Judy,

I made a search of the subscription website Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com), which includes databases of crew members of ships arriving from foreign ports in certain U.S. ports of entry. I found a record for a Franklin Fredrick Paskin, a member of the Armed Guard crew aboard SS WILLIAM EUSTIS upon its arrival in New York on February 27, 1943. The ship had sailed from Cienfuegos, Cuba, on an unspecified date. This is probably the voyage that immediately preceded the voyage during which WILLIAM EUSTIS was torpedoed and sunk in the North Atlantic by U-435 on March 17, 1943, while in Convoy HX-229 (New York City to Liverpool). Therefore it is very likely that most of the Armed Guard crew that arrived on the voyage from Cuba were still aboard with your father on the ship's ill-fated next voyage. There were no casualties in the sinking. U-435 was sunk by depth charges off Portugal on July 9, 1943, with the loss of all hands.

In addition to Franklin Fredrick Paskin, who was age 22 and a seaman first class (S 1/c), was described as 6 feet, 1 inch, 190 lbs., the Armed Guard crew included:

Cardwell, Arthur Braurer, Jr.
Chaney, Kenneth Lloyd
Charter, Harold William [LT(jg), Armed Guard commanding officer]
Donovan, Eugene William
Downing, John James
Freecuf, Rudolph Joseph
French, George Franklin
Friedman, Milton Jack
Furlong, Donald
Gabbard, Clifton
Galla, John Stephen
Heischober, Lester
Himmelman, Charles Albert
Horton, Argus John
Hozey, James Barrow
Jones, J. C.
Kohut, Joseph Peter
Lassiter, Charles Russell
Lurding, John Benjamin, Jr.
Murphy, James John
Pressley, Morris Estace
Walton, Donald Fred
Ward, Robert Junior
Wauschek, William Francis
Wilson, George Emmitt

I do not know whether any of these men are still living, nor do I have contact information for any of them, except as noted below. I found several exact or close matches at the Social Security Death Index (http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com). Several of the names are so common as to make searches for the names meaningless.

I did find an address/telephone listing for an Argus J. Horton at www.switchboard.com, as follows:

Argus J. Horton
3835 Highway 8 W
Mena, Arkansas 71953-9501
(479) 394-3563

In addition, Mr. Horton is or was is or was a member of the U.S.N. Armed Guard World War II Veterans Association. You may wish to contact the Association to determine if he is still living and, if so, to confirm the above address. Please contact:

C.A. Lloyd, Chairman
U.S.N. Armed Guard World War II Veterans Association
115 Wall Creek Drive
Rolesville, NC 27571
Telephone: 919-570-0909
E-mail: clloyd@nc.rr.com

Also, I found records for your father on other ships and on other arrival dates as follows:

1. Aboard SS GULFPOINT, arriving in New York on December 6, 1942, from Glasgow, Scotland; seaman second class (S 2/c).

2. Aboard SS GULFPOINT, arriving in New York on January 4, 1943, from Curaçao, West Indies; seaman second class (S 2/c).

3. Aboard SS CAPE BLANCO, arriving in New York on October 2, 1943, from Panama Canal Zone; seaman first class (S 1/c), serial number 620-63-61.

4. Aboard SS CAPE BLANCO, arriving in San Francisco on January 3, 1944, from Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides Islands; seaman first class (S 1/c), serial number 620-63-61.

Best wishes,

Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard website
www.armed-guard.com