Aquitania Questions

[mattmatthews]

Hi, I'm new to the site and learning to navigate it. I'd like to know more about life on the troop transport HMS Aquitainia, particularly where the 422 landed in England in October 1944. Glasgow?

Thanks for your help. If it helps, my email is [e-mail].

Not sure I'll know how to find any answers you send to this sight... Thanks, Matt Matthews

[floydragsdale]

Hello:

I was on that ship (Aquitiana) with G Co. of the 424th Regiment. I believe it was a seven day voyage, from New York Harbor to Gourick (SP) Scotland. From there, we were taken by ferry boat to Glasgow, Scotland. Then from Glasgow we traveled by train to Southern, England. My Company (G of the 424th) was stationed in Adderbury, England. I think Adderbury was about 20 miles from Oxford.

Floyd,
424th Regiment

[connie]

Once again, it's good to have Floyd's first hand experience of the voyage available to us.

For other accounts and info click on:
106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=dates&action=display&thread=142

[gfgrant8443]

Matt

My father was on the Aquatania with the 422nd and I have posted excerpts from letters that he wrote to my mother during the voyage and his time in England. His letters are vague because of cencorship, but I was able to fill in the blanks by writing other members of his company that were still members of the 106th Division Association.

If you are interested in reading the excerpts I have posted them on the Indiana Military website. Go to www.indianamilitary.org and then click on German POW camps at the top. Then on the left click on Stalag IV-B. From the drop down menu click on Kenneth Grant. The first part is excerpts from his letters and then I have added on a transcript of his diary from his time as a POW, Hope you find it informative.

Frank Grant

[jsuliman]

Harry Becker, my dad was also on the Aquitania leaving NY harbor to Gorrock Scotland. We couldn't find anything else from there, we aren't sure exactly where he wound up as far as when the battle started. He was with K Co, 424th.

[connie]

The landing point for the Aquitania just caught my eye. Since my father landed later (in Liverpool) on the Wakefield, I had just noted the location in passing. I knew it was a two syllable Scottish location that began with a G and ended in "och" or "ock" sound. I looked at what I had noted under Dates and Places in Division History: "Greenock." When I looked at Google Maps I noticed another nearby waterside location with a name closer to that noted above: "Gourock."

I don't have time today to look back over sources of the landing location. But maybe someone else does. Of course these can sometimes be garbled if they are a soldier's memory and not from an official document. And there can be the "near" thing which could make even the wrong one close to correct. My uneducated guess would be that the more unusual name may be the more accurate one. Anyone else want to weigh in with real sources?


PS: For notes on the search for more info on Harry Becker's route with 424K see: 106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=looking&action=display&thread=498
Hopefully more info will be added as others hit the site

[floydragsdale]

Connie, you are correct on both names. Greenok is the larger of the two towns. Gourock is just a few miles west of Greenock.

I remember both towns from when the Aquitania sailed into the area. The Aquitainia was too large to go any closer to Glasgow than Greenock.

We disembarked the Aquitania at Greenock onto ferry boats that took us into Glasgow where we boarded trains for the trip into England. Local citizens (ladies) were handing out mutton pies to the G.I.'s who boarded the train.

I was embarrassed because many of our soldiers didn't like mutton and threw many of the pies out the train window onto the platform.

It was in Scotland that I recall seeing "thatched roofs and red clay tile roofs" on houses as well as seeing them in England too. It was like viewing a "live story book" from my grade school days, as we rode through the countryside in Scotland and England.

We (G Co. 424th and others) went by train to a town by the name of Chipping Norton and then were trucked (maybe 20 miles) to Adderbury, England. I believe this was in the County of Northampton, England.

Holy cow; that was 67 years ago this coming October.

As a a young boy, it was fun to listen to the "old timers" tell their stories. NOW I'M THE OLD TIMER!

Floyd,
424th Regiment

[connie]

Floyd,
Once again you have added insights and details that only someone who was there can offer. Thank you!!!

Connie

[jsuliman]

This is so wonderful! You guys are a prayer answered! Does anyone recall a dead or very sick soldier being removed from the Aquitania just as she entered port in Scotland? My dad said you all had to stay on board for a couple of days or so in quarantine?

[connie]

Unanswered Question Above

I was just reviewing some old threads & found the question in the post above. I thought it was worth bringing to the top again...

Connie

PS. If you'd like to review information on this board on this or other ships that carried the 106th to the ETO, check out the thread on voyages under dates and places in division history: 106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=dates&action=display&thread=587

[floydragsdale]

Hello All:

The Aquitania docked at Greenock, Scotland. The water was too shallow for the ship to go to Glasgow. I recall a (or maybe several) sick Soldiers being removed from the ship when we arrived at Greenock.

Ferry boats were used to take us to Glasgow, Scotland. I do not remember any delay, except one day, while we were at Greenock.

The 2nd Bn., 424th Regiment, boarded a train the same day we were taken to Glasgow. Scottish Red Cross Ladies passed out small "mutton pies" to American Soldiers before we left Glasgow. Most British people "love" mutton, yet, not many G.I.'s did. One bite of the motion pie and out the train window the rest of the pie went on to the train platform. I held on to mine long enough to discover where the waste disposal was. That pie didn't appeal to my taste buds either.

I recall riding through many cities in Scotland and England that were mentioned in geography books when I was in school. Red tiled roofs and thatched roofs were very common in the British Isles at that time.

The journey to Southern England was approximately a day & a half long. If my memory serves me correctly, we debarked the train at Chipping Norton, England and were trucked to Banbury and Adderbury, England several miles away. Wow, that was sixty-nine years ago and the average age of the 106th Infantry Division Soldier was twenty-two years. I had just turned nine-teen years of age in Sept. that year.

At the moment it seems as though it was just a few years ago. Nevertheless, as I arise from a nights sleep in the morning reality tells me it was a long time ago.

[connie]

Thanks, Floyd,

Once again, the memories of someone who was there are priceless...

Connie