Posted by Rev. Fr. Joel Osborne on July 9, 2010, 2:25 am
I am looking for any shipmates that might have sailed with my father, Gunners Mate Thomas J. Osborne, Armed Guard, between 1942 and 1944.
He sailed on the SS Andrea, SS Kopperston, SS Ponca City, and the USS Thomas Nelson.
Thank you all for your service, you are indeed the greatest generation!
Sincerely Rev. Fr. Joel Osborne+
Re: Fathers Shipmates
Posted by Ron Carlson on July 9, 2010, 3:24 pm, in reply to "Fathers Shipmates"
Dear Father Joel,
I made a search of the subscription website Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com), which includes databases of crew members of ships arriving from foreign ports in certain U.S. ports of entry. I found one record for a Thomas J. Osborne, a member of the Armed Guard crew aboard SS THOMAS NELSON upon its arrival in New York on December 24, 1942. The ship had sailed from Columbo, Ceylon, on October 2, 1942. The size of the Armed Guard crew is surprisingly small; most Armed Guard crews numbered about 26-28.
In addition to Thomas J. Osborne, who was described as 6 feet, 160 lbs., the Armed Guard crew included:
Carrigg, William Cornelius Cuddeback, K. D. [LT(jg), Armed Guard commanding officer] Parker, William H. Parker, Woodrow W. Parler, Glenn E. Parlier, Radus M. Peacher, William D. Peters, William H. Phillips, Louis C.
I do not know whether any of these men are still living, nor do I have contact information for any of them. I find several exact or close matches at the Social Security Death Index (https://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com). Several of the names are so common as to make searches for the names meaningless.
Glenn E. Parler is or was a member of the U.S.N. Armed Guard World War II Veterans Association. You may wish to contact the Association to determine if he is still living and, if so, an address. Please contact:
C.A. Lloyd, Chairman U.S.N. Armed Guard World War II Veterans Association 115 Wall Creek Drive Rolesville, NC 27571 Telephone: 919-570-0909 E-mail: clloyd@nc.rr.com
I did not find records for Thomas J. Osborne aboard SS ANDREA, SS KOPPERSTON or SS PONCA CITY, likely suggesting that the information at Ancestry.com is incomplete.
Note that THOMAS NELSON is correctly known as "SS THOMAS NELSON" rather than "USS THOMAS NELSON." USS means United States Ship and denotes a commissioned warship in the U.S. Navy. SS means steamship, which correctly describes THOMAS NELSON, which was not a warship.
Good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard website www.armed-guard.com
Re: Fathers Shipmates
Posted by Rev. Fr. Joel Osborne on July 9, 2010, 7:42 pm, in reply to "Re: Fathers Shipmates"
Thank you so much for the info. It is a real blessing to me.