Seagoing cowboys

These relief missions usually took the form of transporting farm animals (such as heifers or horses), by transatlantic ship, to Poland and other countries where much of the livestock had been killed in the war.

Ten seagoing cowboys died on the SS Park Victory when it sank after accidental grounding in the Gulf of Finland on December 25, 1947.

[7][8] A sixtieth anniversary conference commemorating and studying the historical significance of the seagoing cowboys in these relief efforts from 1946 through 1948 was held August 12–14, 2005, at the Church of the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Maryland.

[9][10] From the 60th anniversary Seagoing Cowboys conference: "From 1946-48, more than 4,000 cows passed through the town of Union Bridge, Maryland on their way to the port of Baltimore where they were loaded onto liberty ships for Europe.

They had one goal in mind: to provide a continuous supply of milk to the children and their families of war-torn Europe by replenishing their lost livestock.