I have found a record for an Edward E. Michalski, S1/c (seaman first class) as part of the Armed Guard unit aboard SS J D YEAGER, on a voyage departing Baltimore approx. Apr 3, 1945, to New York, departing New York Apr 23, 1945, continuing to Antwerp, Belgium, departing Antwerp May 26, 1945, arriving New York Jun 11, 1945. In this record his military identification number ("serial number") appears as 953-04-02. I cannot account for his name being recorded as Edward E. instead of Edward K., but it seems highly unlikely that two men with the fairly unique name of Edward Michalski served aboard the same ship.
I can also find a record of SS DUNCAN L CLINCH, departing Savannah, GA, on Oct 25, 1944, to New York, continuing to Britain, departing Hull, England, Dec 10, 1944, arriving New York Jan 1, 1945. This was the maiden voyage of DUNCAN L CLINCH, since her construction had been completed Oct 20, 1944, at the J.A. Jones Construction Co. shipyard in Brunswick, GA. However the record does not include the name of any Armed Guard crew aboard that voyage. (Presumably this is an error, since a vessel operating in the Atlantic in late 1944 almost certainly would have had an Armed Guard crew aboard.) Your father may have been aboard for this voyage. The record for her next voyage, January 23-March 13, 1945, contains an Armed Guard crew list that does not include your father's name. By April 1945, your father was assigned to J D YEAGER, so the only possible voyage for which he could have been aboard DUNCAN L CLINCH was her maiden voyage, Oct 1944-Jan 1945.
I also found that J D YEAGER did make one voyage to Murmansk:
Departed Loch Ewe, Scotland, Dec 30, 1944, arrived Murmansk Jan 8, 1945, convoy JW-63
Departed Murmansk Feb 17, 1945, arrived Loch Ewe, Scotland, Feb 28, 1945, convoy RA-64
I have been unable to determine when J D YEAGER departed the U.S. prior to joining convoy JW-63, and when J D YEAGER returned to the U.S. subsequent to sailing in convoy RA-64. The dates of convoy JW-63, however, conflict with the dates during which your father may possibly have been aboard DUNCAN L CLINCH. One possibility is that your father sailed to Britain aboard DUNCAN L CLINCH (which departed Hull Dec 10, 1944), but was transferred before departure to J D YEAGER in time to be aboard that ship when she departed Scotland for Murmansk on Dec 30, 1944.
I don't know whether or how common it was for an Armed Guard crewman to be transferred from one ship to another mid-voyage but this seems to be the only explanation for your father to have been aboard both ships and to have participated in a voyage to Murmansk. Without an Armed Guard crew list for the first voyage of DUNCAN L CLINCH, and without knowing when J D YEAGER returned to the U.S. after her participation in the Murmansk run so as to be able to exam the Armed Guard crew list for that return voyage, I cannot confirm my speculation.
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 first paragraph above, I found the military identification number for Edward E. Michalski. 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
Responses
« Back to index | View thread »