Liberty Ship Cruise - J. W. Brown

October 9, 2004

Click on the picture to enlarge it just like all the other pictures on this web site. It is the picture of the General Charles H. Muir on which my father, mother, brother and I arrived in the USA in New York on May 8, 1950. It was launched in Richmond CA in 1944 to carry US troops to and from the war zones. In 1950 she was re-acquired by the Navy from the Army Transportation Service. The General C .H. Muir was used to support US troops in Europe and on return trips to the US was used to carry displaced persons immigrating to the United States. The latter category fit us fine.

This year I turned 65 and one of my many birthday gifts was a cruise for two on the US Liberty Ship J. W. Brown. The Brown is one of two remaining operational Liberty ships in the US. The other one operates out of San Francisco, CA. While the primary function of the Muir was troop transport, the Brown was primarily a cargo ship which was also utilized to carry troops though not in the numbers carried by the Muir. The cruise was a great opportunity to relive some of my memories of 54 years ago. I will not go into too much about the J. W. Brown specifically as you can get all that information at their web site http://www.liberty-ship.com.

While the ship was not scheduled to sail until 10:00 AM, they expected you to be on board by 8:30 with the scheduled raising of the gangplank at 9:00 AM. We arrived at 7:30 and promptly got into line to wait for the boarding up the steep gangplank stairs. There were many veterans in line and I struck up a conversation with the gentleman behind me. He had served on a Liberty Ship like the J. W. Brown as a gunners mate. His quarters had been in the stern section of the ship directly below the rear gun platforms and his biggest memory was the fact that in bad seas the propeller came out of water and shook the ship. I remember the same on the C. H. Muir as we were in some bad weather on the way over. The gentleman had later served on a LST Tank transport vessel and had been involved in D-Day. He remembered taking the LST from New Orleans to Halifax, Nova Scotia and then to England at the amazing speed of 7 knots an hour. It had taken 14 days to make the crossing. In one of his approaches to Normandy their LST had struck a mine in the water and tears came to his eyes when he mentioned that many in the tanks below had been lost. He mentioned that after dropping the tanks on the beach they would load up with wounded. Allied and German to take back to the hospital ships. On one of the convoy crossings they had lost 11 ships in the convoy. Lady luck had been kind to him and he had come out unscratched out of this ordeal. It was an honor to talk to him.

After getting on board we went below for breakfast which was coffee, juice, bagels, muffins and of course doughnuts. This was not a luxury cruise and there were no elevators or escalators. The stairways were steep out of metal and this being a military cargo ship, you had to go up over a door port to go downstairs. After breakfast I wandered around the ship a bit and did go down to the engine room where a lot of activity was taking place prior to departure. The atmosphere was filled with steam which was escaping from some of the flanges.

While waiting for departure the Crabtowne Big Band started to play, you guessed it, big band music of the war time era. Prior to 9:00 AM an announcement was made that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was going to be taking the cruise with us. Shortly thereafter, the sirens could be heard at dockside and an actor playing FDR accompanied by a "Secret Service" guy and "Eleanor" were piped aboard with an honor guard. The "Pres" made a short speech criticizing his Republican critics. At this time other entertainers also made their appearance. Abbott and Costello were on board accompanied by their straight man. A women's singing group "Stardust Memories" was also on board and their schtick was the wearing of nylon stockings with seams and then accusing nearby men of being seam inspectors.

The cruise would consist of a 50 mile round trip journey in the Chesapeake Bay from Baltimore Harbor to a short distance beyond the Bay Bridge at Annapolis. During the outward bound leg of the cruise FDR made two speeches. One was the December 8, 1941 Declaration of War against the Japanese and the other was the May 22, 1942 Statement to honor Maritime Day. Lunch for us was at 11:30 Pm which again was down below and consisted of potato salad, cold cuts, cold slaw, barbecued beef in a buffet setting. Everything was fine. After lunch we wandered aft and took in some of the exhibits on the aft decks. There was an re-enactor pretending to be a Russian soldier. He had a display of Russian military equipment. In the display was a half empty bottle of vodka which the actor said was the only thing that would never be found in Russia. Another re-enactor with an arm in a sling had a display of German arms. I asked him in which battle he had been injured and his reply was "In the battle of the J. W. Brown" Wearing his German style army boots with the steel lining around the heel, he had slipped in the morning on the wet deck of the ship and injured his shoulder or arm. For him the war was still on.

At around 1:00 PM an announcement was made that enemy planes had been spotted in the area and the air show was on. For the enemy there was a Messerschmitt and a replica of a Japanese Val dive bomber. For the good guys there were two Russian Yak fighters and a US B-25. The enemy made a few passes over the ship, the 20 MM machine guns and the 3 inch cannon were fired from the ship and eventually the Russian Yaks chased the Messerschmitt and the Val away followed by a few passes from the B-25. It was a good show which was enjoyed by those on board and by the many private boats that had gathered around the J. W. Brown.

After the air show there was a laying of the wreath ceremony to honor the 8000+ merchant marine and Naval Armed guard killed on merchant ships during WWII. It was a moving service with the reading of the words to the Navy hymn and a mariners version of the 23rd. Psalm followed by a 21 gun salute.

After the serious business had been taken care of, Abbott and Costello put on about a one hour show going thru "Niagara Falls" - Slowly I turned" bit to "Who's on First" and a lot of the other bits that I remember laughing in their heyday. The Abbott and Costello impersonators were excellent but their straight man was not very convincing. However they were entertaining. Stardust Memories also put on a set and pretty soon we were back at the dock. At the pier location we were met by a Tractor Tug and it took them 45 minutes to get the ship secured to the dock ready for disembarkation.

It was a very nice way to spend a day remembering how things were back in the 40's. I saw one veteran walking with a cane taking in the scene on board the ship with wide eyes and loudly saying to himself - "It looked just like this. I remember it."

I remember it too. If I didn't live so far from Baltimore I would be a volunteer on this ship.

Cruise Photos