It’s words like these that warm a lone sailor’s heart…

We aim to deliver. We did! (Motto of the U.S. Navy Armed Guard)

“I would like to thank Bill McGee and his wife, Sandra, for their work over the years to preserve U.S. Navy Armed Guard and Merchant Marine history so people of future generations may read and see what both crews did in World War II. Without Bill and Sandra working together, and their interest, the Naval Armed Guard story would never have been told properly.”
– Charles A. Lloyd, chairman,  U.S. Navy Armed Guard Veterans of WWII Assn.
The Pointer, magazine of the USN Armed Guard Veterans of WWII Assn., Oct/Dec 2015

Fact: Today, few people have heard of the U.S. Navy Armed Guard, the special service branch of the U.S. Navy responsible for defending U.S. and Allied merchant ships, its valuable cargo, and its valuable crew from attack by enemy aircraft, submarines, and surface ships during World War II. Nearly 145,000 men served in the Naval Armed Guard in WWII as gunners, signal men, and radio operators on more than 6,000 cargo ships, tankers, troop ships, and other merchant vessels,  and took part in every major campaign of the war,  both European and Pacific theaters. The Naval Armed Guard was disbanded after the war.

Note: Bill and “C.A.” Lloyd have known each other for 25 years. “C.A.” wrote the Foreword to Bill’s first World War II military history/memoir, Bluejacket Odyssey, 1942-1946: Guadalcanal to Bikini. “Lone Sailor” is the name of the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C.

 

 

 

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