The collection primarily contains marine telegrams between Charles T. Miller, captain of the merchant ship SS Mayaguez, and officials from Sea-Land Service, Inc., the ship’s parent company. The messages were exchanged shortly before the ship and crew were seized by Khmer Rouge armed forces and after they were recovered by U.S. armed forces in May 1975. The majority of the telegrams discuss business matters after the rescue, including reports on the ship and crew; requests for interviews; and concerns about a lawsuit filed by some crew members against Sea-Land Service, Inc. and Captain Miller. Additionally, there are a few messages from Captain Miller to his wife; a photograph of the rescue ship USS Holt and another of President Ford seated with several advisers when he received word of the successful rescue; and a commemorative ship’s wheel presented to Captain Miller by the crew of the Mayaguez. The photos have been transferred to the AV unit and the wheel to the Ford Presidential Museum.
Series Description and Container List
Container List
Collection Overview
Scope and Content Note
Related Materials (January 2012)
Related materials documenting the U.S. government response to the seizure of the Mayaguez appear in the White House Central Files Subject File category ND-18/CO-26 (Wars/Cambodia) as well as several National Security Adviser subcollections, including the Presidential Country Files for East Asia and the Pacific, NSC East Asian and Pacific Affairs Staff Files, and Staff Assistant John K. Matheny Files.
For first-person accounts of the Mayaguez incident, the Sea-Land Service Collected Materials and the U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division Collection contain interviews with Mayaguez crew members and Marines involved in the rescue mission, respectively.
Details
0.035 linear feet (ca. 75 pages)
Vincent Guaglianone, on behalf of the Ann Bolerasky Miller Estate (accession number 2010-NLF-003)
Access
Open.
Copyright
Vincent Guaglianone donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to remain with them. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain.
Processed by
Elizabeth Druga, January 2012