One of those MSTS ships was the Edwin D. Patrick, named for the 6th Inf Div commander killed in action in the Philippines. In Japan in 1957 we saw a family we knew embark on her in Yokohama. I was eight years old & when wellwishers threw gobs of ticker tape I thought all the tape would prevent the ship from leaving the dock!
Boarded it beforehand; there was very little on the ship that was not painted steel. She was not scrapped until 2010, amazingly.
I was there.
I was 9 years old and we sailed in ‘57 or ‘58 out of Yokohama to Seattle, one of six trips back and forth, 1951-1961.
We sailed on the Edwin D. Patrick, George M Randall, Mason M. Patrick, W. O. Darby and finally, the W. A. Mann. Each way was 2 weeks at sea.
The last trip included a one day stop in Honolulu. The Arizona Memorial hadn’t been built yet. We toured the royal palace, took a cab over to Waikiki and walked the beach for 15 minutes, then got back aboard.
The last trip arrived in Oakland. We sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge and after 10 years in Japan, California looked damned good to me.
My dad cabbed over to Lane Buick in Oakland and returned with a new ‘61 station wagon. Dad had taken early retirement as a GS-13 Army DAC. We drove home to Iowa, finally and I became an American again.