As a child, I thought I remembered seeing a newspaper clipping of my grandparents and father greeting my Uncle Marion's ship in Portland, Oregon during WWII. I contacted the Portland library and asked for assistance. I didn't have enough information for a search however. I then emailed my cousin, Sara, and she provided me with the name of the ship - USS Telfair (named after a Georgia man).I looked the ship up in Wikipedia. Wikipedia stated, "At the end of October, Telfair reported for Operation Magic Carpet duty. On 2 November, she arrived at Samar, in the Philippines, where she embarked her first load of veterans for the return voyage to the United States. On the 4th, the attack transport departed the Philippines and, after almost three weeks at sea, entered port at Portland, Oregon. Telfair remained on the west coast until Christmas Eve when she weighed anchor to return to the western Pacific. She stopped at Saipan at the end of the first week in January 1946; then continued on to Manila where she moored on the 12th."
I then contacted the Multnomah County Library in Portland again with the name of the ship and the date. They were able to find the photograph. They emailed me the copy made from the microfiche. It's a terrible picture, but I love it anyway. The caption reads, "FAMILY REUNION - When the U.S.S. Telfair docked here Saturday, a member of the ship's crew was surprised to find that his family had driven here from Moultrie, Ga to meet him. He is Marion Roberts, with his arms around his mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Roberts, while his brother, Bobby, also joined in."
Uncle Marion was 19. It makes what I was doing at 19 seem pretty insignificant. My father was 16. My grandparents took him out of school for the trip which lasted about 3 weeks (I think). I also seem to remember that the ship was originally supposed to dock in San Francisco. When they got there, they discovered that it had been rerouted to Portland. If this is true, they drove 3,220 miles to greet the ship. If they drove straight to Portland, it was a mere 2,758 miles!
