Voyage One
SS David G. Burnett - Page 5
One night three of us were somewhere in Manchester trying to get back to Eccles to our ship. It was a dark night and we didn't know the way when we saw a cop - they called them "Bobbies". We went up to ask him directions. He asked who we were and why we wanted to get to Eccles and we told him we were seamen and our ship was there. He asked if we were going to walk all the way - he said it was several miles and we said "sure". The cop told us to follow him and we walked a few blocks and he took us into a police station and back into the cells. We had been drinking and thought he was throwing us in jail. We asked him "are you arresting us?" and he started laughing. He said that it was a long walk and we probably would get lost in the dark so he was giving us a warm dry place to spend the night. The bobbies even brought us hot chocolate! So we slept on the bunks in the cells and in the morning they gave us directions and sent us on our way. I never forgot those cops, they were really kind to us.
I was in Manchester a couple of more times later in the war. I don't remember what trip it was when I went to this huge dance hall. Very fancy, it had a big stage that turned in a circle and it had two bands, one on each side. It was packed with soldiers, sailors, lots of young girls, and I was drinking with this Canadian soldier. We were both kids and pretty drunk. I don't know why, but this Canadian wanted my peacoat and kept insisting that we trade coats. I didn't want his army coat but he was insisting and eventually we did trade. Later I gave his coat away as I didn't want the thing. I don't know if he got in trouble for giving away part of his military issue. Anyway, the Canadians didn't always get along with the English and they hated English officers. The English are the most class conscious people in the world and the Canadians are pretty democratic - they are Americans too, and pretty much like us.
Well, this English officer comes in and he was a dandy. He was all garbed up with this dress uniform and a top coat. He had his hat under one arm and his little swagger stick in his other hand. English officers always carried those little sticks. This Canadian kid says " you want to make that Limey mad? Go over and pull the insignia off his lapel. " The English had these funny insignias that I called "eagle shit" I don't know what they were - never studied them enough to figure them out. They were complicated - not like the bars and stars that our officers wore.
The Canadian kept egging me on, and finally I went over and pulled it off. The officer was a big man and right away he took a swing at me. I don't know how he missed me because he was sober and I was drunk. But he didn't connect and immediately all hell broke loose. The dance hall was mostly full of English soldiers. I never saw the English officer after he took that swing at me. We got separated in the melee. I just wanted to get out of there and started for the door. I had to swing on a couple of guys as there were those swinging at me. The military police broke it up pretty quickly. The next day the captain called for me and really chewed me out. He had been there seated at one of the tables with friends and he had seen the whole thing.
I really liked England and the English people. I never saw such spirit as they had and after all that they had been through. They suffered bombings and rationing without much complaining. My mother's father, James Smith (Smith family) was from Brighton, England. He came to Galveston just before the turn of the century as a young seaman and jumped ship there. I don't think my grandfather ever took out any citizenship papers. He just got a job, married and had children and stayed in Texas. A great grandfather on my Dad's side was a Daniel Sheppard from Bristol, England. We don't know just how or when he came over to the States. He was in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. He served on a gunboat in the Mississippi and Red Rivers. His ship, the U.S. S. Ouachita went up the Red River in April of 1865 and took the formal surrender of Confederate forces in Northern Louisiana and Arkansas. After the war he migrated to Texas and married an Irish immigrant girl.
I never got to either Bristol or Brighton, though if I had, I wouldn't have known how to find any relatives that I might have had there. My grandfather was alive throughout the war and had at least a sister named Florence in England that I knew of. They corresponded before the war, but I didn't know how to get in touch with her and I never got to Brighton. It was easy to admire the English for their spirit, and especially since they always treated me so well and besides part of my family heritage came from there.
The SS David G. Burnett
left Manchester and we crossed back to New York. Looking back, I guess that
I felt proud. I had crossed the Atlantic twice, been to England and been in
an air raid and learned to shoot an antiaircraft gun. I felt like I had become
part of the war. I had helped delivered more than 9,000 tons of supplies to
where they were needed. When you think about it, that was quite an adventure
for a teenager who had never been away from home before. ( Port of departure:
Manchester, England. Time and Date of Departure: 1240, June 22, 1943. . . . No. of Ships in Convoy: eighty-eight; Halifax, Nova Scotia, to New York City, four. Escort: . . .to Halifax, four British destroyers and four British corvettes, plus
an air escort of undetermined size; to New York City, two British Corvettes,
and, for part of the distance, a U.S. Navy blimp. Port of Arrival: Hoboken,
New Jersey. Time and Date of Arrival: 2125, July 14, 1943. )