I have found a William B. Carpenter, Jr. on four voyages in two ships in 1943-1944 in Atlantic and Mediterranean convoys. Does that name match that of your father?
If so, a quick summary:
William B. Carpenter, Jr., S1/c (seaman first class), departed New York May 28, 1943, aboard SS JOSEPH A. BROWN, destination Casablanca, Morocco; several convoys between ports in the Mediterranean; departed Oran, Algeria, Aug 10, 1943, arrived Hampton Roads (i.e., Norfolk), VA, Sep 6, 1943.
Departed Philadelphia approx Sep 18, 1943, to New York, continuing to Britain, departed Hull, England, Oct 22, 1943, arrived New York Nov 17, 1943.
Departed New York Dec 27, 1943, aboard SS GEORGE E. PICKETT, to Belfast, Northern Ireland, departed Belfast unknown date, arrived New York Feb 17, 1944.
Departed New York approx. Mar 10, 1944, to Britain; numerous voyages between ports in United Kingdom and Normandy beachhead June-Sep 1944, including being present for D-Day on June 6; departed Cardiff, Wales, Sep 28, 1944, arrived New York Oct 12, 1944.
If this is not your father's name, please provide a middle name/initial and birth year for better identification.
I did not find a William Carpenter on ships operating in the Pacific. However this may be due to the sources of information available to me not being comprehensive for ship movements in the Pacific, compared with ship movements in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
In any case, you should be able to obtain a copy of your father's complete military service record which will provide details I am unable to find. Please see this page from the Armed Guard website that I manage: 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. His military service record may contain such information as the ships to which he was assigned, applicable dates, training, illnesses or injuries, any decorations or medals earned, etc.
Note that in the records I found for his service aboard GEORGE E. PICKETT, his military identification number ("serial number") is recorded as 710-46-28. This could be a vital piece of identifying information if you communicate with the National Personnel Records Center as discussed in the previous paragraph.
Good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website
www.armed-guard.com
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