As a follow-up to my earlier message, I have found your father-in-law listed (as Alonso or Alense Jackson) as a member of the Armed Guard detachment aboard SS PORT ROYAL when that ship arrived in New York on July 25, 1944, having sailed from Gourock, Scotland, on July 16. (Gourock is just west of Glasgow.) This arrival was immediately before his transfer to St. Albans Naval Hospital. This information comes from the subscription website Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com) which has lists of crew members of merchant ships that arrived in certain U.S. ports of entry at the end of a foreign voyage.
(PORT ROYAL was a class T-2 tanker that was built in May 1944, so this was likely her maiden voyage. She left New York in Convoy CU-26 on May 30, 1944, and returned to New York in Convoy UC-30. Convoy information per http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/cu/index.html and http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/uc/index.html. PORT ROYAL survived the war, was sold and renamed several times, and was scrapped in 1966. See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/1major/inactive/sun.htm and scroll to hull number 394.)
I find nothing in the Ancestry.com or Convoyweb.org records that indicated anything unusual happened during the time your father-in-law was aboard PORT ROYAL.
However, a better source of information would be the Armed Guard officer's report for the voyage in question. See http://armed-guard.com/searchmil.htm, section IV.A. - Records of U.S. Navy and Merchant Ships. In this case you will need to contact the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) facility in College Park, Maryland. You will be interested in Armed Guard Logbooks and Reports. Provide as much information as possible on the name of the ship, its voyage, dates, convoy numbers, etc. Armed Guard officer's reports vary in detail, depending upon the diligence of the Armed Guard officer commanding the detachment, but might have information about your father-in-law specifically. There were two officers with the Armed Guard detachment aboard PORT ROYAL for the above voyages: LT(jg) George Nawn and LT(jg) K.G. Speed. It is not clear which was the commanding officer. NARA staff will do research for you, for a price. NARA will inform you of the research cost before actually producing anything, so nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Again, good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website
www.armed-guard.com
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