I have been monitoring this site for the last few years now and was able to find great information fo my grandfather who served in WWII in the Armed Guard about the two ships mentioned in the subject line.
I was hopeful that someone could provide more inforamtion about these ships or photos.
I'm pleased that you have found useful information here.
As it turns out there have been a number of vessels named JOHN HENRY but only one that was built during World War II, a Liberty ship. She was built by the Bethlehem Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore. Her keel was laid 14 April 1942, she was launched 18 June and she was completed on 6 July, a total construction time of 83 days. After the war she was placed in the reserve fleet ("mothballed") in the James River, Virginia, until finally being scrapped in Castellon, Spain, in 1972. See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwtwo/bethfairfield.htm and scroll to hull number 2032, also http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/LibShipsJo.html#JohnH and scroll to the name of the ship.
The ship was named after John Henry (1750-1798), Maryland delegate to the Continental Congress, U.S. Senator from Maryland and Governor of Maryland 1798.
You may have found on the Armed Guard website the recollections of Armed Guard gunner's mate Samuel McAdams, who also sailed in JOHN HENRY. McAdams relates that on the last voyage, while loaded with explosives, JOHN HENRY was involved in three collisions with other ships, fortunately without casualties on JOHN HENRY. The ship reached Europe soon after V-E Day, with the result that she was not unloaded (there being no need for ammunition) but was sent back to the U.S. with her cargo of explosives; one of the collisions occurred on the return voyage. You would have to check your information to determine whether your grandfather was aboard at the time. See http://www.armed-guard.com/biogm.html and scroll down to Samuel R. McAdams.
WILLIAM WOLFSKILL was another Liberty ship, built by the California Shipbuilding Company ("Calship") in Los Angeles. Keel laid 23 November 1943, launched 21 December, completed 31 December, 38 days after keel-laying. WILLIAM WOLFSKILL was sold to a private shipping company in 1947, was sold and renamed three times, sailed under the Dutch, Liberian and Somali flags, and was scrapped in Santander, on Spain's north coast, in 1971. See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergencylarge/wwtwo/kcalifornia.htm and scroll to hull number 275; also see http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/LibShipsW-Z.html and scroll to the name of the ship. Photos of WILLIAM WOLFSKILL (although postwar and under different names) are at http://www.arendnet.com/alderamin.htm (text in Dutch; translate at translate.google.com). (One of the names WILLIAM WOLFSKILL carried after the war was ALDERAMIN, not to be confused with the Dutch ship of the same name that was torpedoed and sunk in 1943. There was also a U.S. Navy ship named USS ALDERAMIN, likewise unrelated.)
The ship was named for William Wolfskill (1798-1866), a cowboy, trapper and agronomist in California who pioneered the orange industry in the Los Angeles area and introduced the Valencia orange.
The two ships apparently had relatively uneventful wartime careers (other than the collisions described above), since I cannot find anything unusual about them on the internet.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website www.armed-guard.com
Randy: If you have pics you can share, please do! My father would LOVE to see them! Perhaps your father and my father knew each other. I understand those ships had less than 100 people onboard.
My father, Fredrick B. Remington (still alive) was the radio operator on the William Wolfskill in the South Pacific during I think 1944 until 1945 (would have to confirm the actual dates). He was 17 when he entered the Merchant Marines and started on that ship. He's 87 now and doing pretty well.
He has always shared with me history about his time on that ship. I'll share a few stories here, for those who are interested.
At one point, the William Wolfskill was one of three ships that cruised together. The one in the middle was loaded with ammo; the two on either side were there as decoys and to haul cargo. My father was in one of the flanking ships. One night they took enemy fire and the ship with all the ammo got hit in a portion of the hull that had nothing in it, higher than the water line. They were way lucky!!! He said “the hole was large enough to drive a semi through.” The captain told my dad, had that hit in another area, “Junior, you wouldn’t have known what hit ya’!” The repercussion would have killed everyone and taken the ship down. His ship was relatively unharmed, but he said that night was the scariest night of his life.
I like to think that my father became a man on the William Wolfskill.
Another story he shared with me was on his 18th birthday. It was June of 1945. The William Wolfskill was situated just off land from Bora Bora. He said they "tossed" him in the water (not sure what "tossed" means... Seems like a loooong drop if tossed overboard). He said he'll never forget wading in the warm water, looking at the island in the near distance. "It's a memory I'll never forget." Later, they told him the water was shark infested. I guess faced with other dangers at the time, that didn't seem as serious.
He remembered the radio room with it's large final tubes that would loudly "SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT" with each Morse code tap he'd send. One time water poured into the room and waterlogged everything. They shut the equipment down and let it dry out. After it was dry, they fired it back up, and it was fine. I guess something can be said for some of the old time gear!
Thanks for posting this information. I'm going to print this information and pictures of the ship and share it with him. He'll be thrilled!
My Dad was on the Wolfskill...I wish I could have found this while he was alive....he never really talked about the war...I have a few letters dated apr 1945, ship was in Okinawa his name was a Tommy DE Maio a gunner
I'm sorry I read this so late, Mary Lu. My father passed away on 8/12/2022 at 95 years old. If I saw this earlier, I would have asked him if he remembered your father, Tommy De Maio. In my father's final few years, dementia took hold, so I'm not sure if he'd remember. His older memories were pretty good, so maybe he would have remembered.
I'm sure our fathers met... That ship wasn't that large, and the amount of people on it were only 100 or so.
My condolences for the loss of your father. It was a different era back then. I think of what my father went through at 17 and 18 years old (some of which is described above), and I think, what was I doing at that age? NOTHING remotely close to anything he experienced. I have the upmost respect for all WWII veterans. There are so few left.
May our fathers and all those who fought in that war rest in peace.