What it means to be dead

July 11, 2013

I thought today was the 12th all day.  Oh well.  I see I need to write some fresh stuff for my book about Carl Ralph Bonde, Jr.  Fresh stuff is getting hard to get.  Bud has been dead since 1944.  December 24, 1944.  Interestingly, the official date of death according to the US Army was December 25.  Christmas Day.  The reliable sources I have spoken with all agree that he died on Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day.  What can I say?  The torpedo hit his troop ship, the SS Leopoldville, Christmas Eve, about  6 pm, plus or minus.  The ship sank about 8 pm, plus or minus.  Bud was in a compartment where the torpedo hit.  That was it.  Bud was killed by the torpedo.  I spoke with survivors:  Bill Moomey was above decks.  Hank Anderson was with Bill.  Allan Andrade was a scholar who studied the whole mess.  He said Carl died when the torpedo hit.  The torpedo was fired from UBoat 486, commanded by Uberlieutenant Gerhard Meyer.  And so on.  And so forth.