by Herman E. Melton
Edited by Will Melton
Naval Institute Press (2017)
Melton's story is representative of the thousands of Merchant Marine engineers who served on board Liberty ships during the war. Like many young Americans, he sought to do his part, and in 1942 he obtained an appointment to the newly created U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York. After graduating from the academy in 1944, he shipped out to the Pacific Theatre, surviving the sinking of his Liberty ship, the SS Antoine Saugrain, and its top-secret cargo.
Liberty's War is very much worth reading by those who are interested in the Merchant Marine or World War II memoirs. It is a rare example of a junior officers' memoir that is informative and readable, giving us a detailed view of life on Liberty Ships hunted by U-boats, tossed about by Arctic gales and heavy seas, and attacked by Japanese aircraft. Recommended as a primary source and popular history.
Herman Melton (1920-2013) was a World War II veteran of both the Murmansk and Pacific convoys. His son, Will Melton, edited his father's oral history and completed the written material for publication.
- It Didn't Happen On My Watch
- Bowditch and Dutton: The Navigator's Bibles
- Books about the Panama Canal
- Wreck of a Liberty Ship
