my grandfather was in the armed guard and i have become very interested in his service and i enjoy this website, i just wish i would have talked to him more before he passed on. he served from 43-46, and he spent i believe 34 of the 36 months at sea. he served on the s.s. idaho in 43, the s.s. james fergus in 43, the s.s. pampero in 44, and the princeton victory in 45. i remember him talking about how be sailed literally all around the world and i found his ribbons and he has a campaign ribbon from every theatre of the war with numerous starts on the pacific and european campaigns. i was wondering if anyone could help me find out anything about these ships, i would be greatly obliged.
from a young marine semper fi
Re: my grandfather
Posted by Ron Carlson on August 11, 2009, 11:51 am, in reply to "my grandfather"
Kenneth,
Here is what I have found.
There were a number of ships named IDAHO over the years, the most likely of which was a class C1 cargo ship of that name, built by the Todd Pacific Shipyards, Inc., of Tacoma, Washington, and completed in September 1941. She was sold to a private shipping firm in 1951 and was scrapped in 1962. See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/2large/inactive/toddtacoma.htm and scroll down.
Another possibility is a tanker built with the name DIRIGO by the Texas Steamship Company of Bath, Maine (huh? Texas Steamship Company in Maine?) in 1919. She was renamed IDAHO in 1940 and scrapped in 1947. See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergency/wwone/texas.htm and scroll to hull #10.
PAMPERO was a class C2 cargo ship built by the Moore Dry Dock Company, Oakland, California, completed in February 1944. She was sold to a private shipping company in 1947, was renamed several times, and was wrecked in 1964. See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/2large/inactive/moore.htm and scroll to hull #257.
You may be able to find additional information on the whereabouts of each of these ships by doing searches at the ConvoyWeb website (http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hague/index.html). Click on the SHIP SEARCH link and enter the name of each ship in turn. If you know the exact dates your grandfather served in each ship, you will be able to determine where he was at the time.
The subscription website Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com), which is more commonly used for genealogical research, has records of the names of crew members who arrived in various U.S. ports of entry from about 1820 to 1957. If your grandfather arrived in certain ports of entry during World War II, his name may be found in a search of Ancestry.com. The names of the ship he was aboard, their dates of arrival, and the names of his shipmates may be available. You can obtain a short-term subscription to Ancestry.com at a very modest cost; see the Subscribe link at the Ancestry.com homepage.
Finally, you may be able to obtain your grandfather's complete service record, plus detailed information about the operations and movements of the ships he was aboard through the National Archives. See this page on the Armed Guard website for detailed information about how to proceed: http://www.armed-guard.com/searchmil.html. In particular see "II. Researching Military Service Records" on that page. Since you are not next-of-kin to your grandfather, it may be useful for your mother/father, or an aunt/uncle, whomever was a child of your grandfather, if any are still living, to make the request for your grandfather’s service records. Next-of-kin can obtain the complete service record of a veteran, while only partial records are available to persons not next-of-kin.
The same page above has information about obtaining details of ship movements and operations during World War II, including Armed Guard officers' reports and ship movement cards. If you have specific dates during which your grandfather was aboard each of his ships, you may be able to obtain Armed Guard officers' reports and ship movement cards for those ships and for those dates. The reports might give additional information about your grandfather, his shipmates, and where they were and when. See "IV. Researching Ship Records" at http://www.armed-guard.com/searchmil.html.
Good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard website www.armed-guard.com