SS Laconia U-Boat Attack From Both Sides [Part 1 KTB 170]
SS Laconia U-Boat Attack From Both Sides [Part 2 KTB 172]
SS Laconia U-Boat Attack From Both Sides [Part 3 KTB 173]
SS Laconia U-Boat Attack From Both Sides [Part 4 KTB 174]
SS Laconia U-Boat Attack From Both Sides [Part 5 KTB 175]

Our host was delightful – he could never do enough for us. My complete lack of appetite tried him sorely, and he sent me every kind of delicacy and fruit he could obtain. I had lost everything I possessed, and he saw to it that I was supplied with essential clothing, himself paying the bill. The men were clothed and fed, and for eleven days every care was given to us. I developed some carbuncles and my legs were very swollen, but I was able to keep firmly in bed most of the time. We gained health, strength – and girth, daily. All of us except the Pole had salt water sores and deep ulcers from suppurating sunburnt areas which were very difficult to heal.

I told our host that my friend’s wedding ring had slipped from my finger, and that I feared the village men had taken it. He immediately sent a policeman to enquire about it. Those who knew the propensity of the native for petty theft will realize that it was a little short of a miracle that the policeman returned with the ring, which was immediately handed to me.

It was a joy to have something to do at last. There were plenty of books, a radio and various games for those who felt sufficiently energetic, and I spent some time each morning giving an English lesson to our Polish companion. He was an excellent pupil and although we had no common language, he made rapid progress.

The Liberian families took a lively interest in us. Every day people came to visit us and to talk a little. We found that we were easily exhausted, but these coloured brethren were exceedingly kind and very understanding. They kept us supplied with gifts of fruit and flowers, and we never tired of paw-paw eaten with lime and sugar – pineapples, bananas, orange juice and the local plums. At first I had great difficulty in swallowing solid food. My throat seemed to have contracted and it was necessary to swallow most things with a drink of water. All the digestive tract had to get into working order again, and my salivary glands became swollen and painful. Even the smell or sight of fruits made them ache, as the saliva became active. Our thirst was unquenchable, and we drank quarts for many days and nights. After a few days a small sago-like blister formed over each pore all over our bodies and limbs, and even our fingers and toes.

It was the perspiration forming again and trying to come through the closed pores. We were covered in hundreds and hundreds of these tiny blisters, and had to scratch our skins to break them – then our skins could recommence to function.

A message was sent to the British Chargé d’Affairs in Monrovia, and a British trawler was sent for us by the authorities at Freetown during the afternoon of the eleventh day ashore. We were quite sorry to leave our kind friends in Grand Bassa who had counted it a privilege to be allowed to have a hand in rescuing us from the misfortunes of war. They sent us out to the trawler in one of their rowing boats, standing on the shore and making the V-sign until we were out of sight. Kind hands helped us aboard. Captain gave me his cabin and we received a great welcome. For a couple of nights & days we were on this trawler, stopping here & there along the coast.

On the afternoon of Saturday October 24th, we were overtaken by a fast destroyer and were transferred to her. Once again I was given the captain’s cabin and every comfort. It was good to see a British doctor again.

During the evening we contacted a submarine and dropped depth charges and for the first throughout all these experiences I was terrified. However, we reached Freetown early on Sunday morning, were met by an ambulance at the quayside and taken to hospital there. It was marvelous to be cared for by skilled hands once more, to have ones wants anticipated, and to meet again friends of training days. Everything was done to make us happy and comfortable, and the sisters soon provided me with all I needed. I had all things for which I had longed while tossing about in the ocean, including massage.

Cables were sent round the world, and as the replies from family and friends arrived, I began to feel that I belonged somewhere again and when I was allowed to get up and go to the hospital chapel to a thanksgiving service one Sunday morning, I felt completely civilized once more. The kindness of the medical officers, of the matron and sisters and of the padre will not easily be forgotten.

The inevitable nervous reaction followed, and nightmares came with awful regularity. I dreaded the nights, for as soon as I closed my eyes, I could see the faces of all those who had once been my companions in the lifeboat passing before me. When sleep came, all the scenes of horror were relived with increased intensity. These night terrors were to haunt me for more than four months.

I stayed in hospital for six weeks and became stronger day by day. So at last came the morning which I had longed for yet dreaded. I was taken aboard the sister ship of the one on which I had been torpedoed, and the next journey of 3,000 miles in an unescorted ship through submarine haunted waters had begun. It was a nightmare voyage – every bang made me leap from my bunk. No real rest of mind came by night or day, and a great gale lashed the waves in its fury so that even the top decks were drenched. The good ship rolled and pitched, and we knew that no lifeboat could be launched safely in such weather.

EDITOR NOTE – She did not know it at the time, but in such seas, a torpedo would not have been launched either.

But at last we sighted the coast of England and arrived safely in port. Five years before I had made my outward journey from London to Jerusalem in one week, and this time it had taken me over four months. I reached my own home in the early hours of December 18th.

The author did not know at the time – possibly doesn’t even know today, but when she reached her home on 18 December 1942, the boat that sank LACONIA and her crew had less than three more months to live. U-156 was sunk on 8 March 1943 - all hands lost.

We all realize that war is a terrible time and we deeply appreciate this first-person memory of a survivor’s story. Many thanks!

SS Laconia U-Boat Attack From Both Sides [Part 1 KTB 170]
SS Laconia U-Boat Attack From Both Sides [Part 2 KTB 172]
SS Laconia U-Boat Attack From Both Sides [Part 3 KTB 173]
SS Laconia U-Boat Attack From Both Sides [Part 4 KTB 174]
SS Laconia U-Boat Attack From Both Sides [Part 5 KTB 175]
SS Laconia U-Boat Attack From Both Sides [Part 6 KTB 175]