Date:
Wednesday, 05/26/2021
Time: 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Category:
Imagine being in the open ocean with no life preserver and your hands tied behind your back for 36 hours.
Robert Applegate was drafted in 1943. He was assigned to the Naval Armed Guard as a Naval gunner. The Armed Guard units were placed on civilian ships that transported military supplies to different parts of the world. These civilian owned ships were called Liberty Ships. In the Pacific Ocean they traveled alone instead of in convoys using zig zagging tactics for safety. Robert was assigned to the SS Jean Nicolet. On the 2nd of July, 1944, Robert Applegate saw a civilian aboard the ship signal a Japanese submarine with a lighter that could be seen for miles in the dark. Within seconds two torpedo’s hit the Nicolet forcing the crew to abandon ship. One hundred men went into the water only to be picked up by the Japanese submarine who had just torpedoed the Nicolet. Instead of machine gunning the survivors, which was common, the submarine surfaced and forced all of the Nicolet crewmen aboard.
Join Larry Martin for this Zoom presentation and hear the harrowing story of Robert Applegate and the crewmen of the SS Jean Nicolet. This program will feature a taped interview with Robert Applegate followed by a Q & A session with Larry Martin.
Note: Due to the graphic nature of this program viewer discretion is advised.
This is a Zoom event. Register online and a Zoom link will be emailed the day before the presentation.
Register Online
This event has room for 99 people. There are currently 8 people registered.Bookings are closed for this event.
05/26/2021 7:00 PM 05/26/2021 8:30 PM America/Detroit Larry Martin’s WWII in Their Own Words: Robert Applegate, S.S. Jean Nicolet Survivor
Imagine being in the open ocean with no life preserver and your hands tied behind your back for 36 hours. Robert Applegate was drafted in 1943. He was assigned to the Naval Armed Guard as a Naval gunner. The Armed Guard units were placed on civilian ships that transported military supplies to different parts of […]
Dexter District Library lryan lryan@dexter.lib.mi.us