Mr. Irving Nachwalter volunteered early to join the ranks of cadet-midshipmen at the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point. He entered the program in the Summer of 1942 and in nine months, he was shuttling cargo to Suez. Cadet-midshipmen came from all walks of life and often had scant maritime experience – he was no exception: he came with none. At the time of his enrollment, he was living in Coney Island with his parents, a student at New York City College, and working full-time as a clerk for Alfred Dunhill, a tobacco import business. He was a first-generation immigrant, his father having fled the then Polish city of Lvov during a period of increased Russian pogroms in 1913 – six years prior to his birth. He was also one of the first Jewish graduates of the Academy.
The first sailing Mr. Nachwalter experienced was aboard the U.S. Army Transport Fairfax. This ship ran the gauntlet from the East Coast to Greenland, earning him his Merchant Marine Combat Bar. After sailing as a cadet, he joined the SS Sun Yat Sen and SS Medina as Third and Second Mate, respectively. He signed the articles on the former ship on 8 August 1943; the wartime Merchant Marine, being the refuge of America’s Avante Garde, also had the author Ralph Emerson join the crew of the SS Sun Yat Sen as a Second Cook and Baker the same month as Mr. Nachwalter paid off – they veritably passed each other on the gangway going different directions. SS Medina had Mr. Nachwalter aboard through the cessation of hostilities, steaming between New York, Vera Cruz, and Tampico – the latter two being ports in Mexico. Navy records show he formally entered the Naval Reserve (Deck – Merchant Marine) on August 18, 1943 – a commission he held until 1951, leaving with the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade.
In 1943 he married Beatrice Polan, and by 1948, Mr. Nachwalter left the merchant service and worked as a manager at Amity Plastics Company, commuting from Perth Amboy to Manhattan. His marriage fizzled, he divorced and then later married fellow Brooklynite Miss Lilian Bernstein in 1952. Afterward, he settled permanently in Brooklyn, and remained in Brighton Beach with Lilian until her passing away in 1982. He passed away in 1990, reaching his seventieth year.
Below find Mr. Nachwalter’s Seaman’s Identification Wallet, an archive of his time at sea.
Wallet
(please click the images for their larger, uncropped versions)
Col. IW