Mount Vernon (AP 22) - Naval Cruise Book

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Once in a while, the wind blew the wrong direction from the Boston Fish Pier, or fronn the fertilizer plant in Norfolk, but the greater portion of the time, the breezes were from the sea, without the benefit or dis- comfort of having crossed land in the immediate vicinity. Most of the time spent on Atlantic Operations was spent ON the Atlantic, shuttling our troops between Boston, New York City, and Norfolk on the stateside and Liverpool, Naples, and Marseilles over there. Occasionally, the rou- tine was pleasantly interrupted by deviation to another port of call: Glas- gow, Oran, or Gibraltar or by a varied passenger list. Red Cross Workers, en route to the European Theatre joined the ship ' s company in post-victory dances on the sun deck. USO troupes pre- sented their productions for the entertainment of all present. Casualties we carried, supplying them with complete medical service uninterrupted between foreign and home base. Displaced persons we carried to their homelands; prisoners we carried to our land. All foreign ports of call showed physical affects of war and bombings. They revealed, too, the history, architecture, and culture of the people. The troops which stormed the Normandy beachheads D Day were reinforced by men en route to England aboard the Mount Vernon and the other ships under the command of the Naval Transport Service (At- lantic) that day. She became one of the span of ships across the ocean, an important one. Six thousand men a trip guaranteed her importance as a troop carrier. These men embarked at Boston, but they were the men of the Eastern cities and the Western plains, the Northern factories and the Southern hills. The majority of troops and passenger personnel carried expressed their approval or disapproval of the ship verbally. One, an officer of the Italian forces, however, leaped overboard with suicide or escape to a passing ship as his intent. Adroit ship handling by Lieutenant (jg) Kayser and expeditious lowering and operating of the motor whaleboat by Cox- swain Hughes resulted in a successful rescue at sea. Following the orders of Radio Washington, on 26 January 1945, the Mount Vernon altered her course and proceeded through cold fog to stand by a tanker afire at sea. Preparations for boarding with fire gear were completed, but not carried out as the Mount Vernon was ordered relieved by a Coast Guard fire boat. The relief arrived only after all hands aboard were benumbed by cold.

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Nothing compares with BOSTON. As a home port, she reflected her many facets upon the ship. She was Beacon Hill and Back Bay; Scolley Square and East Boston. She was damp fog; she was musical moonlight; she was a sunny afternoon on the Commons, hier music was the sym- phony on the Esplanade or the jive at the Lighthouse. The Statler, Essex House, and Imperial knew when the ship arrived. They missed us when she left. We missed Boston, too. Arrival in Boston 22 May 1944 marked the beginning of the ship ' s Atlantic operations. Summer had not yet arrived in Boston, and the day seemed doubly cool after continued exposure to tropical and southern Pacific climate. Commonwealth Pier was to become the welcome mat and the scene of fond farewells. Boston is a bank in which much of this country ' s historical richness has been stored. One can reflect the pre-Revolutionary Days of the Massa- cre, of Paul Revere ' s ride to destiny, of Redcoats and red blood in the snow. The State House still overlooks the Commons and the antique stores around its base. Paul Revere ' s Home, Old North Church, and the fields of nearby Lexington and Concord lead one into the past, along roads lined with field stone fences, once gun supports but now quietly ivy-covered. One of the quartermasters had not learned of the lifting of the black- out. He distinguished himself and saved the darkness by climbing the hundred foot mast and personally blowing out the light which was burn- ing there. Such action, of course, followed arrival aboard from liberty.