American Court Martial at Sea
On the first night at sea on the RMS Aquitania, from New York to Glasgow, a top US Sergeant very deliberately lit a cigarette on the open deck in defiance of a blackout. The next day he was brought up for trial.
Edgar Whitehead was invited to attend the Court Martial. About sixteen witnesses had seen the Sergeant do it. Edgar was interested to hear the defense which was most ingenious.
He said, "When I attested for service in the US Army I did not at any time agree to obey the orders of America's allies; all the notices about blackout are signed by the British Captain who is a civilian, anyway. I am under no obligation to obey those orders."
After this, the court was cleared while the members considered their verdict. Half an hour later they were recalled and found the indictment altered. The President addressed the accused as follows: "This court finds you guilty, while on active service, of willfully endangering the lives of thousands of your comrades. This offense is further aggravated by your bringing forward a beastly legal quibble to try and excuse your conduct."
The sentence was eighteen months and reduction to Private. Edgar noticed however that all the US units hastily posted up orders about blackouts before nightfall.
But, the submarine position had improved so much that they came around the South of Ireland and up the Irish Sea to Glasgow uneventfully. From there Edgar once more travelled to London by troop train. Ordered to report directly to the WO he was again told they had no job for him, so he could go on leave pending a posting.
The historical novel Whitewashed Jacarandas and its sequel Full of Possibilities are both available on Amazon as paperbacks and eBooks.
These books are inspired by Diana's family's experiences in small town Southern Rhodesia after WWII.
Dr. Sunny Rubenstein and his Gentile wife, Mavourneen, along with various town characters lay bare the racial arrogance of the times, paternalistic idealism, Zionist fervor and anti-Semitism, the proper place of a wife, modernization versus hard-won ways of doing things, and treatment of endemic disease versus investment in public health. It's a roller coaster read.
References:
- Sir Edgar Whitehead's Unpublished Memoirs, Rhodes House, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, by permission.
- Photo credit: Photographer Graeme Andrews, Courtesy of the City of Sydney Archives. https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/700921