WW2 travel

Because of the war, my mother hadn't seen her own mother for several years , so when things eased a little in 1944 she took me to see Granny Clarke in Northern Ireland. I intend to elaborate on her a bit later but for now let me tell about the boat journey. There were still U-Boats about and when we left Stranraer they started issuing life jackets. There was a sailor among the company and he refused to take one. When he was told it was for his own good in case we were torpedoed, the sailor said he didn't want to die slowly in the water or be burned when the oil took fire. He'd seen too many and he prefered to drown quickly. Naturally, I'd seen films where ships were sunk but this was close up and personal. The link, despite the change of name, is to an old family legend and the sister is Granny Clarke.

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