398th Bomb Group
Memorial
Association


Troopship Memory

By Ralph Trout
Tail Gunner, 600th Squadron

I finished my tour with the 398th Bomb Group on November 30, 1944, (Merseburg) and was shipped to Liverpool on December 10 for the trip home, supposedly on the Queen Mary.
However, it was filled up when we arrived, so we boarded another Merchant Marine troopship. We had Netherlands Marines, German POW’s, and an assortment of GI’s. It was a ‘pleasant’ nine-day trip to New York; especially knowing I had survived Merseburg a few times.

Our troopship: USS WAKEFIELD, which had brought the 398th to England earlier that year.

RALPH TROUT, tail gunner,
Slavin Crew, 600

Printed in Flak News Volume 16, Number 4, Page(s) 9 & 10, October 2001

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