Veteran Interview with Dan Miller (B)
Mr. Miller tells about the attack on his ship by a German submarine during World War II. (5:06)Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive Interview with Dan Miller June 24, 2011 Florence, Alabama Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood Also present are Mr. Miller’s wife, Winnie Miller an...
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| Format: | Electronic |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library
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| Online Access: | https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/war/id/138 |
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Electronic |
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War Years at Home and Abroad Collection |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
| topic |
Military life |
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Military life Veteran Interview with Dan Miller (B) Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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Military life World War 1939-1945; Submarines |
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Mr. Miller tells about the attack on his ship by a German submarine during World War II. (5:06)Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Dan Miller
June 24, 2011
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Also present are Mr. Miller’s wife, Winnie Miller and his son, Larry Miller
Clip 2
Dan Miller: We went on to Camp Kenilworth from there. We, that’s after basic training in California then when, then August the 1st we took off for Camp Kenilworth New Jersey. Sailed for North Africa on August the 21st and on the SS Santa Elena, E-l-e-n-a ship, landing in Bizerte Harbor in North Africa on September 4, 1943. Here we assisted the operations of communications for the headquarters of the Northwest African, better known as NAAF, North African Air Force. But going to, going overseas and over there we were in, had thirty-two ships from New York, from the Statue, Statue of Liberty, we left that port there, and landed over in Bizerte, North Africa. Bizerte. Going through Gibraltar, Rock of Gibraltar area, Straits, just as we got through there, we contacted—ah, they contacted us with a submarine, three shots at us, at us with torpedoes. There was 32 ships and I was on the front ship and I was standing up there looking out but, it missed us. It churned the water up, looked like thirty feet from the boat, but it probably been, probably a quarter mile nearly out there and of course we were up high.
Clint Alley: Oh, me.
DM: And just churned up the top of the water. There was three shots but didn’t either one of them hit our ships.
CA: Wow. Those were from German submarines?
DM: Yep. Um-hm. Mediterraneans. We just got through about, about six o’clock in the evening coming through, it was pretty, the sun shining. And they, the PT boats, if you know what a PT boat is, there’s destroyers and stuff, you know, that—fast and they rolled off depth chargers off the side of the boat about three at a time, three or four and they shot the gas of that PT boat and it stood on its back end about three hundred yards out there, whirl that thing, just turn it right in a U-turn, come back right over that, dropped off about three of them trying to hit that, ah, submarine. See the submarines, the ship, the boat, ah, those PT boats didn’t look like they come a hundred yards to it, but it was probably, you know, as far as from here to the downtown Florence, down to the courthouse, but anyway, they did that about three times, three or four. I don’t know whether they ever got it or not. And that night then the German planes attacked us about eleven o’clock and it was so hot and downstairs in those ships it’s so hot they don’t, of course they didn’t have air conditioners and the, and the ships so hot down there you couldn’t hardly stay down in the basement, stay at your bed down there and stay in. You just had to get up and get some air sometimes. So we, I carried my raincoat, bunch of us did, lot of us, and slept under the lifeboats that were stored up on those ships and just lay down on the hard, hard ground and you could sleep on that, sleep better there than you could down in that bed. But anyway, the raid came on and we and when they started the, the thirty-two ships, think all, they had guns, probably all of them, shot at those planes and they used tracer bullets to try to, where they could know where, where they were shooting, cause it was dark. You know, the ships were completely dark all the time on top, they didn’t, the lights were not on, on that ship anywhere on the outside. They had lights down in the, in where we was sleeping, but it wasn’t showing up top. And, anyway, we stood and watched that just like Fourth of July; I really enjoyed it and then ordered us all down deck, because it was interfering with the workers because there was so many soldiers up there, you know, because those fellows shooting those guns. So we was down in the basement; I had to go down and never forget it, you don’t go up stairs, it’s a pole you go, you just sort of go down a pole, well it’s stairs, but it was sort of a, a spiral and stuff, you know. So, I went down there and shooting with those guns, when you shoot that heavy gun that ship would jerk. I just knew it’d be a bomb hit it and I could just hear the water coming through, just—you know what I did? I stood right there with that pole, if that water started coming in there, I was gonna run first. So, that was, course you get a little scared and that was part of it. So, anyway, that, that’s what happened, there was two ships destroyed, one of them had to go to—one of them was hit, didn’t hurt it too much, but the other one was, had to go over to shore, couldn’t go, finish the trip. |
| title |
Veteran Interview with Dan Miller (B) |
| titleStr |
Veteran Interview with Dan Miller (B) |
| author |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| author_facet |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| id |
FLCPLwar138 |
| url |
https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/war/id/138 |
| thumbnail |
http://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/war/id/138 |
| _version_ |
1705462192795549696 |
| spelling |
Veteran Interview with Dan Miller (B)World War 1939-1945; SubmarinesMr. Miller tells about the attack on his ship by a German submarine during World War II. (5:06)Florence-Lauderdale Public LibraryFlorence-Lauderdale Public LibraryDan Miller2011-06-24sound; textaudio/mp3; text/pdfEnglishPart of the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library CollectionMay be protected by U.S. Copyright laws. Contact the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library for permission to use.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Dan Miller
June 24, 2011
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Also present are Mr. Miller’s wife, Winnie Miller and his son, Larry Miller
Clip 2
Dan Miller: We went on to Camp Kenilworth from there. We, that’s after basic training in California then when, then August the 1st we took off for Camp Kenilworth New Jersey. Sailed for North Africa on August the 21st and on the SS Santa Elena, E-l-e-n-a ship, landing in Bizerte Harbor in North Africa on September 4, 1943. Here we assisted the operations of communications for the headquarters of the Northwest African, better known as NAAF, North African Air Force. But going to, going overseas and over there we were in, had thirty-two ships from New York, from the Statue, Statue of Liberty, we left that port there, and landed over in Bizerte, North Africa. Bizerte. Going through Gibraltar, Rock of Gibraltar area, Straits, just as we got through there, we contacted—ah, they contacted us with a submarine, three shots at us, at us with torpedoes. There was 32 ships and I was on the front ship and I was standing up there looking out but, it missed us. It churned the water up, looked like thirty feet from the boat, but it probably been, probably a quarter mile nearly out there and of course we were up high.
Clint Alley: Oh, me.
DM: And just churned up the top of the water. There was three shots but didn’t either one of them hit our ships.
CA: Wow. Those were from German submarines?
DM: Yep. Um-hm. Mediterraneans. We just got through about, about six o’clock in the evening coming through, it was pretty, the sun shining. And they, the PT boats, if you know what a PT boat is, there’s destroyers and stuff, you know, that—fast and they rolled off depth chargers off the side of the boat about three at a time, three or four and they shot the gas of that PT boat and it stood on its back end about three hundred yards out there, whirl that thing, just turn it right in a U-turn, come back right over that, dropped off about three of them trying to hit that, ah, submarine. See the submarines, the ship, the boat, ah, those PT boats didn’t look like they come a hundred yards to it, but it was probably, you know, as far as from here to the downtown Florence, down to the courthouse, but anyway, they did that about three times, three or four. I don’t know whether they ever got it or not. And that night then the German planes attacked us about eleven o’clock and it was so hot and downstairs in those ships it’s so hot they don’t, of course they didn’t have air conditioners and the, and the ships so hot down there you couldn’t hardly stay down in the basement, stay at your bed down there and stay in. You just had to get up and get some air sometimes. So we, I carried my raincoat, bunch of us did, lot of us, and slept under the lifeboats that were stored up on those ships and just lay down on the hard, hard ground and you could sleep on that, sleep better there than you could down in that bed. But anyway, the raid came on and we and when they started the, the thirty-two ships, think all, they had guns, probably all of them, shot at those planes and they used tracer bullets to try to, where they could know where, where they were shooting, cause it was dark. You know, the ships were completely dark all the time on top, they didn’t, the lights were not on, on that ship anywhere on the outside. They had lights down in the, in where we was sleeping, but it wasn’t showing up top. And, anyway, we stood and watched that just like Fourth of July; I really enjoyed it and then ordered us all down deck, because it was interfering with the workers because there was so many soldiers up there, you know, because those fellows shooting those guns. So we was down in the basement; I had to go down and never forget it, you don’t go up stairs, it’s a pole you go, you just sort of go down a pole, well it’s stairs, but it was sort of a, a spiral and stuff, you know. So, I went down there and shooting with those guns, when you shoot that heavy gun that ship would jerk. I just knew it’d be a bomb hit it and I could just hear the water coming through, just—you know what I did? I stood right there with that pole, if that water started coming in there, I was gonna run first. So, that was, course you get a little scared and that was part of it. So, anyway, that, that’s what happened, there was two ships destroyed, one of them had to go to—one of them was hit, didn’t hurt it too much, but the other one was, had to go over to shore, couldn’t go, finish the trip.http://server15947.contentdm.oclc.org/u?/war,138 |