The John W. Brown takes an old soldier back in time
Richard Bloomer (center, in tee shirt) joins in ceremony dropping a wreath off the side of the Liberty Ship John W. Brown. (c) Bonnie J. Schupp
Story by DAVID ETTTLIN, Photos by BONNNIE J. SCHUPP
Nearly 66 years after the Baltimore-built S.S. John W. Brown carried him off to war, Richard Bloomer set sail on the Liberty Ship again this Memorial Day weekend – this time along the Patapsco River and Chesapeake Bay. Saturday’s cruise was far shorter, of course, but it felt like a momentous journey, a voyage on memory’s river.
Dick Bloomer’s latest adventure was set in motion about 12 years ago on a visit to the Hidalgo County Museum in South Texas, where he noticed a Liberty Ship model on display – amazingly, of the Brown. He told daughter Marsha Nelson it was the same vessel he rode to North Africa in 1943.
Nelson said it took a while before that little fact turned into something remarkable – after she overheard her father’s conversation with a fellow passenger on an airplane flight last year, talking about his days in basic training in Texas, and subsequent experiences in World War II that he had not shared with his family in such detail.
A happy discovery: a Liberty Ship afloat
So Nelson, who holds a doctorate in psychology, looked on the Internet hoping to find a picture of the John W. Brown to print and give to her dad. Instead, she found out that the Brown was still afloat – as a living museum in Baltimore, saved, restored and operated by Project Liberty Ship, with periodic cruises open to the public.
On Saturday, it was hard not to notice Bloomer – if not him, his picture on the T-shirts worn by family and almost-family members joining in his second trip aboard the John W. Brown.
The T-shirts read, under the picture of a then-young soldier, “S. Sgt. Richard Bloomer/ September 1943” – the time of his first trip, sailing from Newport News, Va., to the North African port of Oran.
He’s a wiry 86 now, and spry for his age.
Dodging U-boats
Saturday’s trip was just six hours, along the Patapsco River and Chesapeake Bay, but time enough to share memories across the gulf of more than six decades. For one thing, that first trip – departing on Sept. 13 — took 23 days, including a bit of zig-zag avoiding potential attacks by German U-boats, Bloomer said.
The Atlantic crossing was one of eight by the Brown in the war years after its construction in less than two months at the Bethlehem Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore. Seven of the trips were to ferry troops to the war.
“I went over as a replacement,” Bloomer said, telling of his training in demolition before joining Texas’ storied 36th Division, in Co. A, 1st Battalion, 142nd Infantry, to push the Germans out of southern Italy.
An original B25-J Bomber, operated by Mid Atlantic Air Museum, of Reading, PA., flies over the John W. Brown Saturday. (c) Bonnie J. Schupp
A squad leader, he earned a pair of Bronze Stars along the way for combat at Salerno, Anzio and Cassino en route to the liberation of Rome, and a Purple Heart for the German soldier’s bullet that hit an inch above his own a day later as he was taking three other Germans prisoner in the Americans’ northward push.
“I thought I had them all – there were three of them – but there was a fourth, and I was shot just above the heart,” Bloomer said of the bullet that hit as he was putting a new clip of ammo into his depleted Thompson submachine gun. He had been holding his captives at the point of an empty weapon.
So does he fall over? Of course not. He motions his captives toward the cover where other American soldiers are waiting, then gets help for the serious wound.
Did it hurt? “It felt kind of numb,” Bloomer said. And it was bleeding badly.
Recovering, and helping others recover
The date was June 6, 1944 – and on another front, Allied forces had begun the historic D-Day invasion of France. But Bloomer was on his way to a Rome hospital so freshly taken from the enemy that “I had German food that night.” He was transferred to a hospital in Naples, then – because of the heavy action underway elsewhere making ships unavailable for his move – flown back to the States.
Where his sail to the war took 23 days, the trip back took 23 hours, Bloomer recalled.
He was recovering at the 45th General Hospital in Galesburg, Ill., when – for his nearly three years of college taking up physical education – Bloomer was put to work, in charge of the swimming pool where he helped wounded paraplegics.
After the war, Bloomer completed his degree with majors in phys ed and social science at Iowa State Teachers College (now Northern Iowa University) and became a high school teacher, athletics coach and guidance counselor in West Covina, Calif. He lives now in San Diego.
A boatload of memories
The contingent accompanying Bloomer aboard the Brown on Saturday included his wife of 62 years, Betty; daughters Marsha Nelson of Edinburg, Texas, and Marilyn Moscrip of Los Angeles; Marsha’s husband Dan; and two grandsons, one with a wife and the other a girlfriend.
Among the 400 or so passengers were also many other veterans, including a merchant mariner who – like Bloomer – rode the John W. Brown during the war, but as a crewman. There were plenty of souvenir caps in evidence from the Brown’s museum store, and heads topped by the caps for many other ships in service eras from World War II to Vietnam.
President and Mrs. Roosevelt — portrayed by Delmas Wood and Ladelia Becraft, are escorted on deck after arriving for the cruise. (c) Bonnie J. Schupp
And like Bloomer, every veteran there – whether octogenarian or baby boomer – likely had a story worth hearing. You just have to spend the time and ask them, before it’s too late.
The Memorial Day weekend trip aboard the Brown seemed the perfect occasion to do just that, and honor the service and sacrifice of so many heroes.
A group that included Dick Bloomer dropped a memorial wreath over the side in a solemn remembrance of their comrades gone.
Shake it with FDR & Rosie the Riveter
It was the ship’s 80th living history cruise since being restored to operating condition in 1991, and included food, period big band and barbershop singing entertainment, gunnery fire at mock attacks by replica aircraft (those weekend Bay sailors may have been surprised by the Japanese Zero winging past the ship, to say nothing of a huge American bomber roaring overhead), and character portrayals including President Franklin D. and Eleanor Roosevelt (Delmas Wood and Ladelia Becraft), Gen. Douglas MacArthur (Brian Woodcock) and Rosie the Riveter (Cherie McClung).
Missed it? The Brown has two more cruises scheduled this year – on June 13 and Sept. 12. For ticket or Project Liberty Ship membership information, visit their website at http://liberty-ship.com or call 410-558-0164.
Fun fact:
The John W. Brown steams along getting about one mile to a barrel – that is, 44 gallons of diesel fuel. But it can hold enough fuel to get to Europe and halfway back.
This according to veteran volunteer crewman Derek Brierley. Brierley, a British native who is now 83, said he made 16 Atlantic crossings on ships during the war and “never got attacked.”
He was formerly a helmsman for the Brown, steering the ship on 65 consecutive trips with Project Liberty Ship – a task he quit because “I got tired of standing.” After all, the retired Esskay and General Motors worker is no spring chicken at 83.
DAVID ETTLIN, a retired newspaper reporter and editor, can be reached at david.ettlin@comcast.net. Visit his blog, The Real Muck, at http://ettlin.blogspot.com.