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Feedback

Posted by Bob Higginst on March 4, 2008, 5:19 pm
12.45.71.137

I doubt if this message center will stay alive if we do not use it.I know there are not many old salts alive who served in the AG.but there must be enough of us to post something that will provoke or stimulate a conversation about something.

BH

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Re: Feedback

Posted by Mike on April 8, 2008, 8:44 pm, in reply to "Feedback"
69.88.216.8

I recently scanned photos of my father in law's ship etc. I wonder if any of these would provoke some memories? I wish I knew more about his service. Should have asked him while he was alive.

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Re: Feedback

Posted by Ron Carlson on March 5, 2008, 11:53 am, in reply to "Feedback"
134.67.6.11

I'm not an AG vet or even an old salt so I need to be educated about things related to the Armed Guard.

In reading about the Armed Guard and the merchant marine I am aware that, on some ships, there was sometimes tension between the AG and the merchant seamen, for a number of reasons.

For any of you vets, do you remember any tension between the two groups, either from personal experience or from talking with other men at the time or later? If so, what was the cause or causes? What happened? Tell us about it.

Ron Carlson, Webmaster

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Re: Feedback

Posted by Rick Pitz on March 9, 2008, 6:51 pm, in reply to "Re: Feedback"
71.132.147.65

Like Ron, I am not an AG vet or an old salt, but am very interested in everything about the Armed Guard. Did any of you guys serve in the Pacific? There is very little written about the AG in the Pacific. My father started off in the AG just after Pearl Harbor. His first assignment was as signalman on the SS Monterey, a luxury Liner that was taken over by the Navy. He transported troops to Pearl on Dec. 12 and brought back wounded and families. Must have been a strange first impression of Navy life for a young kid - the Monterey at that time had just been taken over, and they hadn't done any conversion, so she sailed with all the original staff and the men got to eat in the dining rooms and were served by the ship's waiters. Shortly after that, the Navy, of course, gutted the ship to make room for more troops and to make life as miserable as possible for those serving aboard.

Anyone got other Pacific AG memories?

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Re: Feedback

Posted by Roy Brown on March 9, 2008, 7:19 pm, in reply to "Re: Feedback"
98.220.218.16

Rick I, too, was a Signalman. I served on two Liberty ships and a small tanker.
I was aboard ships that sailed to North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, Corsica, Venezuela, Panama Canal, Eniwetok, Kwajelein, Leyte, Luzon, and maybe two or three others I have forgotten.
Several months in the Pacific...but I'm STILL a "Pollywog"...never made it across the Equator. We got really close but "no cigar"!!!
One thing is for sure, the Pacific is a REALLY big ocean!!
We transported Infantry, weapons, supplies, many other items...even some beer for the troops once!
(Incidentally, Rick, I can furnish you with much information about Convoy UGS-40 and the attack on us on 11 May 1944. I have a copy of the Task Force 61 Commander's action report and a lot of stuff you may be interested in).
Roy Brown

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Re: Feedback

Posted by Fran Kent on March 5, 2008, 6:28 pm, in reply to "Re: Feedback"
207.200.116.10

On all four ships I served on, including an Army transport that was manned by the Merchant Marine, there was a measure of friction between the crew and the Armed Guard detachment. This was rooted mainly in the wide gap between pay scales (I heard stories about the crew sharing some of their bonus money with the Navy people but had no personal experience of this). For the most part, this gap was accepted as being in the nature of things and I know of only one such incident that led to punches being thrown. Most of the fighting I remember was between one A.G. sailor and another. There was talk of merchant sailors being draft dodgers, but that was nonsense; the odds against getting caught up in combat were much better in the Army. Thousands of soldiers never left this country.
-- Fran

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Re: Feedback

Posted by Rick Pitz on March 9, 2008, 4:41 pm, in reply to "Re: Feedback"
71.132.147.65

Fran:
What troopship did you serve on? My father served as a signalman on the USAT Gen. George W. Goethals for 33 months. Always looking for stories about the troopships.

Rick Pitz

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Re: Feedback

Posted by fkent12252@aol.com on March 10, 2008, 10:43 pm, in reply to "Re: Feedback"
207.200.116.10

Rick: It was the USAT Col. Frederick C. Johnson, based in the Panama C.Z., on the Pacific side, and never, as far as I know, got very close to the war. She has an interesting history, though. Among other things, she called at ports in the Caribbean and South and Central America rarely visited by ships carrying American servicemen. I didn't know it at the time, but on one occasion she transported a number of interned German nationals from Guatemala (or El Salvador) to New Orleans.
-- Fran

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Re: Feedback

Posted by Rick Pitz on March 11, 2008, 12:30 am, in reply to "Re: Feedback"
71.132.147.65

Fran:

Thanks for the reply. I have some pictures of the USAT Goethals transporting German prisoners from North Africa. I was wondering if there was much, if any, interaction between the Army troops on these transports and the Armed Guard personnel. I know my dad always had "fun" poking at relatives who were in the Army, so wondered if there was any friction on board.

Rick

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Re: Feedback

Posted by fkent12252@aol.com on March 11, 2008, 11:37 am, in reply to "Re: Feedback"
207.200.116.10

Rick:

In my case, Army/Navy interaction was unavoidable: there were three of us in the radio shack, an Army sergeant (in charge), an Army corporal, and me (at that time a RM3/c). The corporal and I shared a stateroom, and we generally went ashore together. There was no friction that I recall.
-- Fran

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Re: Feedback

Posted by Bob Higgins on March 5, 2008, 2:28 pm, in reply to "Re: Feedback"
12.45.71.137

Yes Ron there was tension for a number of reasons, when I first shipped out June 1942, we were payed 21 dollars a month a lot less than they were paid, They got a bonus for hauling dangerous cargo.But having said that, they weren't considered part of the Armed forces and because of the dangerous duty,they deserved the money they got. I sailed on three ships and on the last one the Merchant crew took up a collection and gave it to the Armed Guard crew. It was a long time ago and the people who built the ships,Sailed in them did one hell of a job.

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Re: Feedback

Posted by Roy Brown on March 5, 2008, 8:48 am, in reply to "Feedback"
98.220.218.16

Bob, you are right, we are down but not out!
The postings sort of come in intervals.I suppose one of us has an idea and it "takes hold" to generate several stories. So let's once again commence telling our sea stories.

Now...once upon a time when we were in convoy across the Atlantic we got into a REALLY bad storm. The waves were VERY tall and our steering engine broke down causing us to swing broadside to the waves, which put us in a dangerous position. Repairs were made wihin several minutes and we were on course again. Here we were sailing BEHIND the other ships in the convoy when the steering engine broke down again!
Once more we swung broadside to those huge waves and all of us thought we were gonna "turn turtle"! However, the merchant marines got it back on track and off we went sailing merrily along.
No...that's not the end, our steering broke down one more time. Steering was then done from the emergency wheel on the stern. This is, of course, very difficult, but those merchant marines did a fine job and the steering engine was again repaired and we were finally back sailing on course.
By that time we were FAR behind the convoy and it took several hours to catch up and get in position again.
I believe that the harrowing experience of nearly capsizing scared me, and the others on board, more than almost anything else during the war. It is a "gut-wrenching" feeling to REALLY BELIEVE you are going to turn over in a ship in such raging, wild waters!!
Anyone else want to share storm stories? I'm sure some of you have a story even more scary than mine.
God Bless.
Roy Brown

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Re: Feedback

Posted by Bob Higgins on March 5, 2008, 11:35 am, in reply to "Re: Feedback"
12.45.71.137

I was in a three day storm that was so bad that when we went to eat we had to go down into the steering engine compartment,thru the shaft alley to the main engine room midships and up to the mess room, our cargo had shifed and we would roll 22 degrees to starboard. We lost both lifeboats and rafts on the starboard side I was seventeen and didn't know enough to be scared.

BH

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Re: Feedback

Posted by Melinda Hefner on March 5, 2008, 2:52 am, in reply to "Feedback"
97.82.155.108

Well, I'm not sure how thought provoking I can be, but I'll try!!! Your name sounds so familiar. Are you from North Carolina? My sweet, sweet Daddy, John McDonald, was in the AG and was from Granite Falls, NC.

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Re: Feedback

Posted by Bob Higginst on March 5, 2008, 11:24 am, in reply to "Re: Feedback"
12.45.71.137

No I'm from Michigan

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Re: Feedback

Posted by Ron Carlson on March 5, 2008, 11:46 am, in reply to "Re: Feedback"
134.67.6.11

Are you still in Michigan? I grew up in Grand Rapids and graduated from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.

Ron Carlson, Webmaster

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Re: Feedback

Posted by Bob Higgins on March 5, 2008, 2:01 pm, in reply to "Re: Feedback"
12.45.71.137

No I'm not, Was born in Detroit, Lived in Traverse City for about five years then to Texas for about 25 years. and retired to Florida, lived here about 10 years now.

Thanks for asking
BH

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