These events and modern weapons, through purpose or fate, conspired to place an Irish American man in a fight for survival during the first major event of World War II in Europe.Ī few years ago I wrote about the lifejacket of Michael McShane, a one-of-a-kind artifact that was donated to The National WWII Museum by McShane’s daughter. On the sea that word was “torpedo.” Carried by the “underwater menace,” the torpedo was the principle weapon of the submarine-or as it was called in the German Navy, the U-boat. On land the word gas could easily replace fear in all uses. ![]() Elemental feeling, seemingly unstoppable, it was carried by a gentle wind changing it from a peaceful breeze to a deathly whisper. Gas is often the most remembered fear of the First World War. ![]() Politicians were posturing, militaries were preparing, and almost every living citizen in Europe began to feel the fear and uncertainty not felt since Flanders’s fields were sewn with the blood of an entire generation just over 20 years before. McShane was returning across the Atlantic to his home in the United States as world events were spinning out of control. ![]() Call it fate, coincidence, predestination, or just bad luck, somehow Michael McShane ended up on the British passenger liner SS Athenia during the first few days of September 1939.
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