Citizen of the week: Cochran dedicated to Merchant Marines and furniture work
When World War II started, Allen Cochran went to work for Price Brothers, a defense contractor in Frederick, Md., that made electrical relays for the military. In 1943, he decided to join either the Marines or the Merchant Marines to avoid being drafted. The Marine recruiters encouraged him to join the U.S. Merchant Marines instead because it paid better and also needed men.
Able-bodied seamen in the Merchant Marines were making $50-$60 a month or almost twice as much as their military counterparts.
He joined the Merchant Marines and completed his nine weeks of basic training at Sheepheads Bay, N.Y. He was then assigned to the Baltimore Shipyards for additional training. While he was there, he joined the Merchant Marine Union and waited for his first assignment.
While working at Price Brothers, he met his wife Loretta. They were married about a month before he shipped out on his first convoy assignment.
His first assignment was on board a Liberty ship loaded with bombs sailing in a 100-ship convoy to England. Because his ship was loaded with explosives, it was assigned one of the remote corners of the convoy called the “coffin corner.” Several ships in the convoy were sunk by German U-boats during the crossing of the North Atlantic. The convoy could only travel as fast as the slowest ship, so it was a very slow trip at about eight knots per hour. Whenever they encountered strong headwinds, the ships would often remain almost stationary, bobbing like bathtubs. After unloading the cargo to England, his ship returned to Baltimore.
The Liberty ships usually had a crew of about 50 Merchant Marines and another 27 Navy gunners. The Navy gunners were responsible for manning the ship’s only two guns - a 3-inch and a 5-inch cannon. They also carried depth-charges to use against German submarines.
Allen sailed with two other convoys out of Baltimore to Europe. On one, his ship carried a load of coal to Naples, Italy. His final convoy carried food and railroad equipment to a Russian port on the Black Sea. After unloading the cargo in Russia, they learned that Germany had surrendered and sailed for home.
During the trip to Russia, his ship was almost sunk by a mine. Allen was on guard duty watching for mines when a large mine was seen directly in front of his ship. They attempted to detonate the mine by shooting it without success. He remembers looking over the side of the ship and watching the mine float just beside the ship without exploding.
After the war, he returned to his job at Price Brothers for a short time. He then moved to Hamilton, Va., and went to work with his brother-in-law restoring antique furniture. After 18 months, he decided to start his own furniture restoration business. He purchased a house and 50 acres of land in Clarke County where he built his own shop. He and his wife still live there today.
Cochran is well-known for his fine work with furniture refinishing and repairing. He previously worked for the National Park Service in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., and now that he is retired, he continues to work at his home.
While with the National Park Service, he worked on such well-known items as the desk that presidents Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy used (which is now exhibited in Harpers Ferry) and the Lincoln Rocker, which is currently in the Lincoln room in the White House.
The National Park Service still calls on Cochran once in awhile, Clarke County resident John Harris said.
“He was the top man, and he can do anything,” Harris said.
“He did beautiful stuff for the National Park Service,” Clarke County resident Sheryl Reid said.
“It was the best job I ever had, and I should have stayed longer,” Cochran said.
