I am Luke Bomberger and I just graduated from High school and had two part time jobs. One was at the bank and another at the grocery store. One day my friend Don Reist asked me if I wanted to go to Euroope on a cattle boat, and I could not resit it.

It was 1945 and World War two had just ended and the UNRRA joined together and helped the coutries to recover from the war. UNNRA hired ¨Seagoing Cowboys¨ to take care of the cattle that were shipped over seas. Don and I signed up to do this position. In August we got orders to go to New Orleans. I had 335 horses that I had to take care of.

After about two weeks we finally arrived, but caring for the animals kept me busy.

They had to be fed and watered at least two or three times a day, bales of hay and bags of oats had to be dragged from the lower holds of the ship and the stalls had to be cleaned out. I had helped out at my aunt? farm when I was younger but I was not prepared for the dangers on the sea. On my second trip I was going to go make my hourly report to the captain and I slid down a slippery ladder. A small metal strip had stopped me from going into the dark atlantic, but I was not able to work for a couple days because my ribs were cracked.

This job kept me very busy, and had many oppertunities to see things I have never seen before. I halso had found some times that I could have fun on board instead of having to care for the animals. After the animals would be dropped off we would head back. We played all kinds of activites and games. The cowboys played baseball and volleyball in empty places were the animals were. We also had table-tennis tournoments, fencing, boxing, reading, whittling, the games had help pass time.

I encourage ever teenager if you have an opputunity, to sign up for this job. This job I was able to see things I had never seen, it was a lifetime experience, and I was able to stay busy with the animals and then have a little fun. I encourage this job because this is what I did it was an enjoyable jod. I mean how cool is it to ride a ship and take care of cattle. Then after they get unloaded you can even have some fun on the ship. It helped me become more aware of other countries and their needs.