My grandfather, Johnny Menendez served on the Steelmaker and Steel Worker, before WWII.

My grandfather was born in 1905 and passed away in 1965. My home was flooded in Hurricane Katrina and I have very few photos of him, but I will send you what I have and you can choose. I’ll ask my mother if she remembers any sea stories. All I know is my grandmother made him quit the Merchant Marines as the war began. I know that he was in London the day my mother was born in July 1933. He worked in the shipyards of Mobile during the war, working on submarines. He would take the subs out on their trials. After the war they moved to New Orleans where he worked at the port as a shipping engineer until his death in October 1965. Apparently no one thought any of his papers had value because nothing was saved. I had his chief engineer’s license with a photo, but that is gone now. I have a book, which I saved from the garbage pile, that may contain info, but I haven’t touched it since the flood. I may salvage something there, now that I have a good reason to open that box.

Cathy Langhoff