Hi All I was passed this letter by a friend of mine in the States he was on the ship during the Vietnam war on one of his three tours of duty there. His bit of background says. A little history about this ship: After 1944, it went to be apart of the Atomic Bomb testing, then on to the States. In the 1960's, it was refitted and called the Corpus Christi Bay, Which I was on for 12 months in Viet Nam on one of my tours over there. Now for the letter -- Letter from Quartermaster ---------- to his wife relating the voyage of the USS Albemarle to Swansea, Wales - 1943 "6 October 1943: Well we left Argentia in a fog and never seen our escorts for two days yet they were only one mile away all the time. We started out enroute to Avonmouth, England and on the way across our orders were changed and we went to Swansea, Wales instead. About four days out on our trip across the pond on the 8 to 12 of which I had picked up 8 subs on R.D.F. at a distance of about 15 miles. You know one of those Wolf Packs you read about in the N. Atlantic. Well we slipped by them nice & quiet like you know and all was well. We were now within easy range of Jerry's and so all personnel were on the double alert. We had fog with us continually all the way across which was to our advantage. Well we hit North Channel early in the morning of which is the entrance to the Irish Sea. The Channel is about twenty miles wide and there was Ireland on our right where Johnny Doughboy found his rose and dear old Scotland on our left. As we go cruising along lo and behold we pass some floating mines. My what they would have done to our bow if we had hit one. Well we steam all day in the Sea and as the sun goes down we turn on our running lights and secure all battery. Mind you we're only about four hundred miles from a Jerry airfield. You're probably wondering what a Jerry is well if you don't know the limey's call the German planes Jerries. Well the Irish Sea gets pretty rough with a 40 knot wind and so we had a pretty tough night of it and the next morning we pulled into Swansea Bay and anchored to wait on high tide at 1800 so that we would have enough water to go into the Docks. Well we got tied up about seven oclock and we were all surprised and stunned to know that two thirds of the crew would rate liberty and no battery would be manned and mind you we were only 200 miles from a Jerry airfield. Well we all took off on liberty to see what a war torn country looked like and we found out. The town was completely blacked out and you couldn't see where in the hell anything was. But it wasn't too black to see the streets were full of women and all very anxious to get acquainted with the American Navy. There were very few bars open and, of course, we found those that were open as any sailor would. The beer was terrific. It tasted to me as a mixture of wine & beer and no whiskey. Well we seen where the German blitz of 1941 had been. They bombed the town for three straight nights and mopped out all the civic center of the town. Other words the center of the town where all the theaters and fur shops, etc. were. They said those three nights were hell and I believe them. I saw the town the next day in daylight and it was quite interesting. You see Swansea is right in the center of the Welsh coal mining district and the docks were the main target and they missed them by about five miles. When I think of what people there have gone through with and I hear some one in the States growling about not having enough to eat or some air raid warden telling him to get his window blinds down, I could knock him down. For here was 165,000 people who had been walking the little streets of the town for four years in total blackness and a ration of 10 ounces of meat a week and 12 ounces of candy a month and yet they are going about their work as if nothing happened. When the average American gets the guts of those people, we will have some country. The people were all very friendly towards us and as you went down the street it was not uncommon to hear some one say good evening to you and very amusing to hear them say 'Top of the morning' to you when you met an Englishman of a morning." [The next part of the letter goes on to describe a trip Milburn Smith made with fellow Albemarle Quartermaster Everett Green to London. Perhaps that can be part of a future message. Let me continue with the ending:] "Well we got back in Swansea at 1900 and found everything closed so were starved to death and finally found a little hole in the wall of a tea room and gently crowded in and ordered twenty five sandwiches and four cups of tea without sugar and, believe it or not, me & Green ate them all. In fact, we dam near starved to death for all this week I have been eating like a hog. We got underway the next morning of which everyone was disappointed and started out on what was one of the most boresome cruises I've had. Well the old Irish Sea was plenty rough and then it got even more rougher when we got out to sea the next day. For two days we pitched and swayed in a 40 knot wind in the North Atlantic and had to slow to 12 knots for the escorts. It was nothing to see the escorts disappear in a swell and we were taking a few over the bow and also two thirds of the crew were sea sick and your old salty husband stood it all with out withering. Well it took us from a week ago yesterday (Mon.) till today (Tues.) to get back across and we were never in any calm weather at any time. We went through several storms on the way back. And so today (12 October) finds us in Argentia, Newfoundland." Regards Phil T.C.M.