Dear Rebecca,

SS WILLIAM F. CODY was one of more than 2,700 Liberty ships that were built in a great rush immediately before, during and immediately after World War II. Most were used exclusively to carry cargo although some were converted to carry both troops and cargo. WILLIAM F. CODY is known to have served temporarily as a troopship, so it is very likely that her voyage to Belgium in December 1945-January 1946 was in that role, very possibly to repatriate U.S. troops remaining in Europe to that time. On her eastbound voyage she may have carried a cargo of supplies for the Belgian civilian population. WILLIAM F. CODY departed New York approximately December 3, 1945, arrived Antwerp, Belgium, on December 20, 1945, departed Antwerp on January 1, 1946, and arrived New York January 18, 1946.

WILLIAM F. CODY was built by the California Shipbuilding Company ("Calship") in Los Angeles, in 62 days in June-August 1942. Her keel was laid June 14, she was launched July 26, and she was completed and delivered for service on August 15. Her wartime career was apparently uneventful as I can find no unusual mention of her online. She was scrapped in 1967 in Tacoma, Washington, probably after many years in the reserve fleet ("mothballed"). See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwtwo/kcalifornia.htm and scroll to hull number 50. Also see http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/LibShipsW.html#WilDH and scroll to the name of the ship.

I made a search of the subscription website Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com), which is more commonly used for genealogical research. However, Ancestry.com also includes databases listing the names of crew members and passengers who arrived at certain U.S. ports of entry following a foreign voyage. The records for New York are particularly extensive. My search turned up one record of your grandfather, Gilbert Baldwin, as a crewman aboard WILLIAM F. CODY for her voyage to and from Belgium. He signed onto the ship in New York on November 27, 1945, and was recorded as age 17, height 5'8" and weight 135 lbs. He served as a messman, an entry-level position in what is known on a merchant ship as the steward's department, which is responsible for meals and cleaning the living areas of the ship. As messman he likely helped prepare and serve meals to the crew, cleaned the galley, and performed other related tasks. He reported to a Porter Johnson, the chief steward. He had not been a member of the crew on the ship's most recent previous voyage, and he was discharged from the ship upon returning to New York, as was true of most of the rest of the crew (a standard practice). I can find no other record of a Gilbert Baldwin in the U.S. merchant marine, so this may have been his first and only voyage as a merchant sailor.

The crew of WILLIAM F. CODY on this voyage totaled 62 men, an unusually large merchant marine crew for a Liberty ship. (During the war a Liberty would typically have had a merchant marine crew of about 44 men.) The steward's department was unusually large in number, with such job descriptions as 2nd steward, storekeeper, chief and 2nd baker, chief and 2nd butcher, chief and 2nd pantryman, five cooks rather than the usual three cooks, and a large number of messmen. The rest of the crew, namely those in the deck department and the engine department, had more typical numbers and types of crewmen. This tends to support the supposition that WILLIAM F. CODY may have served as a troopship on this voyage, as there would have been a larger number of meals to prepare and serve. In addition to the merchant marine crew, the record shows that the ship carried, as part of its official crew, nine U.S. Army personnel, who may have been responsible for supervising the troops that came aboard and/or the cargo aboard the ship.

Following are the names of the merchant marine crew and their titles. I have no way of knowing whether any of these men are still living, nor do I have contact information for any who may be living. It seems quite possible that some are still alive, as many of the men were, like your grandfather, were in their late teens and early 20s at the time. You might search the Social Security Death Index (http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/) for the more unusual names to identify those who have likely died. (Note that the Social Security Death Index does not contain death records for all deaths in the U.S., and most death records date only from the 1960s onward.) You may also want to search an online telephone directory, such as www.whitepages.com, for more unusual names. Searching for common names will not be productive as so many individuals share those names.

If you wish to obtain a photograph of this ship, please see this webpage for sources of photographs of World War II-era merchant ships: http://www.usmm.org/photosource.html. I especially recommend Mr. Hultgren, who specializes in photographs of Liberty ships. I am familiar enough with his collection to know that he apparently has a photograph of WILLIAM F. CODY during its wartime career. Mr. Hultgren is very elderly but at last report was actively managing his collection.

Good luck.

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

Merchant marine crew, SS WILLIAM F. CODY, December 1945-January 1946:

Kenneth Hulme, master (captain)
John Emery Grossman, 1st mate
Alfred Benson, 2nd mate
John Antonucci, 3rd mate
Leroy Goodrick, chief radio operator
Emanuel Aronowski, 1st assistant radio operator
William Spencer, 2nd assistant radio operator
Walter Perry, carpenter
James Tippett, bosun
Jan Sobejko, able seaman (A.B.)
Hans Holm, A.B.
Joseph Zulinski, A.B.
George Koppinger, A.B.
James Daly, A.B.
William Hinton, A.B.
Kenneth Flewelling, ordinary seaman (O.S.)
Ernest Yarbery, O.S.
Sherman Greenwald, O.S.
Charles Schimmelfennig, purser
Edward Dawson, chief engineer
William Large, 1st assistant engineer
Ralph Leighton, 2nd assistant engineer
Donald Burns, 3rd assistant engineer
Thomas Quinlan, electrician
Robert Miller, plumber
Jack Graves, deck engineer
George Brandt, oiler
John Jeffries, oiler
Ralph Kelly, oiler
Phillip McDonnell, fireman/water tender
Cornelis Kurvink, fireman/water tender
Frederick Wagner, fireman/water tender
Ronald Stetz, wiper
Clarence Galaska, wiper
Porter Johnson, chief steward
William Trego, 2nd steward
Tony Sanzone, storekeeper
Vincent Lynch, chief cook
Robert Bly, 2nd cook
Alexander Hill, 2nd cook
Joseph Graham, 2nd cook
Oscar Hall, 3rd cook
Fred Layne, chief baker
Harry Skinner, 2nd baker
Louis Kollar, chief butcher
Charles Meyer, 2nd butcher
Marvin Siebold, chief pantryman
Albert Davis, 2nd pantryman
Victor Kurz, messman
Donald Mills, messman
James Orazine, messman
Gilbert Baldwin, messman
Charles Schoonmaker, messman
Raymond Gough, messman
Phillip Schoonmaker, messman
Thomas Sheeran, messman
John Leonard, messman
Richard Cutaio, messman
Mac Harless, utility man
Maurice Stonewall, utility man
Francis Panette, utility man
Joseph Ross, utility man