More.
Searching for information on your grandfather, I found the following. Below is the Armed Guard detachment aboard MOSES AUSTIN on a voyage from New York to Antwerp, Belgium, and returning to New York. The ship departed New York on or about January 13, 1945, arrived Southend, England, on February 5, 1945, arrived Antwerp on February 6, 1945, departed Antwerp February 21, 1945, arrived Southend, England, February 22, 1945, and arrived New York March 14, 1945. The outbound convoys were HX-332 (New York/Southend) and TAM-71 (Southend/Antwerp), while the returning convoys were ATM-71 (Antwerp/Southend) and ON-287 (Southend/New York).
Your grandfather was listed as a seaman 1st class (S1/c) and had reported to the ship as of December 28, 1944. The size of the Armed Guard detachment (36 men including two officers) leads me to believe that MOSES AUSTIN sailed on at least this voyage as a troop ship rather than as a more common cargo-only Liberty ship. The usual Armed Guard complement on a Liberty was about 27 men and one officer. Troop ships carried more defensive weapons, therefore needing more Armed Guard gunners.
Harvell Dalton Akins
Roger Joseph Allarie
Waddington B Aspin
Albert Basillo
Harold Herbert Beatty
William Beaverson
Marcus A Bennett
William P Bergen
Cloyd Blankenship
Wilber Henry Bowles
John Harwood Bunce
Salvatore N Catalano
Leonal J Chalifoux
Dale Rockwell Chappell
Lawrence A Chiarucci
Louis Chrzanowski
James Layton Cloutman
George Alpheus Conner
William A Connolly
William L Cresswell
Joseph Philip Diblasi
Lauriston H Goddard
Joseph Michael Haid
William M Kinnamon ENS, Armed Guard officer
Lorentz H Martinson LT(jg), Armed Guard commanding officer
Rolland L Messier
Ruel R Mick
Joseph W Mickiewicz
John Walsh Moore
Jack Lawrence Norman
John M Squicciarino
Henry Clinton Stallman
Albert Joseph Torsney
Charles R Wahrer
Woodford S Wells
Charles H Wilson
I have no idea whether any of these men are still living, nor would I have contact information on any who are. You may wish to do a search of the Social Security Death Index (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=3693) for the more unusual names, thereby identifying those who are deceased. Of the remaining names, search an online telephone directory such as www.whitepages.com to find possibly matches among living crew mates. Searches for the more common names would be pointless because so many individuals share the same name.
Additionally there were another 43 merchant marine (civilian) crewman aboard for this voyage.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website
www.armed-guard.com
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