Posted by patrick mcarthur on December 30, 2007, 11:19 am, in reply to "Questions for Armed Guard Vets"
72.251.0.34

There was one man per 20mm, no merchantmen. I was on six different merchant ships, as a radioman. At no time did merchant marine participate in gunnery.

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Posted by Calvin V Cantrill on December 2, 2007, 1:29 am, in reply to "Questions for Armed Guard Vets"
72.160.127.180

You asked and you will receive (a mouth full ) I was gun captain on a 20mm and during general Qurters it was just me and my loader,no merchant marine.I stood to many 4 on 4 off watches, and darn near got a general court martial because of the lack of sleep. One night I was standing watch and my repacement came up to the gun tub and laid down on the steel deck and went to sleep,I was to awaken him when it was time for him to replace me,I was going to let him get all the sleep I knew he needed and as the time drew near to awaken him I sat down on the deck beside him and imediately fell asleep. Naturally this was a no no as we were in a war zone. To our bad luck the gunners mate and the gunnery officer decided to inspect ALL the gun tubs and found both of us asleep, thats when the fit hit the sham,fortunately we both survived the ordeal with NO court martial,thanks to our 1st class Bosun mate. Here is another one for you. I was aboard a USAT troop ship,and we shuttled troops all over the South Pacific,mainly the Filipines, New Guinea and Australia. We came back to New Guinea to our home port of Hollandia and there was a Liberty Ship tied up to our dock,and having no choice, we tied up to it.They were loading freight, of which there were large loads of Whiskey,beer etc. all headed for the VIP's. We watched from the railing of our ship and were drooling when I got an idea.I jumped over the railing to theLiberty ship and talked to the crane operator and then went down to talk to the people loading and my plan went into effect, with the promise to the people loading that they would benefit also. When they loaded the boxes of alcohol, they were to leave one loose box on top and the crane operator would slow down the load to the hold and one of us would jump over and snatch the case and hand it to one of our buddies who in turn took it down to our mess hall and filled up the fridge. Later we smuggled the loading crew aboard ( not legal ) and had a jolly good time untile the two gunnery officers dropped in along with the gunners mate and silence came over our mess hall,they walked over to the fridge and took a few bottles for themselves and departed, and that was the end of that.WHEW. THE END

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Posted by Roy Brown on November 28, 2007, 11:08 am, in reply to "Questions for Armed Guard Vets"
74.132.113.133

I was a Signalman in the US Navy Armed Guard and my battle station was as a loader on a 20mm gun. The 20mm guns generally had a gunner and a loaderin combat. The Merchant Marine sailors did not stand watch with us and they rarely took part in any operations of the weapons. Sometimes they helped pass ammuntion in combat. They had other duties to perform including firefighting, aiding the wounded, messengers, etc. They did do heroic work in some instances and their service should never be downplayed. They suffered severe casualties during the war. Actually, they had more KIA (considering the numbers involved), than any other branch of service. One has to remember that during combat the ones doing the actual fighting are outnumbered by the "support" personnel. Roy Brown

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