Detroit evening times., 1943-08-28
BACK FRONH HE'LL {. .By Buvris Jenkins. .yr.
GDT0c Innnr els
~ TT t. y OCf II III OIIO
OF Thrills Galore In
Attacks by Germans
TO HIT PLUNGING torpedo with threench gun is

TITO HIT PLUNGING torpedo with threeinch gun sone
l. shooting. So is knocking off five German planes
But big Bill Schilbe GUnHGrs end cried like baby
when overthat before the Russian tanker with the
women officers picked them up
Big Bill meant Join the Army. (He served six
as machine gunner the 10sth u S. Cavay) One day III
Detroit where Bill furniture dealer before Pearl Harbor
bought pair Army shoes and went to barber shop
The barber talked of the wonderful life IN the fleet Next day
Bill dyed his shoes black and joined the Navy.
Was my wife surprised" he says, and adds And so
was r.
In six weeks (here much about gunnery they could
teach Billy be finds himself charge of the threeincher
merchant ship well armed with machine and armed
guard under It. (J G. Morton Wolfson OF Chicago
bound north big convoy.
Bill is proud of his crew They all quicktrigger guys
like hmso quick that one foggy day they see streak OF spray
and blast without taking second look The 1t dashe from
the galley dropping cup of coffee Desroyers dart over
Ten minutes later message from the ship ahead
Captains compliments your fine shooting"
Were my ears red Bill explains we had shot off the
fog buoy dragged astern by that leading ship
From Iceland Bill goes on, we head for Russia with
matee cargo strongly escorted by destoye corvette
and anrcraft ships Some of the ships tow barrage
balloons
Almost from the start enemy subs attack but the escort
does such fine Job of protection get shot Two
days BomVos observation plane spots From then
under constant observation "a hours day (The
never sets this time Of year,
On the third day ships hit and ordered back
10 port We re moving deeper into the ice fields.
Next day IS 4th Of July At a m we get word Of ap
preaching aircraft AL hands take battle stations Our des
troyers close in
Shortly after noon the communications speaker booms
F4dneS SgleQ bearing IZO we see 0U enemy torpedo
planes coming IN low over the horizon They circle the convoy
out Of range
Now and then plane darts test our fire power We
shoot at one and miss (They fly from five TO 80 feet above
the water Finally torpedo hits ship and she catches fire
The planes fly off land the water and there about
five minutes.
Meantime bring out all ammunition set one and two.
second fuses tell the boys keep cool and take time
We're all nervous. Of course
Then planes swoop at us and the convoy opens terrific
"A barIage. Machine gunners ship get plane.
Not having a target TO starboard train gun 10
port firing onesecond fuses toward ships The planes
fly very low through the convoy don't any ships
A deck engineer passing ammunition points and yels
Hey Schlbelook at that and coming there wnkng
al u.s. look 20 taboard and coming alone about
dUJJ yards We tram gun al him he opens with his
machine guns. I think This We II get,
The plane lose when projectile goes through
wing and part Of tho useage and expodes aft of the tail The
plane comes over u maAlgh the reargunner spraying
bridge and then 1t spaShes into the The cheer
Al through tire action cheers from other ships
~frr SoT1c10uy EU-5 T7T-T-
Then sight torpedo just launched from plane It's
heading for British AA ship Our FIRST shots but
the third stops the torpedo dead in the water The shot don
eXllQqe IL but lie
Very few d0wrcd planes leave ! one boat
PICK up seven Now and then wing floats By. Most dive
right IN and disappear
There subs in the fight Once see three orpcdoes
coming az us yell Stand by for orpedoes One Just
our bow another close astern
Tire third heading 4fH5tfzft5s rc-cr Hfts
Were zigtaggne all the time NA
Now the lowlevel bom5crs Theles q blanket Of
cloud few hundred feet up and you the bonbers
but you hear them We throw heaviest AA the sound
shapns falls al around and several ships suffer severe