I have found one record of a Willis Salvador sailing on a single voyage in 1945. He was a member of the crew of the troopship S.S. MONTEREY on a voyage from New York to Marseilles, France, to Manila, Philippine Islands, and return to San Francisco. The ship departed New York on or about July 11, 1945, reached Marseilles on an unspecified date. Carrying troops from Europe for the planned invasion of Japan, the ship proceeded via the Panama Canal to Manila on or about August 28, departed Manila on August 31 and arrived in San Francisco on September 21. The war with Japan ended during the course of this voyage.
Willis Salvador served as a scullion, which is a fancy word meaning dishwasher or having similar entry-level responsibilities in the galley and mess rooms. There were a total of 24 scullions in the crew, many of whom were the same age as Willis. At the time of the voyage Willis was 17 years old, stood 5'10" tall, weighed 160 lbs., and had a scar near his right eye. Does this information fit what you know of your father? He had two months of sea time as of his arrival in San Francisco, meaning the two months aboard MONTEREY from July to September 1945. I found no other records of his merchant marine career although it is possible he sailed on another ship or ships later but I found no such records at the source I used.
My source is the subscription website Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com) which contains, among many other records, information on passengers and crew who arrived in certain U.S. ports from a foreign port. As mentioned, your father was one of 24 men serving as scullions, many of whom were 17 and 18 years old, and part of a total crew of about 320. It is possible that some of these men are still living although I don't know which of them might be alive nor do I have contact information for any who are. You can obtain a short-term subscription to Ancestry.com to make the same search I did and thereby identify his shipmates by name. Searching for the more unusual names at an online telephone directory like www.whitepages.com may turn up living shipmates. (Searching for more common names would be fruitless since so many people share the same name.) Even better, Ancestry.com is offering a 14-day free trial subscription, so you could possibly make the same search, obtain names of his shipmates, and end up paying nothing for the subscription. Information on subscriptions is available on the Ancestry.com homepage.
MONTEREY was constructed by the Bethlehem Steel Company at its Fore River shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched October 10, 1931, and was completed for service on April 29, 1932. She was in private service as a passenger liner, primarily in the Pacific Ocean, until she was chartered by the U.S. government in 1941, even before Pearl Harbor, to transport U.S. citizens from China, Korea and Japan back to the U.S. Outfitted as a troop ship she made numerous voyages in the Pacific, Atlantic and Mediterranean, carrying as many as 6,850 troops per voyage. Because of her speed, she could outrun submarines and therefore often traveled alone without warship escort. Post-war she was refitted to her earlier appearance as a luxury passenger liner, carrying about 700 passengers and 360 crew. She remained in service until 1996, although sold and renamed several times. She sank off South Africa on October 21, 2000, while under tow to a shipbreaking facility in India. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Monterey. Also see http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/1major/inactive/bethquincy.htm and scroll to hull number 1441.
As noted above, your father may have served in other ships after MONTEREY, or this may have been his only voyage. Either way, you may be able to obtain a copy of your father's merchant marine service record by contacting the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard was and is responsible for maintaining certain official records of U.S. merchant mariners, including training, qualifications, and shipboard assignments. See this page of the website I manage, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Monterey, in particular section II.A.2 - Records of Individuals - Merchant Marine. You will have to contact the Coast Guard's National Maritime Center in West Virginia, providing as much identifying information as possible. There may be a fee involved although I don't know for sure.
Good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website www.armed-guard.com
who knew my father a us seaman serving the merchant marine from US as a chief engineer on thpe cargo vessels in the north atlantic, from about 1942 till 1945. His name was Cornelis Hendrik Mooij, born 12 th May 1905. His home base was New York. Or can you tell me where to find that information. greetings, Martin, his son living in the Netherlands
Apologies. The correct URL that I should have placed in my last paragraph (concerning a web page on the web site I manage) is http://www.armed-guard.com/searchmil.html. Please excuse my sloppiness.