| 'There was deep concern. You would peek through the windows and see the explosions at night' -- Stocky Midgett, Hatteras village 'It would shake the houses and sometimes the exploxions cracked the cistern and damaged the sheet rock and plaster in some of the houses' -- Blanche Joliff, Ocracoke 'I think the people on the Outer Banks saw more of the war in this country than anybody else.' -- Arnold Tolson, Manteo 'You'd hear an explosion go up, and somebody would say 'there goes another one' -- Mattson Meekins, Avon 'It was if there was no war going on at all. The Germans surfaced off of the coast and they marveled that they could sit there in their submarine and watch cars drive up and down the road, see streetlights, smell the pine forests in the breeze coming off the land. It was incredible.' -- Joseph Sehwarzer, executive director, Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum 'I tell you it was the damndest thing you ever saw. Automobiles were going by. The hotels wouldn't put their lights out. They just didn=t take it seriously. I tell you it was terrible.' -- Francis Bowker, merchant seaman, Sea Level, N.C. 'So much of it was concealed from the public. Not many people knew that we were having all of this carnage, damage, ships sinking and people being killed simply because it was not publicized' -- Russell Twiford, Manteo 'All we had on board, I think, was six rifles and one pistol. We couldn't do much, but they had us out there. We had to go.' -- Mack Wornack, Ocracoke 'When we'd get a call. the cook would make up a batch of groceries, grab the groceries, and away we=d go --putt, putt, putt, putt...' -- Theodore Mutro, Ocracoke 'Everybody's emotions was high You know when you ride over to the beach, hear an explosion that night and ride over to beach and see men washing up, everybody=s emotions was high, very high.' -- Arnold Tolson 'I heard one young man say how terrible it was to be out there and watch those men jump off the burning tanker: ' -- Blanche Joliff 'They was sittin' ducks, was what they was. Just waiting to be shot. And that's a terrible death, burnin' to death. You just feel useless, which you are, there's nothing you can do ..... All we could do is just go around and around, hoping to pick up somebody that was alive. It was a terrible feeling' -- Mack Wornack |