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UNIDENTIFIED CREWMAN : 1945-1946 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT AND LOGBOOK OF THE FIRST VOYAGES OF THE U.S.S GENERAL H.F. HODGES, AS IT BRINGS TROOPS BACK TO AMERICA, FROM MANY DISPARATE PARTS OF THE WORLD RAVAGED BY THE WORLD WAR

4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. On offer is a diary and logbook of a crewman on the maiden voyage, and many others, of the U.S.S. General H.F. Hodges (AP-144) in 1945 and 1946. The diary begins on April 6, 1945, the day the ‘General H.F. Hodges’ was commissioned. The next day sets the scene for what will come in the rest of the diary: “April 10. [As] a member of the crew I was put in the 2nd division. We loaded and then went to a few other docks. We went out on our shake down. That was various drill and mostly to get aquainted with the ship and the fellows. We went to San Diego and made Liberty. I made one Liberty in Mexico. Boy what a place that was. From there we went back to Frisco. We loaded again.” On May 10th, the ship begins its maiden voyage after taking on troops and a contingent of 42 nurses. Over 3,000 troops were on board for this first trip. THe ship heads west towards Indonesia, in support of the accelerating push toward Japan in the last few months of the War. The author writes of the ship crossing over the equator and the line-crossing ceremony that follows. The voyage seems mostly simple and easy. The author writes of boxing and wrestling to amuse the troops, listening to records and watching movies. At the end of May, the ship arrives in Hollandia, in Indonesia, where the author has some shore leave, “got mail. Had 3 cokes.” Then onto Manila where most of the troops on board departed. The author stays with the ship as it picks up troops returning home and casualties of the war (“some looked good others not too good”) in Tacloban and Biak. The ship sails back for San Francisco on June 18th and the maiden journey ends on July 4th, where the author writes of a huge Independence Day celebration. A few days later, the second voyage begins, as the ship leaves the U.S. for for New York via the Panama Canal (“Sure was a sight to see. They really got things down pat.” The ship leaves New York and departs for Naples on a troop rotation voyage. On August 14th, as the ship is passing through the Strait of Gibraltar, the ship received the news that the war was over. It returned to Boston in late August with passengers from Naples then made two long voyages through the Suez Canal to India bringing home American troops, returning back to America when she reached New York on Christmas Eve. The author writes of leaving Boston, arriving in Port Said, going through the Suez Canal (“It took 10 hours to get through”), arriving in Calcutta (“People live the same. All dirty. The married woman have a red dot between their eyes.”), rounding the Cape of India, going back through the Suez Canal and returning to New York. The second voyage to India goes roughly the same. After the end of the author’s fourth trip, he writes that the ship is moved to Yonkers, New York for repairs. It moves back down to New York City at the end of January, and the author departs on his fifth and last trip with the U.S.S. General H.F. Hodges, going Ceylon and India, continuing by way of the Pacific Islands back to the United States and arriving back in Seattle at the end of March 1946. The ship is decommissioned in April and then “transferred at 0900 to Operating Base” in May. On May 10th the author leaves for St. Louis, presumably his hometown. The last entry of the book comes on May 15, 1946: “At 1530 was Discharged.” The book is in very excellent condition with no dog eared pages, no tears and the cover is clean with 4 firm corners along with a tight spine. There are roughly 150 pages in the whole book, but only the first 27 pages have writing in them, with 14 pages total written in. The handwriting is clean and extremely easy to read throughout and shows no smudging and little fading. The title page reads: “U.S.S. General H.F. Hodges. AP-144. Commissioned 6-April-1945. 50174. Manufactured by the U.S. Printing Office.” On the back page there is a log of the 13 places outside of the United States that the ship docked during the time in which it was commissioned, as well as the dates in which the ship was in that port. The book is in very good condition with no dog eared pages, little sign of any wear or tear and the cover is clean and with a tight spine. Overall. VG. Sample text: “May 19. I was initiated into the Royal Order of the Shellbacks. It is a world wide thing. They go for it in a big way. They dress all up in costumes. You are called up before the judge an he reads your sentence. Then they send you to the paint and you get a paint job. Then to the stock and cut your hair. What a hair cut. From there you are sent to the cleaners. Then they put you in a chair and maybe cut your hair or put oil an grease all over you. Then they throw you back in a tub of salt water and ducked you until you yell shellback. Then you crawl out and they dose you with a hose to help you a little. You are then a Shellback. Before you are called up they make you do all kinds of things. They call you a Pollywog. The ship an men received the Golden Dragon that is for crossing the date line and equator at the same time. We skipped from Sunday to Tuesday.”; “June 6. (Manila). Got 4 hours Liberty. Things sure is a mess. The people are poor as hell. I bought a few things. All of the buildings are blown to pieces or are all shot up.”; “July 4th (San Francisco). We arrived in Frisco at 2300. Anchored out. Tied up at the dock at 0800.All the troops were off by noon. They cried and kissed the ground when they got off. Went back out and anchored. Loaded a few supplies. Made two Liberties. The fellows really spent the money. This was the Maiden Voyage and all went well. Some of the fellow are over the hill. Joe Brock is one. ‘End of Maiden Voyage’”; “Aug. 14. We arrived at the Straight of Gilbralter. On the starboard side was French North Africa. On the port side was Portigual and Spain. You could see the Rock good and plain. Got the news that the war was over at 2400. The fellows really had a big time.”; Aug. 17. We passed the Isle of Capri at 0700. We arrived in Naples, Italy at 0930. We got Liberty. Had a fairly good time. More whores than anything else. Bought a few things. Started loading the Doggies gear. The cities wasn’t bombed too much just along the water front.”; “ Sept. 21. Arrived at Port Said at 1000 in the morning. Took on oil. And at 1700 started through the Canal. It took 10 hours to get through. Suez Town arrived at 0500. Left at 0700 through the Red Sea. I got a few things and best of all some mail.”; “Nov. 29. Arrived in Karachi, India at 1900. Got 3 hrs. Liberty. Loaded the 30th. People live as poor as all the other places.”; “Mar. 2, 1946. Arrived at river. Anchored out. Started up river at 1000. Tied up at 1600. Made Liberty. Saw burning bodies.” (Background: USS General H. F. Hodges (AP-144) was a General G. O. Squier-class transport ship for the U.S. Navy in World War II. The ship was crewed by the U.S. Coast Guard until decommissioning. She was named in honor of U.S. Army general Harry Foote Hodges. She was transferred to the U.S. Army as USAT General H. F. Hodges in 1946. She was launched 3 January 1945 under Maritime Commission contract (MC #711) by Kaiser Co., Inc., Yard 3, Richmond, California; sponsored by Mrs. Hodges Dickson; acquired by the Navy and commissioned 6 April 1945, Comdr. C. H. Hilton, USCG, in command. On 1 March 1950 she was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) as USNS General H. F. Hodges (T-AP-144). She was later sold for commercial operation under the name SS James, before being scrapped in 1979.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Very Good

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