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William Henry Cosby Sr.
made two war patrols on WW II Submarines, yes he is Bill Cosby's
father.
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A white Southern Major
was issuing liberty passes to his black troops in England just
before the Normandy invasion. He said if my grandmother knew I was
issuing passes to black troops to go out and date White women she
would be turning over in her grieve. From the back of the room,
"Spin granny spin!"
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When the destroyer
Johnston was sinking in the Battle of Letie Gulf one of the
assistant stewards said" Someone help me, I can't swim." the
reply, "Now would be a good time to learn." He must have for he was
the only assistant steward to survive.
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 My father,
Fred Kelly, went AWOL after being thrown out of the barracks
into tents along with all the other blacks to accomplish
separation of the races.
He hated snakes and in the south, where he was, there were a lot
of them. He figured that that was the last straw. As
a result, he walked 10 days eating only 3 bananas on the way, to
get back to the woman he loved. My mom.
He returned to base some time later, served his time and
eventually was killed in France in an Army truck convoy.
He received an honorable discharge. -- Raven,
Webmaster
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Submarines had a
small crew so it was helpful if crew members could do many
tasks. A steward could qualify in other parts of the boat,
and some were qualified on all systems in the boat.
Stewards and cooks would have other jobs during action on the
surface or submerged. Loading torpedoes was one of these
jobs. One black steward got to the torpedo room as the
crew there was loading one of the tubes, so he loaded the other
tube by himself, and finished before the loading crew did.
The Captain fired his torpedo tube first. For surface
action, cooks and stewards would pass the ammunition to the deck
guns.
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On surface ships the
messmen were frequently assigned to the ammunition magazines
deep in the bottom of the ship. The armored door to the
magazines could only be opened from the outside. If no one
opened the door, when the ship was sinking the magazine crew
went down with the ship
If you'd like to submit your family stories and
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the right to decide what to include.
Email:
click here
blackww2@blackww2museum.org
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