Allied Secret: The Sinking of Hmt Rohna

232 Pages·2002·8.55 MB·English

by  Carlton Jackson

Allied Secret
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Allied Secret
The Sinking of HMT Roha
Carlton Jackson
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS
Norman
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-PublicationD ata
Jackson, Carlton.
[Forgotten tragedy]
Allied secret : the sinking of HMT Rohna / Carlton Jackson.
p. cm.
Originally published under title: Forgotten tragedy.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8061-3418-6 (alk. paper)
1. HMT Rohna (British troopship) 2. World War, 1939-1945-
Naval operations, British. 3. World War, 1939-1945-
Transportation. 4. United States. Army-Transport service.
I. Title.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and
durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book
Longevity of the Council on Library Resources, Inc.
Copyright O 1997 by Carlton Jackson. Red River Books edition
published 2001 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Pub-
lishing Division of the University, by arrangement with the author.
All rights reserved. Manufactured in the U.S.A.
This book is respectfuully dedicated to
the survivors of HMT Rohna
and to the memory of her victims.
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Contents
Preface to the Paperback Edition
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. A Thanksgiving to Remember
2. Attack!
3. The Guided Bomb
4. Over the Railings
5. The End of the Rohna
6. "Only" Twenty Miles fiom Land
7. To the Rescue
8. Phillipeville and Beyond
9. Welcome the Travelers Home
Appendix B. Rohna Poems
Appendix B: Wherehe Thq,N ow?
Notes
Bibliography
Index
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Preface the
t o
Paperback Edition
One of the sources of pleasure (and pain sometimes, I might add)
that I have received since Allied Secrei-originally titled Forgotten
Tragedrwas published has been the large amount of mail from
survivors and from families and friends of the 1,149 soldiers lost in
the sinking of the Rohna. They often wrote just to get things off
their chest, as in the case of the Pennsylvania woman who lost her
childhood sweetheart and has never seen fit to court any other male,
let alone get married: "He was the one and only true love in my life,
and I cannot ever forget him." Not even all the therapeutic sessions
she has been through have helped her return to a normal life.
Literally dozens of sons and daughters-mostly daughters-have
written to say that their fathers spoke many times of being shot out
of the sea but, when pressed for details, clammed up. My book, they
tell me, opened up some badly needed dialogues between and among
fathers, sons, brothers, and other family members back home. One
correspondent, telling a survivor about the book, said, "It is possible
that [Joe] will never read it, and I think you will understand. . . . I