I am Luke Bomberger and I have been to very unique places in my life time. Right now I work part time at two jobs in grocery store and at a bank. But what I didn't know that my life would change soon after I graduated. So thanks to my friend Don Reist he invited me ot go to Europe with him on a cattle boat. So of course I couldn't just say no because if I would have to be just carzy It was a life time opportunity.

It was in the year of 1945, it was the time of World War II. So to help people recover, 44 nations joined to form a UNRRA. The UNRRA hired Seagoing Cowboys to take care of the horses, young cows, and mules that were shipped overseas. So the next thing you know Don and I were signed up.

In August 1945, we received our orders to go and report to the New Orleans. " We arrived August 14 ," Luke said. Which was the day the that the Pacific War ended. They got their Seaman's paper and boarded up the SS Charles W. Woodster, headed for Greece with a cargo of 335 horses and plus enough hay to feed them all.

Luke's birthday happened before arriving to Greece. He turned 18 which meant he could be drafted to military service. " When my draft board learned that I was on a cattle boat trip, they told me to justto keep doing that for my service."

But the trips we went on were unbelievable opportunities for a little small town boy like me.

It took about two weeks to cross the Atlantic Ocean from the Eastern coast of the United States and a month to get to China. Caring for all the animalsand the crossingskept me busy. They had to be fed and watered two or three times a day. Bales of hay and bag of oats had to be pulled up from the lower holds of the ship. stalls had to be cleaned.

Helping out on my aunt Katie's farm as a little boy helped me a lot to prepare me for this job. But not for the dangers on the seas that I had to face. On my second trip I was watch man for all the crews out on the boats. My job was to check all of the animals for every hour