Chapter Three
On July 1, the task force put out to sea and headed north along the barren, granite coast of Labrador, made up of old, tired, eroded mountains, probably among the oldest on earth. Trees were scarce and stunted.
The Captain announced over the loud speaker system that their next destination would be a small village called Hopedale, Labrador, which was about 300 miles above St. Anthony. It had a population of about 150 Eskimos and a handful of Anglo fishermen.
They arrived on July 3, and on the 4th of July they celebrated by unloading equipment and again preparing to take cargo off freighters in preparation for building another radar station atop the highest nearby tired old mountain. All personnel were treated to a special dinner that evening, followed by a movie, a rare treat these days, to celebrate the holiday.
The day was about nineteen hours long, and there were only five hours of darkness. They were surprised to find that the temperature reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit at 2:00 pm, which was unusual, although it can be quite warm in northern climates because of the many hours of sunlight in summer. And in contrast the temperature of the ocean was only 33 degrees due to the Labrador Current, which was still carrying icebergs south, and some of them were huge!
Luke set up his battalion aid station in one of the local buildings, and made out the twelve hour shift schedules for his corpsmen.
Soon an Eskimo mother brought in her one year old son with a sore throat, enlarged lymph nodes in his neck, slightly stiff neck, and high fever. Luke diagnosed a strep throat and gave the infant an injection of long-acting penicillin. He had the little patient brought back the next day, slightly fearing the possibility of tuberculous meningitis, but he was glad to find the little fellow much better. Luke had already learned that there was a high incidence of tuberculosis among the Eskimo population.
A few days later a party of VIPs arrived from Goose Bay, Labrador, headquarters of the 373rd Transportation Major Port. The party included Brigadier General Ben Stinchcomb, commandant of the 373rd TMP, Major General Ed Holman, commandant of the entire transportation corps, and Colonel Con Cantrell, port surgeon of the 373rd TMP, who was Luke’s professional superior, although he was under direct command of Major McCoy, TC.
They had only a few hours notice that the inspection was coming. All work was stopped, and the men ordered to clean up their work areas and their uniforms as much as possible. Luke thought to himself what a waste of time this was, but typically army.
To everyone’s relief, the inspection went well. General Stinchcomb reminded all troops that fraternization or association with the Eskimos was absolutely forbidden in accordance with the agreement worked out with the Canadian government. An exception was made in Luke’s case, and he was allowed to treat sick Eskimos. Colonel Cantrell gave him some helpful tips in handling some illnesses among the native population.
He learned that measles, as well as pulmonary tuberculosis, were prevalent and deadly among them because of their low resistance to these white men’s diseases. They were also prone to stubborn skin sores, which the Colonel felt were due to the handling of whale blubber and fish, particularly the arctic char, or trout, which were abundant in the streams.
He was also informed that the average life expectancy of males was only 45 years. Many of the men drowned or died from hypothermia when their kayaks or umiaks rolled over while hunting. They had never learned to swim because of the bitterly cold ocean water, and even if they could have swum, their heavy fur clothing would have dragged them under the water. And if they did live to old age, they would leave the snow house or igloo and sit in the cold until they froze to death so that they would not be a burden on their families. Luke was told that freezing to death is not a bad way to die, since the cold numbs the senses, and makes the person drowsy before he or she slips away.
Another interesting thing that he was told by the Colonel was that Eskimo males showed much less hardening of the arteries at autopsy than American soldiers of comparable age, despite their diets high in fat from whale blubber.
And Luke found that the Eskimos considered the skin, which they called mukto, from the medium-sized beluga, or white whales, the greatest of delicacies. And the children even preferred mukto to candy!
Over the next few weeks the word of Luke’s medical skill spread throughout the Eskimo village. He was asked to visit sick patients there almost daily. He saw dehydrated infants, several children with mild pneumonia, and everyone had multiple mosquito bites, many of which were infected. Contrary to his expectations, there were swarms of mosquitoes here in the sub-arctic, and they were Texas size!
Some of the troops got a hold of a dozen cases of beer, and they got roaring drunk, much to the commander’s disgust. One of the drunken DUKW drivers tired to grease the genitals of another soldier, and a knife fight ensued. The driver suffered a deep stab wound in the left forearm which severed several branches of the left radial nerve. He was returned to the Latimer, where Luke and the navy doctor spent three hours repairing the wound, and trying to suture the severed nerve endings together.
A court-martial followed, and both men were reduced in rank and had pay withheld. The stabbed man had to be sent back to the ZI (Zone of the Interior) for physical therapy and treatment. And as a consequence, the Major ordered a twelve mile hike with full pack for all personnel as a punishment for the drunken melee. The medics were also ordered to participate in the hike; however, the Major told Luke he could ride along in his jeep. Luke had mixed feelings about punishing everyone for the misdeeds of the drunken minority, but he understood the necessity of enforcing discipline. So he declined to use his Jeep, and marched the twelve miles with all the other officers and men.
A few days later a transportation corps officer fell twelve feet off a shed, landed on his heels and badly fractured his left heel bone or calcaneus. Luke had to get a passing navy ship to take him to Goose Bay for orthopedic treatment.
One morning at dawn Luke climbed to the top of a nearby low mountain and watched the sun come up in the east over the Labrador Sea. Looking north, south, and west, all he could see was old, eroded mountains, covered by tundra and rare stunted trees. Looking to the east he could see many islands, inlets, and peninsulas sticking out like fingers into the Labrador Sea. And there were still occasional icebergs floating down in the Labrador Current. And looking inland he could see many small lakes. This was indeed wild, remote, and cold country. He wished he had time to hike inland, but he did not, so he soon descended from his perch on the mountain and returned to the harbor in time to catch the Mike boat back to Latimer.
A destroyer escort came in from Goose Bay to deliver mail, and also dropped off some hot gossip, which soon spread throughout the camp. The rumor was that two air force officers stationed at the Northeast Air Command headquarters in St. John’s Newfoundland had been caught switching wives, and the big brass were more than upset. They had been summarily ordered back to the continental United States, and were told that they must resign from the United States Air Force speedily or be court-martialled and dishonourably discharged for conduct unbecoming officers and gentlemen.
By July 24, the task force had finished its work at Hopedale. Luke had their medical equipment loaded onto their trailer, and the Jeep pulled it aboard the LST, followed by the ambulance.
Then the task force steamed slowly out into the Labrador Sea, and headed north again.
They stayed just barely within sight of land, but headed slowly north against the Labrador Current. That afternoon they saw a spectacular sight. A hug iceberg appeared on the northern horizon, and their ships slowly closed on it. It protruded about ten stories above the water, was about a city block square, and had a sharp, jagged point protruding from the top. Luke remembered that only about one tenth of the volume of floating ice appears above the water, and nine tenths is submerged. So this was truly a monstrous iceberg.
As the berg passed about a half mile on the starboard side of the task force, the commodore ordered target practice on it. The LST began the firing, using its heavy fore and aft machine guns with tracer bullets, but the iceberg was a bit out of range. So the sailors unlimbered the five inch gun mounted on the stern of the Latimer. The first two salvos were a bit wide of the mark, but the third shell was right on target, and sent a shower of ice chips flying into the air. Everyone cheered wildly. So for good measure the gunners fired about three more rounds into the berg. The whole stern of the Latimer trembled with each firing. Finally the captain ordered the firing to cease. It was quite a show.
As the task force resumed its journey northward, something most unexpected happened. A lookout on the lead flagship noted the telltale wake of a periscope coming around the north side of the iceberg, heading in their direction! The commodore galvanized into action immediately. He notified each of the three other ships in the task force, ordered general quarters, started the ships zigzagging, and notified naval headquarters of the United States and Canada at St. John’s, Newfoundland, also asking if any American or foreign submarines were operating in their area.
A radio reply came back very quickly stating that no American or Canadian submarines were operating in that area; however, intelligence reports indicated that a Russian submarine pack was known to be present in the North Atlantic Ocean, and a Russian oil tanker was refuelling their submarines just off the south coast of Greenland, so this could well be a Russian submarine. Washington had been notified, and several Sabre jets had been scrambled from Goose Bay, with an expected time of arrival at their position in about thirty minutes.
Within a few minutes they got confirmation of the identity of the submarine, which surface about 500 yards off the starboard bow of the flagship. Some of the crew scrambled out of the conning tower, ran up their flag showing the hammer and sickle of the Soviet Union, and manned their machine gun, which they pointed at the flagship. It had "84" painted on its bow and conning tower.
A radio command was then received in English ordering the ships of the task force to heave to and prepare to be boarded. The submarine Captain also accused the Americans of firing on his submarine which was hidden behind the iceberg the Latimer had used for target practice.
The commodore again took quick action. He radioed the destroyer which was several miles to the rear to come up at flank speed, and had the five inch gun on the stern of the Latimer, and the machine guns on the LST 601 trained on the submarine. He then radioed the skipper of the submarine that they had no idea the submarine was behind the iceberg when they had target practice, and that the task force had no intention of heaving to and being boarded.
The Russian Captain backed down a bit when he saw the Latimer’s five inch gun trained on him, but replied, "I must know what you are doing here, and you must stop until I can make this determination!"
Commodore Donner replied, "We are on official business of the United States Navy. I will tell you nothing more except that we are within the international twelve mile limit of the Canadian shore, and are here with the full sanction of the government of Canada, which has been notified of your action. I strongly suggest that you withdraw immediately!"
The Russian captain replied, "Nyet! My government recognizes the two mile limit, so you are with international waters, and we shall act accordingly!" He started moving his submarine closer to the Latimer, and the tension mounted.
Then the destroyer Daggett roared into view at thirty knots with all guns trained on the sub. The Russian Captain still hesitated, but the final clincher came when two Sabre jets came into view and made a low pass over the submarine.
At this point the Russians threw in the towel. There was simply too much fire power against them. The Captain ordered his men back inside the conning tower, and prepared to submerge.
He radioed a parting message to the flagship, "You win this time. However, I shall report to my government that you committed a warlike act by firing on us. You must have known we were behind the iceberg. Perhaps we shall meet again on a more equal basis!"
At this point the submarine submerged, and the destroyer followed it with sonar as it moved off in the Labrador Sea toward the south.
The commodore spoke over the radio to all ships, "This is a typical Russian Cold War tactic. They try to intimidate us, then slink off when they see they are outgunned and outmanned. We must continue to be on the alert for similar tactics in the future. They know we were not firing at them during our target practice at the iceberg, but were using it as an excuse for a confrontation. The Pentagon feels we have acted properly. You should all feel that your work was well-done, and I compliment you on your action. I am ordering that the watch be doubled as we continue up the Labrador coast, and all personnel should maintain a high state of alertness and readiness. We shall continue to move northward again."
Updated: July 31, 2002