2 World War II Ships in Bittersweet Rendezvous

For one ship and its crew of mostly ancient mariners, it was the near-culmination of a longtime dream, the final leg of a triumphant voyage into the past. For another ship and its crew of equally ancient mariners, it was a bittersweet consolation prize, a chance to savor at least a small portion of the glory that might have been theirs.

The two ships, both of them painstakingly restored World War II merchant vessels, are the 442-foot Liberty ship S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien, whose home port is San Francisco, and the 455-foot Victory ship S.S. Lane Victory, based in San Pedro.

The crews of both ships, composed primarily of retired merchant seaman in their 60s and 70s, had planned to sail their renovated vessels to Europe last spring for the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings on the Normandy coast of France.

The O’Brien, which participated in the D-Day invasion a half-century ago, made it to Europe. But the Lane Victory did not, being forced to turn back in early May after developing engine trouble near Acapulco, Mexico.

On Tuesday, the O’Brien steamed into Los Angeles harbor for a rendezvous with the Lane Victory after completing all but about 400 miles of its five-month, 19,000-mile voyage to the Normandy beaches and back. After spending a day and night tied up bow-to-stern at the docks in San Pedro, both ships steamed out of Los Angeles Harbor on Wednesday morning bound for San Francisco and a gala homecoming for the O’Brien.

The O’Brien’s 56 crew members--who range in age from a 22-year-old volunteer to 90-year-old Clarence Rocha, a retired San Francisco longshoreman--were exuberant.

“Everything was beautiful, no problems of any kind,” said O’Brien Captain George Jahn, 79. “It’s a good ship and a good crew.”

“I turned 70 on this trip but I feel like I’m 18 years old again,” said retired U.S. Maritime Service Rear Admiral Thomas J. Patterson, another World War II veteran who served as coordinator for the O’Brien’s visits to ports in England, France and both U.S. coasts.

The O’Brien had been scheduled to rendezvous with the Lane Victory near Bermuda for the trip across the Atlantic Ocean last spring. Like other O’Brien crew members, Patterson said it was a sad day when they heard that the Lane had been forced to turn back.

“It broke my heart,” Patterson said. “I have as much pride in that ship as I have in this one.”

Most Lane Victory crew members said they were happy to be able to take part in the O’Brien’s San Francisco homecoming.

“We’re delighted for them,” said Joseph Vernick, president of the U.S. Merchant Marine Veterans of World War II, which owns the Lane Victory, as he mingled with O’Brien crew members aboard the ship Tuesday in San Pedro. “It’s a great event for two ships like this to sail together.”

But some veterans of the Lane Victory’s aborted D-Day voyage were bitterly disappointed that they weren’t celebrating the end of a European voyage.

“We should have been there, too,” said former Lane Victory Captain Steven (Bill) Tilghman, 77, who unsuccessfully fought the Lane Victory governing board’s decision to stop the voyage after the engine troubles off Mexico. “That (voyage) was something unique, something we’ll never have a chance to do again. I wouldn’t have cared if we’d sunk, as long as it was on the way home.”

The Lane Victory and the O’Brien are scheduled to sail into San Francisco Bay together on Friday morning.