As this fifth Friday rolls around, it is time once again to remember the seagoing cowboys who have crossed their final sea.
Bontrager, Warren Edgar, January 5, 2023, Goshen, Indiana. S.S. Norwalk Victory to Poland, January 9, 1947.
Brightbill, David Lemoyne, January 13, 2023, Bridgewater, Virginia. S.S. Samuel H. Walker to Yugoslavia (docking in Trieste, Italy), August 27, 1945; S.S. American Importer to West Germany, March 10, 1952, a Heifer Project shipment.
Coleman, Glenn E., December 23, 2022, Vermilion, Ohio. Heifer Project shipment to West Germany, 1956. Details unknown.
de Perrot, Jean L. “Jon”, January 10, 2023, Lititz, Pennsylvania. S.S. Cyrus W. Field to Italy, June 14, 1946.
Detweiler, Merrill M., February 28, 2023, Telford, Pennsylvania. S.S. Columbia Heights Victory to Israel, December 3, 1951, a Levinson Brothers shipment.
Ganzel, Dwight Lyman, March 25, 2023, Lincoln, Nebraska. S.S. Wesley W. Barrett to Poland, April 14, 1946; S.S. Gainesville Victory to Poland, June 4, 1946.
Garis, Marvin, January 14, 2023, Kirkwood, Pennsylvania. S.S. Samuel H. Walker to Greece, December 15, 1945.
Green, Robert Duff, March 25, 2023, Culpepper, Virginia. S.S. Virginia City Victory to Poland, July 9, 1946.
Hochstetler, Milan Moses, January 1, 2023, Cumberland, Virginia. S.S. Robert W. Hart to Poland, August 20, 1946.
Kennel, Christian D., August 1, 2012, Lititz, Pennsylvania. S.S. Charles Wooster to Czechoslovakia (docking in Bremen, Germany), January 7, 1946.
McNett, Harold Franklin, December 28, 2022, Bridgewater, Virginia. S.S. Clarksville Victory to Poland, December 12, 1945.
Nunemaker, John E., February 9, 2023, Goshen, Indiana. S.S. Queens Victory to Poland, September 4, 1946. (This is the John who found his family’s work horse on his ship after being sold and tended her across the Atlantic as portrayed in my children’s picture book The Seagoing Cowboy.)
Richards, Robert Eugene “Bob”, February 26, 2023, Waco, TX. S.S. Virginian to Greece, June 26, 1945. (The Bob Richards of Wheaties fame: Olympic pole-vaulting champion, 1948, 1952, and 1956)
Stoltzfus, Ralph H., January 13, 2023, Lititz, Pennsylvania. S.S. Alceé Fortier to Greece, November 1, 1945.
Rest in peace dear seagoing friends.
The Seagoing Cowboys 