My mate walks into a pub.....

[Captain Nemo]

Originally Posted by flag4

.....we all know what effects alcohol can have on people.


I'll drink to that.


maybe someone knows of this troop ship cum passenger liner that went down with 7000 (seven thousand) american troops. if we can trace that we can trace a little more of the authenticity of this gentlemans story....

A quick bit of research has thrown up a couple of possibilities. The first is the USAT Dorchester sunk by U-223 on 3 February 1943. Out of the 904 on board 674 perished more info here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAT_Dorchester .

The second and more likely the one referred to by the old geezer is the SS Leopoldville sunk on 24 December 1944 in the English Channel. A quote from Wikipedia states "Of the 2,235 American servicemen on board, approximately 515 are presumed to have gone down with the ship. Another 248 died from injuries, drowning, or hypothermia."

In neither case was all hands lost.

As has been mentioned before, Heinz-Wilhelm Eck of U-852 was the only u-boat commander convicted and executed for war crimes for machine gunning survivors of the SS Peleus.

Nemo