Posted by Doris Jackson on April 13, 2011, 4:05 pm
Looking for info on my father in law, Alonzo Jackson, US Navy Armed Guard from Jan 1944-Sept 1944.Shows assignment at USN AGC, Brooklyn from 2-5-44 to 8-1-44. On 8-1-44 he was transferred to St Albans until 9-26-44. Seems as if there may have been some incident which caused his transfer to St Albans. Honorable discharge lists mental disability. Wondering where records of a possible incident can be found.
Re: S S Port Royal
Posted by anthony on September 5, 2014, 12:41 pm, in reply to "S S Port Royal"
my Father Henry Fraklin Smith was on Armed Merchant Vessel SS Port Royal Navy 122 8 29 45
Re: S S Port Royal
Posted by Doris Jackson on September 9, 2014, 8:49 pm, in reply to "Re: S S Port Royal"
Hi Anthony, My father in law, Alonzo Jackson, also served on the Port Royal. He is deceased, but never spoke of his time in the service. I did eventually send for his records, so I know he served on that ship. One voyage he was on went to Scotland, guess they transport oil/gas for the troops. Do you have any info?
Re: S S Port Royal
Posted by Ron Carlson on April 14, 2011, 11:17 am, in reply to "S S Port Royal"
Doris,
As a follow-up to my earlier message, I have found your father-in-law listed (as Alonso or Alense Jackson) as a member of the Armed Guard detachment aboard SS PORT ROYAL when that ship arrived in New York on July 25, 1944, having sailed from Gourock, Scotland, on July 16. (Gourock is just west of Glasgow.) This arrival was immediately before his transfer to St. Albans Naval Hospital. This information comes from the subscription website Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com) which has lists of crew members of merchant ships that arrived in certain U.S. ports of entry at the end of a foreign voyage.
I find nothing in the Ancestry.com or Convoyweb.org records that indicated anything unusual happened during the time your father-in-law was aboard PORT ROYAL.
However, a better source of information would be the Armed Guard officer's report for the voyage in question. See http://armed-guard.com/searchmil.htm, section IV.A. - Records of U.S. Navy and Merchant Ships. In this case you will need to contact the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) facility in College Park, Maryland. You will be interested in Armed Guard Logbooks and Reports. Provide as much information as possible on the name of the ship, its voyage, dates, convoy numbers, etc. Armed Guard officer's reports vary in detail, depending upon the diligence of the Armed Guard officer commanding the detachment, but might have information about your father-in-law specifically. There were two officers with the Armed Guard detachment aboard PORT ROYAL for the above voyages: LT(jg) George Nawn and LT(jg) K.G. Speed. It is not clear which was the commanding officer. NARA staff will do research for you, for a price. NARA will inform you of the research cost before actually producing anything, so nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Again, good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website www.armed-guard.com
Re: S S Port Royal
Posted by Ron Carlson on April 14, 2011, 7:18 am, in reply to "S S Port Royal"
Doris,
By St. Albans I assume you refer to St. Albans Naval Hospital in Queens, New York, nowadays a Veterans Administration facility.
Your best starting point is to obtain your father-in-law's complete military service record which may include details of his medical records. Those records, or other parts of the service record, may indicate an incident that led to his disability.
It would be better if the request for his records came from your husband or a sibling of your husband, as next-of-kin to your father-in-law. Not all records are available to persons such as yourself who are not next-of-kin; medical records may be among those that would be restricted.
Please see this page from the Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website that I manage: http://armed-guard.com/searchmil.html. In particular see section A.1. Records of Individuals - U.S. Military. It will be necessary to contact the National Personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records, in St. Louis, MO. Provide as much identifying information as possible.
Good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website www.armed-guard.com