Posted on 06/29/2005 3:03:31 AM PDT by SAMWolf
When your EOD unit is on special details with the USSS you get to. Trust me on that one.
"""What? you don't use them to get "jump started" in the mornings?"""
That's called "defibrillating"! I wouldn't have much use for 90 volts either. I need 2000 volts minimum just to get me out of bed.
Regards, maternity insurance. When Mrs alfa6 was preggers with our first child we had no insurance. The hospital in Warrensburg was very accomodating as far as the financial arrangements went.
Fortunately for us, and the hospital, the wife's one grandmother's estate was probated in time for us to recieve a check with just enough money to pay off the hospital and get a nice used Ashai Pentax camera setup before delivery. IIRC the bill was only about $500 for the delivery and a couple of days in the hospital.
With the next three children we elimanted the middle man and had em at home.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
LOL! I just need enough to get my arm raised to reach my coffee cup.
I seem to recall that most of the German military was not expecting full fledged hostilities to break out untill 1942 at the earliest. One has to wonder if the NAZIs could have been stopped if the NAZIs had been able to really re-arm.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
I didn't say I had no use for them.
Yer a man of many hidden talents, eh?
0n 4th July, American Independence Day 1942, one that a lot of our American friends will never forget, the sight of the outer escort of battleships and cruisers, along with their own destroyer escorts, closing in towards the convoy, the American ships amongst them having a great display of flags flying all over the place, had us all guessing for a time, but suddenly the penny dropped. Someone had realised what day it was. With the success the convoy had had in fighting off the attacks, and now the sight of all these large warships celebrating the day dear to the hearts of the people of the United States of America, my pride and the feeling of being safe in their hands came back to me, and I say once more that I am proud to have been there and to have witnessed this great display. That the feeling was destined to be so short-lived is irrelevant.
I leave the final word to a Royal Navy Officer serving onboard HMS Norfolk at the time: “At 26 knots the four cruisers and all the destroyers swept close past the convoy. Our last sight of the merchantmen showed them slowly opening out and separating. The effect on the ships company was devastating. Twenty-four hours earlier there had been only one thought—that at last we were going to bring enemy surface ships to action. I had never known the men in such good heart…Then in the space of a few hours we abandoned our aircraft (which had just been flown off to reconnoitre to the east) and its crew, and we abandoned the convoy. The ship was in turmoil: everyone was boiling, and the Master at Arms told me he had never known such strong feelings before…It was the blackest day we ever knew—sheer bloody murder.”
All in all 24 ships were sunk out of the 33 which made up the convoy. 153 merchant men lost their lives, of those only 7 had perished before the convoy was scattered. The loss of material was extremely heavy; 22 merchant ships had been lost for a total of 142,518 tons of shipping and with them 3,350 motor vehicles, 430 tanks, 210 bombers and 99,316 tons of general cargo including radar sets and ammunition to name a few.
The SS Pan Atlantic was a freighter owned by the Waterman Steamship Co. She was a vessel of about 8,000 tons. The Pan Atlantic was one of 48 ships that made up a convoy of other ships from the U.S., Norway, England, Panama, Russia and Canda. This convoy originated in Halifax, Nova Scotia in June of 1942.The men who manned these ships were not aware of the sufferings and hardships that lay ahead. My ship the SS Pan Atlantic was one of thirty ships or more that left Nova Scotia for Reyjkavich, Iceland. On our voyage to Iceland we were harrassed by German submarines. We lost a few ships by German submarines on this passage.
After we arrived in Iceland about the latter part of June, we held a lifeboat drill. We lowered the Starboard lifeboat for lifeboat exercise. I was the youngest seaman aboard the SS Pan Atlantic and since I only weighed about 110 pounds the mate in charge of the lifeboat would not let me participate in rowing. But as I watched I could see the men had the spirit in them, because they knew that their lives depended on the lifeboat.
We left Iceland on July 3, 1942 with 48 merchant ships and escort vessels of American, British and Canadian. These Navy vessels consist of Destroyers, Corvettes and Rescue vessels. On July 3, 1942, the convoy spotted German reconnaissance planes. These planes shadowed the convoy out of range of the guns of our escort vessels. On the same day July 4, 1942 all hell broke loose. The Germans attacked our convoy with torpedo planes, dive bombers and submarines. The ships of the convoy opened up on the attacking planes. The gun fire from the ships did a lot of damage to our men in other ships.
All ships were firing on the torpedo planes with everything they had, 4", 50 caliber, 3", 50, 5" 5", 20MM, 50, and 30 caliber guns. Everywhere you looked ships were being blown up, men were in the water screaming. The tankers just disappeared in smoke. The battle finally ceased. But the order came by flag hoist from the convoy Commodore to disperse and proceed to your destination alone. The convoy broke up and each ship that were left from the attack commenced on their own.
The reason why the convoy broke up and each ship proceeded on their own was because the convoy Commodore received word that the German packet battleship Von Tripitz with her escorts were not too far off and were looking for the convoy.
On July 6, 1942 two days after the attack on convoy 15 & 17 we spotted a lone German reconnaissance plane. The reconnaissance plane shadowed us for a few hours. The plane disappeared and about three hours later we spotted a German dive bomber. The dive bomber started his attack from the sun.
We fired on the plane with our guns but all could see was the sun. All of a sudden the ship just lifted out of the water. I was loading the 4", 50 caliber on the stern. It was no longer than 10 seconds when another explosion broke the ship in half. We found out the second explosion was from a German submarine.
I ran to the port lifeboat. Men piled into #2 lifeboat. While #2 lifeboat was being lowered, the forward end was dropped. The men including myself were dumped into the sea. I went down into the water it seemed like a hundred feet.
The Pan Atlantic sank within three minutes after being hit. I finally popped up out of the water and to my luck a life raft had floated from the ship. There were a few men on the raft. One of the Navy gunners pulled me aboard the raft. After floating around on the raft we spotted the lifeboat.
The Captain who was Captain Seibert was in the #1 lifeboat. This was the lifeboat that held lifeboat drill in Iceland. We went aboard the lifeboat from the raft. We took all the rations from the raft to the lifeboat. It was the 6th of July but it was cold as hell we were sunk around the Island of Spitzbergen.
We were in the lifeboat for around 9 days before being rescued by the HMS Lodus. This was a British Corvette. After being rescued the corvette sank our lifeboat. After being sunk and while in the lifeboat a German submarine surfaced and asked for the Captain. We had the Captain in the bottom of the lifeboat under a blanket.
We told the submarine Commander that the Captain was killed on the ship when she was hit. The submarine Commander believed our story. He then told us he was sorry some men were killed and he gave us bread and sausage and told us which way the nearest land was. After the corvette Lodus picked us up, we were attacked by German dive bomber. We survived the attack. The next day we arrived in Murmansk, Russia. There we were transferred to a British Destroyer and taken down to Archangeensk, Russia on the White sea.
My feet were frost bitten bad and I was put in the hospital for frost bite and nervousness. While we were in Archangensk the city was dive bombed. We would assist in fighting the fires. We finally left Russia aboard the SS Bellingham owned by Waterman Steamship Co. We had a smooth voyage for a few days, then at dawn we were torpedoed by a German submarine. The ship commenced to sink immediately. The crew was organized and to my knowledge all hands got off the ship.
A British rescue ship picked us up and took us into Johnstone, Scotland. The people in Scotland treated us very well. After staying in Scotland for about a week all the survivors of the ill fated convoy PQ 17 were taken aboard the Queen Mary for passage to the U.S. We arrived in Boston, Mass. about 3- 1/2 days later. We were told to wear our lifejackets when debarking from the Queen Mary. When we arrived in Boston the news men took movie pictures of the survivors.
I arrived to my home in Mobile, Alabama. My parents thought I was killed in the Pan Atlantic. I stayed home for a few weeks then I went down and joined the U.S. Navy. I served on Detroyers, Cruisers, Aircraft Carriers. I worked with Armed Forces special weapons project in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The 4th is supposed to be 88. Nearly perfect.
With regard to Japan, Russia was a neutral until August,1945. That's why I specified that the ships would have had to have been Russian flagged. Certainly American or British ships would not have survived 5 minutes, but would Japan have risked an act of war against Russia? It would probably have been worth a few old merchant ships to find out.
Actually it was Mts alfa6's idea, we did have a mid wife in attendance. We were also fortunate in having a Dr. that was willing to go along with us.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
LOL. You're always covering for snippy.
Morning Victoria.
Nice belt buckle!
LOL!
Morning Phil Dragoo.
Thanks for all the first-hand accounts. Great reading!
The "recent events" is something new to me.!
It's my lot in life. ;-)
BTTT!!!!!!
FYI..yesterday.TMC was playing all Jeanette MacDonald movies....I missed it..darn..I would have set the TIVO..I believe that "San Francisco" is the absolute BEST movie tune EVER...
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