LIVERPOOL - 15th PORT PLAQUE - 1944

19/5/2016

Stone plaque photographed at Pierhead, Liverpool on 18 May 2016.

It commemorates the unity between Britain and America during World War II and the fact that over 1 million US soldiers and cargo/supplies passed through the Port of Liverpool on their way to take part in the D-Day Landings.

I also believe it commemorates the Port Battalions of the US Army Transportation Corps who were based in Liverpool and worked as stevedores, winchmen, signalman, riggers etc alongside their UK counterparts. Many of those serving in the Port Battalions would have been part of the D-Day Landings and gone on to work in recaptured ports in mainland Europe or taken part in the Pacific Theatre of operations.

4 Comments

Emily Sisson

23/5/2016 01:52:39 pm

Thank you so much for this photo. My father served in the U.S. Army in the 15th Port and I'm in the process right now of transcribing all the letters he sent home to his then girl friend, later his wife and later still my mother. He wrote almost every day but during his time in Liverpool his mail was censored and he wasn't supposed to write about what he was actually doing at work every day, or even that he was in Liverpool and not just "somewhere in England." I suppose the fear was of the Germans getting ahold of a letter saying, "Wow. I worked all day unloading a whole bunch of tanks and landing craft. The invasion must be coming up PDQ." So when he does talk about work, he mostly talks about hauling the laundry and dry cleaning back and forth between the barracks and the laundry. It's an aspect of the war I had never considered until I started reading the letters.

Thanks again. Emily

Harry Robinson

2/1/2021 12:26:10 pm

Hi Emily,

I'm trying to find out the identity of my great-grandfather who was a North American soldier based in Liverpool around September-October 1940. The 15th Port has cropped up a lot and I was wondering if you knew when they were based in Liverpool and if it matches up at all?

All the best!
Harry

Emily Sisson

3/1/2021 06:28:14 pm

This is just a guess, but maybe your great-grandfather was Canadian. The US didn’t enter the war until after the attack on Pearl Harbor, in December, 1941. Canada entered the war in September, 1939.

My dad arrived in the UK with the 15th Port in December, 1943. They ran the port in Liverpool but he actually lived in the nearby town of Kirkby. They left for La Havre in March, 1945.

Don’t know if this helps you any. Let me know if you have another question.

Emily

Ernest Everett Blevins

9/10/2020 07:20:51 pm

I found a citation in the AIA records of my grandfather's firm Simons & Lapham, Chalreston, South Carolina (my mother was a Lapham). It states "City of Liverpool, Eng. 15th Port Memorial Tablet." This is the closest similar I have found to the reference.

LIVERPOOL - 15th PORT PLAQUE - 1944

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