Carl Casperson

Era: World War II

Military Branch: Navy

Carl Casperson served in World War II in all of the theaters of war.

He served in the Merchant Marine, an auxiliary of the Navy during wartime, from the middle of 1943 until the middle of 1946. He trained at the Merchant Marine training base in Sheepshead Bay, New York, then served aboard six Liberty Ships that transported wartime supplies, from provisions to matériel.

He held various positions in the Steward’s Department.

He was decorated with Merchant Marine bars from all theaters of war.

Mr. Casperson was born in 1925 in Ashland, Wisconsin. He is the son of Hans and Julia Casperson. He graduated from Ashland High School in 1943.

Source: Veterans’ Memorial Hall veteran history form; veteran’s account (below)

“I traveled to the Merchant Marine training base at Sheepshead Bay in New York the day after I graduated from high school. I was a crewmember on six different Liberty Ships carrying the cargos of war to all theaters of activity: six round trips on the Atlantic to England, Omaha Beach, and Belgium. Two trips to Cuba to carry raw sugar to England. Trip to Calcutta, India, with poison gas contained in 500-lb. bombs as part of the cargo. Coastal trip in California to unload unneeded cargo at war’s end. Traveled in convoy as well as alone.”