Walter Hammersley

Born on October 8th, 1921, Walter served as a yeoman first class on the USS Pastores AF-16-PSC. On January 23rd, 1942, the Navy reacquired her on a bareboat charter; she was recommissioned on February 13th, 1942, as AF-16, with Captain C. L. Andrews in command. The Pastores transported food and war materials for the Allies as a provision store ship. Under the Commander Service Force Atlantic in 1942, the Pastores ventured into the submarine-infested Caribbean. On June 16th, they picked up 36 survivors from the SS Arkansan, victims of U-126.

Later in the month, they stopped the Italian tankers Arcola and Taigeter but allowed them to proceed after an investigation. The Pastores supplied forces in Trinidad, Cuba, Bermuda, and other Caribbean islands with fresh food before returning to the United States with full cargoes of sugar. The Pastores then passed through the Panama Canal in November 1943 to join the fight against Japan. The ship operated from San Francisco, California, and Pearl Harbor in 1944, and unloaded its chilled and frozen cargo for the fighting fleet and shore bases in the Ellice, Gilbert, Marshall, and New Hebrides Islands. Stopping at Espiritu Santo, Milne Bay, Finschhafen, and Biak with fresh holiday provisions from San Francisco in early October, it completed unloading at San Pedro Bay, Leyte.

The first reefer ship, USS Leyte Gulf, arrived after the invasion, before the beach receiving facilities were completed, evading Japanese aircraft until she could unload. From San Pedro Bay, she traveled to the Admiralties and New Zealand. For nearly a year, she transported food supplies to ports in New Guinea, the Philippines, the Palaus, the Admiralties, the Solomons, and the Russell Islands. With the end of the war in sight, she made her way to Pearl Harbor, where she received news of the victory. In October 1945, she left San Francisco carrying fresh holiday food for the troops on Leyte. After returning to San Francisco, the Pastores was decommissioned on March 14th, 1946, and transferred to the War Shipping Administration. She was removed from the Naval Vessel Register on March 28th, 1946, and sold to Walter W. Johnson Co. for scrapping on December 19th, 1946.