That was a quick response. Here is my equally quick response.
I have located one record for your father during his service with the Armed Guard. He was aboard the Liberty ship SS JOHN SULLIVAN upon the ship's arrival in New York on Nov 25, 1943, after her departure from Bizerte, Tunisia. JOHN SULLIVAN had sailed from Baltimore on or about July 23, destination Norfolk, Virginia. She sailed from Norfolk on or about July 25, destination Algiers, Algeria.
According to the excellent website ConvoyWeb (www.convoyweb.org.uk) JOHN SULLIVAN sailed in convoy UGS-13, which departed Hampton Roads (i.e., the Norfolk area) on July 27, 1943. She was one of 97 merchant ships with 29 warship escorts. The final destination of the convoy was Port Said, Egypt, but many of the ships, including JOHN SULLIVAN, left the convoy for other ports once the convoy reached the Mediterranean.
Also according to ConvoyWeb, JOHN SULLIVAN returned to the U.S. in convoy GUS-20, which departed Alexandria, Egypt, on Oct 29, 1943, adding other ships as the convoy proceeded westward across the Mediterranean. JOHN SULLIVAN met the convoy as it passed Bizerte. The convoy reached Hampton Roads on Nov 24, 1943, although JOHN SULLIVAN and likely other vessels left the convoy early to proceed to New York. There were 129 merchant ships and 14 escorts in GUS-20.
The ship had a crew of 45 merchant seamen who operated the ship, and 27 Armed Guard sailors, including your father, to man the ship's weapons and provide communication support. There was also one U.S. Army officer who was responsible for security of the ship's cargo.
Your father is listed as a seaman 1st class with a serial number (military ID number) of 657-36-40. Your father's Armed Guard shipmates for this voyage were as follows:
Rene Leo Bousquet
Louis Henry Czajkowksi Jr.
Henry Franklin Delano Jr.
Albert Devries
John Joseph Donovan
Harry Steele Fry
Edward Hutchins
Joseph Jagielski
Edward Stanley Kropewnicki
Edwin I. Lamont , LT, Armed Guard commanding officer
Raymond Melvin Lorah
Charlie Harold Lyon
George Maguire
Frank Mahalik
Harry Archibald Mallams
Robert Richard Malone
Jordan Meilach
Elmer Norman Peterson
Thomas Ridgeway Rambo
Peter Parent Rucker
Alfonse Sarno
James Arden Simmons
Marvin Ferdinand Unruh
Deward Dell Walters
Stanley John Werner
Joseph Franklin White
Samuel Stanley Wooten
Donald Morris Wright
I do not know whether any of these men are still living, nor would I have contact information for any who are. In the hopes of finding a living shipmate, you might first search the Social Security Death Index (http://searches.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ssdi.html) for the more unusual names, to identify those who are deceased. For any remaining names, search an online telephone directory such as White Pages (www.whitepages.com). Searches for more common names will be meaningless as so many men share the same name.
It is very likely that your father served on other ships as well, for which the sources available to me are silent. You may be able to obtain your father's official military service record, which would indicate the ships to which he was assigned, applicable dates, training, illnesses or injuries, any decorations or medals earned, etc. Please see this page from the Armed Guard website: http://armed-guard.com/searchmil.html. In particular see section A.1. Records of Individuals - U.S. Military. You will have to contact the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO, a facility operated by the U.S. Archives. Provide as much identifying information as possible about your father. The links on the web page noted above will take you to the necessary pages of the Records Center web site. There may be a fee for obtaining the information but the Records Center staff will not begin research without informing you of any charge.
If you are interested in obtaining photographs of JOHN SULLIVAN and any other merchant ships in which your father served, see this list of sources of photographs of World War II-era merchant ships: http://www.usmm.org/photosource.html. Mr. Hultgren is a particularly good source for photographs of Liberty ships, which is his specialty. I know enough about his collection to know that he apparently has a photograph of JOHN SULLIVAN. Mr. Hultgren is quite elderly but at last report was still actively managing his collection.
Information about and photographs of USS FARGO are found at http://www.navsource.org/archives/04/106/04106.htm, among other websites.
Good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website
www.armed-guard.com
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