Victory at Sea

About this episode

Mark Winkworth shares a personal story about his father's experiences in the Navy during World War II, including the capture of a German submarine.

A short time ago one of my sisters was looking through a box of correspondence – letters from my father to his sister in the days following World War II. That’s a lifetime ago – 83 years – the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor having pulled America into the war. John Winkworth, my father, had enlisted in the Navy and reported for training in the winter of 1943. My dad was 24 when he enlisted – and he along with other young soldiers volunteered to face the growing escalation of the enemy offensive in Europe. After basic training, he was assigned as a Lieutenant Junior Grade aboard the Guadalcanal, a Casablanca Class Escort Carrier. Following the war, my dad was asked to give a talk, to tell the story of the carrier’s anti-submarine work in the Atlantic Ocean – including details of the remarkable capture of the German enemy submarine U-505.

People in this episode

Host: Mark Winkworth

Topics covered

• World War II
• Navy history
• anti-submarine warfare
• personal stories
• military service

Keywords

• World War II
• Navy
• Guadalcanal
• anti-submarine
• U-505
• military history
• personal letters

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: U-505

Places: Guadalcanal, Atlantic Ocean

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