World War II
General William Weigel sailed from New York 11 February 1945 with 5,000 rotation troops; and, after delivering them safely to Le Havre, embarked US and French veterans at Southampton and returned to New York 19 April. Underway again 1 May with Navy men bound for Puerto Rico, the troopship touched at San Juan to debark them and to take on 5,000 Army fighting men for passage to Hawaii.
As General William Weigel was steaming toward Pearl Harbor, one of her passengers became critically ill. To save his life, strict radio silence was broken to arrange a mid-ocean rendezvous with a seaplane out of Balboa. He was transferred to the seaplane 19 May and flown to a hospital; General William Weigel reached Honolulu 6 days later.
This far ranging ship sailed 28 May for Marseilles to embark 5,000 soldiers and transferred them to Eniwetok and Manila to take part in the climactic Pacific battles. Subsequently she loaded passengers at Leyte and returned via Ulithi to moor at San Pedro, California, 25 August 1945.
Read more about this topic: USS General William Weigel (AP-119)
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