A chara, – Michael Parsons (An Irishman's Diary, May 30th), drawing on military archives in Cathal Brugha Barracks, has thrown additional light on the fate of some 163 survivors from a German destroyer sunk in December 1943 in the Bay of Biscay by the British navy, but who were rescued and taken to Cóbh by the MV Kerlogue.
Under their commander, Joachim Quedenfeldt, the survivors apparently spent the rest of the war years stacking turf in the Curragh. Though the parents were members of the Lutheran church, the Quedenfeldts' sons, Udo and Bodo, were brought up as Catholics in Dublin. In later years Herr Quedenfeldt had moved his family from Dublin to Kiel, a key centre of the German navy. His health had been adversely affected by the long exposure to the icy waters of the Bay of Biscay and hence the move was prompted on medical grounds. When I made their acquaintance in Kiel in 1959/60, Udo and Bodo spoke English with a distinct Dublin accent. Truly, the heroic deed of the MV Kerlogueand its Dungarvan captain, Tom Donohue, deserves to be remembered in Germany as well as in Ireland. – Is mise,
MICHEÁL Ó SÚILLEABHÁIN,
Firgrove Lawn,
Bishopstown,
Cork.