Conway distinguished himself in maritime service and served in various positions during the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, including Shipping Advisor to both Presidents and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Captain served as manager for the Shipping Board in New London, Connecticut, and for the fleet of 135 laid-up vessels of World War I vintage – in Kill Van Kull, Staten Island.
[1] In World War II, the captain earned much of the credit for the record speed achieved in transporting men and materiel to the European Theater of operations.
He always kept a letter from Winston Churchill under the glass of his desk; in it, proclaimed that his idea to ship whole fighter planes on the decks of tankers would never work, but FDR supported Conway's intuition and it paid off big in the eventual victory.
Although he spoke no foreign tongues, being largely self-educated, he was very charismatic and influential people or ordinary seamen rapidly related to this American of humble origin, who loved golf, champagne, family, his country, and the sea.
On the occasion of National Maritime Day, May 22, 1946, Congressman Ellsworth Buck said on the floor of Congress, "It was men like Granville Conway who brought glory to the American merchant marine in the past.
He shipped millions of tons of coal, grain, and relief supplies in the midst of one of Europe's worst winters and, in the words of Secretary of State Dean Acheson, "his actions prevented mass starvation in many areas and certainly enhanced our position as a great humanitarian nation."
Under the settlement terms of a questionable criminal and civil suit brought by the United States for the "illegal" purchase by an alien of U.S. World War II ships, Onassis was required to transfer full operating control and ownership of his fleet to U.S. citizens.
At the time of Captain Conway's death in September 1969, he was President of the Cosmopolitan Shipping Company and the Home Lines Agency and Chairman of Commercial Tankers of Liberia.
In these accomplishments, Mr. Conway contributed to a most successful and outstanding transportation operation with a spirit of loyalty which is in keeping with the highest traditions of American citizenship.