Madawaska Victory - 517th landing

Hi Bob,
[Attached are...] New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957. Madawaska Victory as the ship, Le Havre as the port of departure and the year 1945.

I paged through the scans and saw at least HQ & HQ Co, Service Company, H and I Companies. For my uncle's page (Robert Magnuson) the citation is: Microfilm Serial: T715, Microfilm Roll: T715_6993, Page Number: 229

The listings look like they were submitted by each company as they are by company, rank and alpha by name. The pages are different than the typical DOJ manifests of the day.

I am sending you a couple pages of H Company so you can see what the passenger list looks like - a nice snapshot of the company for 20 Aug 1945. The lists for the other companies on the same ship look pretty much the same. Note the ship name is actually Madawaska, although the company clerk hand wrote Manawaska (it looks like).

The total pages for H Company is 9 and here is the list for the rest of the 517th groups on the Madawaska

There are over 3000 passengers and include at least "H Company" and "I Company". I have Uncle Bob's Embarkation card from the trip back.

Thanks - Elaine

I was researching another member of the 517 recently (Arthur L Markle) to determine whether he is (distantly) related to our family, and came across the full manifest of the ship Madawaska Victory on August 20, 1945 that carried the majority of the returning members of the 517 from the War in Europe. I see that you have a few pages displayed on the site already, but if anyone is interested in the full list, I have compiled it into a single PDF file with bookmarks.

It includes HQ and HQ CO, HQ 3rd Bat, Companies A, B, G, H, and I, along with the Medical and Service Companies attached.

It would appear that the units that followed a couple of days later on August 22, 1945 on the Oneida Victory were (at a minimum), Companies C, D, E, and F. Maybe Gene Frice or others from these Companies can comment this. I found a listing of the arrival of the Oneida Victory but it did not include the passenger manifest.

If anyone knows information about Arthur, I would love to hear from you. He entered from Detroit Michigan, was wounded during the War (earning a Silver Star) and was a member of Company I.

The 517th came home in August 1945 on the Madawaska Victory [and the Oneida Victory*]. They dropped an A-Bomb the day before we left France and another when we were on the high seas. The War was over by the time we reached New York City. Before we reached sight of land, there was a big rock sticking out of the water; painted on it were the words, "Well Done, Welcome Home". They met us in the harbor with small boats carrying entertainers who put on a show right there in the harbor. The Red Cross was on hand with milk which we drank by the gallons. As we sailed up the Hudson to Camp Shanks on smaller ships, horns and whistles blew and people waved sheets, pillow cases and towels from the apartments along the shore. At Camp Shanks there were Italian POWs in the mess hall serving food like we hadn't seen for a year and one half. Then we hit the trains for home after processing. They gave us 30 days at home before we were to go the west coast and on to Japan. Then telegrams came to stay 15 more days. By then all the west coast stuff was off and we returned to Ft. Bragg or the discharge centers. It was a great way to end the war. Those of us who were headed for Japan beat the ones who went to other units home by several months.

* Correction: I thought we all came home on the Madawaska Victory. Captain Berry steering that ship, made sure we arrived on time and even in the fog it was full speed ahead. Col. Graves and his staff were on that ship as was 3rd Bn. On page 171 of Paratroopers' Odyssey I find that Clark Archer says we loaded onto both ships you mention, Oneida Victory also. No one should dispute Clark's word. On page 132 of the recent publication we all sent biographies which shows the Madawaska Victory with the Battling Buzzard emblem draped over the side. -- Howard Hensleigh