Posted by DON DICKENS on October 26, 2008, 3:53 am
I SIGNED ON AN OLD HOG ISLANDER, THE "WEST NOHNO", IN NYC IN MAY 1942. HER 7 MONTH VOYAGE WAS TO ALEXANDRIA EGYPT. WE DISCHARGED PLANES AMMO & OTHER WAR SUPPLIES FOR THE USE OF THE BRITISH 8TH ARMY THAT HAD BEEN PUSHED BACK TO EL ALAMIEN, EGYPT BY ROMMEL. RETURNED WITH BAUXITE FROM SURINAM TO MOBILE, ALABAMA. IF ANY OF YOU WERE ON THE WEST NOHNO THEN I'D LIKE VERY MUCH TO HEAR FROM YOU. DON DICKENS AT (dondickens1@cox.net)
Sorry Mike, but the 66 years since that 1942 voyage have somehow eroded my memory circuits. I can remember the names of only 2 or 3 of the crew (my watch mates) and none of the navy gun crew. It's possible the Navy may have records and addresses of the person you mentioned. However your inquiry has now made me curious about retrieving the names of the Nohno's merchant seamen & deck officers of that long,long voyage. Regards, Don Dickens
Today is your lucky day. I have information that may be useful to you.
The website www.ancestry.com, which is more commonly used for genealogical research, contains records of the arrival of passengers and crew in several port of entry in the U.S., notably New York City. A search of the website turns up references to the crew of the SS WEST NOHNO.
The SS WEST NOHNO arrived in New York City on April 9, 1942, returning from Murmansk, Russia, via Reykjavik, Iceland.
Most of her merchant crew signed off upon her arrival in New York. Below are the names of the merchant crew members who signed on for her next voyage (presumably the voyage you mention, between May 1942 and February 1943), along with their ages, and including yourself. You are listed as Donald Jackson Dickens, age 20. The master for this voyage was Robert E. Meek. Other than Captain Meek I do not have the positions of the other crewmen of the WEST NOHNO but in a number of cases I have guessed at their positions, based on the arrival records of men by the same names on other dates and other ships. See if any of these names sound familiar to you.
Adams, Russell E. age 26 deck Andrews, Harold T. 18 Baldwin, Noel L. 26 Brady, James L. 18 steward Castro, Raphael 30 Chanduvi, Agripino 48 engine Chiotis, Stamatis 38 engine Couchois, James O. 30 DeMaere, Theophil 40 English, James 36 engine Fernandez, Enrique 41 engine officer Glesen, William 55 engine Gould, Geoffrey C. 38 Hewston, John Joseph 29 deck Hodach, Donald J. 19 deck Hutchins, Herbert 47 steward LaVerne, George 32 Limberg, Georges C. 45 Marinchock, Michael H. 44 deck officer Mariolos, Gregorios 54 Mazzu, Louis 29 deck officer Noble, Lawrence J. 42 engine officer Parker, Emery F. 71 deck officer Permentier, William 47 engine officer Reklaitis, John J. 30 deck Ryan, John P. 23 Salvano, Amadeo T. 32 engine officer Schecter, Harry 24 engine Siehien, John J. 28 Sien, Daniel F. 20 radioman Skiba, John 35 engine Treasvant, Charles 27 deck Valle, Santiago 32 steward Vasquez, Emeraldo 30 Windham, John D. 34 steward Yesek, George 33 engine
On May 16, 1942, WEST NOHNO left New York for an unspecified destination.
As of June 15, 1942, the ship was in Key West, Florida, for repairs, with sealed orders to sail on an unspecified date to an unspecified destination.
A Google search for "SS WEST NOHNO" turns up a number of hits. Wikipedia has a lengthy entry for the ship, including a mention of the voyage on which you sailed; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_West_Nohno.
At http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/britannia.html is this statement: "2nd Mate [of the ship SS BRITTANIA] Henning Vaagsnes saved the lives of 2 American seamen on the WEST NOHNO at Suez on Sept. 20-1942, when he went into a tank and hoisted them up after they had succumbed to gas poisoning while cleaning the tank without gas masks. A 3rd man died, in spite of Vaagsnes' subsequent efforts to revive him for 2 hours. As a reward he received a gift of binoculars from President Roosevelt and a gold watch from the American shipowners." Do you recall such an incident?
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard website www.armed-guard.com