Lou McHugh enlisted in 1942 at age 19, a few months after his father died.
He had great uncles, uncles, and a sister in the Navy. He later went to
college and earned a master’s degree and then served as a commissioned army
officer in Korea. When we were kids, he talked most often about his Navy
days – even though he was in the army at the time. I think we saw every
episode of Victory at Sea and I also remember a show called Navy Log. I
think he referred to his service as being in the Armed Guard more often than
being in the Navy. Eventually, my younger brother, Dan, enlisted and served
as a sonarman, and I was commissioned near the end of the Vietnam war and
served with a Navy attack squadron (VA-196) on the USS Enterprise –
thankfully the war was over by the time I got to the South China Sea.

In the first picture taken on the SS Hat Creek, note the name on the gun –
Nanty Glo, a small coal-mining town in western PA where Lou grew up. As I
remember, there were two gunners from Nanty-Glo on the ship, so they got
naming rights.

Lou served on the following vessels:

SS Lou Gehrig 29 Jan 1943 – 8 Dec 1943

SS Hat Creek 29 Dec 1943 – 17 Jul 1944

SS Thaddeus Kosciuszko 22 Sep 1944 – 2 May 1945

SS Marine Falcon 12 Aug 1945 – 18 Sep 1945

In the second picture (date unk, place unk), you get a sense of the
youthfulness and optimism of those young guys who served on the ships.
He was honorably discharged at Mare Island, Vallejo, CA in December 1946.

Through his service in the Navy and the Army, Lou earned the right to wear
the following decorations:

Good Conduct Medal

Meritorious Unit Emblem

American Campaign Medal

Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal – bronze service star

European-African-Middle East Campaign Medal – bronze service star

WW II Victory Medal

National Defense Service Medal

Korean Service Medal – bronze service star

Philippine Liberation Ribbon

United Nations Service Medal

Honorable Service Lapel Button WW II

In his later years, he wrote for his service records, but was told they
burned in a fire at the repository. Lou died in January of 2002, 60 years
to the hour after his own father. I recently wrote again to the NPRC and
hit the jackpot. Not only did they forward his army records, but also the
missing Navy records as well as all the actual medals and ribbons he earned.
Hard to believe there are still copies of WWII medals in a warehouse
somewhere.