This week’s Comfort Heating and Air Salute to Service honoree is Marlin Ames of Salina.
Marlin served in the Army Air Corps from 1943-1946. He was trained in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, at a Signal Corp school.
In March 1944, Marlin boarded a liberty ship in a convoy of more than 100 liberty ships, tankers, and freighters circled by destroyer escorts. Before they reached their destination, one liberty ship was hit by a German bomber and completely obliterated. A few days later they landed in Naples, Italy where he remained until the end of the war, working in the 907th Signal Service Co. in Naples, Italy, doing aircraft radio repair.
A few months before he was honorably discharged, he attained the rank of sergeant.
The following is an excerpt Marlin’s memory book that he wrote for his kids and grandkids.
I have many memories of the nearly two years I spent in the 907th. Among the unpleasant, Anzio beachhead was only a few miles north and we could hear the continual artillery fire night and day and the constant call for blood donations for the wounded. The almost nightly interruption when we would hear a jeep go by yelling at the smoke pots to make smoke and knowing soon the sky would be filled with anti-aircraft fire and bombs exploding somewhere in the city. Among the pleasant. Bringing Christmas to an orphanage near Naples, complete with lighted tree and Santa Claus and lots of candy and food for maybe sixty hungry orphans, climbing Mount Vesuvius, touring Pompeii, sailing and swimming in the Bay of Naples, transmitter watch on the Isle of Capri, beautiful Sorrento, a trip to Rome and a week in Switzerland. In January 1946 we boarded the U.S.S. Richardson and sailed for home. This was a troop ship with approximately 6,000 troops aboard but it had the facilities to handle that many and it was a much more pleasant trip than being crowded in a liberty ship. Six days later we sailed into New York harbor and nothing could be more beautiful than to see the Statue of Liberty welcoming us home.
Congratulations, Marlin, on being selected as this week’s Comfort Heating and Air Salute to Service honoree! Thank you for your service!
This football season, Comfort Heating and Air thanks all who have served with a Salute to Service. Each week during the NFL regular season, Comfort Heating and Air will salute a member of our military, active duty or veteran.
Make your nomination for Salute to Service here today. Each week, we will recognize a member of our military and put his or her name in a drawing to attend the Chiefs/Raiders game on December 30. Salute to Service brought to you by your friends at Comfort Heating and Air.
