I think I would like to tell you the story of a very brave Australian:
F.Sgt. Ronald Rashleigh Sillcock 400840 RAAF.
It is 1942 and he is serving as a Lockheed Hudson captain with 53 Sqn. the Americans are having huge problems with U-boats on the east coast of the USA and in the Caribbean. One of the major German goals is to sink ships taking bauxite from South America to the USA in order to make aluminium. The US President, Franklin D Roosevelt asked Churchill for help and so it was that 53 Squadron was sent across the Pond.
"On 26 June, news was received that No.53 was to proceed to the USA at the end of the month. Some 20 Hudsons and crews were to fly out to the US Naval Air Station at Quonset Point, Rhode Island. The main objectives were to familiarise the Americans with ASV radar and anti-submarine procedures and also to reinforce the rather inadequate resources currently facing the U-boat menace on the other side of the Atlantic".
Patrols were mounted from Quonset Point to the St Lawrence River to the north and New York harbour to the south but the Squadron fairly quickly moved south to Trinidad. Here it was that F.Sgt. Sillcock and his crew came into their own.
"F/S Sillcock (RAAF) and crew in AM797/W damaged Type IXC U 509, commanded by Kkapt Wolff to the east of Martinique on 16.08.42".
"F/S Sillcock (RAAF) in AM797/W found a U-boat in the process of surfacing at 0921N 5325W on 27 August. He attacked immediately with four DCs and caused such extensive and serious damage that Kkapt Beucke was forced to take Type IXC U 173 back to base (Lorient) for repairs".
"On 10 November, F/S R R Sillcock (RAAF) and crew in V9253/L found a U-boat on the surface at 1010N 5904W which they promptly attacked. She was U 505, a Type IXC commanded by Klt Peter Zschech. One of the depth charges struck the deck in the vicinity of the 37mm flak gun mounting and exploded prematurely, carrying away the gun and wrecking the outer plating of the conning tower. Debris was thrown up and some shrapnel struck one of the Hudson's fuel tanks (the Hudson had wet wings and did not have self-sealing rubber tanks) which exploded right in front of an astonished U boat crew. Fragments from the Hudson were later found in the wooden deck planking of the U-boat. F/S Sillcock, Sgt P G Nelson (RNZAF), Sgt R Miller, Sgt W Skinner and S1C H L Drew (USNR) were all killed. U 505 was eventually captured intact by the US Navy off West Africa. She was towed to America and is now on display at the Museum of Science in Chicago.
The 53 Squadron crew are remembered on the Ottawa Memorial.