Red Cross Riding Through Blackness

By Helen Thau

During WWII, I went oversees. It was September 1942, our destination was Liverpool. We were a group of Red Cross workers plus medics, some of whom were doctors. We were on a hospital ship completely blacked out, with very quiet motors, so as not to attract submarines, and there was a huge red cross on top of the ship. This was the only color. We were surrounded by such a blackness that I had never before seen. There were no stars or moon overhead. It looked like the ocean was completely wrapped in black velvet. There was just this huge red cross riding through the blackness.

Helen Thau grew up in the Bronx. She worked as a school secretary and likes to read, do needlepoint, and eat. She has two children.