Page 127 - Anthology

The ship I was on carried oil from Venezuela to a refinery on Aruba. My ship had a Venezuelan crew,
American captain, and an American gun crew. It was flying an American flag. But it was not very well
armed. We had two 30 caliber machine guns on the bridge, a model 1908 machine gun on the stern, and
some other small arms. That was what they called being an armed ship. During World War II, Aruba was
one of the main suppliers of refined petroleum to the Allies. In February 1942, a German submarine
attacked the island's oil processing refinery, but the mission failed.

So, here we were; a few Americans aboard a Venezuelan ship and we only had one guy that could speak
any Spanish. We all had to go to the ship’s mess together, so he could order our food. I guess you could
call it survival skills; I learned enough Spanish to get by on my own. I was on board for six months and
knew that if something happened to that guy, we’d not know how to order our food.

We played a lot of card games one was called treinta y uno (thirty-one) and one was called treinta y uno
(twenty-one); I had to learn how to count to thirty one in Spanish in order to play. I didn’t smoke so I’d
take my cigarette allotment on shore and sell them for about five dollars a carton. Back then five dollars
was a lot of money. We’d have to sneak them under our clothing past the customs guards.

After my six-month tour on board that ship, I was sent to Brooklyn, New York, and then back to New
Orleans to join a crew headed for the Pacific. I was tickled to have served on board the ship in the
Caribbean and not on a ship going to Russia. I had heard stories about those ships and know I had it
easy compared to them. But now I was going to the real war in the Pacific.

When I returned to New Orleans, our ship was at the mouth of the Mississippi River loaded with 120,000
barrels of 80 octane gasoline. The ship had two 3 inch/50 caliber guns mounted as their biggest weapon.

3 Inch / 50 caliber Gun MK22