Patricia's Timeless Connections

Researching:

ABBOTT... AIRD... AQUART... BARTH... BENNETT... BODENSTEIN... CAMPBELL... DANIEL... DEMINE/DAMINE/DAMIAN... DONALDSON... DUNCAN... FRASER... GOULD... LANE... MARTIN... O'REILLY... O'SULLIVAN... OTWAY... PREUDHOMME... ROCHE... ROMNEY... SPORMAN / SPORMANN... STEPHENSON... STEVENSON... STEWART... WALLBRINK... and many more

Why Create This Second Page?

This page has come into being because of an two e-mail messages that I have received in response to the information that I initially put up regarding my dad's journey on the Mt. Vernon.

The first person was Deacon John Welch who told me of his Uncle "Jack" (John P. McMorrow) from whom he inherited a copy of the ship log from WWI which contained the beautiful poem about the torpedoing of the ship by a German sub.

The second person was Curtis Richardson who contacted me and sent a picture of his father. When he said that the rainbow saved his father's life, I was awed. Curtis and his nephew sent me the large picture of the crew below. A beautiful picture it is. Double click on the picture to see the faces.

I hope this page will become a memory port/memoriam for those who served on the ship and for their families.

If you have a crew/group picture of your family member onboard the USS Mt Vernon or/and a picture of the ship, please send it with a description to me and I will load it up to this page.

Poem from the USS Mount Vernon

The poem below was submitted to me by Deacon John Welch of Raynham, MA. It was taken from the book, "War Log of the USS Mount Vernon 'Queen of the Transport Fleet’”, which belonged to his Uncle "Jack" John P. McMorrow who was a baker on the USS Mount Vernon during WWI. Deacon John was given the book after his uncle’s death (about 1967 in Taunton, Mass.) and it is a prized possession. I am very grateful to Deacon John for sharing this very moving poem with us. It is a snapshot in time of the terror and sacrifice of war.

The Honor Role
By Chaplain W.A. Hopkins, U.S.N.

'Twas a clear September morning,
Of the fifth, on Thursday morn;
With the rainbow - sailor's warning -
Arched across the radiant dawn;
And our proud ship swiftly steaming
To the throb of engines' pound,
Seemed to chime in with our dreaming
To the tune of "homeward bound."

All the firemen fain would tarry
On the boat deck in the sun,
'Ere they go below to carry
Rest the mates whose work in done;
But the hour is seven-fifty,
All the "watches" change at eight,
And we see them rise and swiftly
Go below to meet their fate.

For a submarine is lurking
Listening for our engines' throb,
Now the periscope is working
As they plan their hellish job;
Barks our forward gun a warning
Answers back the telltale "wake",
Death the U-boat now is scouring,
With Mount Vernon as its stake.

Comes the swift torpedo wining,
Straight and sure has been their aim;
As our huge transport is swinging
For position in the game;
Fair amidships strikes the warhead
Just beneath the boiler room
Squarely on our center bulkhead,
Hurling firemen to their doom.

Thirty thousand tons of metal
Lifted, twisted, cracked and bent,
Ten feet lower soon we settle
As the water fills the rent,
Dead three dozen loyal brothers,
Shipmates true and heroes bold,
Pride of sweethearts, wives, and mothers
Now adorn the honor roll.

'Ere our ship has ceased to shiver
Depth bombs roll from her stern,
Salvos roar and engines quiver
As the U-boats might we spurn
Every man sticks by his station-
"Stand by till death" is naval law-
Traditions of our mighty nation
Are kept without a flaw.

Soon we circle wide the ocean
Like a crippled bird in flight
While destroyers spread commotion
With the searching depth bombs might;
Then to port our ship is headed,
Listed now and wounded sore,
Off across the war zone dreaded
Back three hundred miles to shore.

Sixteen hours of super-steaming
On one half our boilers power,
Bring us to a light house gleaming
Traveling fourteen knots and hour;
Through a mined and narrow channel,
Dark, and swept by inbound tide,
Water-logged and hard to handle,
Glides our ship to berth inside.

Letters, wireless, orders, cable
Praise our Captain and his Crew
For the work so brave and able
Which has brought us safely through;
But our hearts are bowed in sorrow,
And the praise in tinged with pain
As we view with deepening horror,
Thirty six of our comrades slain.

There's the price and theirs the glory,
Ours the task to "carry-on",
Theirs the right to history's story
Ours to fight till war is won-
Till the sacred right of freedom
And the gleam of freedom's light
Meets and beats the brutal demon
Triumphant in the Right 'ore Might."

Rome Sailor On USS Mt Vernon

Homer Richardson 1895-1969 made 9 round trip crossings of the North Atlantic on the USS Mount Vernon

Curtis Richardson saw my page on the USS Mt Vernon (originally named Kronprinzessin Cecilie) and sent an e-mail message to me. In his message he said, "My father was a sailor on that ship in WW1. He often told me of that fateful day when they were torpedoed. He said he stopped on deck to see the rainbow (reverenced in the poem) on his way to the boiler room to report for duty. The rainbow saved his life..."

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The information contained herein is being made available for the purpose of furthering genealogical information and is not to be sold or reproduced to be sold in any form, electronic or otherwise.

This page was last updated 07/10/05