This Memorial Day, Remember the Crew of the SS Marcus Daly
This Memorial Day, Remember the Crew of the SS Marcus Daly: “The stark courage of her stalwart crew against overwhelming odds caused her name to be perpetuated as a Gallant Ship.”
Caption: One of the 2,710 Liberty Ships built for WW II
By Al Garver
During World War II, one of the unsung heroes was a class of large cargo ships known as Liberty Ships. More than 2,700 were built between 1941 and 1945, mass-produced in American shipyards at an average rate of three per day. They represented the largest number of ships ever constructed of a single type. More than 440 feet long, they could carry impressive amounts of men, vehicles, fuel, and ammunition, with a range of 23,000 miles.
Each Liberty Ship was named after a prominent American, beginning with all the signers of the Declaration of Independence. All 2,710 namesakes were deceased and had played significant roles in American history. Marcus Daly was one of them. The SS Marcus Daly was commissioned on August 5, 1943, in Richmond, California, and began operations in the Pacific theater.
Like all Liberty Ships, the SS Marcus Daly was large, slow, and vulnerable to enemy attack. She had no armor and carried only four 102mm deck guns for firing on surface submarines, along with several anti-aircraft guns. Unlike most Liberty Ships, however, the SS Marcus Daly was involved in multiple combat incidents and survived—earning her a distinct and permanent citation as a “Gallant Ship” by the Merchant Marines.
The U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, has the following chronology posted in their public online archives:
In the fall of 1944, Marcus Daly participated in the Allied invasion of the Philippines, docking at Tacloban, Leyte, on October 25. Alongside another Liberty Ship, Adoniram Judson, the Marcus Daly was one of the first merchant vessels to arrive at the port, where it quickly came under near-constant air attack by Japanese bombers and fighters.
During unloading, the Marcus Daly served as one of the primary anti-aircraft platforms at the city docks. According to the commander of the vessel’s Naval Armed Guard, the ship endured countless fighter attacks, and roughly 30 bombs fell near or beside her; one landed so close that merchant mariner Richard G. Matthiesen, assisting the Armed Guard, was wounded by bomb fragments. During the action, the Armed Guard aboard Marcus Daly shot down three Japanese bombers. The ship’s anti-aircraft defense was so effective that General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander in the Southwest Pacific, sent a personal commendation to the crew.
Marcus Daly returned to the Philippines on December 5, 1944, to deliver additional cargo. Japanese bombers attacked again. One, after being shot down, exploded beneath one of the ship’s gun platforms. Among those manning the gun were merchant seaman Alvin R. Crawford, who was killed instantly, and Richard G. Matthiesen, who was severely burned and injured by the blast. Despite his wounds, Matthiesen returned to the burning gun platform and rescued at least two—and possibly three—Armed Guard gunners, including one who was unconscious. Matthiesen died the following morning from his injuries.
For their heroism, Matthiesen, Crawford, and vessel master A.W. Opheim were awarded the Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal. Matthiesen was further honored in 1986 when the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command named a T5 tanker USNS Richard G. Matthiesen (T-AOT-1124) in his memory.
Based on these events, the official Gallant Ship Award Citation reads:
In October 1944, the SS MARCUS DALY was one of the first United States merchant ships to dock at Tacloban, Island of Leyte, during the initial invasion of the Philippines. For six days and nights her guns, manned by a skillful and courageous crew, defeated vigorous attacks by enemy planes in a series of heroic actions. In December 1944, she again engaged enemy bombers and suicide planes and emerged victorious.
The stark courage of her stalwart crew against overwhelming odds caused her name to be perpetuated as a Gallant Ship.
The SS Marcus Daly completed her service on October 21, 1948, and was anchored in Suisun Bay, California, as part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet. She was eventually sold for scrap in June 1968.
Editor’s Note: Al Garver is the Senior Director of the Bitterroot Health Foundation in Hamilton, Montana. He discovered the story of the SS Marcus Daly while researching the origins of Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital, founded in 1931. Chief Master Sergeant Garver served 34 years in the U.S. Air Force, including 14 years as a military historian. He began his career as an E-5 Staff Sergeant in the Montana Air National Guard and rose to become the Senior Enlisted Reserve Historian assigned to Headquarters U.S.A.F. at the Pentagon. He served an eight-month combat tour at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, as a historian on the command staff of the largest combat air wing in history—the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, a legacy unit honoring the Tuskegee Airmen of WWII. Chief Master Sergeant Garver retired on July 4, 2017, following a final three-year tour as the State Command Chief of the DC National Guard.
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