The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-04-15


 the perseverance of the Royal Navy.
 Granted that merchant ships which brought food and other val- uable stores to the people of the isl- and and war materials to the three services, were the "headliners" of the sea in Maltese eyes during the trying months of yesterday. But 1t must be remembered that If 1t weren't for the minesweeping flotil- Ia there would have been no chan nels of safety through which the merchantmen could pass. They would have been unable to unload their cargoes If the sweepers had not kept the channel open.
 Only naval vessels of the fleet to remain at Malta throughout the entire blitz when other ships were removed to safer ports, the mine- sweepers worked night and day ply ing the choppy waters off Malta charting German and Italian para chute mines as they were dropped and sweeping them out of the sea the following day.
 Wife i'm st. Louis
 'We're the old ladies who sweep the front steps of Malta" It. Comdr. H. s. Jerome, leader of this flotilla, told me today on the bridge. We aren't very pretty and we don't have the nice figures or the speed Of the younger girls of the fleet, but we ducked all the bombs and kept the sidewalks clean for the boys who brought home the bacon"
 Jerome, Mexico-born, with an AI1l- erican wife now living in St. Louis. told me, T don't come from any wherc," when asked him where his home was. He's a veteran of % years in the Royal Navy. % of which were spent on active service in all parts Of the world. and he's anxious for the day when every mine will be blown out of Maltese waters and he'll be able to see his American born son.
 "Its been difficult job keeping valletta harbor open" Jerome said, "but the flotilla has been marvellous through 1t all. The men have h. bored under the most trying condi- tions, but they've kept their ships in tip-top shape and worked stead fly night ant day in all kinds of weather"
 Sink U-IsOat En Route
 He didn't have to enlarge on that statement to convince me, for this ship was rolling heavily in an ex- tremely rough sea and the men were having a difficult time of 1t putting out their cables and sweeping de- vices. Furthermore, this was Q good day." so to speak. It was bright and sunny. and there were no Axis aircraft to roar out Of the clouds and spew machine-gun bul- lets and cannon shells at the sweep CTS as they pl0dded along scOoping up the enemys sea-traps.
 This particular sweeper, q veteran of operations tn Russian waters, has exploded 30 Axis mines, and its pr0udeat boast is that it once toueh- ed off I3 mines in seven minutes. During It's voyage from the Mur- mansk patrol area it sank one U. boat and shot down four enemy air. planes "just to sort of warm up it's guns" as Jerome put lt. Her cap. tain, Lt. C0nldr. Andrew Y. Doran. R. N, smllingly Interrupted to de. scribe these successes as "a bit of target practice for the boys" while en route ia Malta.
 "One Of thls ships pToudest mo. ments." one of her officers told me. "came the day when she was chosen t0 lead in the first convoy of mer- chant ships t0 make the trip from the eastern end Oi the Medlterra. mean ln more than n year" Maltese CheeTed
 That happened last November