Forget my latest message. I have hit the mother lode.
I have found a record of your father in the subscription website Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com), showing him arriving in New York aboard SS DELAWARE on August 15, 1944, that ship having sailed from Aruba on August 8. She had also called in Santos, Brazil, about July 1.
The ship subsequently left New York, arrived in Chester, PA (near Philadelphia) on August 19, and was scheduled to sail to an unspecified destination on September 9. Given the job titles of some of the merchant sailors on the ship, DELAWARE was a tanker, but I am still unable to identify her more specifically, other than she may have been built in 1943.
Your father is identified as James R Elston, seaman 1st class, serial number 883-13-56, joined the ship June 8, 1944, no other identifying information.
These are the names of his Armed Guard shipmates:
William C Allison Arnold Bellinger
Arthur Joseph Brauy
Ray Weldon Campbell
Albert Francis Cassello
Gilbert Choinski
Dominic Donald Colucci
Albert Oriza Delgenio
Henry Oscar Erickson
William Dean Fawcett
Wayne Jackson Fuller
John Arthur Hillier Jr. LT, Armed Guard commanding officer
James Rosser Lowrimore
Sherman A Ludlow
Robert Warren Mahoney
Orval Arlington McWilliams
Earl Sylvester Newbraugh
Edward Pavao
Albert Perkins
Elmer Hall Powers
Eugene Piastrelli
Robert Richards
George Franklin Smith
Edward John Unghajer
Everett Watts
Felix Francis Wieczorek
Donald Earl Wilson
John William Wilson
Kenneth J Wood
With one possible exception, I do not know whether any of these men are still living, nor do I have contact information for any of them.
I did find a telephone listing for an Edward J Unghajer, age 88, possibly the Edward John Unghajer found above:
Edward J Unghajer
230 Eisner Ave
Bridgeville, PA 15017-1926
Telephone: (412) 221-1365
Good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
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