyWeb is by no means comprehensive, meaning it will not necessarily show every convoy in which any given ship sailed. A full list of the movements of HOWARD STANSBURY is at http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/ports/index.html?search.php?vessel=HOWARD%20STANSBURY~armain.
You can make a similar search at another website, WarSailors.com (http://www.warsailors.com/search.html). I find that this website is even less comprehensive than ConvoyWeb but it is possible that either of the two websites may have specific information that the other one does not.
The website www.ancestry.com, more commonly used for genealogical research, has records of the names of passengers and crew members of ships that arrived in various U.S. ports of entry between about 1820 and 1957. A quick search of ancestry.com finds records of 392 persons (i.e., crew members) arriving in New York aboard HOWARD STANSBURY on a number of dates in 1944 and 1945. These records are presumably of both merchant marine crew and Armed Guard personnel. Ancestry.com is also not comprehensive. Ancestry.com is a subscription website; you can obtain a short-term subscription at a modest cost. The homepage of www.ancestry.com has a link to subscription options. With a subscription you will be able to search for your father's name or I can make a search for you, if you provide his name.
A search of the Armed Guard website finds two Armed Guard sailors who identified themselves as having served in HOWARD STANSBURY at some time in their careers. (These names appear on the Armed Guard website only because these men joined the Armed Guard Veterans Association at some time in the last 20 years or so. The Armed Guard website does not have information on all former Armed Guard personnel.) The men and the dates they served in HOWARD STANSBURY are as follows:
Louis E Kilby, 1942 (date erroneous since the ship was not put into service until 1943)
Herman Parker 2/44 – 1945
I do not know whether either of these men are still living, nor do I have contact information for them. You may wish to contact Mr. C.A. Lloyd, Chairman of the Armed Guard Veterans Association, who may have information on these individuals. Contact information for Mr. Lloyd is:
C.A. Lloyd, Chairman
U.S.N. Armed Guard World War II Veterans Association
115 Wall Creek Drive
Rolesville, NC 27571
Telephone: 919-570-0909
E-mail: clloyd@nc.rr.com
For sources of photographs of World War II-era merchant ships, see this page: http://www.usmm.org/photosource.html.
I hope this information will be useful to you.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard website www.armed-guard.com
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