European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 07, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse A by Bob Hoyer is . Bureau chief it was a pleasantly warm Spring Days the liner knifed its Way through the Atlantic. In the dining room the passengers were just in the dessert course of the second sitting. I was sitting at a table with my Mother mrs. Violet Henderson Andy aunt and Uncle or. And mrs. Charles Yeatman when the torpedoes truck. At first the ship seemed to lift out of the water then shot i did t realize the seriousness of what had happened i was More up set about losing my ice Cream than any thing looking Back on that tragic Day was Harris Reginald Henderson then a 10-year-old from Yonkers n.y., in route to England with his Mother. Things like this become printed on your mind said Henderson now 63 and an employee of the finance and account ing office for the . Air Force at Chicksands England. It was 53 years ago today that the British liner Lusitania was sunk off the Irish coast by a torpedo or torpedoes from a German a boat. Of the 1,959 aboard 1,198 persons including 124 americans were lost As the 31,550-ton liner plunged to the Bottom of the Atlantic. It took just 18 minutes from the time the torpedoes struck Between the third and fourth funnels until the great ship disappeared beneath the Waves. Like the titanic which Sank three years earlier after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic the Lusitania had been called one of the proud ships of the Day the Lusitania had set the Atlantic record in 1908 and in 1909 broke its own Markwith a crossing that took four Days 11 hours and 42 minutes. For crewmen who regularly sailed the Lusitania the great ship carried with it a feeling of Security. Yet the impossible had happened. The British said it was a Lucky hit in a vulnerable Section of the ship. The germans charged the sudden breakup proved the Lusitania was carrying explosives. For years both sides claimed deceit by their opposites. But in the ensuing decades As tempers and emotions have cooled the sinking has taken on a historic mellowness. Those born before 1900 or in the Earl years of the 20th Century May even re passengers flee the sinking liner Lusitania artist s sketch shows ship As it heeled Over on its Side. Member the Date of the disaster may7, 1915. And those who were aboard the Lusi Tania that fateful Day and survived arc almost certain to remember the Lime and circumstances of the , for example still can re Call the events of the sinking vividly from the moment he lost his ice Cream we had just Boon served dessert and when the torpedoes hit the ice Cream came off the table and splattered my shirt. The instant the torpedoes hit the older passengers sensed tragedy an leaped from their seats and dashed for the stairs. In the crush Many people were Hurt and some were stomped to Henderson said that Rhrou Shoulte struggle he and his Mother miraculously escaped serious my Mother and i were so Small seemed to Bounce off the Ember a Steward trying to Calm l he was telling them not to e it took hours for the titanic in but no one paid him much Lily battled our Way to Theeck where we put on life belts. Hey were trying to launch life to the ship was Turing and the i e splintered against the sides. A of people were knocked Down were killed. Without warning a boiler blew l us. Shortly after that i had my Mother into the water and i in after her. Sped for anything i could get irs on. Momentarily i held a a rear of the ship. I was under the water and madly it seemed like an Eter it could t have been very Long popped to the surface. And As lad my hands on the strings of her s Liebelt. I tied them Andi if this had t happened she be lost the Belt and drowned. Ere dead Lucky that we weren flown with the ship7 alter this d onto floating pieces of Wood Ted about until we were pulled upside Down Lifeboat. Uttered Seaman with blood run a his face was pulling Passen Ard. He was a heroic figure and marvelous Job. Time later about 30 persons Nging onto the keel and rudder oat when it began to sink. Creamed to a nearby raft for i were pulled aboard along with survivors. At about 7 o clock ining some four hours 50 min for the torpedoes struck we were lip by a cargo vessel and taken Ianstown escue ship clocked about 9 . Member we were put up in Abed by a German. The German Ved in the basement for his own think the survivors would have pm if they had been Able to Getnis on person remembers May 7, a particularly warm and sunny pm been hot on deck and the a pleasantly warm when we were i around in the sea but of course most people were too frightened to be thinking about the water among those lost were Henderson s aunt and Uncle or. And mrs. Yeatman. They were Strong swimmers and gave their life belts to someone think they May have been stunned by the Impact of the explosion and drowned. But that s something that will never be now a resident of Bedford England Henderson was born of British parents in the United states. After his father death his Mother decided to return to Britain. Henderson and his Mother set sail on the Lusitania May 1. She died two years ago in Bedford. Since the disaster Henderson returned to the United states twice the last time in 1928. I went alone to secure a Job. My wife and i were planning to Settle in America but she finally decided she did t want to make the move. So i returned to but Henderson still claims a link with his native land. His daughter june is married to it. Col. Harlan Wolffe currently assigned to the . Forces in Thailand. Wolffe met june Henderson while serving As a navigator on a b17 during world War ii. Unlike some survivors of the Dis Aster Henderson does t mind talking about it. My Mother suffered Shock. After All she lost her sister and brother in Law. And she lost her personal belongings and Money that were stored in Hie ship s Safe. But i was Young and did t fully realize the consequences. I can honestly say that i came through wit no physical harm and no serious mental distress. I have thought a lot about the Dis Aster and when the anniversary Rolls around there s always talk about it. As for the claim the Lusitania was carrying ammunition Henderson said passengers were told there were no explosives aboard and that they were convinced this was True. But the germans who warned before the Lusitania sailed from new Ork that it would be tracked and sunk by a submarine claimed otherwise. When president Woodrow Wilson sent a sharply worded note to the germans Secretary of state William Jennings Bryan resigned. Bryan claimed the transporting of survivor Henderson remembers the sinking and his lost dish of ice Cream. Women and children on a ship carrying explosives was uie same As placing them in front of advancing infantry. Lord Mersey who conducted an official inquiry for the British conclude that the German threats against the Lusitania before it sailed served to aggravate the crime. Although they contended the ship car ried explosives the germans late struck a medal and sent copies of it to survivors. The British concluded that two or three torpedoes struck the Lusitania. The germans claimed a single torpedo sent the liner to its grave. Asst great new Light on mystery in is hoisted out of water As doomed Lusitania begins its trip to Bottom Page 12 the stars and stripes an american deep sea diver 34-year-old John Light Hopes to raise a Fortune from the shattered Hulk of the liner Lusi Tania some 315 feet beneath the surface of the Atlantic off the Irish coast. And in the process he May Beable to Settle an argument Winch has been raging since 1915. When lie liner was sunk by a Germany boat. The British owners claimed the ship was carrying nothing More than Small arms ammunition and that the sub Marine used two or three Torpe s to sink the germans asserted Only one torpedo did a Job and that the vast liner was ripped open by cargo of explosives aboard Trig gered by the missile. The ship Sank in 18 minutes taking 1,198 to their , who will be joined by a Crew of other american Salvage experts has purchased the Hulk from the British War risks com Mission. He bases his no pcs for a Fortune not on mythical Bullion rumoured to be aboard but rather on the non ferrous metals still in the Hulk Copper ingots 45-ton propellers and other metals unaffected by the Salt s diving team will live under compression for up to two weeks at a stretch thus dispensing with the Long hours waste Din decompression to avoid the painful pontoons will be used to raise the valuable Meta sin 25-ton bundles. Earlier dives and photography by Light have indicated that a internal explosion burst the Lusi Tanya s plates outward but the evidence is inconclusive. Perhaps this summer the mystery will finally be answered. A the stars and stripes Page
