My Grandpa Carl Sachse was a fantastic story-teller! He would do all sorts of silly voices as he would read bedtime stories to me. My favorites were his voices for the characters in the Uncle Remus stories. He also was the best lector in church. With his debate background and loud booming voice, he always captivated the entire congregation at Easter with his reading of "The Valley of the Dry Bones" passage from the Bible ( Ezekiel 37: 1-14). I wished church could always be that exciting!!!
He also loved to tell personal stories about growing up, his family, college, etc. My absolute favorite times were listening to him tell about his experiences in World War II. My Grandpa served in the Navy in World War II on a supply ship. As he told it, one day while at sea, his ship convoy encountered the enemy and there was an explosion as a torpedo or mine near the ship!!! My Grandpa was on the ship deck at the time. The explosion caused the ship to list sharply to the side, and my Grandpa and many other men were thrown from the boat. As my Grandpa fell into the sea, he was hit by shrapnel in the leg! He had to tread water for a period of time before being rescued. He showed me the scar on his leg from the shrapnel making the story even more exciting and real!!!!
Over the years, I asked him to tell me that story many times. With every telling, my Grandpa's story would get a little bit taller. Sometimes the explosion was from a torpedo. Sometimes it was a mine. His fall from the ship becoming more dramatic as he tried to keep his footing. The time treading water before rescue longer and longer with each telling. I am sure my imagination made it more and more fantastic. Was the torpedo from a secret enemy submarine? Were there sharks lurking in the water? Were there other sailors hurt and/or treading water? How did he get back on the boat? Did he get to wear a ring life preserver all white and shaped like the Lifesavers candies? The whole story became a legend in my young mind, worthy of any big budget adventure film!!! I think once when I was in elementary school I attempted to write it as a short story.
To this day, I regret never being able to get the "real" story from my Grandpa. He definitely enjoyed the attention as he told his tale and eventual legendary status. So, as an adult, I have attempted to research as much as possible about my Grandpa's experience in the war to attempt to separate fact from fiction. Here are the facts as I was able to uncover them.
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| Carl Howard Sachse, October 16, 1944, Bermuda: USO at the FLOTS (United Service Organization Forward Line of Own Troops) in background with Palm Tree |
My Grandpa Carl enlisted in the Navy on February 19, 1943, service number 8683115. In April 1944, records show that he was a Petty Officer Second Class (PO 2/C) stationed at the Naval Air Base in Deland, FL. He was later transferred and stationed at the Naval Air Station in Bermuda in September 1944 and served as a Storekeeper Second Class (SK 2C) on a Mizer class supply/store/refrigerator ship, the U.S.S. Ariel, designation AF-22.
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| U.S.S. Ariel, Designation AF-22, Mizer class supply ship |
The U.S.S. Ariel has a very interesting history. The ship carried 18 officers and 220 enlisted men. The Ariel was originally a United Fruit Company cargo and passenger liner. The Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Newport News, Virginia built the ship as
SS Peten for United Fruit Company's United Mail Steamship Co subsidiary in 1933. She was one of six UFC sister ships with General Electric turbo-electric transmission. In 1937 she was transferred to United Fruit's direct ownership and renamed
Jamaica. The ship's peacetime service was in carrying fruit, passengers, and mail on regular liner services between Central America and the USA. The US Navy bareboat chartered her through the Maritime Commission on 24 March 1942. Todd Pacific Shipyards of Galveston, Texas converted her for Navy use as a United States Navy Mizar-class stores ship. Her fancy woodwork was removed, the swimming pool was converted to a cargo hath, the dance pavilion converted into a passenger bunk lounge, and the first class passenger bar to a wardroom pantry. Heavy metal doors and metal bulkheads replaced the peacetime wooden ones. She was fit for purpose for carrying troops overseas and supplying them with fresh provisions - dry, chilled, and frozen. Refrigerated holds that had been used for transporting bananas and sugar now carried beef, vegetables, potatoes, and even beer! She was renamed USS Ariel after the "airy and playful spirit" Ariel in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest and commissioned at Galveston on 14 May 1942, commanded by Captain E.P. Hylant. On 25 May Ariel sailed for Norfolk, Virginia. On arrival she assumed duty with Service Squadron 7, Service Force, Atlantic Fleet. For over three years, the Ariel's provisions were taken to almost all of the allied bases in the American and European theatres of war with almost continuous shuttle service between the States and at least 15 overseas Atlantic and Mediterranean ports.
The official wartime history of the Ariel states that manning the ship was no easy task, but she was considered a "lucky" ship as she avoided water attack by submarine and narrowly avoided air attacks while docked in foreign ports. Night cruising was done with a completely darkened ship. All courses were planned zig-zags (I confirmed this through reviews of the official daily USS Ariel War Diaries housed in the Navy archives.) She was a fast ship. So, even though she was often part of a convoy protected by one or more destroyer escorts, due to her speed she often operated singly, making dashes between ports at full speed. There was always a threat of submarine attack. In 1942, the threat of submarine attack was very high as three ship were sunk along the Ariel's course. It is reported that over half of the men slept on deck for safety. In 1943, the Ariel sailed from San Juan to New York into a tropical hurricane with life rafts, gangways, ammunition, and other stores carried over the side into the sea. In January 1944, the Ariel was sailing with a convoy of 78 other ships from Norfolk, VA to the Mediterranean. Upon nearing Gibraltar, the boats were forced to sail in circles until English forces had sunk three "U-Boats" to clear a safe passage route to port. On that same trip, the Ariel made history by being the first allied supply vessel to enter the port at Naples, Italy during the war, missing attacks at the harbor which took place the day before she docked and the day after she left. In March 1944, the Ariel encountered the worst weather of her wartime history sailing from New York to Iceland. The metal wind break on the Ariel's signal bridge was swept away in the storm, causing her to stop for repairs in Newfoundland along with other vessels of the convoy that had suffered damage. In May 1944, the Ariel was part of the largest convoy of ships to cross the Atlantic as part of the build-up to the invasion of France. During that trip, she was inspected by the King of England and later very narrowly escaped an encounter with a German sub. Another interesting anecdote written in the official USS Ariel History occurred on February 17, 1945. While cruising in the mid-Atlantic, a nipple on a pipe line in the #3 hold burst open, flooding all decks and damaging $11,089 worth of cargo. On 21 June 1946 Ariel was decommissioned at New York and transferred to the War Shipping Administration. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 3 July 1946. She was returned to the United Fruit Company, who reinstated her pre-war name Jamaica.
My Grandpa enlisted in the US Navy in February 1943. He was transferred to Bermuda September 1, 1944 according to US Navy Muster Rolls. According to records, the USS Ariel, at the time commanded by Captain W. F. Smith, docked in Bermuda on September 5, 1944 and took on personnel on September 7, 1944. It is conceivable that my Grandpa first stepped foot on the boat on that date. The following is a record of ship personnel embarkation.
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| From USS Ariel - War Diary 9/1-30/44 |
Once enlisted, my Grandpa served in the Navy for 38 months from February 1943 through April 1946. According to my grandparent's newspaper wedding announcement, he was discharged in April 1946 with a final rank of Storekeeper First Class from his station in Bermuda. Comparing his service time to the Ariel's ship logs, my Grandpa would have taken at least 5 voyages aboard the Ariel between Bermuda and such exciting destinations as New York, Norfolk, the Mediterranean, San Juan, Guantanamo, the Azores, and possibly Newfoundland depending on his actual discharge date and location.
It is conceivable that the pipe-bursting incident on February 17, 1945 could have been my Grandpa's inspiration for his fantastic story---an explosion of-sorts and flooding, but the description just didn't seem to fit the details from my Grandpa's fantastic story. Interestingly, this incident is described in the Ariel's War History documentation, but there was no description of that event on February 17 in the ships daily War Diaries. There was a line in the War Diary from February 11, 1945 with report of deck flooding due to a ruptured weather deck drain line, which may have been the same incident. However there was no description of any ship damage or casualties. So, I dug deeper into the actual USS Ariel daily War Diaries during my Grandpa's tenure on this ship between September 1944 and April 1946 to look for addition events and clues. The War Diaries were only available through September 1945.
The Ariel's War Diaries are mostly unexciting accounts of ship position, course heading and speed, convoy manuevers, channel and port docking events, unloading and loading of cargo and provisions as well description of embarkation and disembarkation of various troops and personnel, inspections and corresponding drills, fueling operations, as well as log of fire drills, collision drills, etc. The most exciting descriptions were for those of firing practice where the expension of firing rounds was described in detail as well as lists of casualties (usually none). During my Grandpa's time on the ship for which there are records, there is no mention of a submarine or a torpedo incident or explosion or of any event which may have caused crewmembers to be tossed into the ocean.
However, on February 25, 1945 while the Ariel was enroute from Algeria to Italy that Ariel's War Diary described an unexpected event. On this date, the Ariel encountered a floating mine which it proceeded to destroy.
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| USS Ariel War Diary, 9/1-30/45 |
As seen above, the report details the the ship changed course to approach the mine and proceeded to open fire and destroy said mine with no casualties. There is no other description given. However, with some additional digging in the Naval Archives, I was able to find the following more detailed report on the incident.
Again there is no mention of an explosion, any damage to the ship, or any casualties before the mine sank into the ocean. However, could the action of the guns have caused the ship to list and my Grandpa to be thrown into the water? Was there a detonation or explosion that was not recorded here? Could shrapnel from the mine have entered my Grandpa's leg? It is all terribly exciting to think about, and unfortunately remains a mystery.
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| Contact Floating Mine like that encountered by the USS Ariel on February 25, 1945 |
For lack of any additional information, my best guess is that it was this incident with the floating mine that was the source of my Grandpa's story and whatever truth or fiction that was actually behind it. Either way, I am proud of his brave service to our country during the war (and for his ability to tell an absolutely enthralling story!!). Both his story and the facts that I have uncovered are so very interesting and have become part of my family lore. I did contact the National Archives to attempt to obtain my Grandpa's official military files in hopes that I could confirm the injury to his leg as well as other details. I hope to receive them soon (responses slowed due to the Covid-19 pandemic) and will make updates to this post if I learn anything new.
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| Carl Sachse and Rogine Kupfahl, Sheboygan, WI, circa March 1945 (best guess based on Carl and Rogine's engagement announcement which detailed that Carl was a leave at that time. |
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| Carl Sachse and family circa March 1945 |
References:
USS Ariel War Diaries: 9/1-30/44 through 9/1-30/45: National Archives Catalog Search https://catalog.archives.gov/search?q=USS%20Ariel
https://military.wikia.org/wiki/USS_Ariel_(AF-22)
USS ARIEL - War HistoryFrom RG: 38
World War II War Diaries, Other Operational Records and Histories
The Micro Serial Number is listed as 156099.
National Archives Identifier: 77618160 Container Identifier: Roll A2028 HMS Entry Number(s): P 17, UD-WW 46
Creator: Department of the Navy. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Intelligence Division. Office of Naval Records and Library. (1922 - 10/10/1945)
USS ARIEL - Rep of sighting & destruction of mine enroute from Naples, Italy to Oran, Algeria on 2/25/45From RG: 38
World War II War Diaries, Other Operational Records and Histories
The Micro Serial Number is listed as 110002. The Serial Number is listed as 010-45. The Date is listed as 2/26/1945.
National Archives Identifier: 139900695 Container Identifier: Roll A1440 HMS Entry Number(s): P 17, UD-WW 46
Creator: Department of the Navy. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Intelligence Division. Office of Naval Records and Library. (1922 - 10/10/1945)
