HISTORY: One of our frequent commenters, who signs typewritten postcards only as “An Era Reader,” sends us some remarkable things.
The most recent note contained some history of a World War II ship attack, and its connection to McKean County.
“Uniquely, a World War II occurrence cited in the book ‘U-505’ has a relationship to McKean County,” the postcard noted.
“The liberty ship, S.S. Thomas McKean, for whom McKean County is named, was built at the Bethlehem shipyard, Baltimore, 1942. (450-feet long, oil-burning, 2500hp)
On June 29, 1942, bound for Trinidad, running at 10.5 knots with a cargo of war material, the ship was struck with a torpedo from ‘subject’ U-boat at 7:20 a.m. With a crew of 59, four died in the attack. The ship listed for an hour-plus prior to sinking. Being 240-plus miles from land, four life boats carried the survivors for 4.5 to 9 days before being rescued. For one survivor, this was his second ship sinking. As for another, he would not survive another ship sinking six weeks later. May they rest in peace.”
The book the reader mentions is “U-505,” by Daniel Gallery. The story is recounted on pages 113 to 135.
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LAMENT: Maybe it seems hard to believe for some, but there are a lot of people around here who aren’t on the internet.
In many cases it’s a choice. We admit we have older relatives who have “no use for those darned things,” and some who live in parts of the state where internet service doesn’t reach, or isn’t affordable.
We heard from Hal Harmon about his dissatisfaction with so much information being available only online.
A variation of “not everyone lives at the airport,” submitted by Hal: “Not everyone is digital.”
He writes: “Imagine yourself analog in a world geared almost totally digital. We are, granted, a small segment of the population. But we are, I think, in a vulnerable segment. We are marginalized off the edge of the paper.
“This is an extreme example to prove a point: ‘News flash! Murderer kills three! For more information, go to the website …
“Less important, but still useful facts, are beyond our reach.”
