September 1943--The Jonathan Grout, Liberty Ship

On September 11, 1943, we boarded the Jonathan Grout, a Liberty ship.  There were over 550 soldiers loaded into the front hold of this ship.  The bunks were five-high and very crowded.  The back portion of the ship was full of ammunition.  We lay in the harbor at Newport News, Virginia, for two days.

On the morning of September 13, we pulled out into the ocean.  As we got further away from the shore, we could see the many other ships that were joining our convoy until there were 72 ships in all.

The first five days out, I was very seasick and spent most of my time hanging over the rail.  We had two small meals a day and had guard duty every few days to ensure that we kept our lights from showing at night. 

At night, the captains of the ships in the convoy could not see each other, and sometimes the ships would run together in the dark, causing damage to the ships.  Twice our convoy turned around and headed back to the United States because it was feared that submarines were near.  During the entire journey, we went many hours in one direction, and would then change course, zigzagging back and forth to throw submarines off our path.

There were many different types of ships in our convoy:  there were tankers with airplanes fastened to their decks, troop ships, cargo ships, and several destroyers.
One evening at 6 p.m., I was on guard duty as we passed the Rock of Gibralter and entered the Mediterranean Sea.  Our convoy started to break up, and all of the ships headed for different destinations. 

Joonathan Grout, Liberty Ship