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- "Fresh Start" (Cont'd),
l Peter 2:24, Such An opportunity is not cheap, or free. It was bought with the blood
of men's best friends, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
.. Immediately before us lies the threshold
of a new day. Equipped with the courage and cheerfulness of knowing God's forgiveness
through Christ, we are ready to meet life with victory assured,
Chaplain James L Elder
LAND HO!
Speaking for the Gis aboard ship on this trip home, which is
almost
complete, we'd
like to say thanks to the Captain, the ships crew, and the GI
personnel who have taken care of us. Coming aboard at La Havre we looked her
over, comparing her with the that huge two stacker over on the right
and the
other one just about to come in, we looked her over from the rear and admitted
she had a sma11 stern, was that good? Many muttered her name, some
sort of Indian thing, can't pronounce it everyone said, Jeez
are we going on that tub, said one. Well
just get me home said another, who had started home three months
ago, he'd been on LCIs and LCTs, seen 1ots of stuff from the
early days in Africa, he looked her over well from the pier, she
looks good to me and she is pointed the right way for a change.
There were a lot of comments about how long was it going to take,
someone told me 12 days, another said 8, well there were the usual GI
rumors floating around, every one was happy, we would take our chances, nothing, could
be worse than Lucky Strike [s reference to the camp at La Havre].
Remember the chow there? Line up, column of
fours, then column of twos, then single· file and up the
gang plank. Say this thing isn't so small after a11, she looks good,
damned if they don't have
electric lights most of us have bunks, there are some sleeping on the floor in
one hold but that is the breaks in the Army; we are on our way tonight, what
tomorrow, what the hell, I on board, what is another day. Then came our first
contact with the men who were taking us across 3,000 of the blue and maybe rough
Atlantic. A bunch of kids from New York, New Joisy, look at those plaid
shirt wow!! Were they the other half of the bobby sockers we had heard so
much
about? Well
now after 7 days we call them GI civilians, a good bunch of guys, know their jobs, easy to work with. There are some people on board we never see except up high on the bridge, everyday we hear
they send down the mileage report and the time for the fire drill, but that
is all we know, still we do know they give all the orders to run the ship,
keep up that l?.2 each day. The other day someone interviewed the Captain and
found out some swell things about him, we liked what we read. We are a precious
cargo of high pointers, want to get home safely, and he is just the
man to deliver us, The chow has been worth writing
home about, [illegible] lines no stalls where you stand and eat, |
just the loudspeaker saying, "Clear the mess hall as soon as
you finish
eating", well that was fair enough. What a thrill the first time I saw those bottles
of mustard, catsup, jams and jellies with beau coupe fresh butter, everything
else was just as good.
.. This has been swell trip, and I think it
is unanimous among us that there has been a noticeable lack of CS
[chicken ...t] aboard, what a relief to get away from that. We all want to express our thanks to everyone who had
a hand in the running of the ship,
starting with the Captain down deep into the bottom to those who keep the engines
running day and night. This has been the trip we all have
been waiting for and we might say a little prayer of thanks to those beautiful gals who
welded the pieces
together, and MADAWASKA, you are quite a gal yourself with your small
stern.
DEBARKING •• The SS
MADAWASKA Victory will be abreast
of Ambrose Light between 0200 and 0300 hours Thursday. A pilot will be picked up there,
and the shi1p will continue up the Hudson to
a point 1/2 mile off Irvington, 30 miles north of NYC• ·
... Debarkation upon harbor craft will commence at 0630 hrs Thursday morning, The order
of units debarking will be announced to group lenders, by the
passenger order list.• (Co roster) as each man steps ashore he will
all his first name and middle initial in answer to his last name.
.. We will have a 5 mile ride from the pier
by truck convoy. When we unload from the trucks, we will be
at Camp Shanks.
That is our processing center,
.. Discharge scores as of orders, War Dept. Sept 2 are:
E. H. - 80 points or over.
Co. Officers - 85 points or over.
Field grade officers - 100 points or over.
SEQUENCE OF DEBARKING:
RE 7357-PDX (7th Army Postal Det.)
RE 7371-HPK (Casuals)
RE 3216-KDA (Casuals Dot. 41 groups)
10362-KKK (258 Fin Disb. Sec)
4614-B (POW Det)
Emergency Group (Returnees)
Medical Officers
7351-B (MP Platoon)
7351-D&H (106 QM Co & 424 Inf
Regt.)
BREAKFAST FOR EM - 0200 hrs.
BREAKFAST FOR OFFICERS - 1st 0400
- 2nd 0430
What is Love? A misunderstanding between
two damn fools!
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