Last words from a doomed officer

telegraph.co.uk ^ | 28/10/2005 | telegraph

[demlosers]

That letter bring tears to my eyes...

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[snippy_about_it]

Perfect.

[Jeff Head]

This one has been printed and will be read to my family tonight. The sentiments of this letter are exactly the mettle that freedom loving people are and must be made of if they are to stay free and defeat tyranny whenever it rears its ugly head. <>p> Just for reference, here are the two combatants. Gives you a lot more feeling and flavor for what these brave men did to save the lives of others, and the critical war material they were carrying to a beleagured England.

Here's the German Battleship:

...and the "armed" freighter.

...later, in April 1945, the German battleship "got hers".

Here is a GREAT site about the Jervis Bay, HERE.

Apparently, many of the survivors from the Jervis Bay were taken aboard the Swedish freighter, Stureholm, which herself, after this convoy was converted to an armed freighter for convoy escort duties. A number of survivors from the Jervis Bay then signed on with the Stureholm.

On her first patrol, in December of 1940, the Stureholm was attacked by a U-boat (U-96) and sunk with all hands.

[Travis McGee]

God bless them all...

[archy]

There ought to be a book on these "codes" - some were pretty ingenious. I read of one guy who was a Jap prisoner and got this past their censors. "I am OK and now weigh as much as Michael."

Michael was a younger brother who weighed 85 pounds.

There is indeed an excellent book on the Mis-X *secret writing* methods used by those held in enemy PW camps. And there's an excellent story of one enterprising effort by one shot-down flier who wasn't quite out of the war: He addressed his letters back home to his *Uncle Sam, C/O F.B Eyers, 9th & Pennsylvania ST, Washington, D.C.*

When it arrived at the FBI Headquarters then located in the Justice Department Building, they figured it out pretty quickly... and sent his material along to the CU group data collectors.

[lawgirl]

A Pearl Harbor Day-thinking-about-the-great-ones-we've-lost BUMP :) This story just breaks my heart on so many levels but it reminds me to make sure those I love know how I feel about them :-)