Another Treasure Lost

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I just love the way the British honor their old warriors. Not to mention the style in which they tell their stories.

Here is the story of one of them who has, sadly, left the mortal plain.

[[ Captain Kenneth Cummins, who died yesterday aged 106, served in the two world wars, and always felt that the part played by the Merchant Navy had never been never fully recognised.

Of the many ships in which he served, his favourite was the smooth-running luxury liner Viceroy of India, which was requisitioned as a troopship to land 2,000 men during Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa.

At 0430 on November 11 1942 she was about 40 miles off the coast of North Africa on her way back to Britain when Cummins, who was savouring his coffee just after coming on watch, heard a huge bang. Looking aft he saw there had been an explosion in the engine room. In the dark Viceroy of India had almost run down U-407, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Ernst-Ulrich Brüller, who had been on the surface recharging batteries. ]]

Such men saved the world for us. Please go and read the rest... and say a prayer for his soul.

Captain Kenneth Cummins

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