Jack Loraine Sauders
1913-1990
Born: Palmersville, Weakley Co., TN
Died: Camden, Benton Co., TN
<p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px"><strong>From: </strong>Lois Stevens </p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px"><strong>Date: </strong>March 4, 2012 </p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal arial; min-height: 16px; margin: 0px"> </p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px"><span style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal arial"><span style="white-space: pre"> </span></span>I know Jack was a Chief Petty Officer in the Navy on the USS West Point and he took Paul who was in the army overseas to Iwo Jima. He often told the story about looking as they loaded in San Francisco and Paul was coming up the gang plank and the hardest thing he ever did was to leave him off to fight in the Pacific. </p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px"> “In 1944, the transport (USS West Point ) continued her vital workhorse duties, departing San Francisco on 12 January, bound for Nouméa and Guadalcanal; and from San Pedro, California on February 22, bound for Nouméa and Milne Bay.” During this time Jack’s brother, Paul ( US Army Air Force) was a shipmate. </p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; min-height: 17px; margin: 0px"> </p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">The history of the USS West Point From Wikipedia</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">World War II (1941–1946)</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px"><span style="white-space: pre"> </span>SS <em>America</em> was moored at Norfolk, Virginia, and acquired by the Navy on June 1, 1941 to be used as a troop transport.[2] The ship was renamed the USS <em>West Point</em> (AP-23).[2] She entered the Norfolk Ship Yards on June 6, 1941 for conversion and on June 15, 1941, she was commissioned for service under the command of Captain Frank H. Kelley, Jr.[2][7] By the time the conversion was completed, life-rafts covered the promenade deck windows, "standee" bunks could be found everywhere, several anti-aircraft weapons were installed, all of her windows were covered, she was painted in a camouflage gray color, and her troop-carrying capacity was increased to 7,678.[2]</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px"><span style="white-space: pre"> </span>The USS <em>West Point</em> soon proceeded to New York City and, while anchored off the Staten Island quarantine station on July 16, took on board 137 Italian citizens and 327 German citizens from the consulates of those nations in the United States which had been closed. <em>West Point</em> got underway at 1455 on that afternoon, bound for Portugal, and arrived at Lisbon on July 23. While there, the ship was visited by Portuguese naval and diplomatic dignitaries; and she transferred supplies to the Coast Guard cutter <em>Ingham</em>, the "station ship" at Lisbon, Portugal. After her final Italian passenger had been disembarked on 23 July and the last German on July 24, <em>West Point</em> commenced taking on 321 American citizens and 67 Chinese—consular staffs and their families — on July 26.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px"><span style="white-space: pre"> </span>Returning to New York on August 1, <em>West Point</em> discharged her passengers and headed south for an overhaul at Portsmouth, Virginia. She then participated in tactical exercises off the Virginia Capes from August 26 to August 29 in company with <em>Wakefield</em> and <em>Mount Vernon</em>.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">On November 3, she sailed from Carolina waters and arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on November 5. There, on November 8 and November 9, she embarked 241 officers and 5,202 men of the 55th Brigade, <span style="white-space: pre"> </span>Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, and 100 men of a US Army Field Service company. On November 10, <em>West Point</em> — in company with five other transports: <em>Wakefield</em>, <em>Mount Vernon</em>, <em>Orizaba</em>, <em>Leonard Wood</em>, and <em>Joseph T. Dickman</em> — got underway for India as Convoy HS-124. En route, they were joined by <em>Ranger</em>, <em>Vincennes</em>, <em>Quincy</em>, and a division of destroyers.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px"><span style="white-space: pre"> </span>Reaching Cape Town, South Africa, on December 9, <em>West Point</em> and <em>Wakefield</em> were detached on December 23 to form Task Group (TG) 14.1, while <em>Leonard Wood</em> and <em>Joseph T. Dickman</em> formed TG 14.2. Escorted by the British heavy cruiser HMS <em>Dorsetshire</em>, the convoy proceeded uneventfully toward India until 0700 on the 27th, when TG 14.1 was detached to speed up and arrive at Bombay ahead of the other ships.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px"><em>Wakefield</em> commenced discharging her embarked troops at 1900 at the Ballard Piers, completed her unloading, and shifted berths the next morning. <em>West Point</em> took <em>Wakefield'</em>s former berth while <em>Joseph T. <span style="white-space: pre"> </span>Dickman</em> moored to unload her equipment and troops. Having completed her discharge by December 31, 1941, <em>West Point</em> anchored in the stream on the morning of January 2, 1942 and awaited further orders until January 4, when British authorities asked Captain Kelley, of <em>West Point</em>, if his ship and <em>Wakefield</em> could be brought under 30-foot (9.1 m) draught to make passage for Singapore. Kelley responded that it could be done, but this would entail discharging ballast and expelling some of the ship's fresh water supply—thus endangering the ship's stabilityDue to prevailing low-water conditions at Bombay at this point, neither <em>West Point</em> nor <em>Wakefield</em> could go alongside piers in the harbor to either load equipment or troops. Thus, the embarkation and loading procedures had to be carried out by the tedious process of embarking troops and loading supplies from smaller ships and lighters brought alongside. <em>Wakefield</em> embarked — almost to a man — the troops which she had brought from Halifax, a total of 4,506, while <em>West Point</em> embarked two-thirds of the troops which she had transported, in addition to some which had come out in other ships. All told, she carried some 5,272 men.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px"><span style="white-space: pre"> </span>USS <em>West Point</em> arriving at New York with troops from Europe, July 1945.<em>West Point</em> sailed for Singapore on January 9, in a "15-knot" convoy, with Captain Kelley as the Convoy Commodore. In addition to the two American ships, three British transports — <em>Duchess of Bedford</em>, <em>Empress of Japan</em>, and <em>Empire Star</em> — made up the remainder of the van. Escorted by British light cruiser HMS <em>Caledon</em> until this ship was relieved by light cruiser HMS <em>Glasgow</em> at 1630 on January 22, the convoy's escort soon swelled to three cruisers and four destroyers as the convoy neared Java. Japanese submarine activities near the Indonesian archipelago prompted concern for the safe arrival of the valuable ships, hence a 200-mile (320 km) detour through the shallow, coral-studded Sunda Strait.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">Led by British cruiser HMS <em>Exeter</em>, the ships slowed to 10 knots (19 km/h), and streaming paravane gear, began the passage. An escorting destroyer steamed between each transport, as they steamed in single-column order. It was a dangerous passing, a small divergence from the charted course could mean a disastrous grounding.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">The screen's commander, Captain Oliver L. Gordon, R.N., commanding <em>Exeter</em>, desired to arrive at Singapore with as many ships as possible by dawn on January 29, and thus split the convoy up, sending the faster vessels—<em>West Point</em>, <em>Wakefield</em>, and <em>Empress of Japan</em>—ahead at increased speed under escort of cruisers HMS <em>Exeter</em>, HMS <em>Durban</em>, HMS <em>Dragon</em>, and destroyers HMS <em>Express</em> and HMS <em>Electra</em>. Proceeding to Singapore via Berhala Strait, Durian Strait, and Philips Channel, the group steamed through these bodies of water in bright moonlight which made navigational aids unnecessary. Upon their arrival off Singapore, the ships lay to in an exposed position, beyond the range of shore-based antiaircraft guns, until pilots could be obtained to bring the ships in. Since the naval base came under daily heavy air raids, the transports proceeded to Keppel Harbor, the commercial basin at Singapore, where they could discharge their troops and cargo.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px"><span style="white-space: pre"> </span>Securing abreast godowns (warehouses) 52, 53, and 54, <em>West Point</em> commenced off-loading equipment and disembarking her troops. All but 670 engineer troops, who had been ordered retained on board, were ashore before nightfall. Air raids, meanwhile, continued until midnight as the Japanese steadily pounded Singapore from the air. At each alert, the local workers working dockside would vanish, taking to the shelters and leaving the vital cargo still unloaded. As a result, the unloading was carried out by the crew of <em>West Point</em>, her embarked troops, and 22 local workers who were brought aboard to assist.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px"><span style="white-space: pre"> </span>On January 30, seven Japanese bombers appeared over the city and were engaged by British Brewster Buffalo fighters. As the alert continued, 30 more Japanese planes appeared overhead, on course over Keppel Harbor. Several bombs fell on shore, eastward of <em>West Point's</em> moorings, while another stick fell in the water to the southward. In the interim, bombs hit other targets. A small tanker moored near <em>Wakefield</em> was sunk at dockside; bombs fell abreast <em>Empress of Japan</em>; and <em>Wakefield</em> took a direct hit forward which destroyed her sick bay, killed five men, and wounded nine. The last bombs in this stick straddled <em>West Point</em> and showered her with shrapnel. As the raid lifted, <em>West Point</em> sent two medical officers and 11 corpsmen on board <em>Wakefield</em>, at the latter's request, to render medical assistance.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px"><span style="white-space: pre"> </span>Later that morning, Captain Kelley attended a conference with British authorities, who informed him that his ship was to be used to carry a contingent of Australian troops from Suez to Singapore and to transport refugees and evacuees to Ceylon. With the emergency "acute", Kelley agreed to take on board up to one thousand women and children and such additional men as the British desired to send. With the abandonment of the naval dockyard, untenable in the face of increasingly heavier Japanese bombardments from artillery and aircraft, several dockyard naval and civilian personnel and their families were assigned to <em>West Point</em> for evacuation. Most carried only hand baggage; had little, if any, money; but were all fortunate enough to escape the doomed city before its fall to the onrushing Japanese troops of General Yamashita. All told, some 1,276 naval officers, their families, dockyard civilians, civilian evacuees, a 16-man Royal Air Force (RAF) contingent, and 225 naval ratings made up the 1,276 people embarked by 1800 on 30 January.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">Clearing Singapore, <em>West Point</em> and <em>Wakefield</em> headed due west, escorted by HMS <em>Durban</em>. Overcast and squally weather covered their departure and permitted them to transit the Banka Strait unmolested by the seemingly omnipresent Japanese aircraft. Routed to Batavia, Java, to embark more refugees, <em>West Point</em> led <em>Wakefield</em> and <em>Durban</em> through the minefields and anchored in Batavia Roads at 0305 on January 31. HMS <em>Electra</em>—which would be lost in the Battle of the Java Sea at the end of the month—came alongside eight hours later and transferred 20 naval dockyard personnel, three women, five naval officers' wives, one Free French officer, and an RAF officer to <em>West Point</em> for passage to Ceylon.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">At 1240 on February 1, <em>West Point</em>—in company with <em>Wakefield</em> and under escort of <em>Exeter</em>, HMS <em>Encounter</em>, and HMAS <em>Vampire</em>—got underway. The destroyers eventually went off to perform other duties, and <em>Exeter</em> as well soon dropped away to escort another convoy, leaving the two big troopships on their own. While they were en route, disconcerting news came over the radio. Japanese I-boats (identified after the war as I-162 and I-153) had been active in the vicinity, sinking six ships between them. <em>West Point</em> acquired an extra passenger while en route; for, on February 4, a baby boy was born on board.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">Colombo Harbor, Ceylon, where they arrived on January 6, was so crowded that British authorities could not permit <em>Wakefield</em> to repair her damage there. The passengers, in turn, experienced much difficulty in arranging for suitable transportation ashore. In addition, neither transport could fully provision.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">British authorities requested the American ships to evacuate personnel to Bombay. Accordingly, <em>West Point</em> took on board eight men, 55 women, and 53 children, as well as 670 troops, for passage to India. <em>Wakefield</em>, despite her weakened condition caused by the direct hit on January 29, embarked two naval ratings, six RAF personnel, and 25 men and one officer of a British Bofors gun detachment. The two ships departed Colombo on February 8 and, escorted by the Greek destroyer <em>Queen Olga</em>, proceeded at 20 knots (37 km/h). Captain Kelley later highly praised the operations of this sole escort. Although heavy weather was encountered en route, the elderly Greek destroyer acquitted herself well, continuing to patrol her station "at all times at high speed ahead of our zig-zag."</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">After discharging her evacuees at Bombay, <em>West Point</em> parted company with <em>Wakefield</em> and proceeded to Suez where she picked up Australian troops who were being withdrawn from the North African Campaign to fight the Japanese in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, one disaster after another had plagued the Allied forces. Singapore fell on February 15; Java on March 4. <em>West Point</em> carried her embarked troops to Australia and disembarked them at Adelaide and Melbourne before heading across the Pacific toward San Francisco.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">As the Allies built up for the long road back, <em>West Point</em> participated in the effort to aid America's allies in the southwest Pacific with massive contingents of troops. Accordingly, the transport carried men to Wellington, New Zealand, and arrived on May 30. There, she received orders to return to New York; and she got underway from Melbourne on June 8, bound for the Panama Canal. She entered the Atlantic on June 26 and arrived at New York on July 2.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">After two voyages to the United Kingdom, <em>West Point</em> sailed for India, via the South Atlantic route, and arrived at Bombay on November 29, before pushing on for Auckland, New Zealand, the following month. The transport returned via Nouméa, New Caledonia, to San Francisco on January 31, 1943. She remained on the West Coast until February 16, when she got underway for the South Pacific and retraced her route to Wellington, New Zealand, and Australian ports. She then continued west—calling at Bombay, Massawa, Aden, and Suez—and stopped briefly at Cape Town en route to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Eventually arriving at New York on 4 May, the ship subsequently made two voyages to Casablanca, French Morocco before sailing for Bombay via the southern Atlantic route. Calling at Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town en route, the big transport continued, via Bombay and Melbourne, on for the West Coast of the United States.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">Soon thereafter, <em>West Point</em> began transporting troops to Australia and continued making voyages there and to Allied bases in the Central and South Pacific through the end of 1943.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">In 1944, the transport continued her vital workhorse duties, departing San Francisco on 12 January, bound for Nouméa and Guadalcanal; and from San Pedro, California on February 22, bound for Nouméa and Milne Bay. She sailed from the latter port and steamed via the Panama Canal to Boston, Massachusetts, where she arrived on June 12. She conducted five successive voyages to the United Kingdom before departing Boston on December 6, 1944 for Oran, Algeria; Casablanca, French Morocco; and Marseille, France. The transport left the Mediterranean on December 26 and proceeded to Norfolk, Virginia.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">In 1945, <em>West Point</em> voyaged to Italian and French ports, via Oran or Gibraltar, staging from Hampton Roads, Virginia, Boston, or New York. After Germany surrendered, she took part in some of the initial "Magic Carpet" voyages, bringing home American troops from the European battlefronts. Following her last European voyage—to Le Havre, France—<em>West Point</em> was transferred to the Pacific Fleet. She departed Boston on December 10, 1945, transited the Panama Canal, and proceeded to Manila, Philippines via Pearl Harbor. Retracing the same route, she docked at pier 88 in New York on February 7, 1946 and soon got underway for Hampton Roads, where she was released from troop-carrying service on February 22. Her last voyage under the name <em>West Point</em> was a short trip from Portsmouth to Newport News for re-conversion to a passenger liner. There, six days later, she was officially decommissioned, and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on March 12 and transferred to the Maritime Commission's War Shipping Administration.</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">During her naval service she carried a total of over 350,000 troops[2] which was the largest total of any Navy troopship in service during World War II.[2] On one voyage in 1944 she was able to transport 9,305 people.[2] Additionally the troop transport carried Red Cross workers, United Nations officials, children, civilians, prisoners of war, and U.S.O. entertainers.[2]</p> <p style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal helvetica; margin: 0px">[edit]</p><div><br></div>