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The following story appears courtesy of and with thanks to Walter and Bill McElvain.

Sunday, May 30 ......Here is some more history for you. I left Camp Phillips August 20, travelled through Canada to reach Camp Miles Standish's sandy soil on the 23rd. I thoroughly enjoyed my pass to Boston and Providence. I can say that Boston is the most interesting city I have ever seen. I hope to go there again. We left Standish, where we had been hastily taught how to abandon ship, what to do if captured, the importance of security, and so forth. On Sept. 4, went on board ship in Boston Harbor about noon to the strains of a blaring band and while Red Cross gals stuffed us with coffee and doughnuts. The ship was the U.S.S. General William Gordon, a new vessel on her maiden voyage. She was a slick number and had the newest radar equipment. We pulled out of Boston Harbor in the wee hours of Sept. 5 and soon became part of the greatest convoy sent across the Atlantic up until that time. We were cramped for space on the ship and literally fought for space like fleas on a dog's back. Our entire company was quartered in the last hold, at the bottom of the ship, and would never had made it had the ship gone down. We were fed two light meals a day. Ours usually came at about 9:30 am and 7:30 pm. There was a theatre on board. The convoy was attacked by subs, U-boats, on two or three occasions, but we lost no ships or personnel. We sailed past the hills of England into the English Channel and finally into the port of Cherbourg on Sept. 15. The latter is not a deep water port, so we had to leave the ship a few miles out and pack about 5,000 men on a barge intended to accomodate about 2,500. The first glimpse of the green, low hills of France was good after 10 days at sea. We were quickly placed on G.I. trucks and whisked through the narrow city streets and into the country beyond, passing through Valognes and Montebourg before reaching our bivouac near the village of St. Germain de Tournebuf........... W. W.

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