Free Republic

President Franklin D Roosevelt presides over the launching of SS Patrick Henry at the Bethlehem Steel ship yard in Baltimore. Patrick Henry is the first Liberty ship to be built. By the WWII ends, 2710 of these ships will be built in 18 shipyards located in 12 States. The 14,245 ton cargo ship (the "ugly duckling) will carry 10,856 tons of cargo. Her 2,500 HP triple expansion steam engine will move the ship at 11 knots. It took over 240 days to build Patrick Henry. By 1844, from keel laying to sail away from the yard had been reduce to...

The Times-News Memorial Day editorial made us proud. But its definition of the World War II veterans as "soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines," though technically accurate -- we were all sailors -- fell short of defining we men of the Merchant Marine. The U.S. Merchant Marine consists of all of the ships in commercial service registered under the U.S. flag and manned by American men and women. In peacetime, it carries what you have to where you want it to be. In wartime, it joins the other services and operates under the direction of the U.S. Navy to do the...

As a member of what some have called “the greatest generation” I felt duty bound to write something of my experiences. December 7, 1941. One of my schoolmates and I were taken to Hershey area for the (Sunday) afternoon skating session When we were picked up after skating we were informed of the Pearl Harbor attack. All conversation on the way home was centered about the attack. Where is Pearl Harbor? Why is it important? And what will it all mean to a couple of seventeen our eighteen year olds? Will we be able to graduate from high school in...

BRUNSWICK, Ga. - With the Battle of the Bulge raging in western Europe during World War II, workers at a Brunswick shipyard were determined to deliver one more ship by year's end. To get the job done, laborers were needed around the clock on Christmas Day. About 1,500 volunteered - and they worked for free. Newspapers across the United States carried the story in their afternoon editions Dec. 25, and 60 years later, their hard work and generosity remains a point of pride in the coastal city. "We were Santa Claus," recalled 81-year-old Nanelle Surrency Bacon. The shipyard built freighters...