I was looking through older, unanswered messages to see whether there were any I could try to answer. I have had a little success in researching your inquiry.
I find records for a Darrell Ray, seaman 1st class, serial number 959-87-60, serving as an Armed Guard enlisted man aboard SS WALTER M CHRISTIANSEN in 1944-1945.
He was assigned to WALTER M CHRISTIANSEN as of December 19, 1944. He sailed in at least the following convoys.
Convoy HX-332
Departed New York January 13, 1945
Arrived Liverpool January 28, 1945
Carried "general" cargo
Convoy ON-290
Departed Southend, England, on March 11, 1945
Arrived New York on March 29, 1945
Convoy HX-352
Departed New York April 23, 1945
Arrived Liverpool May 8, 1945
Carried explosives and "general" cargo
Convoy ON-303
Departed Liverpool May 17, 1945
Arrived New York June 3, 1945
The convoy information above comes from the excellent website ConvoyWeb (http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hague/index.html), which lists information on what ships sailed in what convoys, including origin, destination and applicable dates.
Darrell Ray's Armed Guard shipmates during the voyages in Convoy HX-352 and Convoy ON-303 were as follows:
Dillon, Floyd
Goddard, MacCammon LT(j.g.), Armed Guard commanding officer
Harlow, Maitland
Hollens, Ernest
Idsinga, Woodrow
Jackson, Charles
Musgrave, Roy
Ponzio, Michael
Post, Ray
Poulosky, Jack
Powell, Jack
Prucha, Ned
Quam, John
Rabe, Paul
Rathbun, Charles
Richardson, Hugh
Rider, Neil, Jr.
Ridout, Carlton
Rietman, John
Shook, Bobby
Small, Herbert
Smith, Charles, Jr.
Snell, Albert
Snowden, John
Stanton, Dean
White, Robert
Additionally the ship carried a merchant marine crew of 41 men; Walter Fairbank was the master (captain).
I do not know whether any of the above Armed Guard crewmen are still living, nor do I have contact information on any who are. A search for the more unusual names above at the Social Security Death Index (http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/) shows that most or all of the men are likely deceased. For those with more common names, a search of the Death Index is meaningless since so many other persons have the same names.
The information on Darrell Ray and his shipmates comes from a search of the subscription website Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com), which is more commonly used for genealogical research. However Ancestry.com also contains databases on the names of crewmen and passengers who arrived in certain U.S. ports of entry following a foreign voyage.
I hope this information is useful.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website
www.armed-guard.com
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