Question about Merchant Marine Insignia from WWII

[rebelsher]

Hi - My father, Bill Dickinson, was in the Merchant Marines during WWII. He and other MM in the attached photo have armbands with TSO on them. What does TSO stand for, and what did my father and these men do? Also, he always said he was a Lt. JG. Is that the rank his shoulder insignia shows? Thank you for your help. Sherry H.

 

[KPEngineer]

This is most likely a picture from their training time. With no rank insignia on their right collars and no stripes on the shoulder boards, this is likely a cadet picture from before he was commissioned and promoted to LT jg

The TSO armbands has me stumped, but considering this picture is likely from training it could be a "class picture" of sorts with everyone who held a specific job during training with the armbands used to identify people with that specific job. Kind of like you see the Shore Patrol with SP armbands.

 

[deepdraft1]

Great photo! I would agree with KPEngineer that, due to the lack of stripes on the shoulder boards, this is a pre-commissioning/licensing picture. If I was to take a wild guess I would say the TSO on the armband stands for Training Safety Officer/Observer. It also doesn't look like they're midshipmen/cadets as it appears they are wearing the Merchant Marine officer cap device on their garrison covers.. You have any idea where the photo was taken?

 

[rebelsher]

deepdraft1, the photo was taken in New London, CT. That's where my father went to Merchant Marine school. Here's a picture of his graduation. It appears that the benches in the first photo are the same ones in the graduation photo. I don't know the exact date of either, except that I know he was there in 1944.

 

[rebelsher]

Here are two other photos. Again, I'm not sure of the exact dates. In both, he's wearing a uniform. Not sure if either shows his rank. I don't know enough to know that. The first is a photo with my mother. They were married in 1941.

Daddy supposedly was an engineer. Lt. JG and engineer are all he ever said that he was. He didn't talk about the war. I wish I'd asked questions while he was alive. I do have his wallet with information about each trip he made during WWII, but it's packed away. I know he was in Italy and Belgium as he brought back gifts to my mother including lace. Those are the two places I do remember him or my mother mentioning. I know he was on the S.S. Joseph Medill most of the time.

 

[deepdraft1]

deepdraft1, the photo was taken in New London, CT. That's where my father went to Merchant Marine school. Here's a picture of his graduation. It appears that the benches in the first photo are the same ones in the graduation photo. I don't know the exact date of either, except that I know he was there in 1944.

@rebelsher Your dad went to the Merchant Marine Officers Training School located at Fort Trumbull, CT.. [near New London, CT]. The SS JOSEPH M. MEDILL was a Liberty Ship, built at the Wainwright Shipyard in Panama City Florida and launched in May of 1943. She was scrapped in Baltimore Maryland in 1960.

 

[rebelsher]

deepdraft do either of the last two photos show a rank for my father? BTW, I have a photo of the SS Joseph M. Medill.

As an aside, my father after the war worked as an engineer for a period of time for Marjorie Merriwether-Post Davies. She owned the Sea Cloud. She owned Post Foods and Mar-a-Lago (Pres. Trump's place) was her mansion. I'm not sure if my father ever went there, but I would say it's possible. He spoke of her daughter who was the actress Dina Merrill. Late in life he went on a cruise on the Sea Cloud. They made a very big deal of him on the ship when he was there. I have a large framed photo of it.

 

[deepdraft1]

deepdraft do either of the last two photos show a rank for my father? BTW, I have a photo of the SS Joseph M. Medill.

As an aside, my father after the war worked as an engineer for a period of time for Marjorie Merriwether-Post Davies. She owned the Sea Cloud. She owned Post Foods and Mar-a-Lago (Pres. Trump's place) was her mansion. I'm not sure if my father ever went there, but I would say it's possible. He spoke of her daughter who was the actress Dina Merrill. Late in life he went on a cruise on the Sea Cloud. They made a very big deal of him on the ship when he was there. I have a large framed photo of it.

@rebelsher The best I can determine from your photos is that he was either an Ensign or LTJG. It looks like in the left photo he has a single bar on his collar. Being that it's black and white it's impossible to tell if the bar is silver [LTJG] or gold [Ensign]. I'd love to see the photo of the MEDILL if you wouldn't mind posting it.. That's some great family maritime history you have there.

 

[deepdraft1]

@rebelsher here's the SS JOSEPH M. MEDILL from my Liberty Ship digital files.. As you can see in the photo she was operated by Moore-McCormack Lines.. All her gear is 'flying' [except the 30 and 50 ton Jumbos] and she's pretty 'full and down'..

 

[rebelsher]

deepdraft1 that's the same photo I have of the SS Joseph M. Medill. Thank you. I actually have some wonderful maritime history. A little tidbit.

My grandfather, Rufus Saxton Thompson, was born in 1881 and graduated from Annapolis Naval Academy in 1903. Admiral "Betty" Stark was a classmate and an underclassman was Admiral Nimitz. My grandfather is buried at Arlington and Admiral Stark came to his memorial in 1958, Admiral Nimitz sent his regrets. I remember meeting Admiral Stark and going to his home in San Francisco after returning to California from Virginia. My grandfather's uncle was Brig. General Rufus Saxton, the Union Military Governor of South Carolina during the Civil War. He won a Medal of Honor for the defense of Harpers Ferry.

My grandfather joined the Merchant Marines during WWII and remained in it until 1956. He was in 4 wars: Philippine Insurrection/Spanish American War (on a Summer Cruise and was considered a veteran of it), WWI, WWII and Korea. I have a signed Annapolis Yearbook from 1903.

My uncle, Richard Blaine Thompson, went in the Navy in 1939. He was an armed guard on Liberty Ships during WWII. He was on one of the first ships to arrive in Murmansk, Russia. His fingers were frozen. He had two photos in Life Magazine in 1941 (they don't list his name). The last two photos are him from the magazine.

 

[Devil Doc]

Fascinating

 

[kpmom2013]

Love this history!

 

[Devil Doc]

Love this history!

I like history in general but especially anything related to the sea. The Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education at Piney Point, MD was one of my Rollodex contacts when I was at Military Sealift Command (MSC). I went out there one day and toured their magnificent campus, ate in the chow hall, and steered a ship into San Francisco Bay on the simulator. The HQ building for MSC is now in Norfolk but when I was there at the Washington Navy Yard we had historical artifacts in trophy cases. There were patches and photos like the ones above dating back to early merchant shipping, Liberty and Victory ships, and the predecessor to MSC which was the Military Sea Transportation Service. Hopefully those treasures were packaged up and moved with the rest of the property.

 

[KPEngineer]

This may be the best thread ever!

 

[rebelsher]

Thank you, deepdraft1, Devil Doc, kpmom2013 and KPEngineer for your help and wonderful comments. I'm very proud of my family's military heritage. I just wish I'd known enough to ask past generations questions and thought to ask my father more. Now there is no one left to ask. My generation and younger are all there is. I've been a genealogist since 1980, so I've gathered a lot of information, but there's more I wish I had. I've tried to put together info for my children, grandchildren and two little greats. Hopefully, someday they will be as proud of our family history as I am.

BTW, Devil Doc, I was born in Newport News and we lived in Norfolk before moving to California when I was five. A lot of my maternal family worked at the shipyard, including my father. One of my cousins was Comptroller there. My uncle was the head of the model department. A few of his models are in the Mariners Museum there. A wonderful place my cousins and I loved to visit when I went back to VA. each summer. I particularly loved the scrimshaw and figureheads there.

 

[Devil Doc]

I haven’t been to that museum in a long time. I’ll make a point to go next time I’m in Tidewater.

 

[rebelsher]

Devil Doc, you absolutely should. It's been years since I've been there, not sure I'll ever see it again, but I loved that place. Take care and stay safe.

 

[deepdraft1]

Since we're sharing photos.. here are a couple of tankers my dad sailed on as an oiler back around 1935. The SS TEJON and the SS EMIDIO were both owned by General Petroleum Company and ran on the West Coast.. Both tankers would be considered very small by todays standards as they only had a capacity of around 80,000 barrels. One interesting fact is the EMIDIO was the first US tanker to be torpedoed and lost in World War II. She was torpedoed by by Japanese sub I-17, on 20 December 1941, off Cape Mendocino while enroute from Seattle to San Pedro.

Anyway, my dad ended up leaving the Merchant Marine and joining the Army the following year and he never went back to sea again [except on troopships with the 82nd Airborne Division out to North Africa and then back from Europe].

 

[rebelsher]

deepdraft1, Nice photos and information.

 

[A1Janitor]

This is an awesome thread! Fantastic pics and info.