Meredith Victory Saved 14,000 Refugees

In December 1950, Captain Leonard LaRue's SS Meredith Victory, a cargo ship built for 35 crew members and 12 passengers, took aboard more than 14,000 Korean refugees during the evacuation of Hungnam. The refugees stood chest-to-chest on deck and inside the cargo holds, while others rested atop drums of jet fuel. The unescorted ship navigated an enemy minefield and dodged air attacks during a three-day voyage with little food or water and no doctor or interpreter. Nobody died, and five babies were born before the refugees disembarked at Koje-Do in South Korea on Christmas Day, earning the vessel the nickname "Ship of Miracles."

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