Footsteps in the Sand

By William Knippschild

My book deals with my life from birth until the present time. It is about our family and our problems, our joys and our trials, and tribulations. I try to portray my schooling, my work, and my accomplishments. I did a lot of traveling for my work. I designed and installed SVCs in fourteen different states, fourteen foreign countries, and five Canadian provinces.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524547882

William Knippschild

My name is William Knippschild. I am an eighty-five-year-old male presently living in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, with my wife, two sons, and a grandson. By profession, I am an electrical engineer. I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but I was raised in Germany prior to and during World War II, being bombed by my own people, by the Eighth Air Force. In 1948, I returned to the United States of America, where I learned my first profession, radio and TV repair. In January 1952, I was drafted into the US Marine Corps, where I learned and taught radar. After serving my tour of duty, I returned to radio and TV repair. In 1956, I started at Drexel Institute of Technology (now Drexel University) to get my BS in electrical engineering at night, and I continued on to get my master’s degree in control engineering. While attending Drexel, I started working for the GE Switchgear Works at their testing laboratory on Lindbergh Boulevard in Southwest Philadelphia—first as an engineering assistant and then became the instrumentation engineer upon graduating from Drexel. In 1976, I switched jobs within GE and became the control engineer for some equipment called SVC (static VAR compensator). It was specialty equipment employed by steel mills and utilities. After retiring from GE in 1993, I continued to work as a consultant to CANA, a subsidiary of Alsthom of France, which was also in the SVC business. In 2006, I retired with my family to Pawleys Island, South Carolina.

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Chapter I

Once upon a time, so begin all fairy tales. (Es war einmal, so fangen alle Maerchen an.) In this case, it is not a fairy tale but very real. Our saga begins at the hospital of the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, not far from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, located at 2121 North College Avenue, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania was relocated to the East Falls section of Philadelphia later in 1930. The patient is Mrs. Clara Knippschild, née Metzger. Mrs. Knippschild was born in Kassel, Province of Hessen, Germany, on August 4, 1903. She had four siblings, three brothers and one sister.

All five children were born and raised in Kassel, Germany. Her oldest brother, William Metzger, my Onkel (uncle) Willi, was born in 1899. Her sister, Mrs. Antonia Fiedler, my Tante (aunt) Toni, was born in 1902, one year before my mother.

Her next brother, Albert Metzger, my Onkel (uncle) Albert, was born in 1913. The youngest brother, Herman, my Onkel (uncle) Herman, was born in 1920. He was always the closest to me since we were only ten years apart. Onkel Herman never wanted me to call him Onkel while I was growing up. It made him feel old.

On the 28th of June 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This precipitated WW I, which was a very bloody battle between the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungaria and the Allied Powers of France, Great Britain, Italy, Tsarist Russia and finally the United States in 1917.

Americas entry into WW I was partially due to the reaction to the sinking of the HMS Lusitania in 1915. The HMS Lusitania was sunk of the Irish Coast by German Submarine U-20, since it was suspected that the ship was carrying artillery and ammunitions to Great Britain. The second and larger explosion after the torpedo hit, seems to confirm the presence of large amounts of ammunitions. The large second explosion precipitated the rapid sinking of the Luxury Liner, which in turn caused the excessive loss of lives. Almost 60 % of all passengers and crew lost their lives.

The war ended on the 11th day of November, 1918, when the Armistice was signed in a railroad car in Compiegne, France. The war was ended by the Treaty of Versailles, where it was signed in the Hall of Mirrors on the 28th of June, 1919, 5 years to the date of the Archduke’s Assassination.

George Clemenceau, the Prime Minister of France dictated the terms, which were very harsh. President Woodrow Wilson and British Prime Minister Lloyd George were no match for Clemenceau and he had his way. The harsh terms rankled many Germans, be they politicians or just ordinary citizens and sowed the seeds for the second world war.

The United States Senate had enough sense not to ratify the Treaty of Versailles. They thought that Woodrow Wilson had caved in to Georg Clemenceau of France too much and let him have his way, instead of insisting on Wilson’s 14 points of which the Senate had approved.

Therefore, the USA did not adhere to many of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, but they did adhere to the treaty to the point of not selling Germany any Helium for its Zeppelins, included the Graf Hindenburg, which burned up due to its gas bags being filled with Hydrogen. Helium is an inert gas and will not burn, but Hydrogen is highly flammable.

Onkel (Uncle) Willi was old enough to be inducted into the German army during WW I. His father, my grandfather (my Opa), was Lutheran, and his mother, my grandmother (my Oma), was Roman Catholic.

The differences in religious background never mattered, they were in love and happy. One time Onkel Willi came home, while being on leave from the front with the German Army in France and found a Roman Catholic Priest harassing his mother, my Oma.

Uncle Willi never was a very violent person. He tried to talk to the priest and asked him to leave his mother alone and go quietly. The priest would not listen to reason, so Uncle Willi grabbed the priest by the seat of his pants and his clerical collar and threw him down a flight of steps, about 8 to 10 feet.

My Oma was a mild little lady. She hardly ever raised her voice. I can see how she would have been scared of someone harassing her. My Oma was never bothered again.

After being discharged from the German army, Onkel Willi used to race motorcycles. From what I understand, he was very good at it and won many races, receiving numerous trophies and commendations. This drew a lot of attention to the business of his father, who owned a new car and motorcycle dealership. Having a son actively involved with the promotion of motorized transportation would definitely not hurt business.

Onkel Willi immigrated to the United States early in 1923. He worked as an automobile and truck mechanic for Apex, a company supplying white professional coats and business uniforms. It was a laundering and dry cleaning business and had many trucks serving the greater Philadelphia and suburban area. The garage where he worked was in Northeast Philadelphia, near Susquehanna Avenue.

The suburban area consists of 4 counties, Delaware County, Montgomery County, Bucks County and Chester county. Only three of the suburban counties border Philadelphia directly, Chester county does not. The three suburban counties cover three sides of the city, with Bucks County to the north, Montgomery County to the west and Delaware County to the south. On the fourth side is the Delaware River, which is about ½ mile wide at that point and forms the boundary between Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Across the river from Philadelphia is Camden, NJ, of Campbell Soup fame. The garage where he worked was in north-east Philadelphia, near Susquehanna Avenue. Uncle Willi had to travel between south-east and north-west of Philadelphia twice a day.

Onkel Willi married Ms. Kathrine Mahler, my Tante (aunt) Katie, who was born and raised in the USA. Her parents were of German Ancestry and they lived in Southwest Philadelphia on Buist Avenue. They had no children. I lived with them for three years after returning to the United States, before getting married to Erna.

I lived with them for three years after returning to the United States, before getting married to Erna. My uncle and aunt did not have a TV, but uncle Willi avidly listened to the radio every night before dinner. We could not miss the Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet, Abbot & Castello, The Goldberg’s, Jack Benny, Lum & Abner, Red Skelton, The Saint and Sky King among others.

On Friday nights during Oyster season we had Oyster Stew, which I very much disliked, I do not like the slimy taste of the Oysters in stew. I think I remember Oyster Season being the months without an R in them.

Uncle Willi was an avid smoker. He always smoked in his car and was not very careful. When he finished a cigarette, he would pinch it out with his fingers and put the butt into the cars ashtray. One time he must not have been too careful and his 1936 Green Plymouth 4door sedan caught on fire and was completely gutted including the garage the car was parked in.

Uncle Willi never gave up and he rebuilt the entire car from ground up, buying all the necessary parts at many and sundry automobile junk yards, which there were many near us in south-west Philadelphia. When the car was finished it looked brand new and no one could tell that it had been a total wreck.

My mother’s older sister, Antonia Toni Metzger, followed Onkel Willi to the United States, also in 1923. She settled in Baltimore, where she met and married a tailor of German ancestry, who was born in Croatia. His name was John Fiedler, and they settled in Woodlawn, a suburb of Baltimore. They had two sons, Frederic (Fred) and Albert, my first cousins. I visited them frequently after returning to the United States in 1948.

Fred, who was the older, worked for an insurance company, the Maryland Casualty Company. He later was transferred to Texas and was a branch manager for the insurance company, I believe, in Fort Worth, Texas, where his two boys Fred and Zippy grew up as good Texans and proud of it.

My younger cousin, Albert, on the other hand, worked for the Bell Telephone Company, when it was Bell Tel. This was before the breakup of Bell Tel and the destruction of the best telephone system in the world. We are still plagued at present time by problems from this breakup. The phone system has never completely recovered from it. If you go to many foreign countries, as I have, you will appreciate the US telephone system, even in today’s state.

Ms. Clara Metzger, my mother, immigrated to the USA in 1923 also. She was preceded by her brother Willi and her sister, Toni (Antonia), as mentioned above. She met her future husband at a dance at the Temple Gymnastic Club, at Temple University, on North Broad Street, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

I wonder how my grandmother, my Oma felt, about losing three of her children within a few months going to the United States. She did not see any of them for 11 years until we came to Germany in 1934, when she was reunited with my mother. Oma had to wait until 1939 until she saw her other two children again, uncle Willi and aunt Toni, when Oma visited the USA.

During the dance, Mr. Knippschild asked Ms. Metzger, Do you know the famous motorcycle racer Willi Metzger? Ms. Metzger answered, Naturally. He is my brother. Soon, they started dating. Mr. Knippschild and Ms. Metzger got married on the twenty-third of July 1927.

My father, Wilhelm Knippschild, was born on the twenty-fifth day of May 1904 in the village of Balhorn, province of Hessen, Germany, which is about twenty-five miles outside of Kassel. His older brother, August, my Onkel (uncle) August, was born in 1899, also in the village of Balhorn.

They were little devils as they grew up. Among other things, they started a forest fire, which burned up a very large section of the forest near Balhorn. It must have been embarrassing for my grandfather as the mayor and Postmaster of Balhorn, in other words one of the prominent members of the community, to have his sons set a forest fire.

My father got blamed for it and got a good tanning. He always claimed innocence. He always blamed his brother, August. I honestly do not know the truth of it. They both denied being the one who had the matches. As I understood from my grandfather, the two boys were always in some kind of trouble.

After he finished school, my father became an apprentice to become a Kaufman (merchandiser), which is a three-year apprenticeship. In Germany, each trade has a formal apprenticeship program usually lasting three years, which consists of equal parts of classroom training and on-the-job training at an employer. This came to be very helpful when he immigrated to the United States in 1923.

This is true for all trades, be it Kaufman, Brick Layer, Carpenter, Shoe Maker or what so ever. After a person finishes his three-year apprenticeship he or she becomes a Bachelor in their trade and usually goes to a different employer to obtain a different point of view and a different way of doing things. After being employed by two or three different employers and attending the appropriate schooling, you will become a Master of your trade and you can go to work for anyone or go into business for yourself.

That he had a trade must have been very helpful when he immigrated to the United States in 1923. In the1920’s nobody was interested in Diplomas or other certificates. The only thing that mattered was what you could do and how well you could perform your job. This is no longer true today, every employer only looks at what certificate or degree you have.

A degree is no guarantee of being able to perform well in a job situation. I should not say this, since I have a Bachelors and a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, but it is true never the less.

While I was Instrumentation Engineer at the GE High Power Laboratory I had a large number of new Drexel Graduates reporting to me, it was part of my job to introduce them to the work environment and I was appalled how little that they knew about Electrical Engineering.

I was very disappointed by my Alma Mater, Drexel Institute of Technology, which soon became Drexel University (DU). I always thought it was a mistake to rename Drexel. I am of the opinion that an Institute of Technology is much more prestigious, such as MIT, Georgia Tech and Cal Tech and Drexel Tech ranked right up with them. On the other hand, Universities are dime a dozen, no matter how prestigious, be they Harvard, Yale, Princeton or Pennsylvania.

One young electrical engineering graduate did not even know what a time constant was, a basic function in electrical engineering. This young man eventually became my manager at Alsthom.

This proves the old axiom that we all rise to the level of our incompetence. I met him again at some time later as a manager for the Switchgear Department and the Static VAR Compensator business of Siemens.

The above is enough of my family and other background, so let us return to our tale. On June 29, 1930, I, William Knippschild Jr., was born. I officially dropped my junior from my name many years ago, since my father and I, most of the time, were in different countries and he is deceased since 1991. I was a healthy little boy who was born to overjoyed parents.

I was baptized at the Evangelical Lutheran Tabor Church, located at Roosevelt Boulevard and Mascher Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, July 27, 1930.

My godfather was my mother’s brother, my Uncle, Mr. Willi Metzger and my godmother was my mother’s sister, my Aunt, Mrs. Toni (Antonia) Fiedler. My father had no living relatives in the United States, so none could attend my Christening, but many of my parent’s friends did, among them Otto and Betty Goelz and Ernest and Theresa Lempp. The officiating minister was Reverend Flotheimer.

Uncle Willi and Aunt Katie had a bungalow in Browns Mills, New Jersey. It was a one-story building located in the woods outside of Browns Mills. While the bungalow was being built in the 1920s, my father and mother often helped them on weekends. We have a number of pictures of both my mother and my father ready to go to work in Browns Mills.

Aunt Katie’s younger sister, Anna, and her Norwegian-born husband also had a place in Browns Mills. Aunt Anna lived and worked in Brooklyn, New York, during the week and came to Browns Mills only on weekends. Her husband, a retired construction worker, lived in Browns Mills all year round, not far from the Metzger’s bungalow.

His first name was Albert; I do not remember his last name. He was one of those construction workers who walk around on I-Beams, while being 100’s of feet up in the air without any protection. I do not understand how people can do that, I know that I would not be able to walk around. I would be too scared to stand up.

When I first returned to the USA, I used to go with my uncle and aunt to Browns Mills, but after about four to six months, I had other plans for the weekends, and I stopped going with them. Being in Browns Mills was very boring to me; I had no activities and no friends.

Uncle Willi and Aunt Katie had a twenty-five to thirty-year collection of the Sunday edition of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin newspaper and just about that many years of the National Geographic Society magazine. Every year, on Palm Sunday, Uncle Willi and Aunt Katie went to the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. I went with them for the first year, but that was the only time I went.

The Boardwalk was empty at that time of the year and the atmosphere was raw and chilly. I really could not see what uncle Willi and aunt Katie saw in it. This was long before the Gambling Casinos came to Atlantic City.

The following week on Easter the Boardwalk was crowded for the Easter Parade, where all the people, especially the Ladies and children were showing off their newest fineries. I used to watch the Easter Parade on the Atlantic City Boardwalk on Television.

I have never been to Atlantic City since the Casinos have opened, even though we only lived about 60 miles from Atlantic City. The Casinos have never made a dime on me. This is not to say that I never gambled, I have been to the Casinos in Curacao and Aruba and also onboard of some cruise ships, but never in Atlantic City, NJ.

I am not a big spender and I usually play the Nickel or Quarter Slot Machines. Whenever Erna and I play the Slot Machines we set a limit and do not exceed it, that way you do not lose your shirt. I gladly accepted the free drinks that the waitresses were bringing around. I have played the Roulette Wheel only one time and Vingt-et-un (21 or Blackjack) never. I have no idea what Faro is.

In the fall of 1948, I started playing soccer with the Phönix Fussball Verein (Phönix Soccer Club) and went to German clubs for dancing and impromptu singing with others of my age, singing all the new songs from Germany that the old-time club members had not heard before. We used to sing and the older club members bought us rounds of drinks to keep our whistle wetted. These were songs from the late 1930’s and the war years.

Some of the songs were Capri Fisher, Kornblumen Blau (Cornflower Blue), Lilly Marlene (Lili Marleen), Du muenteres Rehlein Du (You lively little young Deer, you), Oh Du Kleine Schaffnerin (Oh you little Trolley Conductress), Am Strande von Rio (At the beach at Rio de Janeiro). Am Golf von Biscaya (At the gulf of Biscaya) among many others.

Onkel (Uncle) Albert was in the German army during WW II. Most of the time, he drove trucks. The trucks he drove usually had many trailers. He told me that one time, he had as many as four trailers behind his truck.

He had a lot of problems with that many trailers, especially driving through small villages in Holland or in Germany. Onkel Albert used to race heavy motorcycles, especially through wooded and hilly terrain. He was very good at it and won many medals, commendations, and trophies.

He, with his wife, Tante (Aunt) Martha, and their two daughters lived in Helsa, a small town about thirty miles from Kassel. They had some problems when they were going to get married. The entry in the church register had Aunt Martha born in 1817 instead of 1917, and an over-one-hundred-year-old woman was not allowed to marry a twenty-some-year-old, young man.

It finally got resolved since it was obvious by just looking at her that she was not an over-one-hundred-year-old woman, and they were married. When their oldest daughter was born, they called her Ingeborg, which is the Swedish version of Ingeburg.

The German Reich objected to the Swedish name, but Uncle Albert and Aunt Martha did not give in and persevered. I frequently visited Uncle Albert and Aunt Martha, who lived in Helsa, which is about thirty miles outside of Kassel.

My mother’s youngest brother, my Onkel (Uncle) Herman was in the German Army in Russia, when he got injured in his left arm and left leg, I understood that it was the same bullet that did the damage in both places. The wounds were serious enough that the Army no longer had any use for him. He had a permanent limp and he had to wear special orthopedic shoes and a brace on his left leg.

So he got discharged from the army after recuperating from his wounds and married my Tante (aunt) Klarchen. They settled in Troisdorf, about fifteen miles south of Köln (Cologne). It was not far from the home of my aunt’s parents.

Onkel Herman and Tante Klarchen had two children, a boy named Wilfried and a girl by the name of Ingeburg, my cousins. They lived in a house that was partially destroyed during WW II. The two-car garage had been fixed up as their master bedroom. This was early in 1948, just before my leaving for the United States.

It looked a lot better when Erna and I visited in 1987. At that time, their house had been completely rebuilt and was very nice and comfortable. Onkel Herman and Tanta Klarchen were a very lovable and loving couple and so were their children.

When I was two years old, I received a train set for Christmas. It was a Lionel Train O Gauge with passenger cars. Naturally, I do not remember any of this. My parents told me about it and how I threw them out of bed every morning so that I could play with my train. When we went to Germany, the train set naturally went with us, but more of this later.

My parents told me that I played often with my friend, the son of their friends, Otto and Betty Goelz. My parents also had other friends, Ernest and Theresa Lempp. My mother and father attended the Lempp’s’ wedding. My father and some of his drinking buddies kidnapped the bride and held her for ransom, which was a round of drinks for everyone.

This is a custom in the area from which my father came. The bridegroom was not amused and never forgave my father, even after I returned to the USA in 1948. I really think it is carrying a grudge too far; lighten up a bit. To carry a grudge for over 20 years is a bit excessive in my opinion.

When I was three years old, I became very ill. From what I was told, I had the measles, scarlet fever, and rheumatic fever at the same time. I understand both my arms and my legs and also my hands and feet were badly twisted. I had feared that it had been polio, but the doctor who treated me convinced me that it was not. He was still practicing in 1950 when Erna and I saw him.

When I finally was on the mend, I was standing up in my crib, which was located by a window on the second floor of the house that we lived in. We were living in a row house near Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia.

In the rear of our house ran a railroad track, which was approximately ten feet lower than the house, so the tracks were easily observable by me from my crib.

I can vividly remember my only recollection of the USA. I was standing in my crib and watched a daily freight train pass, and the brakeman standing on the veranda of the caboose was waving at me, and I waved back. I remember this, and no one told me about it.

When I told my mother in later years, she was very surprised since she had no idea about these incidents. She usually had been downstairs in either the kitchen or the living room at that time. It is amazing that I remember these daily occasions in so much detail and nothing else for the first 3 ½ years of my life. This certainly left a lasting impression on my memory.

When I told my father about it, he argued that there was no railroad near the house. He would not have known anything about these incidents, since he was at work during the day.

After my father came to visit us, we took a trip to the old neighborhood, and my father looked, and lo and behold, there were railroad tracks, though now totally abandoned.

While he lived in the United States, my father pursued his occupation, which meant that he was managing an American Store. The American Stores were the forerunners of the ACME Supermarkets. The 1920s were a very difficult period for many people; unemployment was rampant, and many people were starving.

The store he was managing was near Fifth Street and Susquehanna Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia. This area of Philadelphia was populated mostly by Italian and Polish immigrants, basically a very honest and very religious group of people.

My father told me that he watched many women steal a loaf of bread or other groceries and go down the street to the Catholic church and confess. He did not have the heart to call the cops.

Times were hard. This was the Depression of the 1920s. It improved but did not end when Franklin Delano Roosevelt came to be president in 1933. One of the first things Roosevelt did was to ask Congress to repeal the Prohibition Act of 1920. He wanted to stop the lawlessness of the Prohibition era, many otherwise law-abiding citizens became bootleggers and moonshiners and brewed bath-tub Gin.

President Roosevelt instituted the New Deal; the most popular programs were the WPA and the CCC. The Depression did not end until the beginning of WW II in 1941, despite the large influx of federal government funds for the WPA (Works Progress Administration) for highways and public buildings. Many modern Highways, Post Offices, Court Houses and all level of Governmental Buildings were constructed during this time of the 1930’s.

The CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) mostly developed dormant government lands. The WPA and the CCC were the most popular of the New Deal Programs. My definition of a depression is, if it happens to you, it is a depression. If it happens to others, it is a recession.

In 1941, Franklin Roosevelt instituted the Lend-Lease Program. Even though it was not official, the United States had entered the war; it was taking a side in the war. The USA was aiding Great Britain, the USSR, and the Nationalist China of Chiang Kai-shek by providing warships, weapons, tanks, artillery, trucks, jeeps, and ammunitions for the war effort, everything except the actual engagement by US troops.

Germany reciprocated by sinking American ships where ever the submarines could find them. The Germans were very good at the submarine warfare, especially after they could travel submerged with their diesel engines by the use of the Snorkel, which enabled them to use the Diesel Engines while travelling submerged. They could travel much faster with their Diesel Engines than with their Electric Propulsion.

During this period, the early 1930s, my father sang with the Deutscher Maenner Chor (German Men’s Choir). Their clubhouse and meeting and practicing facility was on Sixth Street near Spring Garden Street. That was also the location of their yearly choral presentation.

Around the corner at 611 Spring Garden Street was the Deutsche Geselschaft (the German Society of Pennsylvania). It is still there, to the best of my knowledge. My father had a very good voice, and he sang many solos. His voice was a bass baritone.

My mother was a member of and sang with the Deutsche Damen Chor (German Ladies’ Choir). Her sister Toni sang with the Deutsche Daman Chor of Baltimore, MD. This was something the two sisters had in common. My parents weekly practice sessions fell on the same day, which was convenient. I do not know where the ladies’ meeting and practicing facility was located. I have a feeling that it was at the same location as the Maenner Chor. Once a year, both the Damen Chor and the Maenner Chor gave a concert, but never at the same time. They never had a combined concert.

During the spring of 1934, my parents returned to Germany. The reasons, as I understand, were twofold. First, as the younger son, my father was entitled to an inheritance, which amounted to 40 percent of the total value of the farm, which was a substantial amount of money.

My father’s brother, my uncle August, took his portion of the money and purchased a one-hundred-acre farm (more than twice the amount of land that he had at that time) in Sand, the neighboring community. The new farm was about one hundred acres, bordering in size to a gut, which is a large farm.

My grandfather had visited the USA and hated it with a passion. He insisted that my father had to live in Germany to receive his inheritance. The second reason for going to Germany was that the medical community recommended that a change of venue might help speed my recovery. I believe it was very helpful.

So in early May 1934, we boarded the "SS Bremen", Germany’s newest and largest luxury liner. The "SS Bremen" was launched in 1929. Her sister ship was called the SS Europa, which was slightly smaller than the SS Bremen, 52,000 tons to the SS Bremen at 53,000 tons. The SS Europa held the Blue Riband until 1932, when the SS Bremen recaptured it. The SS Bremen had originally captured the Blue Riband from the Mauretania of the British Cunard White Star Line and the SS Europa took it from the SS Bremen.

The SS Bremen was a beautiful ship, but she was not the largest ship in service at that time. The "SS Bremen" was fifty-three thousand tons, while the English "HMS Queen Mary" and also English "HMS Queen Elizabeth" were eighty-two thousand and eighty-three thousand tons respectively, and the French "SS Normandie" was seventy-nine thousand tons.

These ships are tiny compared to today’s Behemoths. The largest cruise ship was put into service in 2016, the Harmony of the Seas was commissioned by the Royal Caribbean International. The ship displaces 216,963 tons. There are now at least more than 65 cruise ships with or 100,000 tons or more in size in service.

She (all ships are called she) was only five years old at that time. She was the holder of the Blue Riband, signifying that she had crossed the Atlantic Ocean from New York Harbor to Le Havre Harbor in record time, in the shortest time on record in 1934. She held the record for both directions of travel.

I remember three incidences from that sea voyage. The first was with my mother resting in her sun suit on a deck chair with a blanket spread on the deck next to her. I was playing with my orange Indianapolis racer. The racer was very heavy, probably cast iron. I was very possessive of my Indianapolis racer; no other children were allowed to touch it.

The second memory involves a seaplane. Daily, a seaplane arrived bringing mail and packages from Germany and picking up mail. When the plane arrived, it circled the ship three times. I would run to watch the plane.

When it went to the other side of the ship, I would run through the revolving doors on one side of the ship through the ship’s interior and out the other revolving doors on the other side of the ship and back again. I had to do this three times. My little legs were pumping, but I persevered.

When the plane landed, it was picked up by a crane and placed on the catapult. When their business was completed, the plane was catapulted, circled the ship once, and flew off toward Germany.

My third memory was of the passengers debarking for Southampton, England. We had, earlier in the day, stopped at Le Havre, France, and unloaded passengers. At the time of the passengers’ debarking, it was night, and the SS Bremen could not enter Southampton harbor because of low tide, and the Bremen’s draft was too deep. I saw a long series of steps