大象传媒

My family, mother, father, 15 year old brother and myself (then 17) were visiting New York and Columbus, Ohio during the summer of 1939. My British father, as a young Captain, was a member of the Anglo/French Military Mission to train US troops in 1917. Meeting his wife in Columbus, Ohio, they married before returning to Britain with the mission in the summer of 1918 for demobilisation, Oxford University and employment with Conde Nast Publications in London, necessitating biennial journeys to the US.
On the outbreak of war our father returned to Britain early in September, 1939 with our mother returning in the early Spring of 1940, having got us settled in school/university, with our Grandmother and aunts to care for us during the holidays.
In the summer of 1943 my brother returned to Britain to serve in the Royal Signals. A couple of months later, having signed up for War Service at the British Embassy, Washington, I was instructed to go to New York and to meet a British Counsul official to be embarked on a troopship. As a volunteer travelling on a troopship I did not need a ticket but had to be accompanied aboard to meet the Captain of the SS Umgeni - a peacetime refrigerated freighter carrying frozen lamb from Australia and New Zealand to Britain. (as it was on this trip)
This was at the height of shipping losses when Prime Minister Churchill required a report on shipping losses daily.
With me, 150 US AirForce aircrews came aboard and were 'horrified' that as a troopship it was 'dry'! RA Naval Officers and RNZ Air Force crews already aboard were allowed ashore and paid by the Americans brought drink back. This was all name-ticketed and stored in my cabin - the only lockable one! The men were bedded in all available cabins and public rooms. The pathetically small remnants of two Free French sunk ships also embarked in New York all on August 18th.
We sailed after dark on August 19th to find on waking next day, that we were already moving as a convoy with 'Umgeni' in position on starboard side, near the back with one of the elderly US destroyers (given to Britain earlier in the war) patrolling on our starboard and we had air cover overhead that day and the following morning.
Also on the 21st we were delighted to see a US aircraft carrier join the convoy astern of us - only to realise that it was not providing air cover but was transporting a deckload of fighter planes lashed down on the deck ( and presumably others below deck).
Enjoying fine weather throughout, we spent most of the days on deck, each with our escape bag within arm's length and with daily escape drills the first week and some service men were detailed daily to maintain a watch for submarines.
The convoy zig-zagged regularly and did not arrive in British waters until September 3rd. We docked after dark at Cardiff, having had RAF air cover from September 2nd. On disembarking early on Saturday, September 4th I was met by two Ministry of Labour officials. Through Immigration and Customs enquiries with no trouble and the Labour Officials provided me with British money for my train fares to home at Richmond, Surrey.
There I discovered that I would not be enlisting, but a special Board for University graduates directed me to the Ministry of Economic Warfare for three years, until the summer of 1946 when I married a Polish fighter pilot, a Squadron Leader.
Then came dairy farming in the Norfolk/Suffolk border until his death in 1990.
Year later I learned why our convoy was not attacked. At that time the 'wolf-pack' German submarines were being held in dock longer than usual to 'degauze' them against the Allies 'Sonar' equiment. The submarines were also tending to attack 'easier' targets off the US coast - easy to observe against the coast line 'brown out' rather than the 'black out' observed in Great Britain.

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