Don Bennett's War - Chapter 3

Don Bennett's War

Chapter 3 - The ‘Cruise’

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Oh, for the life on a troop transport, something to never be missed or repeated! The ship we were traveling, the "S.S. Santa Maria" was carrying about 2000 men and was a converted Grace liner, and once had her bow blown off by a mine. We were traveling about 14 knots, which was the speed of the convoy. The convoy consisted of 15 troop transports, one aircraft carrier, one freighter, and five destroyer escorts, two on each side and one leading. Navy PBY's and Blimps escorted us a few hundred miles out. Our bunks, made out of canvas stretched across iron pipe frames, were 4 and 5 high, 18 inches above each other, and was our home for in that small space had to fit our bodies and all our equipment.

Chow, which we waited for hours to get, was scanty and served only twice a day (a sandwich was served between meals), and I'll swear we had boiled whole potatoes with skins on, for every meal. To pass the time away we played cards (mostly pinochle) most of the day, and we had local boxing matches, song fests, and entertainment by our own band. Protestant church services were held on the Hatch twice a week and Catholic services every day. I was pretty lucky as far as seasickness goes, for I was one of the minority who never got very sick. The first day out of New York saw me feeling a little seasick and I couldn't stand the sight of the bow rising and falling in the water, but after that day I was feeling swell. Some fellows were in bed nearly the whole trip and some stomached very few meals. After we were out a couple days, the sky cleared and the ocean became very pretty. It was much clearer and bluer than near the shore. Although the water appeared blue, it turned a foamy light green when the ship stirred it up, and that with the pure white spray was a pretty sight to see. At night, which was complete darkness for all ships were blacked out, you could look over the rail and see thousands of minute phosphorous particles glowing like white sparks mixed in with the white foam and spray. A few feet out past the extent of the wake, you could occasionally see a large phosphorescent glow which looked like a white light about a foot or more in diameter but not distinguishable. About half way across the Atlantic, the ocean turned into a mad tossing sea. Yep, we ran into a storm which was really a storm which lasted for four days and nights, and slowed the convoy down to a snail's pace. I really enjoyed that storm and Lundeen and I and a few others were up on deck for most of the time it lasted. Just before the peak of the storm we couldn't find a single spot on deck which would protect us from the sheets of water sent back over the ship when the bow connected with a healthy wave. When the peak came, all Army personnel were sent below decks to avoid loss by washing overboard. Our only casualty during the storm was a broken leg suffered by an Army KP when a few big waves caused the kitchen to turn topsy-turvy. Another ship in the convoy had one man washed overboard. The only other excitement on the trip over was when the crew testing eight 50 caliber machine guns, then three 3 inch anti-aircraft and the five inch gun in the stem, and when we saw a couple ships in trouble off our port bow. One ship was riding low in the water, turning in circles and burning on the port side. The other ship wasn't too bad off, and was limping along fairly well. The report was that two ships from another convoy (barely visible in the distance) had collided, but I think that was just not to scare us.

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