PVT JOSEPH F MERRELL T-AK 275

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.

LT. James E Robinson Class Cargo Ship Keel Laid in March 1943 as SS GRANGE VICTORY Launched 28 June 1944 Delivered to the WSA for operation by Isthmian SS Co, 7 August 1944 Chartered 23 November 1946 by Waterman SS. Corp., Returned to MARAD for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet 29 December 1947 USAT PVT. JOSEPH F. MERRELL Acquired by the USATS 6 April 1948 and commissioned Decommissioned by the US Army and acquired by the US Navy, 1 March 1950 USNS PVT. JOSEPH F. MERRELL T-AKV-4 Placed in service by MSTS as Aircraft Transport USNS PVT. JOSEPH F. MERRELL T-AK-275 Reclassified Cargo Ship (T-AK), date unknown Placed out of service 26 August 1974 Struck from the Naval Register and transferred to MARAD 26 August 1974 Sold for scrapping 26 August 1974

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     (DATE RANGE)

 

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	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

U.S. Army Postal Service Machine Postmark APO 69 Bremerhaven, Germany

1957-12-23

Ship's seal added to the cover. The ship had no postal facilities.

 

Other Information

NAMESAKE - Joseph Frederick Merrell (August 21, 1926 – April 18, 1945) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration – the Medal of Honor – for his actions in World War II.
Merrell joined the Army from his birthplace of Staten Island in August 1944 (a week after his 18th birthday), and by April 18, 1945, was serving as a private in Company I, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. On that day, near Lohe (a suburb of Nuremberg), Germany, he singlehandedly attacked German positions that were firing on his unit. He disabled two enemy machine gun emplacements and killed nearly two dozen German soldiers before he was himself killed. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor (now on exhibit at Fort Wadsworth) ten months later, on February 26, 1946.
Merrell, aged 18 at his death, was buried in Saint Peters Cemetery, West New Brighton, New York.

 

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