| The Army Way |
| Donor | Original Source | PIMA ID | Donor ID | Category |
| Richard P. Ellinger | Herschel D. Davis | NA | PA.465 | OCR-G-DA-P |
| This is an OCR scan of an account that was provided to the MHS by Herschel D. Davis that tells of crossing the Atlantic on the Queen Mary
Photographs are ones that were obtained from the internet |
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| Mr. Robert Schuyler Chair; Society for Historical Archaeology Awards Committee Dear Sir: I am an archaeologist and member of the Society for California Archaeology. On reading the June "Newsletter" notice of the January SHA meeting in Long Beach, CA aboard the Queen Mary I was flooded with memories. For the sake of providing an anecdotal story about the Queen Mary that you might find interesting enough to pass on to your colleagues I submit the following: I am 80 Years of age (so what!). I graduated from the Flying Cadet Program on July 26 of 1942, was commissioned 2nd Lt., rated Pilot and assigned to The 95th SQ. 17th Bomb Group. On September 26 1 was among a small advance echelon of officers and men from the 17th who boarded the Queen Mary bound for Scotland then England. Ten of the- officers were pilots. (see below) |
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| When I came out of the loading warehouse onto the gangway leading to the ship I, being a small town country boy from Coalinga CA, was simply stunned at how far "up" it was to the railing at the very top. Then I looked down and it seemed equally far down to the water. |
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| Being a very fast ship the Queen Mary was allowed to cross the Atlantic without an escort. Only fast destroyers could keep up with her anyway! But, to keep all things somewhat safer, the ship when at sea would travel in a straight line for only 10 minutes maximum then would make a sudden, very sharp change in course to one side or another. To prevent the stabilizing gyros from flying through the hull because of the inertial shift they were turned completely off. So, those turns, day and night, made for a choppy trip. Those zigzags were based on the premise that if a German Sub happened along it would take 10 minutes for it to get lined up. By then the ship would have changed course. Side humor; one of my Cadet upperclassmen, a fighter pilot, sneaked a puppy aboard. The pup let a small "blipper" on the deck and it began to roll from one side of the deck to another with the turns. So the dog began to chase it back and forth across the deck. I have no recollection of its catching the thing but if it had--oh what joy!. He used to take that pup on strafing missions over Tunisia. He got shot down and the last anyone saw of him was when he and the pup exited theplane, running like mad to get away before it exploded. I was assigned with my best buddy Warren Hamilton to room 76 on the Main Deck and shortly afterward learned what it was like to take a shower in salt water, not conducive to anything but itchy skin much less cleanliness. At noon when we were off the north coast of Ireland and a half day out from our port of Guerrock (sp.) Scotland we were joined by a few fast escort ships. One came up alongside, signaled the bridge and veered away. Then, it made a fast turn back to try to cross ahead of us but didn't make it. The Queen Mary sliced through it like cheese. It sank so fast that fellows on the fantail were still sun bathing when it went under. Over 200 men were lost and 35 saved. |
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| The Queen Mary suffered substantial damage to the port bow where several plates were peeled back. The speed was reduced from well over 20 knots to about 10- 15 all the way in to the port. That evening we were all assembled in the main dining room where the ship's Captain told us that not only were we now in high danger of being sunk by a sub, but also that it would be a court martial offense for us to discuss the incident among ourselves and especially with people on shore. |
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| We arrived in port early next morning and were immediately put on a troop train to the small village of Royston near Cambridge, taking about a day and a half. To our astonishment the folks who picked us up wanted to know if we had been on the Queen Mary when it had the collision. It seems that either Lord Haw Haw or Axis Sally had already reported the incident to the world on German radio. So much for secrecy!! I should add that the Queen Mary was sent back to Boston, unescorted, for repairs and made it. The British ports were subject to constant air raids so they couldn't risk having her bombed while trying to repair her in Scotland. Further, of the ten pilots in our ecehelon, only four made it beyond March 30 1943 flying combat. One of those, my buddy Maj. Warren Hamilton, was lost during the Korean war. So far as I am aware, the remaining three are still alive, at least, I am! I think!. Hope this is of interest to you and anyone else who reads it. Sincerely yours, Herschel Davis Archaeologist Major USAFR Ret.. |
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The Queen Mary after WWII |
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