Interesting Documentary

[Lenny]

I just watched a documentary about ships called the "Liberty Ships" that were built to carry A ship in 1942 could be built in as little as 4 days from start to launching.

I never knew this, but without them, we could not have won world war II. They were subjected to U-Boat torpedo's but as U.S. technology grew, we developed destoyers and sonar that could detect the Nazi U-Boats and destroy them.

These ships were manned primarily by civilians, many of whom lost their lives.

We don't often hear about the civilian role in winning our wars, and I found this documentary quite interesting.

For more information on the Liberty Ships, visit the site below.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_ship

[Fran Gyomory]

My dad was ineligible for military service in WWII so he worked at Todd Shipyard in Bayonne, NJ. He was a shift supervisor and was involved in building many ships. He often went out on "test" voyages on the ships. After WWII ended he was left without a job and two children. He became a building superintendent.

His brothers, all of them, served in WWII. Uncle Tommy was Army; Uncle Charlie was Navy; Unce John was Army AirCorps and Uncle Frankie (my namesake) was Merchant Marine and was killed in 1943 in the battle of Mermansk.

I love looking at the old ships etc.

[pegleg]

lenny said:

I just watched a documentary about ships called the "Liberty Ships"

There's a restored Liberty Ship in San Francisco harbor, the "Jeremiah O'Brien", that made the trip across the Atlantic in 1994 to participate in the 50th anniversary of D-Day, with some of the original crew aboard. The ship can be toured today (in SF), and occasionally sails around SF Bay. I've seen it from dockside, but I've not been aboard. At the time, there was a lot of news coverage in SF about the restoration and the cruise.

There used to be hundreds of WWII ships, mostly Liberty ships, mothballed on the Hudson River up near Indian Point. In the 50s, our yearly vacation was a boat ride up to Indian Point, which was then an amusement park ( before the nuke power plant was built there). The sight of all those ships anchored in the river was pretty impressive. There were also scores of such ships mothballed on the James River in Virginia and in Suisan Bay, near SF. I suspect most have since been scrapped. I know that in VA, in 2002 or so, there was a lot of controversy because the ships were leaking oil into the river.

Anyway, you are right, they were the backbone for the resupply routes across the Atlantic and the Pacific. It took a lot of courage to sail on them - they were known to be slow and built quickly (of poor quality)- but they got the job done.

There is another restored Lib ship in the Northeast, Boston or Maine?

BTW, if you enjoyed that documentary, you might try to find the old "Victory at Sea" series on DVD. There was at least one episode devoted to the Lib ships. My oldest brother (who was about 20 years older than me) served on an LST in the Pacific during WWII. Victory at Sea was required Sunday TV viewing in my house during the 50s. Great background music, too.

[Fran Gyomory]

Our family never missed Victory at Sea. Also required viewing in the Colleton household.

[helenh1]

Every Sunday we took another Island with a running dialogue by Dad. Giving all the little known facts. It is one of my favorite family memories. The Journal American did a front page story on The Five Fighting Colletons' with a picture of my dad in his Todds shipyard hard hat. I know Fran has that paper I wish she would post the headline and dads' picture.

[Fran Gyomory]

I'll look for it this week and promise to post it!!!