In the annuls of journalism, it was not much of a newspaper. Six typed, mimeographed pages stapled together, the Marshall News was the voice of the S.S. Marshall Victory published as it took American servicemen back home in November 1945. But despite its small size and circulation it was a doorway into a new life after the war.
Under a hand-drawn map of the ship’s progress along the route to New York the transport commander wrote “it’s been a pleasure to have had the privilege of bringing you back to the good old USA. We wish for you an early return to civilian life and hope you will find therein the security for which you have fought so gallantly.”
Edited by M/Sgt. Lewis E. Hall, the newspaper welcomed the returning soldiers with a mix of humor, news and advice for the next stage of their life. “Marry my daughter, ha! Young man, you couldn’t even keep her in underwear.” “Well, at times, sir, you don’t do too well.” A cartoon of an angry wife looming over her cowering husband read “And stop calling me Sergeant!”
'Adrift in a bedpan'
One writer T/4 Garret Wilcox, under the pen name G F U Wilcox, tried to find humor in the ship’s encounter with the choppy seas that send many to the railings with seasickness.
“Adrift in a bedpan” the crew and passengers he wrote “like most of the stuff the medics dish out this is hard to take, but THEY claim they’ve only had 50 cases of sea sickness. Even the poor fish can count better.” He looked forward to joys of civilian life ahead. “[D]on’t expect to get away from night KP ('There’s the baby again, dear.') Suggest you teach Junior the shortest way to the ‘head’ as soon as he can toddle. Incidentally, the head is always found indoors in the States.” Hoping he had “made it a little easier to laugh between the heaves” Wilcox said “and now I must to the rail again, there’s a hole or two in the sea still to be filled.”
Like in any newspaper, not all of the news was good. Under the handwritten headline “Crisis Develops in China” the Marshall News reported continued fighting between the Nationalists and the Communists. The U.S. Senate was investigating Pearl Harbor and demanded information on the case of convicted code clerk Tyler Kent, who handled communications between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. The Japanese government was pleading for food and fuel to rebuild their shattered country, promising to repay in gold, diamonds, silk and other goods. Most of the newspaper’s readers were soon to return to civilian life but a front-page story reported that a Congressional committee had approved a universal military training program. A one-sentence story reported the replacement of Admiral Halsey as commander of the Third Fleet.
College, pro football a good diversion
Sports reporter Cpl Aaron Helfgott covered the latest results of the college football season, especially the top-ranked Army and Navy teams. Army’s “fleet, hardnosed backs” would face Penn’s “forward wall second to none in this year’s college grid ranks.” Penn had faced Navy earlier in the season losing to the Sailors in the closing minutes but “comparative scores mean little in determining the relative ability of Army and Navy” in the upcoming Servicemen’s Annual Grid Classic.
In professional football news, Helfgoff reported that Fred L. Mandel, owner of the Detroit Lions, complained that the “play-for-money” American Professional League would destroy college football luring the best players with “beaucoup money.”
The Marshall News was only one of the things the ship did for its passengers. One night the ship showed the film “The Bengal Lancers.” That and “other motion pictures were old and torn up: most of us had seen them years ago: but there is no better way to forget our troubles, sea sickness, than to see a movie” the Marshall News wrote thanking the projectionists.
There was a full USO band on board with lead and backup singers supported by trumpeters, a saxophone, a guitar, a bass violin, an organ and a drummer. There was a library supplied by the students of Marshall University in West Virginia, the namesake of the Victory ship. (Marshall University is better remembered for the tragic 1970 airplane crash that killed most of the football team and coaches, and the university’s putting together another team for the following season, a story depicted in the 2006 film “We Are Marshall.) The S.S. Marshall Victory was the 823rd Victory ship built for the war and had been at sea for less than six months. The ship was renamed for Medal of Honor winner Army Lt. Raymond O. Beaudoin in 1950 and retired in 1962.
Of course, no one on board could see that future or spend much time wondering about it. Their lives were set to change in a very short time. The Marshall News ran an article on converting military life insurance into a civilian policy. “Don’t fail to look into and take advantage of this opportunity. You will never have another like it.”
$100-a-week job? Don't be fooled
An article aimed at reintroducing the service members back into the civilian workforce in the form of a short play called “The Pay Envelope or Dough-re-mi.” In Act I, the Vet is offered a job as an assembler for 75 cents an hour or $30 a week. “$30 a week! What kind of sucker do you think I am? Here I’ve been in the Army four years making $50 a month, while these war workers have been pulling down a couple of hundred a week. Then I come home and you offer me $30.” The interviewer replied “calm yourself, young man. Obviously you’ve been misinformed.” He explained no one ever made more than $150 a week and that was so rare it made the newspapers where the Vet had read it.
The ending of the play, such as it is, concludes that if the Vet “catches on fast, he’ll realize that there weren’t many $100-a-week men, and that when his father, brother, sister or wife succeeded in bringing home a good paycheck, they sweated many a long hour for it -– and that if he does catch on fast, he won’t expect a $100-a-week job. Another short article predicted the best post-war job opportunities including school janitor, a job that pays well, offers security and demands a high-type man.” Another possible career was as a traveling salesman but warned “Be careful! The farmer’s daughter had basic training, she was a WAC.”
On the bottom of the last page was a sample telegram form and message the passengers could send after reaching shore. “Arrived safely. Expect to see you soon. Don’t attempt to contact or write me here. Love.” The telegram home would cost 31 cents.
One of the passengers on board the S.S. Marshall Victory was a young Army private from Wann, Okla. Unlike most of his comrades he stayed in the military, later becoming one of the first members of the newly formed U.S. Air Force. After 23 years of active duty he retired with the rank of Senior Master Sergeant. His name was Robert Earl Bailey, my father. When he died, among the other important documents he saved was a well preserved copy of the Marshall News.
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