Ammunition Passer
Heroes Remember
Ammunition Passer
When you’re on a Norwegian ship and there was a,
you were always responsible for, at one particular time
on a couple of ships I was an ammunition passer.
The big steel cage with about 12 five-inch shells and when
submarines attacked, if you were by yourself you load the ship
and load the gun and try to participate and defend yourself.
And when the alarm bell rang you had a rubber suit tied up
to your neck and you had a station by a certain life boat
and you stay there. When a convoy started to be attacked
by submarines it was more of a thrill to me not realizing
the full potential of what was happening around you and
I was more excited and thrilling to see where I am but not
realizing the danger of it, see.
One of the most impressionable things that ever happened to me,
this old Newfoundlander was in the engine room on this ship
I was on. It was a coal burning boat
– and every time I used to go out by the boat he was there
crying and I’d try to comfort him and said, “What’s going on?”
He said, “Son, you don’t realize what it is until you get hit.”
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