SGT ARCHER T GAMMON T-AK 243

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

Boulder Victory Class Cargo Ship Keel Laid December 13 1944 Launched January 31 1945 YALE VICTORY (U.S. Victory Ship) Delivered to the WSA February 24 1945 for operation by the Olympic Steamship Company Acquired by the US Army Transportation Service June 18 1946 USAT SGT. ARCHER T. GAMMON Commissioned October 31 1947 USNS SGT. ARCHER T. GAMMON T-AK-243 Acquired by the US Navy March 1 1950 Placed in service by MSTS March 1 1950 Placed out of service early 1973 Struck from the Naval Register May 1 1973 Custody transferred to MARAD November 9 1973 Sold for scrapping November 9 1973

 

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

1. Covers Page 1     (1965)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
 
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Date From to Date To	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

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No Postmarks Reported

 

Army & Air Force Postal Service 4-bar cancel

1965-09-00

N/A

1965 Arctic Operations R/S cachet

 

Other Information

USNS ARCHER T. GAMMON earned the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - Staff Sergeant Archer T. “John” Gammon, a native of Virginia, was serving with Company A, 9th Armored Infantry Battalion, 6th Armored Division, near Bastogne, Belgium, on 11 January 1945. On that day, he charged through hip-deep snow to demolish an enemy machine gun position and allow his platoon to advance from an open field to nearby woods. As the platoon started its advance, a machine gun supported by riflemen and a Tiger Royal tank opened fire on the unit. Sgt. Gammon rushed forward; cut across the width of his platoon's skirmish line; then, despite intense enemy fire, charged and silenced the automatic weapon and attacked the enemy tank. Advancing to within 25 yards of his objective, he put the enemy on the defensive and forced the tank back a short distance before he was struck and killed by a direct hit from the tank's heavy gun. For his action in clearing the way for his platoon, Sgt. Gammon was awarded, posthumously, the Medal of Honor. {DANFS}

 

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