I have finally gotten around to researching your inquiry.
SS JAMES TURNER was a Liberty ship built by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Wilmington, NC, in 1942. Her keel was laid 26 July, she was launched 29 September, and she was completed and delivered for service on 10 October 1942, 76 days after keel-laying. She was scrapped in Kearney, NJ, in 1970. See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwtwo/northcarolina.htm (scroll to hull number 22) and http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/LibShipsJ-Ji.html#JamesJ (scroll to the name of the ship). Liberty ships were primarily cargo ships that carried war materiel to all theatres of war during World War II, of which more than 2,700 were built before and during the war, but JAMES TURNER was apparently one of a relatively small number that was converted to carry troops as well as cargo. She could carry as many as 550 soldiers, in conditions of great discomfort. She was named after James Milton Turner (1840-1915), an African-American educator who was active in Missouri politics and served as U.S. consul to Liberia 1871-1877. See this page for sources of photographs of World War II-era merchant ships: http://www.usmm.org/photosource.html. Within the list, note that Mr. Hultgren specializes in Liberty ships. He is quite elderly but at last report he is actively managing his collection.
I found specific information about your father and his shipmates aboard JAMES TURNER, through a search of the subscription website Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com). This website is more commonly used for genealogical research, but I have learned that it has information on the names of crew members of merchant ships that arrived in certain U.S. ports of entry following a voyage from a foreign destination. There is extensive information on some ports, such as New York, with lesser information available for other ports.
I found JAMES TURNER arriving in New York on 25 April 1945, having sailed from Cherbourg, France, from which she had departed on 5 April. She had originally left Baltimore about 21 February with additional stops in Philadelphia and New York before commencing the eastbound voyage across the Atlantic. She left New York on 9 March 1945 in Convoy HX-342, which contained 73 merchant ships and 29 warship escorts. See http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hx/index.html. For the westbound return voyage JAMES TURNER was a part of Convoy ON-295 (93 merchant ships and 19 escorts). On this voyage she carried about 500 prisoners of war, presumably German. See http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/on/index.html.
Subsequently JAMES TURNER arrived in New York on 30 June 1945 from LeHavre, France, from which she had sailed on 17 June. Her eastbound voyage (9 May – 3 June) was in Convoy HX-357, the next-to-last convoy from New York to Europe since the war ended while she was in transit. She was likely not part of a convoy on the westbound return trip.
Your father was identified by his serial number (military ID number) of 908 80 37, he was a seaman first class (S 1/c), and he had reported aboard JAMES TURNER on 9 December 1944.
Following are the names of his Armed Guard ship mates for at least one of these two voyages. With one possible exception, I do not know whether any of these men are still living, nor do I have contact information for any of them.
James Edward Allison
Leo Frank Archer
Don Balsley
Robert Charles Bauman
George Franklin Blanchard
Wilbur L Buchanan
Calvin McQuillan Clark
Edward J Cleary
Gilbert Wesley Collins, LT(jg) (Armed Guard officer)
Edward Sherman Crockett, Jr., LT (Armed Guard commanding officer)
Harry Arthur Egelhoff
Allen Alexander Evans
Marcus Milton Freedenberg
Cyril Joseph Hamel
Henry Samuel Harrison
Robert Kenneth Hegna
Robert Wayne Hoffman
Jerome Joseph Jaskowiak
Jesse Morgan Kicklighter
Donald I Knab
Edward J Kolenda
John Roosevelt Lee Jr
Earl Leroy Lowe
Charles W Lowman
James Franklin Lucas
William Henry Matthews
Ernest Mautino
Francis Joseph McCullough
Gordon Willis Ottman
Roswell Jacob Ortt
Frank P Priore
Kenneth J Raper
Edward Theodore Riechmann
Donald Clair Rough
Gabriel William Steinberg
Charles Alfred Stoffel
Charles Otis Sutton Jr
Nicholas Michael Szkodzinsky
Floyd Taylor
Raymond Todd
Stanley Francis Wasnieski
Clifford Wheeler
Marion Wilson Jr.
I have possible contact information for a Roswell Ortt, which I will send in a separate e-mail, should you wish to contact him.
Best wishes.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website
www.armed-guard.com
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