Our group was called a hunter-killer group. It consisted of the Baby Flattop Carrier USS Guadalcanal CVE-60, the Destroyer Escorts USS Pillsbury DE133 , USS Chatelain DE149, USS Flaherty DE135, USS Pope DE134 and the USS Nunzer DE150.
Our first tour was off the French West African Coast. It was for three months and our job was to search and destroy enemy submarines preying on allied shipping. During this tour we sunk the German submarine U-68 with all hands except one and recovered two torpedoes with dummy warheads. This was Easter Sunday.
The day before, the USS Chatelain attacked a submarine with depth charges and forced it to the surface some 75 yards away from the ship. As she broke the surface, the German sailors manned their deck gun and began firing at us. We fired back and cleaned them off the gun. They scuttled their submarine and dove overboard, abandoning her. A fighter plane from the USS Guadalcanal dove in and placed a bomb right in her conning tower. She went down. We immediately began to pick up survivors from the water. Among them was their Captain, Capt. Lt. Henke, who was also the Wolf Pack Commander of the U-68, U-515 and U-505 and an Iron Cross Holder.
Our Captain, Capt. William T. Foley, ordered me with my Thompson submachine gun to get the German Captain, take him into the ward room, make him shower and guard him until he got to him. I found him and said, "Marz schnell" which means march quick. He said to me, "I speak English". It turned out that before the war he worked in the Boston and Philadelphia shipyards.
I took him for his shower. While in the shower, one of our Lieutenants came in, shook hands with him, then turned his back to the German. The lieutenants holster flap was folded back and his 45 pistol was sticking out facing the German. Captain Henke looked at the gun and checked to see if I was watching. I made off I wasn't, so he started bending down, soaping himself lower. I flipped the submachine gun on single shot and followed him down with it. When he was even with the lieutenants 45 he checked to see what I was doing. He looked right into the barrel of my gun. I never saw anyone straighten up so fast. I pushed the lieutenant out of the way with a warning of what happened.
When Henke finished his shower, I tossed him a towel to dry off. I then ordered him into the next room where the two corpsmen were waiting. I instructed the corpsmen to work on his wounds from the back and from the sides so that I had a clear shot if necessary. When the corpsmen finished, they gave him a greyish sweat suit and sneakers. I then took him to the wardroom and had him sit on the couch while I stood guard at the end of the couch. A little while later our Captain came in, shook hands with Capt. Henke and introduced himself.
The first thing Capt. Henke said to Capt. Foley was "you have Italians aboard this ship?" Then he looked at me. My Captain said "No, I have no Italians on this ship." Then he looked at me where Henke was looking and said "many of my crew are Americans of Italian extraction." At which Henke said "yes and he would kill me." Capt. Foley asked me for clarification, which I gave him.
He told Henke yes, that I would have killed him if he had touched the 45 pistol. The Capt. then told me I could leave, he would handle Henke now, and knowing my Capt. I had no doubt he could. I left.
Henke was shot and killed by Marine Guards while trying to escape from a prisoner of war camp in the US, but not until he reached the top of the fence. This was at Camp Ruston. (Search for U-505 from the Louisiana Library page. )
NOTE: Captain Gallery wrote in an article that Capt. Henke was responsible for sinking an English passenger ship; the shooting of civilian survivors (men, women and children) in the water and in lifeboats; and abandoning the rest to death. He was branded a war criminal and wanted by the British. However, this information is being questioned. If you have any information, please send me e-mail .
Links:
Commander Kapitänleutnant Werner H e n k e
Captain Gallery - Fighting the U-Boats
Information about U-Boats - U-515 included
Washington Post Staff Writer Ken Ringle on Werner Henke