three weeks ago gene posted the picture and story of his grandfather's history in the merchant marine....last night i was searching netflix for something interesting (and worth the electricity expended to watch it....) and found a new release entitled "war sailor".
it's a norwegian production that can be viewed in norwegian, or english, with english subtitles....as i age out, my tinnitus and general hearing make subtitles a huge benefit for me. it is a factual based story of two friends who had signed onto a merchant ship shortly before the nazi's invaded norway, and were automatically conscripted by the legitimate norwegian government....like it or not. they were the sole survivors of one lost vessel, and basically served for the remainder of the european war.
the film concludes with statistics related to the norwegian merchant marine, including the fact that 1 in 9 of their sailors were lost during the war.
a very sobering film, and i immediately thought of this thread - particularly in view of norway's enrollment into nato last week.
best regards,
tom
