Log of the USS BLESSMAN 12 May 1944

The 5th Atlantic cruise of the BLESSMAN was her longest and most eventful. She departed New York, 12 May 1944, on what appeared to be another routine escort assignment and arrived at the other end of the "milk run", Londonderry, on May 23, 1944. On 27, May she arrived in Belfast Harbor with her sister ships, RICH, BATES and AMESBURY. Here, at anchor, was the major part of the United Nations naval power available in the Atlantic. Ships of all types from the United States, Great Britain, France, Norway and the Netherlands were present. When the BLESSMAN joined this armada, all hands knew that they were to take part in the invasion of Western






We were used to looking out and seeing open water and maybe a ship or twoThe Harbor was full of ships all manned and ready to sail. We were in the mddle of the largest navel operation in the history of warfare at sea. It was an exciting occasion.

Log of the USS BLESSMAN 9 January 1944

LOG:
There followed three more such trips during which no BLESSMAN convoy ship was molested by the German U-Boat packs which were then out in full force in the Atlantic.

A chronological summary of these cruises follows:

The second cruise departed New York, 9 January 1944, arrived Belfast, Northern Ireland, 19 January, departed Belfast 27 January 1944, and arrived in New York, 8 February 1944.

The third cruise departed New York, 28 January 1944, arrived Swanson Wales, 9 March 1944, departed Swanson, March, 13 March 1944, and arrived New York, 26 March 1944.

The fourth cruise departed New York, 6 April 1944, arrived Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 15 April 1944, departing Londonderry 22 April 1944, arrived New York 26 April , arrived New York, 1, May 1944.

MY COMMENTS:
We were seasoned sailors by now and always looked forward to tying up at some port for liberty ashore. Londonderry was a friendly place with lots of girls, lots of whiskey and a dance on Saturday evenings. The houses were small with no central heating. The houses I was invited into were neat and clean. In the evening the open fireplaces were the part of the house everyone gathered, because the rest of the house was cold.

At the Londonderry dock, where six of seven DEs were tied one to the other each ship had a deck watch, where upon returning to our ship, we would be required to salute and request permission to board, cross the deck of that ship and repeat the salute and request at the next ship. Eventually we found our ship and our bunk where we could dream of our next liberty and the Londonderry girls we left behind.

On one cruise we were lucky enough to be the first ship tied to the Londonderry Dock. One of my shipmates, George, seaman first class, had bought an unopened bottle of vodka that he hoped to smuggle past the desk watch. He asked me for my help. The plan was for me to go aboard first, walk to a part of the deck where we would be out of sight of the watch and he would throw me the bottle from the dock. He threw short and the bottle smashed into many pieces against the side of the ship. We cried over the loss of the Vodka. We climbed into our bunks complaining that war was hell.

Log of the USS BLESSMAN 8 November 1943

LOG:
On 8 November the BLESSMAN returned to the Boston Navy Yard for post shakedown repairs which were completed on 15 November when she departed for New York. She arrived in the New York Navy Yard the next day to await her first assignment. On 20 November 1943, she sailed from New York as part of Escort Division 19, to escort a fast troop convoy to the United Kingdom. Ten days later after having guided the Convoy to the Irish Sea, the BLESSMAN tied up at the USS Naval operating Base, Londonderry, Northern Ireland. On 8 December she departed Londoner to escort another fast transport group to the United States, arriving in New York 20 December 1943.

MY COMMENTS:
We were really in rough seas during our shake down cruise in the north Atlantic. After we set sail from Bermuda, most of the green crew was sea sick. There was no way all the sick sailors could be excused from duty because the ship had to be manned one way of another. After a couple of days at sea we began to feel a little bit better. However, one of the 3rd class firemen didn't get over his sea sickness. He stood his watch carrying a coffee can to puke in and when he wasn't moving, he sat on the can. As long as he was at sea, he was miserably sick. They made him take one more trip to make sure he wasn't faking and then gave him a job on dry land for the duration. Even our chief Machinist Mate was sick for a couple of days, but his problem could have been a hang over. As the ship was put through its maneuvers, the crew gradually began to work together as a unit and there was much less shouting. We had come aboard as land lubbers and were now genuine sailors. We began to take pride in being a sailor of our ship, the USS BLESSMAN.

Log of the USS BLESSMAN 19 September 1943

LOG:
The USS Blessman [DE 69-APD 48], Destroyer transport, was built and commissioned as a destroyer escort, DE 69, at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Yards in Hingham, Massachusetts at 1500 on 19 September 1943. The ship was placed in commission by Admiral H T Smith, USN, and delivered to Lieutenant Commander Joseph A. Gillis, USNR, the ships first commanding officer, who had as his executive officer, Lt,[jg] Philip Leboutillier, Jr. USNR.

Lieutenant Edward Martin Blessman USN, class of 1931, gave his life to his country and his name to the vessel. Lieutenant Blessman was serving aboard the USS Marblehead as naval aviator when he was killed in action during the battle of the Java Sea in action against Japanese forces. His wife, Helen Malloy Blessman, was the sponsor for the ship which bears his name.
After fitting out at the Boston Navy Yard and successfully completing her acceptance trials in Massachusetts Bay, the BLESSMAN was ready for her shakedown cruise. On 9 October 1943, the BLESSMAN departed Boston for Bermuda and arrived 11 October. Then began the intensive shakedown training which was to whip the ship into fighting shape. Days of gunnery, anti-submarine, engineering and seamanship exercises were necessary to transform the eighty percent green crew into an efficient operating unit. This period ended when the BLESSMAN successfully passed a departure inspection and shoved off for Boston on 5 November.

MY COMMENTS:
The BLESSMAN was still under construction still on her skids when I was assigned to her. In the shipyards she was lined up with several DEs in various stages of completion. I had just completed refrigeration school at Syracuse, New York, and with my new rating of Machinist Mate 1st class, I would be in charge of the refrigeration system on the BLESSMAN after she was commissioned. I was a dry land sailor who had never been on an ocean going boat. My training so far had been boot camp at the Great Lakes Training Station and machinist mate school in Lawrence Kansas. I didn't have any idea if I would be sea sick on a rolling ship at sea.

Boston in the summertime is a beautiful city with many historic sights. I bunked in a building in Boston and reported to the BLESSMAN every morning to stand my watch. There wasn't much to do but stand fire watch for the welders and watch how the craftsmen did their work. I stood by while the refrigeration equipment was installed and the two meat and vegetable rooms were lined with metal sheathing. All the joints of the metal sheathing were soldered to prevent leakage of cold air. The motors and compressors were tested and any problems taken care of. The craftsmen were competent and did their work well. As the time for completion of the work neared, the sense of urgency increased and the ship was crawling with workmen. Finally we were ready for inspection and were slid off the skids into Boston Harbor. Most of the crew, including myself, had never been to sea before. I was in charge of #1 engine room with 4 of 5 men under me. We were all green seamen and had to learn what we were doing by trial and error. We steamed around in the harbor, got used to the rolling decks and gradually learned to keep our balance.

March 31, 1944

Dear Ronnie,

Today was much like yesterday -- -- waiting for something to happen. We refueled today and so did most of the other ships, so it looks as though the time for leaving is drawing pretty close. Most of the fellows feel that as long will we are in the invasion the sooner we get started the better, because then it will be over the sooner. I feel that way about it myself.

I didn't do very much all day except turn into a tin smith and make a sheet-metal cover for my storeroom's inventory list. We hung the list on the storeroom bulkhead so everyone would have access to it. The engineering officer wanted to know where we had gotten the hinge for the Cover because there wasn't supposed to be any such hinges left aboard. I told him we just found it.

I had the 12 to 4 watch and had to light off and secured the plant for fueling purposes. I started lighting off and a half hour later we were on their way. That's the best time we've ever made in getting the engine room ready for steaming. Someone was at fault though, because we are supposed to have at least an hour to warm up the plant. About two hours later we were finished fueling and received the order to secure. I got the plant secured fast because by that time we were off watch and doing it on our own time.

All my love,

Clyde

Preparing for D day

Since I was on a destroyer escort our letters were not highly censored.

May 28, 1944, Sunday.

Dear Ronnie,

It is a beautiful warm calm day here in the Belfast Harbour, but it seems that this is liable to be what they call the calm before the storm. The harbor is full of warships and they say that every port in Scotland and England is the same way. We have anchored close to us three battleships-the Texas, Arkansas, and the Nevada, four cruisers-the Quincy, the Marblehead, the Tuscaloosa, and the Wichita. In addition there are 21 destroyers and two destroyer escorts besides us. Besides that the limey's have four ships and the French a couple of ships. If every Great Britain port is as crowded with ships as this place is, it all adds up to one hell of a lot of ships and guns men.

May 29, 1944, Monday.

I stopped writing to go to a show. There were two pretty good pictures of which I enjoyed the first, "Good Morning Judge," best. It was a comedy with a theme of business woman falls in love and stops being a business woman. The second picture was a murder thriller and had a few good points, such as plenty of pretty girls.

A liberty party went ashore today with the choice of either Belfast or Bangor to be landed at. We are in Bangor Harbor, but both towns face the banks of this harbor. One fellow was going to see if he can send a telegram for me and a couple more said they would try to find a souvenir of some kind for me. Maybe I will get something out of the deal. Time will tell. The boys have to ride ashore in a liberty boat and liberty expires at 10 PM.

An electrician standing watch with me last night is one of the boys I went to boot camp with. He was telling me about the time he spent in Great Lakes and Portsmouth Naval prisons since I saw him last. He went over the hill for 11 days and spent 11 months behind bars because of it. The reason he went over the hill was because he got lonesome for his girlfriend. Kenny Kalbfresh wrote me that he got himself in a little jam out on the West Coast. He got so drunk assure that he overstayed his liberty and his to ship. He did some brig time, he says, and is now aboard a different ship.

I just finished washing all my clothes. It was a good hour's work getting all the dirt out. I'm glad to say the the clothes are now drying on our engine room wash line. Have to wash about once a week because if I leave them go any longer than that I don't have any clean clothes to wear.

We will be here probably another two or three days from the looks of things. We've been getting instructions in first aid and have been warned to get our life belts in shape to use. Our steaming watches are changed so that as soon as we get underway, we will be standing four on and four off. That's the condition between war cruising and general quarters, and by standing watches like that all guns will be manned if it would be necessary to call us to general quarters at the first show of trouble. I still stand my watch in the aft engine room, but no longer have charge of the watch. I'm only a second class and they are now two first class now in charge.

Love,
Clyde

August 20, 1998, Thursday

After breakfast a hotel taxi took me to the train station. The man was waiting with a cart. I let him look my bags on the card and showed him my train ticket. He took me to the right platform and stayed there until my Kraków train arrived. He carried my bags onto the correct car and to my reserved seat. I gave him a good tip. An airport it's easy to get directions from an English person but had a bus or train station there was almost no one spoke English.

The compartment I was in had five Polish people and myself. I asked the girl next to me if she was going to Kraków. She could speak a few English words and said, “yes.” We she got off so did I. The landscape was flat or slightly rolling. Or were small villages on the way. The land was producing all types of grain and produce and there were fruit orchards. The Polish farmers were putting their acreage to good use.

At the Kraków train platform a man wanted to take my bag. I wasn't sure whether he was supporter or taxi driver. He carried my bag up and down steps to the taxi stand. A taxi took me to the form hotel on the banks of the river across from the city center.

The hotel was modern, new, and busy. My room was very nice with a nice bathroom and a television with a couple of English-speaking stations. TNN had the latest world news.

The concierge told me what number bus could get me to old town. I joined a throng of sightseers and shoppers. One could spend many hours wandering about the shops. The one shop a woman said, “if you need help I speaks Polish and English.” She lived in Chicago and after her husband died she took her nine-year-old son back to her homeland. She had been born and raised in Kraków and thought it was nice to visit the place where she was born and raised. She would be glad to get back to the conveniences of America.