WWII Pvt. William Carroll Sends Interesting Letter

CARROLL

Posted By: LInda H Meyers (email)
Date: 11/12/2008 at 21:50:49

one of the local newspapers published this letter.

Pvt. William Carroll Sends Interesting Letter--
Excerpts from a letter written Dec. 16 by Pvt. William Carroll, U. S. Army, to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Carroll, are as follows:
"We left New York on the 29th of November aboard the U.S.S. General Richardson. There were 4991 enlisted men, 200 officers and 70 WACS on board. The General Richardson is quite a ship, 700 feet long and has five decks. We were tugged by two tug boats out to deep water where the ship could operate on its own power. It was snowing hard but we stayed on the top deck so we could see the Statue of Liberty. It was quite a sight."
"After two days and nights at sea, we got into a bad storm, and did the ship ever pitch and toss! I thought many times that it would upset. When we lay in bed our feet would be two feet higher than our heads, or the ship would tip and we would roll onto the floor. We had been sailing for 6 consecutive days. Our ship received a radiogram that a big ship had broken down near by and that we were to tow it back to New York, but just as we were coming along side, another ship, enroute to New York, arrived and took the ship in distress along."
"After another day of sailing we were notified that a big tanker had blown up and broken in two. We were again in a bad storm and it was several hours before we found it. Half of it had sunk and most of the crew had been lost. A big Navy tug came to help, but it developed engine trouble, so we stood by for another day. When the tug finally got going, we sailed on. At times it looked as if it would sink, all we could see was the huge smoke stack."
We saw the rock of Gibralter and the shores of Spain and Africa as we entered the Mediterranean Sea. We docked at Naples, Italy, Dec. 10. We saw what remains of the Italian Navy, in the harbor. One large battle ship which had been hit by a bomb, was lying on its side."
Pvt. William Carroll, 37690240
220th Q. M. S-R Co.
BD APO 782
Care P.M. New York City.