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“Destination Unknown"
Christmas, 1943, must have been very difficult for the young men of the 129th. Most had just been home to see family only weeks before and, four days on a train later, all were now stewing over the memories under a cloud of anticipation and uncertainty. And New Year's, 1944, didn't promise better. When a unit went on alert, they knew they would be on a ship within hours.
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| ©HistoryNet.com |
As the most reliable and efficient means of transit overseas at the time, the Army and the Navy operated 358 troop ships — both purpose-built for the military and commissioned or captured in prior military events — to bring the insanely large numbers of personnel to the combat theaters.
Secrecy was imperative. The soldier who wrote this diary not only broke the rules but risked intense scrutiny were he to have been captured by the enemy. And so it was that, as they boarded the troop ships, they had no idea where they would step off.
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| The CRISTOBAL, one of 358 vessels commissioned by the US Army and Navy to serve as troop ships delivering personnel to the war. (Troopships of World War II, Roland W. Charles, The Army Transportation Association, ©1947) |
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