JOHN LYNWOOD SMITH
A resident of Winston-Salem, NC, retired in 1983 after career in banking. A native of Halifax, NC, was aboard the British freighter-turned-troop ship sunk November 26, 1943, while steaming through "Suicide Alley" off the Algerian coast in the Mediterranean en route to the Far East by way of the Suez Canal.
The German Luftwaffe located the convoy and a German bomber unleashed a Henschel Hs 293 radio-controlled glide bomb that struck the ship and put a 50 foot hole in it. The troops had been ordered below for safety and there was a mad-scramble to escape as the ship sank. Lifeboats were found to be rusted and many painted to the deck, so the men went overboard in rough seas. Many drowned and were killed by the stern of a rescue ship.
Losses were 1,138 of the troops, crew, and Red Cross personnel. Of those, 1,015 were Americans, making it a heavier loss than which occurred on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.
Survivors were under a gag order not to talk about it and little was said of it by the government for fear of alerting the Germans as to the effectiveness of their weapon. The Freedom of Information Act of 1967 made details available to the public.
Afterwards, Smith served in the Far East and returned in 1946. He never talked much about his war experiences but was always grateful to his Maker for having survived the disaster.
I Had Never Heard of This Incident.
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