Bunks! by Dale Bowlin C/883
As a twenty-year old from a small town
in Eastern Kansas, boarding a huge ocean liner was exciting. When I
found I was assigned to the former ballroom rather than below deck,
that added to my pleasure. However the thought that we would be
traveling without escort added a somber note as I thought about the
reports of German U-Boat attacks.
My exuberance about being quartered
in the ballroom was dampened a bit when I found that I would sleep
in a hammock with one man below me and three above me. It was a
tight fit but after 52 years I don't recall any bunk-related
catastrophes.
Even though this was my first
experience on the ocean I was fortunate that seasickness was not a
problem. I enjoyed spending time on the bow and after dark I was
fascinated by the phosphorescent glow in the water as the great hull
plowed through the sea. So many of the men were uncomfortable with
the constantly moving footing and the roll of the ship that I
occasionally experienced a twinge of guilt that I was not even
slightly affected.
Lifeboat drill occurred often enough
to convince us that there was a real possibility of winding up in
the cold waters of the Atlantic. However, at age twenty those
thoughts did not linger. My mind would drift to home, family and
especially my girl friend back in Kansas. But she was thousands of
miles away.
After we passed through the Strait of
Gibralter two destroyer escorts joined us and before we reached
Marseilles, the only exciting exciting event of the voyage for me
took place. Both destroyer escorts circled the Mariposa and it
appeared they were dropping depth charges. There was never official
confirmation but we assumed that a German U-Boat was thought to have
been in the vicinity.
The sight of the Marseilles port
looked inviting but during the days we spent in pup tents on the
wet, windswept CP-2 camp site outside Marseilles, some of us would
have jumped at the chance to re-board the Mariposa.
