|
Thursday, June 18, 1998
Exodus 47 crew member recalls his role in the founding of Israel.
By Ken White
Review-Journal
William Millman was 20 years old in 1946, fresh out of the United States Navy and looking for something to do.
What he ended up doing was playing a role in the establishment of the State of Israel, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
Millman was one of 41 crew members on the SS President Warfield, later renamed Exodus 47, which carried more than 4,500 Jewish people from all over Europe seeking to emigrate, illegally, to Palestine.
Illegal, since the British, who controlled Palestine, were limiting immigration to 1,500 people per year. It also was dangerous, as Millman discovered -- he took a bullet in the face during a skirmish with British sailors.
The blockade run itself was not successful but because of it the British turned the dispute between Arabs and Jews over the possession of Palestine to the United Nations. A year later, Israel was founded.
Millman's story and that of the crew and passengers is told in David Holly's book "Exodus 47" and in a recently published book by Jeffrey Weiss and Craig Weiss, "I Am My Brother's Keeper."
Millman became involved in the illegal immigration movement for personal reasons.
"I had my problems in the service because of the fact that I was Jewish," says Millman, a three-year Las Vegas resident and retiree from the drapery business. "I caught a lot of garbage. But I took care of myself. And when I came out (of the Navy), I didn't like what I saw and what I read about" what the Nazis had done. "I decided I would do something about it."
With the brashness and energy of a young man, Millman went to the Weston Trading Co. in Boston, which, a friend said, traded in getting emigrants to Palestine.
From there he was sent to Baltimore where the company had purchased the President Warfield, an excursion boat that had plied the waters between Baltimore and Norfolk, Va. The ship, 330 feet long and 45 feet wide, had been dormant for four years and was ready for the scrapheap.
But the ship could do 17 knots and was deemed suitable for the job.
When Millman, who signed on as helmsman (the one who steers the boat) and bosun mate (boss of the crew), first saw the ship, he was not impressed.
"No lights, no heat, plenty of rats," he says. It had a metal hull but the superstructure atop the hull was entirely made of wood.
The boat was outfitted with 5,000 life jackets and 5,000 1-gallon tins of water and the crew set sail for the Azores. From there they were to go to France, Italy and finally Palestine. The cover story, if anyone asked, was that the ship was going to China, where it was to be sold.
However, a bad storm at Cape Hatteras, off the coast of the Carolinas, forced the ship back to land and the crew had to try again.
The second time out the ship made it to Marseille, on the coast of France, where two British destroyers kept an eye on the ship while it docked for two days.
The British followed the President Warfield as it made its way to Port Dubuque and then on to Italy, where it docked just north of La Spezia.
There, the inside of the ship was gutted by the crew. Everything had to be ripped out and 4,554 sleeping racks installed. The racks were 24 inches wide and 18 inches high and were only suitable for lying down.
Six pregnant women passengers were to be put in the forward hold, the only place on board where anyone could sit down.
There was only one restroom. It consisted of a long row of open troughs. There was to be no privacy for men, women or children.
From there, the ship sailed to Sete, France, where the emigrants, who had been in Nazi concentration camps during the war and in Displaced Person Camps after, came aboard. Their homelands were Romania, England, Norway, Sweden, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Luxembourg, Russia, Morocco and the Netherlands, but most did not feel welcome there.
The emigrants were limited to only 8 to 10 pounds of personal effects, but many not only carried a suitcase, but wore extra suits and dresses under their clothes.
With all aboard, the ship, which had taken on potatoes and tins of meat, was ready to sail for Haifa.
Once in the open seas, the President Warfield was under the watchful eye of two British destroyers. During the next six days, three more destroyers and a minesweeper were added to the escort.
On the sixth day, a woman died giving birth to her daughter. The woman was buried at sea.
Life on board the ship got tougher on the seventh day when the ship's only restroom backed up. Doors near the water line were opened to air out the head, but water came in every time the ship rolled, and Millman had to close them.
To make matters worse, a British destroyer came alongside and signaled, asking who the passengers were and where they were headed.
Millman signaled back a simple but impertinent message.
That didn't hold off the British though. On July 18, 1947, one day away from Haifa, the British put two destroyers alongside the Warfield, dropped a drawbridge and put sailors on board.
The crew of the Warfield responded by dropping the ship's name sign off and revealing its new name: Exodus 47.
Once on board, the British kicked Millman out of the wheelhouse and clubbed another crew member on the head. Millman attempted to steer the boat from the back, after the steering was cut off at the wheelhouse, but was unable to see.
He went to the wheelhouse to get the British sailors out and grabbed one by the seat of his pants and started pulling. The sailor turned around, pulled out a handgun and shot Millman in the face. He suffered a compound fracture of the jaw.
There were no arms on board, Millman says, but the potatoes and tinned beef came in handy -- passengers and crew threw them at the British, whom they fought for four hours before giving up.
When the battle was over, Millman was taken to a hospital in Haifa, where he spent a month under arrest before being kicked out of the country and returning to the United States.
The would-be immigrants were taken to France, instead of Cyprus, where others had been taken, on three British ships. After 30 days they were sent to Hamburg, Germany, but they refused to leave the ships and were forcibly removed.
The British then made what proved to be a big mistake: they sent the would-be immigrants to Poppendorf and Amstau, two former concentration camps in Germany.
Condemnation from around the world forced the British to turn over the Palestine question to the United Nations.
The United Nations resolved in November 1947 to partition Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. On May 15, 1948, the State of Israel was officially founded. Seven Arab nations immediately attacked it, but were unsuccessful.
Millman went back to Boston weighing only 140 pounds and wearing a beard. He had left clean-shaven and weighing 185 pounds. His mother didn't recognize him.
He was questioned by the FBI, who wanted to know who had signed him up and how much he was paid. "I told them I paid a dime and got a ferry boat ride," Millman says.
Millman has been back to Israel eight times, for reunions of the passengers and crew of the Exodus 47.
"I went back to Israel in 1987, and there was that girl," the one who had been born at sea and whose mother had died, Millman says with wonder in his voice. "She came from Belgium to the reunion."
The Exodus 47 burned up in 1952, just as it was going to be turned into a museum.
If he had it to do over again, Millman, 71, says he would do the same thing. "I didn't like what was going on with how (the world) treated us, and I went. We are considered like the Mayflower in Israel. But I don't think anybody on the boat thought it would work out this way."
Despite the bravery and the danger involved, Millman doesn't feel like a hero.
"I just feel proud of what I did," he says.
1998 BEST OF LAS VEGAS RESULTS
Give us your FEEDBACK on this or any story.
Fill out our Online Readers' Poll
|
|
