Gone for Soldiers: Josiah Haralson Freeman (1897 - 1950), Sailor

He was born in rural Morgan County, Georgia, which is nowhere near the ocean but Josiah chose to enlist in the U.S. Navy in 1917.

[Ancestry.com. Georgia, World War I Service Cards, 1917-1919 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Georgia Adjutant General’s Office. World War I Statements of Service Cards. Georgia State Archives, Morrow, Georgia.]

I found a photograph of his ship, the U.S.S. San Francisco, at the Library of Congress.

[U.S.S. San Francisco. Detroit Publishing Company photograph collection (Library of Congress)]

He must have found life at sea attractive because four months after his discharge from the Navy he applied for his Seaman's Protection Certificate in New Orleans.*

*You can see a picture of Josiah (who is my second cousin, twice removed) in this earlier post.

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