My grandfather, Tracy L. Riffe, served as a signal man in the Armed Guard during WWII. I am very saddened to report that he passed away in April of this year. As we have been going through his belongings, we have found items (to me treasures) that were collected during his service. For example, his dressy white uniform and a personal record log of where his ship was every night during the war and events that occurred.
I am looking for advice on how to appropriately handle these items. Any information is very much appreciated.
First, thank you for the information about the death of your grandfather. Whether he thought so or not, he was a brave man. They all were. My sympathies to you and your family.
As you may realize by the message from Mr. Lloyd, I passed on the fact of your grandfather's death to Mr. Lloyd when I found that your grandfather had been a member of the Armed Guard Veterans Association, of which Mr. Lloyd is Chairman. Mr. Lloyd had apparently lost contact with your grandfather, likely due to an unreported change of address.
Now excuse me for a moment while I change hats ...
In addition to being webmaster of the Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website, I am also webmaster of Project Liberty Ship of Baltimore, MD. The Project owns and operates SS JOHN W BROWN, one of only two surviving, operational World War II Liberty ships out of the more than 2,700 that were built. (From records available to me I know that your grandfather served in at least one Liberty ship while in the Armed Guard, SS JOSEPH LECONTE.) I am also a volunteer crewman and a member of the Board of Directors of Project Liberty Ship.
Aboard JOHN W BROWN are three small museums, one of which is dedicated to the Armed Guard. I am sure the staff of the Armed Guard museum would be pleased to have your grandfather's Armed Guard effects. I cannot guarantee that they would all be displayed as his belongings may duplicate items already on display. But at the least his belongings would be graciously received and cared for. Incidentally I can say that a personal log of his ship's whereabouts is a rare find. Personal journals or diaries were discouraged, if not officially prohibited, out of concern that they might fall into the wrong hands at an inopportune time.
Project Liberty Ship has a mailing address of P.O. Box 25846, Highlandtown Station, Baltimore, MD 21224-0546. The U.S. Postal Service will ship to a post office box but commercial companies like UPS and FedEx will not. If you and your family would like to consider the option of donating your grandfather's effects to Project Liberty Ship, please let me know. You can contact me directly at my personal e-mail address, RCarl616@yahoo.com.
Having found and read your grandfather's obituary, I assume you are the Andrea who lives in Princeton, WV. I can see that it's a far hike from Princeton to Baltimore but I encourage you and/or other family members to visit JOHN W BROWN to see a little of what your grandfather's wartime experiences were like. This might also be an option for delivering your grandfather's items to Project Liberty Ship, if such a trip could be planned. I would be pleased to provide a personal tour of the ship. See Project Liberty Ship's website at www.liberty-ship.com.
Best wishes. I hope to hear from you.
Sincerely yours,
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website www.armed-guard.com Project Liberty Ship www.liberty-ship.com
Re: grandfather's WWII items
Posted by Charles A. Lloyd-Armed Guard on June 18, 2013, 7:32 pm, in reply to "grandfather's WWII items"
Andrea, I had your granddaddy on the POINTER mailing list but had him on HOLD as I had not heard from him for some reason for a few yeares. Please do not throw away his items. Box and send to the S.S. JOHN W. BROWN LIBERTY SHIP Museum. E-Mail them: john.w.brown@usa.net and they will give mailing address as I have a PO Box # now. They just came down and took back a lot of items for the Museum. If you care, E-Mail me your phone number and I will call. Charles A. Lloyd 919-570-0909