Wide Open Spaces

        The first thing that came to mind for “Wide Open Spaces” was the prairie lands of the upper midwest, where I live. But the more I thought about it, another idea surfaced. What about being at sea? That certainly is also a wide open space, and my father, who served in the US Army during WWII, was transported immense distances at sea during his time overseas. Here is a brief overview of his travels at sea.

When I transcribed my dad’s WWII letters, I never really considered the actual distances that he traveled at sea. He was born and raised in the central mountains of Tennessee, graduated from college with a degree in pharmacy. He enlisted in the US Army in the medical corps, and was stationed in Atlantic City. But in January 1945 his orders required him to leave the US and sail from New York City to “somewhere in France” per his letters. He traveled by ship approximately 3,600 miles in about 14 days.  This Tennessee man was not used to ocean sailing. But all in all he made the journey without too much hardship. And he never got seasick, or so he said.

portion of first letter written from "at sea" 

After about six months in Europe, he then was ordered to ship out to the Philippines. So around August 1, 1945 he boarded the General W. C Langfitt  and sailed from Marseille France to Luzon, Philippines, with a stop at the Panama Canal, a trip that took well over 30 days. I had never before actually looked up the distance, but it was at least 15,000 nautical miles, maybe more. So he sailed across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on this journey.

Navy ship Langfitt

During this month of August 1945, while my dad was on the open seas, the US dropped  two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan. Then on August 14, Japan officially accepted surrender terms. These announcements were made aboard ship. But still his ship continued heading west, his destination not known to him.

Marseille to crossing equator - still on the way to Philippines

After some dreadfully hot and miserable conditions in the Philippines, he was again moved to Nagoya, Japan, as part of the Army of Occupation in October 1945. So this adds another 1600 miles to his sea journeys.

His final sailing occurred in late November 1945, when he and 3,000 other troops set sail to return to the US on the General W. G. Hann. He arrived in Tacoma Washington December 10, 1945, after sailing another 5,000 miles.

cablegram letting mom know not to send any more letters 

In all, he sailed well over 25,00 miles in eleven months, which is more than the circumference of the Earth around the equator.  He certainly got to see and experience a lot of the world, sights and cultures during this time. He even got to partake in the Navy ceremony of crossing the equator. He even has a certificate to commemorate that day. 

I don’t remember Dad ever talking about this particular year in the Army. But of course he did write to Mom throughout his time overseas. They had been married about one year when he shipped out. All the letters that he wrote to her she saved and kept safe. Without those letters I never would have been able to reconstruct his travels that year in 1945. As I write this, it was 80 years ago. So thank you Mom for keeping all of Dad’s letters. They continue to be a blessing and a treasure to our family and me.