Hey I have some questions about my great uncle can anyone help me out

hey guys I really had no idea where to post this but I felt this might be the best place. Anyway my great uncle was a veteran in WW2 I never met him but my dad did and said he was a really nice guy. I was looking to see if I could get any info on him during the war or his ship he was on. He was in the navy and on a LST I'm not sure which one. My grandpa said that he was there during D-Day but I'm not sure if during D-Day is where the ship sank. I only know a little on the ship that it was an LST and he was one of only twenty-two survivors and was there at D-Day I really would like to find out more but I'm lost on where to start. So does anyone know a ship with that many survivors thanks for any help I can get! His name was Carl Roland Palmer

 

A name would help us start.

 

Agree, I hit on the muster roll from February 28, 1944.
1944 › Page 17 - Fold3.com

Unfortunately, for us, LST-51, later went to the Pacific, and survived the war. Provided being on a sinking ship was not a "sea story," he must have been transferred off 51 at some point.

Will keep looking.

 

The Feb 1944 Muster Roll has him being transferred to "ATB [Amphibious Training Base], Camp Bradford (Norfolk) VA". Doesn't really add much, but is of some interest.

Found him on the USS CHATEAU THIERRY which was operating off the coast of Tunisia in July 1943. On 12 Aug 1943 he was still on the CHATEAU THIERRY which was operating off Algeria and Morocco at the beginning of the month. The next MR is dated 25 Aug 43 with the ship at Staten Island, NY, but he is not listed. There is also no record of him in the MR for the decommissioning of the CHATEAU THIERRY on 9 Sep 43.

 

Thanks for the correction...And nice find! I have not yet made the jump to becoming a member, a could only see a small thumbnail.

That would probably fit, Sources that I have found for the USS CHATEAU THIERRY, have her docking on August 22. He was probably transferred off the ship between August 22-24, 1943. Probably/possibly to the LST-51 for commissioning.
USS Chateau Thierry (AP-31) - Ship History and Specifications

 

So does this mean that he was on the Chateau Thierry first before going into LST-51?

 

Thanks so much man this really helped us out!

 

Okay, here is the timeline of where he was from what I could piece together:

LST 158: Joined 10 Feb 1943 thru at least Jun 1943

USS CHATEAU THIERRY: July 1943 "from NOB Bizerte for transportation"

USS MERAK: 9 Aug 1943 "transportation completed" ; 23 Aug 1943 New York, NY

LST 51: 8 Dec 1944 He was present at the Commissioning of the ship ; 28 Feb 1944 Transferred to Camp Bradford.

Haven't found anything after that date.

 

Very interesting indeed.

 

Thanks so much! My family swears he was there during D-Day I wonder what ship he was on during that time. but thank you for all of your help!

 

The records we are accessing are not comprehensive, so there is no reason to believe he was not involved in the D-Day landings. I would suggest you request his personnel records from the NARA. At this point, his records are considered "archival" which means anyone can request them. Here is a link to the NARA page which has instructions on how to request his records. You will need his service number which is in the Muster Roll that Lou provided in Post #5 above.

 

Will do thanks again!

 

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I found him on another ship: LST 1007. The bad news is that he was received on the LST 1007 on 2 July 1944, and he was received from "ATB, Camp Bradford, NOB, Norfolk, VA". The Muster Roll has the LST 1007 at Point Lookout, MD. That means it is unlikely that he was present for the D-Day invasion at Normandy.

Keep in mind that we are working with a second hand report (via your grandfather) and incomplete records. Getting his personnel records will be very helpful in making sense of the records we have found.

 

Oh, shoot. I completely missed that. His name is not rare, but it seems quite a coincidence that there were 2 men named Carl R. Palmer and also served on LST's during WWII.

 

This still could be correct! My grandma just told me they named my Dad Eric Roland Palmer after Carl so this may still be correct and this was the first time we saw his complete name and we live not to far away from Cleveland it's really close to us I'll change the post to Roland I'm sorry for all of this