Yup, it's when you hear 'em first hand from those who were there that it really comes alive.

A good friend of mine's Grandfather (now sadly deceased) told me about a time he was on a Merchant ship in WW2 manning the anti-aircraft gun with another guy, and they were running low on ammo. While his pal carried on firing, he left the turret it was placed in and ran over to an adjacent gun to fetch some ammo back. Halfway back to his pal, the gun was hit and his friend killed and the gun knocked out of action. If it hadn't have been for that trip to the next gun to get some ammo, he'd have been killed too. Stuff like that must really freak you out. As far as I recall, that was in the Med.

I must try and scan some of his photographs sometime, because there are some real interesting ones that have probably never been published before, including a few of them picking up a U-Boat's crew after their sub had been destroyed. The thing that really strikes you in those pictures is how young the U-Boatmen look, it's quite shocking and it really sticks in my memory.

:D Chock

Yes, young...lol... I have a picture of me and a guy I did training with standing on an anchor on a troop ship while enroute from New York to Bremerhaven I think it was..that was 1958 & I was 18 years old...Man, I can't believe how young we look... All the guys in my basic training platoon were around 17-18 or so. To damn young to know any better, but at an age where we can be molded to what ever they want us to be. I loved my M-1...
During the first & second world wars the kids were going directly from high school to the front lines...Just a 6-8 week for basic and then the rockets red glare...

Just remember that Irishmen built them during the First World War.:shifty:

my step father (George (Granville) Beaumont), who served in convoys during the war, used to tell many stories.

One was about 'protection' fitted to his ship - a steam powered projectile firing hand grenades. The idea was to fire the hand grenades when being attacked by aircraft. It fired the grenade into the air, the aircraft flew past and was blown out of the sky. They tried it, firing potatoes. The potato lifted about 20 feet above the deck and then dropped. Needless to say, they never used it for real!

My wife's father (Edward Hawkes) used to tell a story of his ship having a naval officer as temporary captain. As he gave steering instructions to my wife's father (quartermaster) the merchant captain signalled with his hands behind him to give the correct directions to steer!

His was torpedoed twice. As he used to say, he was lucky - they were both in the Med.

Unfortunately both are dead. I wish that I had talked more to them. after all, they LIVED real history and it has now gone fore ever.

Great stories...
Uncle Al, who was also sunk twice was quite the survivor. He was in the engine room and on both occasions he said that he had just gone up on deck to get a breath of fresh air. The first time he was blown overboard and was only one of three or so who were picked up afterward. The second time in the channel, same scenario, but most made it & they were picked up by small British coastal patrol boats. I can't remember if the second time was a mine or torpedo though..

He did say that all of them were always scared, but how each individule handled it was the story. Some guys wore several life vests while other wore none.
very few saved any money after pay day...What the heck..may be dead next trip out so have fun now...

at least in the army you can dig a 40foot hole to hide in, but on a ship in the middle of all that ocean....Just wait & pray...lots of praying...