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Pete, let us know how you get on in the future, be very interesting. I've mentioned it a few times before, I had the pleasure of a tour of U534 before it was cut up into sections, I was in Birkenhead at the time looking after one of the company vessels that was laid up.
After signing a disclaimer (a form saying we wouldn't sue if we got injured) on board an old lightship, we moved on to U534, just before the tour, the Guide asked if anyone had been on a submarine, I stuck my hand up and said yep, Trafalgar class and Trident class subs.... the guide looked over my shoulder and said "and you Sir whats your experiance,"
"I used to sail on one of these"
The Guy was on his second tour when they surrendered, he was taken POW and was in a POW camp in Wales, after the war he stayed in Wales as he had nothing to go back to in Germany
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never had much time to talk to him as he was with some of his family, just wished I'd had more time and get his details etc.
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04-23-2020 07:03 AM
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My Grandfather was a machinist with the Pere Marquette, C&O, Chessie System, now CSX railroads for 42 years. He worked in St. Thomas, Chatham and Sarnia over the course of his career. I spent a lot of time with him at the yard in Sarnia before he retired in the mid 70's. He told a wartime story of German prisoners from a POW camp in Chatham being used to clean up a derailment near Blenhiem that contained raw sugar from processed sugar beets. Needless to say, the German prisoners, many who moved back to Canada post WWII ate a pile of the unprocessed sugar and my Gramps said that it was quite a site with all of them lined up at gun point squatting with their pants down in the ditch as it gave them instant dysentery!
The farm next door to our old home place in Harwich, (Kent County back then/Chatham-Kent now), had German prisoners happily working the fields. They were outdoors and fed very well with lots of goodies from the local farm Mums so life wasn't too bad with all things considered. My Dad remembers when he was little seeing the Canadian soldiers armed with what he thinks were Ross rifles. The prisoners had a big red circle printed on the backs of their shirts as a target in case they took off. As far as anyone knew, at least in that neighborhood, no one even tried to escape. My Great Uncle who owned the farm directly behind our neighbors, taught vehicle mechanics at the basic training camp in Chatham. I have a picture of him in uniform, also with a Ross Mk.III.
I'm so lucky to have had an intertest in history from a very young age. The stories were being told and they were endlessly interesting to me. My Grandmother and Great Aunt were amazing and kept the history alive. It's been lost now as they have all passed. Unfortunately, most of my relatives up there now have no interest in it.
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I'll give updates as and when i get any further. Motherinlaw if quite ill at the mo, so we cant push there for info. I'm also researching the Grandfather on the fatherinlaw side, he was killed in battle agains the red army on 2nd Feb 1945 in a place called Finkenwalde near Stettin in Poland.
Also interesting would be info on the USAAF unit flying the Catalina that bombed U464.
The whole thing is fairly well documented.
Apparently my Motherinlaw gave all historical stuff she had to the Naval museum in Wilhelmshaven,, so a trip up there in order as soon as this crisis is over.
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Thank You to Pete110119 For This Useful Post:
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Legacy Member
Originally Posted by
Pete110119
Also interesting would be info on the USAAF unit flying the Catalina that bombed U464.
It was a USN Catalina, not USAAF.
There's a very detailed account of the sinking of U464 in the book 'Sighted Sub, Sank Same: The United States Navy's Air Campaign Against the U-Boat' by Alan Carey, which was published last year. Its available on Amazon here.....
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sighted-Sub...s=books&sr=1-1
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Advisory Panel
Originally Posted by
RCS
Back in th late 1970's I did tour the U-505 in Chicago, very close quarters
When U-505 was brought to Chicago under tow, we saw it as it passed Sarnia. We were on the banks of the St. Clair River, under the Blue Water Bridge. Some time later, we went to Chicago, and toured it.
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Originally Posted by
GeeRam
That Right. USN.. and thanks for the link..
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Originally Posted by
bigduke6
Pete, let us know how you get on in the future, be very interesting. I've mentioned it a few times before, I had the pleasure of a tour of U534 before it was cut up into sections, I was in Birkenhead at the time looking after one of the company vessels that was laid up.
After signing a disclaimer (a form saying we wouldn't sue if we got injured) on board an old lightship, we moved on to U534, just before the tour, the Guide asked if anyone had been on a submarine, I stuck my hand up and said yep, Trafalgar class and Trident class subs.... the guide looked over my shoulder and said "and you Sir whats your experiance,"
"I used to sail on one of these"
The Guy was on his second tour when they surrendered, he was taken POW and was in a POW camp in Wales, after the war he stayed in Wales as he had nothing to go back to in
Germany.
never had much time to talk to him as he was with some of his family, just wished I'd had more time and get his details etc.
U534 Geoff, I remember it very well. I had a good a tour around her 1999.
Absolutely disgusting cutting her up, bloody vandalism!
A mate of mine has toured all three WW2 survivors, Birkenhead, Chicago and Kiel.
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