William Jr. on naval hazards
From William Powell Jr. Veteran Interview · · Scioto County Public Library - Ohio
“The mines that the Germans had planted in the Mediterranean — they're all breaking loose... we saw 11 mines and we'd go up in the gun turrets and turn our 20s and 40s on them and they would explode in the water.”
On , William Jr., Vice President of R&D at POWELL INDUSTRIES INC, spoke about naval hazards during William Powell Jr. Veteran Interview on Scioto County Public Library - Ohio.
About William Jr.
William Powell Jr., Vice President of R&D at Powell, participated in a 2018 veteran interview in which he discussed his service in the Merchant Marine during World War II. Powell stated that after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he attempted to enlist in the Navy but was told they were not taking recruits, so he joined the Merchant Marine to haul supplies. He described encountering floating mines in the Mediterranean, which his crew would shoot with guns to detonate. Powell noted that Merchant Marine pay was higher than that of Navy personnel, with additional hazard pay in mined waters, and that Congress later extended the G.I. Bill to Merchant Mariners. In the interview, Powell recounted several personal anecdotes from his service. He said he obtained a German captain's cap and boots, which he hid in a lifeboat to smuggle through customs, but lost them when the lifeboat was damaged in a hurricane. He also recalled an incident in which he took leftover ham and cake from the ship's cook and disposed of them overboard, and that the cook never discovered who took them. Powell mentioned that he was deferred from the draft due to an injury to his big toe, which he described as "the best news I ever heard." He also stated that he worked for the Rothschild coal company and later for Sunoco on the West Coast.