Ship Named for Ernie Pyle -- Praised Merchant Marine
Worth - Maritime 62 PR 2247
UNITED STATES MARITIME COMMISION
Washington 29, D. C.
Press Release
Friday, April 27, 1945Cleared and Issued
Through Facilities of the
Office of War Information
The name of Ernie Pyle will be assigned to a C-4 military-type cargo ship, the United States Maritime Commission announced today. The C-4 is a 522-foot ship of 14,600 deadweight tons, cruising radius of 14,000 miles and 9,000 horsepower, one of the Commission's largest ships.Pyle many times honored the men of the United States Merchant Marine for the vital, and often heroic, part they have taken in the war effort. Millions of Pyle's GI's have crossed the oceans to the fighting fronts on ships manned by his friends in the Merchant Marine the Commission said. After helping to successfully establish initial landings, the merchant seamen have continued to bring in the supplies and men that made our advances against the enemy possible.
In referring to the Anzio campaign Pyle said:
"Perhaps the real drama of the Anzio beachhead campaign was the supply system. The supplying of the Fifth Army beachhead was one of the superlative chapters of our Mediterranean war. . . .
"The beachhead was really like a little island. Everything had to come by water. Without a steady flow of food and ammunition, the beachhead would have perished. . . .
"Our supplies were unloaded in many ways. Some few ships could go right up to a dock. Others went to nearby beaches. The bigger freight ships had to lie off the harbor and be unloaded into smaller boats, which in turn unloaded onto the docks and beaches.
"Many branches of the service deserve credit for the supply miracle -- the Navy, the MERCHANT MARINE, the Combat Engineers, the Quartermaster Corps. . . .
"The crews of those big freighters were members of the Merchant Marine."
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03/22/05