Jacki Fanzo
December 25, 2009
Today is Christmas. I am working in the Attractions Department and catching up on paperwork. In yesterday’s mail a letter from a former guest was received. Mrs. Clara Willner and her family had visited the ship earlier in the month. They took the World War II guided tour with Greg, our Tour Guide, who truly enjoys his job. He says the high-point of every one of his tours is meeting someone who has a special memory of the Queen Mary. So many people do. Greg encourages them to write to me so that their story will become a part of our oral history program (Speaking of the Queen Mary, a History of Passages) and archive records. Lucky for us, Mrs. Willner sent in the following letter and we thank her for sharing her memories of the Queen Mary.
What I remember about the Queen Mary during World War II
by Clara Willner
When I graduated from college during the war, I went to work for the Immigration Department on Ellis Island. My window faced the Statue of Liberty. Of all the ships transporting G.I.s back and forth from New York Harbor to Europe, the Queen Mary during World War II, was busy constantly.
We always knew when she was coming to New York by her siren. We would say, “Oh! The Queen Mary is coming.” All of the ships had to stop three miles away at sea so that the Immigration Inspectors could go out to check for stowaways.
Finally, on May 8, 1945, the war in Europe ended. The young men who had been fighting across Europe from England, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland and all the way to Austria, where they met the Russians, was over. They were exhausted, but relieved that “God” had spared them and they were alive. My fiancé, who had been fighting on the front lines under General Patton’s 3rd Army, 71st Division, was one of the men who survived by a miracle.
But, the worst was still to come. The war in the Pacific was waging on with no end in sight. The U. S. Army decided that to help end the war, they must transfer thousands of soldiers from Europe to Tokyo with a stopover in New York. This was going to be a suicide mission where thousands of American boys and Japanese would be slaughtered.
The first troop ship with thousands of weary, despondent, soldiers aboard was the Queen Mary. They were thinking their lives were over. This was in August 1945. How sad they must have been. Suddenly, as the Queen Mary was coming into New York on August 14, 1945, the G.I.s heard that the war was over. I will never forget the shouting and screaming from the boys on the ship. They wanted to jump overboard and swim to shore. The Queen Mary was rocking back and forth as the boys jumped for joy. We were watching from our windows and crying. New York ships and floats came out to greet them and welcome them home.
The war was over and the Queen Mary was the first ship to bring them home safe when they thought their lives were over. God bless them and the Queen Mary, for all the work she did during these terrible war years. My husband’s division was also scheduled to storm Tokyo. Instead, he came home, we got married and had 60 years of a wonderful life together.
Best Wishes and Happy New Year.
Clara Willner
December 13, 2009








