14 November 1944

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

Germany

14 November, 1944       1435

Dearest darling Wilma –

As I wrote you yesterday, I got mail from you in the late p.m. and it made me very happy, so happy in fact that I later opened a bottle of cognac and played poker with the boys. Now I suppose you’re thinking I might have done that anyway; I confess, I might have – but you can’t prove, darling, that I would have been as happy – now, can you? Seriously, though – dear – it was so pleasant hearing from you again. I had only missed three days, but it seemed like a long, long time.

Lawrence’s letter told me more about the Halloran; he’s enjoying the place and I’m tickled – because he did find Tufts – so damned unbearable. He seems to have some pretty good boys with him and that helps a lot. That’s one of the reasons I find this outfit so boring at times. I mean the fact that I haven’t any really good companions here now – at headquarters. The boys I spent most time with at headquarters are not with the outfit now and I don’t have much chance to spend a great deal of time with the line officers, like Pete and a few others. The fellows here are O.K. -–but you probably know what I mean. Incidentally a few officers moved in near us a few days ago. They are with a pretty famous infantry division; I took care of a couple of them for minor things and one of the Captains invited me over to lunch with them this noon. I had a nice time and it was a pleasure to exchange ideas with another group of fellows for a change. After 2 years or more with the same gang, you get a little stagnant. I’m going to drop up and visit them at their quarters one of these evenings.

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Greg's brother, Lawrence, in uniform
with their parents, Pauline and Lewis

I liked your reactions on sleeping in what was once my bedroom, darling. Someday we’ll share the same one. I don’t know how much of my background you could perceive from those surroundings, dear – but I hope your perceptions were good ones. I didn’t spend very much time in that room, though, but I do remember way back quite a few years ago how I would look out of the back window and across an open field and all the way to the horizon. That was before the school was built. I guess I was quite a dreamer in those days, dear; I never knew then what I wanted exactly, but had I been able to crystallize my ideas then – I know I would have wanted some position in life and a wife to enjoy that life together with me; the wife would have been someone like you, sweetheart – and since I have you, I’m a very fortunate fellow.

House in Mattapan, a neighborhood of
Boston, Massachusetts, as it is today

I guess a great part of those years in Mattapan were spent in that little old den – Latin School, college and medical school – night after night of sitting at a desk, the smoke so thick you could hardly see. But I always quit studying at 2200 come hell or high water, and then I’d go downstairs, have some milk and talk with the folks. Those were good days but I’m glad they’re behind me; I’m glad a good deal is behind me for that matter, dear, because the one thing that interests me now is the future – our future together – and that is wonderful food for thought, sweetheart.

Guess I’ll close now and dream awhile. I hope all is well at home, darling, and that you are managing to keep busy. My love to the folks and

My everlasting love to you, dear

Greg.

* TIDBIT *

about Halloran Hospital


Old Postcard of Halloran Hospital, Staten Island, New York

Greg mentioned that his brother Lawrence, a dentist, was stationed at Halloran General Hospital. It was established in 1941 in structures that had been built during the 1930s to house the Willowbrook State School. World War II interrupted the state’s intentions to open the facility for the developmentally disabled when the Army annexed the buildings and set up a hospital for returning wounded soldiers. With more than 3,000 beds, Halloran was the largest Army hospital in the nation. Most of the first cosmetic surgery was done there to improve the faces of the disfigured soldiers.

The Army surrendered control of the hospital in 1947 to the Veterans Administration, which renamed the facility Halloran Veterans Administration Hospital. The presence of the VA Hospital had pleased Staten Island residents and politicians, many of whom opposed the state’s plan to establish a facility for the developmentally disabled. But despite the community’s wishes, the military left in 1951 to make way for Willowbrook State School. During the decade Halloran existed, the Army and VA had developed a hospital that won national acclaim and treated upward of 163,000 veterans during and after the war.

Halloran Hospital officially closed in April 1951, handing over control of all the buildings to the state. By August, Willowbrook State School’s census had already reached 2,840. The school was designed for 4,000, but by 1965 it had a population of 6,000. At the time it was the biggest state-run institution for the mentally handicapped in the United States. Conditions and questionable medical practices and experiments prompted then Senator Robert Kennedy to call it a "snake pit." Public outcry led to its closure in 1987 and to civil rights legislation protecting the handicapped.

A portion of the grounds and some of the buildings were incorporated into the campus of the College of Staten Island, which moved to Willowbrook in the early 1990s. The rest of the buildings sit abandoned and dilapidated in the Staten Island Greenbelt.

13 November 1944

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

Germany

13 November, 1944        1300

My dearest sweetheart –

Monday again and what will this week bring to help shorten the war? We wonder from week to week but I suppose the big-wigs have it all figured out and you’ll no doubt read about it in the papers. Meanwhile we’re carrying on as usual, dear, only I’m finding that I miss home and you more and more these days. I thought I was quite hardened to being away from home, sweetheart, but I guess I never will be and despite the heartache – I’m glad; because I want to go on missing you and the families every day until I get back. I want to be acutely aware of you when I have you again – and so, darling – I must go on missing you and wanting you.

We haven’t received any mail for a few days and could very well do with a little. Delivery will probably be spotty though until after Christmas. I’m pretty well caught up with my correspondence except for 3 or 4 letters I should answer. That reminds me – one letter as yet unanswered, is from Nin. I have a Newton address, but as I understand it, she’s down South. Shall I write her down there, and if so, what is her address?

Yesterday p.m. it was raw and cold out but as I wrote already, we were in dire need of a shower. Well I looked up the spot on a map where there was supposed to be one set-up, but we rode all over the place and finally found one in another location altogther. That happens very frequently; a shower-point is set-up, the map coordinates are published on an administrative order, you track down the spot – and nothing is there. Then you just ride around asking G.I.’s if they’ve seen one around. Anyway after driving about 20 odd miles we did manage to get a nice warm shower and we just did get back before dark. So I’m clean again, dear, and fit to write to you. In the evening we just sat around the Dispensary. We had some grapefruit juice so I produced a bottle of gin I’ve had for some time and the Medical Detachment had a couple of drinks. I got to bed early and was uninterrupted.

Your enclosed clipping concerning Stan’s recent marriage speaks for itself. I don’t know why he insists on misleading people – unless it’s because he misses things so keenly. I’m inclined to believe though that he does it – more often – to impress people with. He has enough good attributes without having to misrepresent himself; it’s a shame he doesn’t realize it and act natural. The Harvard University baloney is an old one and the routine about chain stores I might have expected because for many years now – whatever job Stan had – he always colored. Well – it’s no skin off my elbow and I hope he ends up happy. You once wrote that you thought he’d make a good husband; if he loved a girl, I think so, too. But I don’t believe he loves Betty – as I see it from way over here, and if he doesn’t, she’s going to have a play-boy for a husband.

Great balls of fire! Mail just came in and I have two (2) from you – postmarked 2 and 3 November, one from Lawrence, one from Florence B. and a post-card from my Dad from New York! Not only that – but I got a package and it has me puzzled, dear. It was mailed 15 September – but from New York and so I know it’s not from you. It was mailed from a department store – Altman and Kuhne – apparently direct and I can’t for the life of me imagine who sent it. It is marked not to be opened until Christmas and I’m going to see how long I can wait before opening it. Right now – it has me guessing. When I open it, darling, I’ll let you know.

By the way – the enclosed German money won’t buy you anything, dear, but I though you’d find it interesting. The 100 Mark note, issued in 1908 – had some value before War I; the other 2 notes are an example of what happened after the war – when not only the Central German Government issued money but every county and city was doing the same – until the value of the money ‘was nothing’.

Well, sweetheart, I’ll stop now – because I have some urgent business – reading your letters and you can’t blame me for being in a hurry. Until tomorrow, dear, so long, love to the family and

All my sincerest love –

Greg.

* TIDBIT *

about The Balfour Declaration of 1917
and a Report in Time

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 was in the form of a letter from Arthur James Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, to Baron Walter Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community. Here is the content:

Foreign Office,
November 2nd, 1917

Dear Lord Rothschild,

I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet:

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country".

I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

Yours sincerely
Arthur James Balfour

Five years later, "The Mandate for Palestine", the terms of which were confirmed by the Council of the League of Nations, embodied the Balfour Declaration and imposed four main obligations:

To protect and assure access to the Holy Places and religious building or sites.

To place the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish People and the development of self governing institutions.

To facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions, and to encourage, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency, close settlement by Jews on the Land.

To safeguard the civil and religious rights of all inhabitants of Palestine irrespective of race and religion, and, whilst facilitating Jewish immigration and settlement, to ensure that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced.

However, the British White Paper of 1939 took a step back from these promises in stating:

In the view of the Royal Commission the association of the policy of the Balfour Declaration with the Mandate system implied the belief that Arab hostility to the former would sooner or later be overcome. It has been the hope of British Governments ever since the Balfour Declaration was issued that in time the Arab population, recognizing the advantages to be derived from Jewish settlement and development in Palestine, would become reconciled to the further growth of the Jewish National Home. This hope has not been fulfilled.

It put forth a revised intent:

His Majesty's Government therefore now declare unequivocally that it is not part of their policy that Palestine should become a Jewish State. They would indeed regard it as contrary to their obligations to the Arabs under the Mandate, as well as to the assurances which have been given to the Arab people in the past, that the Arab population of Palestine should be made the subjects of a Jewish State against their will... When it is asked what is meant by the development of the Jewish National Home in Palestine, it may be answered that it is not the imposition of a Jewish nationality upon the inhabitants of Palestine as a whole, but the further development of the existing Jewish community, with the assistance of Jews in other parts of the world, in order that it may become a center in which the Jewish people as a whole may take, on grounds of religion and race, an interest and pride... The independent State should be one in which Arabs and Jews share government in such a way as to ensure that the essential interests of each community are safeguarded. Jewish immigration during the next five years will be at a rate which, if economic absorptive capacity permits, will bring the Jewish population up to approximately one third of the total population of the country... Taking into account the expected natural increase of the Arab and Jewish populations, and the number of illegal Jewish immigrants now in the country, this would allow of the admission, as from the beginning of April this year, of some 75,000 immigrants over the next five years.

Twenty-seven years since the writing of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, as determined Jews fought to bring its promised home for the Jewish people to fruition, the following article about Palestine, titled "Stern Gangsters", was published in Time magazine (13 November 1944):

Palestine's new High Commissioner, Field Marshal Lord Gort, drove ceremonially through Jerusalem's tortuous, tipped-up streets. Crowds shouted (in Hebrew) "Shalom"; (in Arabic) "Salaam." Both words meant peace. But the words were only words: the Holy Land was tense again with trouble. Jews and Arabs had given up open fighting for the duration. But through the Palestine censorship, tightest in the Middle East, trickled tales of Jewish terrorism against the British. Gangs of Jewish gunmen, often disguised in British battle dress, blew up police stations, shot at policemen, had even tried (unsuccessfully) to assassinate Lord Gort's predecessor, High Commissioner Sir Harold MacMichael. The Arabs looked on with the aloofness of camels.

Israel's Freedom Fighters. The troublemakers were not the majority of Jews in Palestine but chiefly a fanatical group of Semite saboteurs who called themselves "Israel's Freedom Fighters," were believed to number about 400 men. Founder of the Fighters was a slender, moody, Lithuanian-born philosophy student named Abraham Stern. When not philosophizing, young Stern wrote poetry, brooded on the unhappy lot of his people. The British Government's White Paper (1939), limiting Jewish immigration into Palestine, convinced Philosopher Stern that the Jews must force concessions from the British at rifle point. He recruited a gang of young Jews from Yemen and ganovim from the ghettos of Poland and Lithuania. They were pledged to "sell their lives dearly." British censorship blanketed many of their achievements. But enough stories of arson, murder and destruction seeped through to show that the Stern gang had succeeded in combining effective sabotage with an ability to evade capture in one of the most closely policed countries in the world. In 1942 the police killed Stern. But his followers continued to enrage the British and outrage responsible Jews. The British placed a $4,000 price on the gang leaders' heads.

Avraham Stern was immortalized
on an Israeli postage stamp in 1978

Anchorites and Dynamite. Then, to augment the Jewish terrorists, there arrived a surprising ally—the Nazis. Three Luftwaffe officers parachuted by night, probably from Crete, into the stony wilderness west of the Jordan Valley. Their twofold mission: to hamper the British war effort, to discredit the Jewish cause. They were discovered a fortnight ago when Arab urchins reported that a low-flying plane had dropped a bag of British money. In a cave once frequented by medieval anchorites police arrested three husky Germans, confiscated their radio sets, machine guns, explosives, and 14 German-made maps of Palestine.

A few days later British police swooped down on 250 Jewish terrorist suspects, whisked them out of Palestine by plane to an undisclosed destination. As the 27th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, (in which the British Government guaranteed "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people), came and went last week, the air was thick with rumors and recriminations. It looked as if trouble-shooting Lord Gort would soon have plenty of trouble on his hands.

Last week the shooting spread to Cairo. Two civilians, not Egyptians, shot and killed Britain's resident minister in the Middle East, Lord Moyne.

[Avraham Stern was born in Suwałki, Poland, not Lithuania as stated in the Time article. During the First World War his mother fled the Germans with him and his brother David. They found refuge with her sister in Russia. When he was separated from his mother the 13-year-old Avraham earned his keep by carrying river water in Siberia. Eventually he stayed with an uncle in St. Petersburg before walking home to Poland. At the age of 18, Stern immigrated on his own to Palestine.]

12 November 1944

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

Germany

12 November, 1944        1015

My dearest sweetheart –

It’s a gloomy Sunday morning here, gray and drizzly and were I home now I guess I’d be reading the “funnies” and staying indoors. There hasn’t been much of a sick call so far this morning and that’s why I have a little time to write right now. A little later I’ve got to see a couple of civilian patients and by that time it will be noon and time to eat, I suspect.

I have the prospects of a good Sunday dinner, though – roast chicken. The lady of the house where I stay believes I was instrumental in keeping new troops here from moving into her house and moving her out. Actually – I had very little to do with it, dear, but anyway – as I was leaving the place this a.m. – she called me and showed me a chicken about to be roasted and told me it was for me. When it’s done – I’ll bring it over to the Dispensary where a few of us will make short work of it. One of the boys will make some French fries – we have bread, butter and mustard, I believe – so you see, darling, it’s not so tough in the E.T.O.

After dinner – rain or cold – I must take some of my men and myself to some showers. That’s turning out to be quite an ordeal in this weather – but if we don’t clean up soon the Board of Health will be after us. I’m having no trouble with my laundry and haven’t had to do my own since way back in France, I guess.

We got no mail yesterday p.m. and what with Saturday night and all – I could have felt a bit blue, but we went over to the Colonel’s and played some Bridge and had a few drinks. The Colonel had some gin and some grapefruit juice – and the two combine will, as you probably know, dear. Incidentally, the Colonel was telling us of a gin drink they used to make in the Philippines when he was there: 9 parts gin, 3 parts Grenadine, 1 part lime-juice; sounds like poison to me and must be stronger than the Hooks’ original – “Purple Jesus” – By the way, dear, did you see the picture “First Comes Courage”? We saw it recently, although I imagine it must be over a year old. Merle Oberon and Brian Aherne were in it. Anyway there was one scene in it which showed the Hooks’ toast just as we used to do it at home in the good old days. And when will those good old days come again, I wonder? Can this life of ours continue to be wasted indefinitely? No matter how slow things seem to be going now – I still think that the over-all picture is good and that it can’t be so very much longer from here in. I know I don’t often talk about things like that – because idle speculation only leads to disappointment. But at some time or other, there’s bound to be a saturation point and I’m betting it will be less far off than seems possible right now. Remember, again, sweetheart, that that is my own opinion and no one else’s. We are allowed to express our own opinion only, anyway.

Say – this would have been a good year for me to be home to help you celebrate your Birthday, darling. I have no calendar here – but it seems to me that your Birthday falls on Thanksgiving, or vice versa. I’d give a lot to be back and spend the day with you – but I’ll be there in Spirit anyway. Chalk up another one that we have to make up, sweetheart. We’ve got quite a string of them now, but it makes no difference, dear, because when I’m back and married to you – every day will be a Holiday and every day will call for a Celebration.

All for now – Sweetheart, love to the folks – and

All my deepest love

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about More from General Hodges

The snapshots that follow were taken from Normandy to Victory: The War Diary of General Courtney H. Hodges & the First U.S. Army, maintained by his aides Major William C. Sylvan and Captain Francis G. Smith Jr.; edited by John T. Greenwood, copyright 2008 by the Association of the United States Army, pp. 172-173.

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

11 November 1944

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

Germany

11 November, 1944       1420

Hello again, darling!

I mean – since yesterday. Armistice Day today and what to do about it – let’s put out the light and go to bed. No, No – on second thought, yes! yes! I guess that, plus the Armistice – will have to wait a while, dear, but it should be worth waiting for. I think the Germans will probably remember this Armistice Day more than we will, unless I’m mistaken.

Last night I had a pretty quiet evening. When I finished my letter writing, I read a little – Time Magazine – and at 2100 I went to my quarters. I listened to the radio for about an hour and then fell asleep. It was a very quiet night – almost ominously so – and I found myself awakening at 0400 for no apparent reason; I guess I just wasn’t tired. I slept a total of about another hour between then and 0745 and then I got up. This a.m. I went out to A Battery again and returned here at 1100 and took care of a couple of patients. Our noon meal was delayed awhile due to a couple of minor incidents, but we finally got it. This afternoon I’d like to see a snappy football game, but instead I’ll stick around the Dispensary, darling, and write you. Now don’t pout, dear, I did not say I’d rather go to a game than write you. I guess you know dear that I love to write you more than anything else I do of a day – except possibly to read your letters – and I sure love that.

So Bea got married – and you cried, darling. If you want to cry at ours – well, you can – but I’m willing to bet I’ll have you laughing most of the time. This war has been a serious one, on the whole, dear – and it still is, for that matter. I haven’t been serious all of the time – but I owe my mind and myself a lot more gaiety then I’ve had in recent months. Therefore I’m warning you, sweetheart, I’m going to take it out on you. I like the way you plan on being my wife and how we’ll get along. I’m glad you feel you’ll be a devoted one, too; I’m sure you will be, and rest assured, dear, I won’t take advantage of you. How could I and still love you? And I do love you.

Your news of Irving and his illness was the first I had heard of it. I haven’t written to ask the folks about it because they’d worry over the fact that I might be worrying. Irving had had 2 or 3 attacks of angina pectoris, bad enough to have warranted having his heart checked with an electrocardiagram. When I read your first statement about his being taken to the hospital, I was really concerned, dear, because a coronary attack often simulates a gall-bladder attack, and vice versa; and I know Irv has been working quite strenuously. I was put at ease, though, when you wrote that he had returned home the next day – because had it been his heart, he would never have been allowed home so soon, as you know – of course. I hope he takes care of himself.

It’s swell of you to be so considerate about my mother, darling, and you do understand her. I could see that when you wrote about not wanting to call her the day Lawrence left because it might make her cry. She’s so darned sensitive; I wish there were some medicine available to make her a little less so; she’d be much better off, but I guess you can’t change her. I hope Law gets into the habit of jotting home a note frequently. It will make her feel a whole lot better.

What a question you ask – am I glad we became engaged? You ought to be spanked for even thinking it, darling. You know how happy it made me – and how happy it has kept me. I’ve told you before dear and I’ll tell you again; I consider myself the luckiest guy around – being engaged to you; you just can’t possibly realize what it has meant to me. I’ve been blue and down in the dumps a good bit – I suppose – but always I can see a silver lining when I realize that after all – regardless of anything else – I have you to come back to. That always changes the whole picture and I can then damn the Army, damn Army medicine – and feel that with you to help me – I’ll be able to tackle our future – one way or the other – after the war. Without that thought, sweetheart, believe me when I say it – this war and my set-up in it, would be completely unbearable. You – and only you, dear, make all the difference in the world.

That’s all for now, darling, I’ll have to take care of a couple of things before chow. Regards and love to the folks; Pete – whom I saw yesterday – sends his best regards, too – by the way. So long until tomorrow, dear –

All my everlasting love,

Greg.

* TIDBIT *

Armistice Day 1944

From the National Archives and Records Administration's Series: Motion Picture Films from "United News" Newsreels, compiled 1942 - 1945, comes this video.

10 November 1944

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

Germany

10 November, 1944       1910

Dearest darling Wilma –

Well – after chasing around another day, here I am free for awhile and trying to relax by writing you, dear. It seems as if I’ve been jumping around quite a bit the past 36 hours or so, but I haven’t really traveled very far at all. I was again at A battery today and once more I didn’t get going until fairly late in the a.m. due to sick call and civilian patients. The latter are really keeping me busy, dear, and I’m seeing everything from impetigo and eczema to streptococcic sore throats and the hives. It’s welcome, for a change, too – and I’m beginning to feel like a doctor once again. But it’s odd how the minute you start practicing – so soon do you start doing night work. Last night I got into bed a little after 2100, listened to a program and a half and then started to drop off to sleep when someone began to ‘bang’ at the door, and sure enough it was a call for me. My first reaction is “the hell with them,” but dammit – I weaken right away. So – I dressed and went out and what a lousy night it was! I saw a woman who had had a severe chill and with no apparent cause; temp and pulse were normal and yet she didn’t look quite right. By the time I was through asking her questions, examining her and then getting some medicine for her – it was just after midnite, darling. Now – see what you’re in for? And I don’t even get paid for it, either – although my patients have given me all the butter and eggs I can possible eat. My ‘mother and baby’ – by the way – are doing fine and today I saw my name as the delivering doctor – on a German Birth Certificate. The boy will be named – you guessed it dear – Fritz.

I got one letter from Lawrence, today, the only letter I received. He wrote me all about his set-up and it sounded really good. I wish it could be longer than 7 weeks. I just happened to realize that a good friend of mine – a former 438th officer – and now a Capt in the Medical Administrative Corps – is at that hospital and I must write Lawrence to look him up. You were right in remarking in one of your letters that Law is a hard person to know; he is that; – but when you know him, you can’t help liking him because he’s as straightforward and honest as they come. As for the similarity in voice and manner between us, I don’t know. Off hand I’d say he’s more of a gentleman than I am.

So if we were married, dear, you’d know how to track me down, eh? I guess there’s no sense then in trying to dodge you, darling. You’d only track me down anyway; I surrender dear! I was glad to read also that you find my stationery clean, sweetheart. It’s sometimes so darned dark here that I can’t see what a sheet of paper looks like when I’ve written on it; I’ve never noticed the ‘grayness’ of your paper, though. And I’m glad to read that your mind is thinking along the right lines, too, e.g. thinking and planning where those English prints would go on a wall. I got 3 swell prints, unframed, in France; I don’t remember whether I ever told you about them or not, darling. I’ve got them in a portfolio and never found a suitable way of sending them home. They’re not very much, anyway, merely a souvenir from Carentan. There are two small outdoor scenes and one – the Cathedral at Rouen – as I remember it; I’ll try to hold onto them.

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE
 

Well, Sweetheart, I’ll stop now, write home and also write Lawrence. Then I have to censor some mail and check a few records in preparation for tomorrow’s reports. So again, dear, accept my deepest and sincerest love, be well, give my regards to the folks and continue to be as sweet as you are. For now, so long – and remember – my love is

Yours for always

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about the Explosion of the USS Mount Hood

Ammunition Ship USS Mount Hood (AE-11) was the lead ship of her class of ammunition ships for the United States Navy in World War II. Originally named Marco Polo, she was a cargo ship built under Maritime Commission contract. She was renamed Mount Hood on 10 November 1943, the first ship named after Mount Hood, a volcano in the Cascade Range in Oregon. Exactly one year after being renamed she was gone.

Launched on 28 November 1943, she was commissioned on 1 July 1944, with Harold A. Turner in command. Following an abbreviated fitting out and shakedown period in the Chesapeake Bay area, ammunition ship Mount Hood reported for duty on 5 August 1944. Assigned to carry her vital cargoes to the Pacific, she put into Norfolk, where her holds were loaded. On 21 August, she departed for the Panama Canal, transited that system of locks and lakes on the 27th, and continued on, independently, toward what would be her ultimate destination, Manus, the largest island in the Admiralty Islands, Papua, New Guinea. She arrived in Seeadler Harbor, 22 September, and commenced dispensing ammunition and explosives to ships preparing for the Philippine offensive.

USS Mount Hood

At 08:30, 10 November 1944, a party consisting of the communications officer, Lieutenant Lester H. Wallace, and 17 men left the ship and headed for shore. At 08:55, while walking on the beach, they saw a flash from the harbor, followed by two quick explosions. Scrambling into their boat, they headed back to their ship, only to turn around again shortly thereafter as "There was nothing but debris all around..."

USS Mount Hood Explosion

Mount Hood, anchored in about 35 feet (11 m) of water, had exploded with an estimated 3,800 tons of ordnance material on board including bombs, projectiles, fixed ammunition, rockets, both bodies and motors, smokeless powder, aerial depth bombs, and nose fuses. Torpex-loaded depth bombs were apparently coming aboard. The initial explosion caused flame and smoke to shoot up from amidships to more than masthead height. Within seconds, the bulk of her cargo detonated with a more intense explosion. Mushrooming smoke rose to 7,000 feet (2,100m), obscuring the ship and the surrounding area for a radius of approximately 500 yards (500m). Mount Hood's former position was revealed by a trench in the ocean floor 1,000 feet (300m) long, 200 feet (60m) wide, and 30 to 40 feet (9m to 12m) deep.

The largest remaining piece of the hull was found in the trench and measured no bigger than 16 by 10 feet (5m by 3m). No other remains of Mount Hood were found except fragments of metal which had struck other ships in the harbor and a few tattered pages of a signal notebook found floating in the water several hundred yards away. No human remains were recovered of the 350 men aboard Mount Hood or small boats loading alongside at the time of the explosion. The only survivors from the Mount Hood crew were the junior officer and five enlisted men who had left the ship a short time before the explosion. Two of the crew were being transferred to the base brig for trial by court martial; and the remainder of the party were picking up mail at the base post office. Charges against the prisoners were dropped following the explosion.

USS Mount Hood Cemetery in Manus

The concussion and metal fragments hurled from the ship also caused casualties and damage to ships and small craft within 2,000 yards (1,800m). The repair ship Mindanao, which was broadside-on to the blast, was the most seriously damaged. All personnel topside on Mindanao were killed outright, and dozens of men were killed or wounded below decks as numerous heavy fragments from Mount Hood penetrated the side plating. 82 of Mindanao's crew died. The damage to other vessels required more than 100,000 man-hours to repair, while 22 small boats and landing craft were sunk, destroyed, or damaged beyond repair; 371 sailors were injured from all ships in the harbor. After only a little over four months' service, Mount Hood was struck from the Naval Register on 11 December 1944.

Damage to USS Mindanao after USS Hood exploded

Although some eye-witnesses reported seeing a Japanese sub send a torpedo and some reported seeing a small Japanese plane drop a bomb, the Navy's official report following an investigation into the explosion and the reasons for it pointed to the following unsafe procedures and practices:

(A) That ammunition was being roughly handled in all parts of the ship.
(B) That boosters, fuses and detonators were stowed together in one hold in a manner contrary to regulations covering the transportation of military explosives.
(C) That broken rockets from which some powder was spilled had been stowed in two of the holds.
(D) That safety regulations for the handling of ammunition were not posted in conspicuous places throughout the ship and there was a general lack of instructions to the crew in safety measures.
(E) That pyrotechnics and napalm gel incendiaries were stowed in an open wood and tar-paper hut on deck under hazardous conditions near the hatch to Number Four hold.
(F) That there was evidence that fuzes, detonators and other ammunition were accepted on board which were definitely defective and should have been destroyed or disposed of by dumping in deep water.
(G) That fire hoses were not laid out. There was evidence that fire drills were infrequently held.
(H) That there was a lack of enforcing the prohibition of smoking in small boats alongside the ammunition vessel.

While "(G)" was certainly a breach in procedures, it is unlikely that fire hoses or previous drills could have saved the lives of those on board.

09 November 1944

V-MAIL

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

Germany

9 November, 1944

Hello darling –

It’s 1700 and I’ve just got back from a busy day visiting one of our batteries. I’d no sooner go out when I’d get a call to come back to see a patient; that happened twice; then I got a call to come back because some officers were looking over the house where I was billeted with a view to moving in. So I dashed back again to protect my rights – and succeeded. Everyone is trying to get indoors – and you practically have to stand guard – not to lose your ‘home’. I went back to the Battery again, but by this time I had lost all interest in inspecting and I headed back here. And my spirits picked up tremendously when I read your letter of the 26th, sweetheart. Your letters sure do give me a lift, dear, – and I thought you knew that. I love what you write, how you write it – and I guess – everything else about you. Will stop for now and try to write more tomorrow. Love to the folks – and so long for now.

All my deepest love

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about What General Hodges was Writing

The snapshots that follow were taken from Normandy to Victory: The War Diary of General Courtney H. Hodges & the First U.S. Army, maintained by his aides Major William C. Sylvan and Captain Francis G. Smith Jr.; edited by John T. Greenwood, copyright 2008 by the Association of the United States Army, pp. 168-170.

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

08 November 1944

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

Germany

8 November, 1944       1040

Good Morning, darling!

Well – we’ve been getting short election returns on the hour since 0700 this morning and it looks as if our man made it. The last flash at 1000 conceded 36 states to Roosevelt and said that Dewey had already congratulated the President. I’m glad that all that is over with because I have a suspicion we’ll really get going now, dear. I think the majority of the soldiers wanted to see Roosevelt re-elected whether they like him or not.

Yesterday was another quiet day here and I took care of routine duties most of the day. In case you’re not sure what those are, sweetheart, I’ll tell you. First of all – they are never the same. On the whole, though, when I am around it means supervising sick call, answering the phone a dozen times in the morning, telling this battery commander or that what is wrong with a soldier or where an injured soldier has been evacuated. Before I know it – it’s noon. In the p.m. I very often speak with the Colonel about some situation or other in one of the Batteries – concerning sanitation health and morale. For some reason or other he thinks I’m a good judge of the latter and he often asks me about that. In the late p.m. our daily S-2 report comes in and we study that quite carefully because it has a great deal of information on it these days. Then it is supper time and after that – either Bridge or a little reading. Last nite I read a Medical Journal and then got to bed early. My routine duties were never so organized as they have been the past several weeks – but that’s because we haven’t been tearing cross-country for some time, pretty soon though – I hope, dear.

We got no mail again yesterday and it seems as if they throw in a few bags here and there just to keep the boys satisfied. I’ve been rather fortunate, darling, but some of the other boys haven’t had a letter in days. I was sorry to read that Lois hadn’t heard from her husband in some time; undoubtedly she has by now – but they had some tough fighting down around where her husband has been – although I guess it’s tough everywhere.

Today marks one year since we left Camp Edwards and I’ll never forget how I hated to get on that train. We had turned in all our excess equipment, we had combat clothes and we knew that this time it was no false alarm; what I knew or felt more keenly was the fact I was leaving the vicinity of Boston, of home – of those I loved and I was truly unhappy. You and I were in – shall I say an awkward stage? I think we both knew then that we wanted each other – but time had run out too fast for us. It drizzled all the way down to New York and it was raining when we got off the train. Then with full packs and all, we had to hike about 2½ miles – uphill. We were a sad lot when we arrived. And then we really had a hectic week. We gave shots, did examinations, filled out blanks etc. We had that one pass to N. York and that was that. I sure wouldn’t like to go through all that again, believe me, darling – it was unpleasant. I’ll be very much interested in what my letters sounded like. All was a mess of contradictions and rumors; we could or could not do this; we could write this and not that; we couldn’t telephone, telegraph etc. I guess I broke about every rule in the Army books – but I was sure beginning to miss you, darling, and I haven’t stopped missing you for one moment since – and darling – I won’t stop missing you until that day I take you in my arms and say I’m back for good. All for now, dear, love to the folks and

All my sincerest love –

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about the 1944 Election Results

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As printed in The Miami Times on 8 November 1944:



The Facts

Nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt Thomas E. Dewey Party Democratic Republican Home state New York New York Running mate Harry S. Truman John W. Bricker Electoral vote 432 99 States carried 36 12 Popular vote 25,612,916 22,017,929 Percentage 53.4% 45.9%

Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Dewey/Bricker, Blue denotes those won by Roosevelt/Truman. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.