Posted by Mark Black on December 26, 2014, 5:32 pm
Looking to find anyone who knew my cousin George Allen Plummer, Signalman 2nd Class. Served in the Armed Guard out of Brooklyn, NY. Died at Brooklyn Navy hospital on Christmas Day 1944 of cancer, age 21. He was from Kentucky and family called him Allen.
I'm sure that you understand that it is highly unlikely that anyone who knew your cousin is likely to read your message on this message board or, for that matter, even know that this message board exists. Regrettably, most Armed Guard veterans have passed on. Then again, you never know.
I made a search of the subscription website Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com) for your cousin's name and found one record. (This website is more commonly used for genealogical research, but I have found that it contains lists of crew members and passengers of merchant ships that arrived in certain U.S. ports of entry following a foreign voyage. I have been successful in finding many merchant seamen and Armed Guard officers and sailors in this manner.)
I found that George Allen Plummer served in the Armed Guard unit of the SS GEORGE B. SELDEN, which departed Boston about October 13, 1943, and joined a convoy to Britain, where it arrived on an unspecified date. The ship departed Cardiff, Wales, on or after November 22, 1943, joining a westbound convoy as far as St Johns, Newfoundland. The ship stayed in St Johns for a period of days, for reasons not indicated, then joined another westbound convoy, finally arriving in New York on January 4, 1944. Whether George Allen Plummer served in other ships and/or made other voyages, I cannot say.
These were your cousin's Armed Guard shipmates on this voyage:
Maurice Howard Benner Frank Joseph Bergen Henry Dennis Black Jay Joseph Brennan George Lehman Burnsed Angelo Anthony Chuisano Josse Claycomb Theodore John Fleyzor J J Flynn Calvin Edgar Johnson Donald Altice Knight John Grover Koney Harry Frank Mazuc Wilbur Murrill McCray William H McIntryer LT(jg), Armed Guard commanding officer Edward Francis McNichol Harry Ranney Celius Charles Sanderlin Jr. James Blair Scheffer Arthur Frederick Seagraves Raymond Douglas Setterington Wilbur Vernon Shepard James Zealmon Smith Jr. Milton Lyman Spracos Milton Lyman Sprague Herbert Windell Sullins George Samuel Swearer Joseph Washousky William Redmond Watson
I do not know whether any of these men are still living, nor would I have contact information for any who are. If you wish to research further, I would suggest first searching for the less common names above in the Social Security Death Index (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=3693&cj=1&netid=cj&o_xid=0000584978&o_lid=0000584978&o_sch=Affiliate+External) to identify those who have died, then search for the remaining names on an online telephone directory such as www.whitepages.com. It is possible that you will find a shipmate.
You may also wish to try to obtain a copy of your cousin's full military service record. Please see this page from the Armed Guard website: 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 cousin. 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, if any in addition to GEORGE B. SELDEN, applicable dates, training, illnesses or injuries, any decorations or medals earned, etc. Note that someone such as yourself, who is not next of kin to your cousin, may not be able to obtain his full service record. (Next of kin = parent, spouse, sibling, child.) If there is someone in your family who is next of kin to your cousin, such as an aunt/uncle or another cousin who is a brother or sister to George Plummer, it would be best if the request to the Records Center was submitted by that person. You can do the legwork of research, completing forms and otherwise preparing the request but the request should be signed by that person. If there is no longer a person who is next of kin still living, then make the request yourself and hope for the best. If you are able to obtain his service record, it will at least give you and your family a little context to his time in the Navy.
Good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website www.armed-guard.com