Burma Star Association - B.C. Chapter

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ERNIE WILLIAMS' MEMORIES

Ernest served in the Merchant Marine from Sept./40 to Aug./45. He signed on in Vancouver and was discharged in Liverpool .

During the intervening years he served on S/S Albertolite, S/S Griffco, S/S Aspen Park , S/S Boniface and O.H.M.S. Blue Ensign and the S/S Arundel Castle . His service took him to the North and South Pacific (but he missed Mary Martin), the Atlantic and most of the seas in between. The ports touched read like an atlas of major deep sea terminals—to name only a few, they included New Orleans, Freemantle, Durban, Trincomalee, Mombassa, Colombo, Calcutta, Rangoon, Akayab and many others.

While serving aboard the Griffco they took part in an operation to supply desperately needed supplies to an isolated U.S. Navy outpost in the Aleutians . On the second day of the operation their naval escort vessel ran aground leaving them with no protection for the eighteen days it took to unload the cargo. The unloading time was a result of extremely heavy seas, and all the time Japanese subs were operating in the area.

In speaking of this operation, Admiral  J.L. Whiting, commander of the U.S. Navy, Alaskan section referred to “the heroism demonstrated by this crew of 30 British Columbians “

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