Walter Magalis
Armed Guard

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Walter L. Magalis, 79, vice chairman of Project Liberty Ship for much of its renewed life since 1988, died at home on March 31, 2003, after a long fight, first with prostate cancer and then colon cancer. He was 79.

A Brunswick native and son of a Baltimore & Ohio railroader, Mr. Magalis moved to West Baltimore with his family in 1935 and attended city public schools.

On April 1, 1943, at age 18, he enlisted in the Navy and was assigned to its Armed Guard - men posted on merchant ships and responsible for manning the defensive guns against air and sea attacks. Walter served on three ships including two Libertys - SS WILLIAM GRAYSON and SS JOHN MERRICK - and the USS BOXER.

Honorably discharged on February 25, 1946, Walter returned to Baltimore where he took a job as a truck driver with Johnson Motor Lines. He was there for 35 years until retiring in 1981.

In 1952 he married Mary Quesinberry and the couple made their home in Arbutus, MD.

In 1988, Walter read a newspaper ad for volunteer help in restoring the JOHN W. BROWN, which was being brought to Baltimore by Project Liberty Ship. The 4,700-ton vessel had been built at Bethlehem Steel's Fairfield Yard in 1942 and was used as a maritime high school in New York City after its wartime career. Then it was consigned to the James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia to be scrapped.

Walter became an early volunteer and was among the 50 former seamen who rode the dead ship as it was towed up the Chesapeake Bay on its return to Baltimore. He joined other Armed Guard veterans in the restoration of the aft quarters. He was one of the original members of the Brown's Armed Guard and worked two or three days a week when Project Liberty Ship started restoring the ship, working on her equipment and guns.

Walter was one of those guys who always smiled and was cheerful. No matter what the volunteers were up against, he never shied away from hard work.

When the ship was open for tours, Walter, with his beret set at a jaunty angle, was a popular tour guide as he guided visitors through the Armed Guard quarters and demonstrated the vessel's armament.

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This is part of an interview with Ernie Imhoff:

WALTER L. MAGALIS

"My first vessel was a Liberty ship, the SS WALTER GRAYSON. I joined it in the Pacific, sailing around the world, and was aboard as it withstood 35 air attacks by German aircraft as it steamed from Gibraltar to Port Said, Eygpt. Those air raids lasted for 15 terrifying minutes, followed by the worst boredom. I improved real fast. I thought I was bulletproof and it really didn't hit me until years later what I had done. At the time, all I cared about was the next liberty and beer. But I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.

"My second ship was another Liberty, the SS JOHN MERRICK. We saw a lot of action. We were in the invasion of France in June 1944. It made 21 voyages ferrying troops, tanks and supplies between English ports and Utah Beach.

"I found that the anticipation was worse than the action. You know you're going to England. You're a nervous wreck. I was scared to death. You sleep with your shoes on, your helmet on, your lifejacket on. Scared to death. Then it's time to work. You cool off and your training takes over.

"We were busy. We brought troops from Portsmouth, England, to Utah Beach. The troops and gear were deck load only. Troops, trucks and tanks each load. You load and unload quickly and get out of there and go back and load and unload another deck load. We made 21 trips back and forth to Utah Beach.

"As I say, once the shit hits the fan, your training takes over. We came under fire. German planes shooting at you. You look through your sights. You're going 10 miles an hour, plane's going 200 miles an hour, you shoot one foot ahead of the plane. I shot a lot, aft end, port side. A buddy says, "You got him, you got him." He congratulates me. Hell, no, I had shot part of my own rigging on our ship.

"Many kinds of things happened. I know we hit German planes and sent them down. We also hit some of our own too. We also hit our own rigging. We were hit. We also hit a magnetic German mine. Blast blew the propeller off! Ship was fixed. We were lucky. No one got wounded. They were busy hours. About 6,000 ships took part.

"By the way, I hated my third ship, the aircraft carrier USS Boxer. Hated that sucker. I was accustomed to a 27-man gun crew. They put us on a ship in the Pacific with 3,300 men. Every time we went to lunch, we got lost. Everybody was complaining all the time about everything. The food was nothing. Too many people.

"I liked the Libertys. The relationship between the Armed Guard and the merchant marine was OK. We were all young guys. Some of the merchant mariners were older and grouchy. You know they'd say, "God damn kids taking over the ship." I loved Armed Guard duty. I had lots of good buddies. We had little or no organization. Our old man, the ensign, was 25 years old on both Libertys. We worked as we wanted to. We came and went as we wanted. We were disrespectful. We didn't want to be treated like prisoners. We had our own minds. We worked hard and shot hard when we had to.

"It was funny - we were Navy but we wanted to wear Army clothes. We found some and wore them. We were young guys. People did worry. One guy on the GRAYSON had a bad case of nerves, too much strain, he went in his cabin and shot his head off. A lot of guys were worrying all the time about tomorrow. To hell with tomorrow."

Walter was one of the first volunteers to join in the restoration of the SS JOHN W BROWN. In the interview, he said: "I have enjoyed all 14 years of the BROWN. It was fun. Even when we brought her up as a dead ship on a hot day in 1988 and the seagull and pigeon stuff was three and four feet high and we slept out under the gun tub nearby. What a sorry looking, impossible job the BROWN looked like then. The aroma was deadly."