Durden Baxter Dawson was born September 5, 1917 in Greenwood, Sebastian Co., Ar. to Earl Baxter & Joyce Cecil Durden Dawson. Sometime before 1930 Durden was living in Fort Smith, Sebastian Co., Ar. with his parents and siblings and remained there till enlisting in the US Navy in 1943. Meantime, on May 29, 1941 Durden married Gladys C.. DeShazo at Greenwood, Ar. August 15, 1951, after Durden returned from the war Durden and Gladys were granted a divorce at Greenwood, Ar. November 7, 1951 they re-married in Sebastian Co., Ar. Durden enlisted in the US Navy the 31st of October 1943. He was assigned to the USS General J. H. McRae. USS General J. H. McRae (AP-149) was a General G. O. Squier-class transport ship built for the United States Maritime Commission during World War II. The ship was commissioned USS General J. H. McRae (AP-149) on 8 August 1944 at Richmond, California. There is more information below as to her missions during WWII, which, it appears, Slc Dawson was assigned to her full time, not changing ships during his service.. Durden served with the US Navy until 5 Feb 1946. He remained in Fort Smith, Sebastian Co., Ar. untill his death Sept 12 1986. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ During 1944 the USS General J. H. McRae sailed from West Coast ports carrying troops to Honolulu, Hawaii and other Pacific Theater destinations. On 11 January 1945 she sailed for India where she picked up troops and delivered them to various South Pacific destinations. She sailed 19 June 1945 through the Panama Canal for Le Havre, France, where she embarked more than 4,000 troops and returned with them to Newport News, Virginia She moved to Staten Island, N.Y. where on 26 October 1945 she picked up 2,200 "kaki clad brethen"(The "MAC" Log)" and sailed 8,643 nmi (16,007 km; 9,946 mi) arriving at Iran's Shaht-El-Arab River on 19 November 1945. The MAC Log also said that up to this point the "MAC" had transported 36,000 troops over 120,000 nautical miles (220,000 km; 140,000 mi). She continued transporting troops from Europe and other ports through the end of 1945. She was decommissioned at New York City 27 February 1946 and was returned to War Shipping Administration (WSA) for peacetime operations as a United States Army Transport (USAT) under bareboat charter until title was transferred on 30 August 1946.