It was now about 4:30am 29th April, 1944. I looked over the side of the Athabaskan at that cold uninviting water of the English Channel by now covered with thick, dirty, fuel oil.
My first thought was “Gee, I can’t jump into that”, but when I turned around and looked at the burning ship, which was beginning to settle to her watery grave, I suddenly decided, “Hell, I can’t stay here neither”.