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Where have all the sailors gone?

Posted by Roy Brown on September 21, 2007, 7:46 pm
74.132.113.133

Where are all you swabjockeys? Where is Tom and how is he??? Does ANYONE know???
Maybe I missed the rendezvous and position signals and my ship is lost at sea!!!
I don't want to send out an S.O.S. or MAYDAY signal so won't somebody respond??!!
Old Signalman,
Roy Brown

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Re: Where have all the sailors gone?

Posted by Cal Cantrill on December 27, 2007, 1:27 pm, in reply to "Where have all the sailors gone?"
207.118.25.161

If you are interested, here is one 81 year old Armed Guard Veteran from Washington State,who now lives on an Island whithin the 178 San Juan islands,it is peaceful,quiet and slow going,just righe for me.
I am sure there are others waiting somewhere to let you know where they are.
God Bless

CVC

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Re: Where have all the sailors gone?

Posted by Irene Poletti on November 26, 2007, 7:41 pm, in reply to "Where have all the sailors gone?"
75.2.132.93

Hello My husband Abel Poletti (AKA Paoletti) was in the U.S, Navy Armed guard in 1943, he served on the Liberty ships in the Atlantic and Pacific. He was at Omaha Beach a week after the invasion, not knowing that his brother Le Roy was in the battle and was wounded in France.
Abel was in a convoy heading for the invasion of Japan they got orders to stop as the war was over.
He never returned to his home in Chicago, staying in the Bay Area. We live in Vacaville, Ca now and my husband is 83. Last year he had a stroke and cannot remember much about his service or the names of the ships he was on. Is there a way to find this out?
I was raised in Oakland, Ca. I had two brothers in the Pacific and one in the Merchant Marines, they all came home safe. Thank God
Sincerely Irene Ogden Poletti

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Re: Where have all the sailors gone?

Posted by Fran Kent on September 21, 2007, 11:39 pm, in reply to "Where have all the sailors gone?"
207.200.116.10

Roy: It's not quite as bad as the line from the old song would have it: "gone to graveyards every one." But it's getting there. The truth is that it's just not the same here without Tom's prodding, and probably never will be.

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Re: Where have all the sailors gone?

Posted by Roy Brown on September 22, 2007, 10:49 am, in reply to "Re: Where have all the sailors gone?"
74.132.113.133

I agree, Fran, and we are all anxious to find out all we can about Tom.
Keep the boilers ready to move this ship ahead at a moment's notice!
Tom would never want the rest of us to "give up" regardless of who is missing in action! We are all expendable!
Churchill once said that some day we may be fighting a battle that we KNOW we cannot win, but we'll continue to fight it anyway, because we KNOW we are fighting for a cause that is RIGHT and it IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR!
God Bless.
Roy Brown

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Re: Where have all the sailors gone?

Posted by Melinda Hefner on September 23, 2007, 3:41 am, in reply to "Re: Where have all the sailors gone?"
97.82.154.225

Ok, my dear WWII heroes.....you have me crying. Please, please don't give up the ship. I know I'm not one of you, but I'm trying hard to help keep the boards going....for all of you, for my dad, for me, and for others who need to hear your stories. Please don't give up. You all are too valuable to the rest of us. Please, please don't give up.

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Re: Where have all the sailors gone?

Posted by Donald Personette on September 25, 2007, 7:25 pm, in reply to "Re: Where have all the sailors gone?"
205.188.117.13

I was a 16 year old Merchant Seaman in 1944-45 serving on the SS Josiah Royce, a Liberty Ship. I was afraid the war would end before I could get in the Navy so I volunteered for Maritime training at Sheepshead Bay and service at sea.
I was the loader on a 20mm for a Navy Armed Guard seaman during several air raids while unloading cargo at Tacloban, Leyte, when he shot down a Japanese Betty Bomber. It looked like every round hit the target, rounds that I had loaded into the magazine and onto the gun. I don't remember his name, but I will never forget the experience.
I managed to get into the Navy before the war ended, but it did end while I was in bootcamp at Great Lakes. I stayed for twenty.

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Re: Where have all the sailors gone?

Posted by Melinda Hefner on September 26, 2007, 10:54 am, in reply to "Re: Where have all the sailors gone?"
68.187.163.190

Thanks, Mr. Personette, for sharing your story on the message board and for your service to our country. I'm sure that was an unforgettable experience. I'd love to hear more about your time in the service if you would like to post more. Again, thank you for your service to our great country.

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Re: Where have all the sailors gone?

Posted by Donald Personette on December 4, 2007, 1:40 pm, in reply to "Re: Where have all the sailors gone?"
205.188.117.13

My Navy experiences were never as satisfying to me as was my time in the Merchant Marine, though it was fulfilling. I finished Navy boot camp in 1945 and attended Gunners Mate school at Great Lakes followed by Submarine School in New London. I served aboard the submarine Sea Robin from early 1946 through 1947 before becoming a Hospital Corpsman.

I did two tours with the Marine Corps as a Navy Corpsman, including 10 months in Korea beginning with the invasion at Inchon and another tour on Okinawa in 1959-60. I also served aboard the carrier USS Cabot and on the USNS Eldon H. Johnson in the Military Sea Transport Service.

It was all satisfying, but as I said it was my Merchant Marine service that I am most proud of, and my memories of the Navy Armed Guardsmen aboard the Josiah Royce are of a great group of young Americans who never got the notice and credit that they earned on merchant ships around the world during WWll.

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Re: Where have all the sailors gone?

Posted by Fran Kent on September 26, 2007, 12:16 am, in reply to "Re: Where have all the sailors gone?"
207.200.116.10

My hat's off to you, Donald.

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