THE BEGINNING

Chapter 4

Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation, administratively based in Newport News, Virginia, included the exclusively cargo sub port of Baltimore. The port, along with its Baltimore cargo port and the Philadelphia cargo port that was also a sub-port of the New York Port of Embarkation (NYPOE), was mainly focused on shipments to the Mediterranean and European areas. Troops were temporarily quartered in embarkation camps where the port was responsible for ensuring final outfitting before embarkation with HRPOE’s Camp Patrick Henry being capable of housing 214,000 troops.

Searching on Google, I was able to find dozens of photos of Camp Patrick Henry, Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation, and ships docked and leaving Virginia. While scouring the internet for photos of ships being loaded with troops and possible trucks like the ones my grandfather drove, I came across a photo that just seemed familiar. I can’t explain it, but every time I glanced over this photo, it was calling to me. Well, I decided to take my time and study the faces of every soldier in the photo. Like I said earlier, I have no idea how fate was shining her blessings on me during this investigation, but on that day I was completely floored to find my grandfather in the picture standing in the front of the line with his platoon waiting to board his ship to leave for Europe. I needed confirmation so I immediately circled the man who I believed to be my grandfather and I Facebook messaged my mom. It only took a few seconds and her response made me instantly cry. All she said was “Yes, that is most definitely my Daddy!” I could not even believe it! I took photos that I had of him from that timeframe and I put them side by side with the photo I found. It was a match without a doubt.

To top it off, a batch of photos were taken by the same photographer who seemed to follow that particular group of soldiers across the Atlantic and into Europe. He also had photos of them unloading their trucks and sitting on the ship. I looked at every photo and the soldiers match up from one picture to the next. With their facial expressions, it was almost as if you could tell their personality and character and you were watching different episodes of a television show watching their journey unfold.

I am pretty sure I identified yet another photo that my grandfather was in and he was sitting in front of his platoon holding his rifle. My mother agreed and she also agreed that the soldiers in each photo appeared to be the same ones and they looked an awful lot like the younger versions of the men she met at my grandfather’s war reunions. To me, this was just simply amazing. Looking at the photos of the ships, photos of the port, photos of the soldiers, and being able to finally track down a starting point of my grandfather before heading to Normandy was unreal. My heart was full and this was just the beginning of his story.

Here is some history regarding the ship the General John Pope. The USS General John Pope (AP-110) was launched under a Maritime Commission contract on March 21, 1943 and was acquired by the Navy on July 2, 1943. It was placed in ferry commission the same day for transfer to Baltimore for conversion to a transport by the Maryland Dry Dock Company and commissioned in full on August 5, 1943 with Captain George D. Lyon in command.

After shakedown, the USS General John Pope (AP-110) sailed her initial voyage from Newport News on September 5, 1943 with over 6,000