JW's Companions In Arms?

Englishman

July 15, 1958. I sailed aboard the TS Arosa Star. She was bound from Southampton for New York. I was 12 years old and accompanying my grandmother. Our shipmates were all European JW's, we were bound for the assembly in Yankee stadium, look out USA!

Nostalgia being what it is, I've been doing a bit of research on the Arosa Star. I learned that the ship was impounded just after our US trip for non-payment of debt, sold several times until she sank off the coast of Puerto Rico under the name La Janelle.

But look what I found here, http://shiplover3.stormpages.com/Misc/Switzerland.html and compare the dates:

Here's the translation:

Free translation from Finnish into English:

14/7/1958

Distinguished kindliness in Bremerhaven from the German companions in arms. The first seasickness is over. The North Sea prepared us to face the Atlantic Ocean. Soon we are going to the Channel and in the evening we will be in Le Havre. We are thrilled to see what kind of colour our friends from south will bring to the ship.
Greetings for everyone, E and J.

So that's how one JW describes his shipmates. "Companions in arms".

It just seemed a little curious.

Englishman.

ozziepost

G'day Eman,

At that time the average dub was still suffering from siege mentality, so they thought of themselves as in a war with Satan's world. Just a thought.

Cheers, Ozzie

OUTLAW

Hey E-man, New York 1958,Yankee stadium?..I was there...OUTLAW

garybuss

I was there too!! I was 14. It was terrible.

OUTLAW

E-man was 12 .garybus 14. I wasn`t even in school yet,but I remember that assembly..We had an Awake taped to the back window of our car.A kid went by us on a bike,he yell`s in my dad`s window:"What did Joe the Hobo witness?"..LOL!...OUTLAW

garybuss

Six of us in a 1953 Chevy sadan with no air and we drove from South Dakota to New York without a sleep stop. The assembly was 8 days out in the hot sun. 9 am till 9 pm or later. It was the second worst thing I had ever done up to that point in my life.

Yeah! We had a Watchtower magazine taped to the rear window and every Beverly-hillbillies jalopie we passed blew their horn and waved. More than a few could not get the time off work so they quit their jobs so they could go because they thought it was more important than feeding their kids because Armageddon was due any day.

People stank of sweat and worse. There was no escape from it. The seats were hard. The weather was hot. The food was bad. There was no free good cold drinking water. My parents fought and there were smiles but no one was happy.

Most of the people who went are dead now and the kids there, like me, are old and none of the things they promised were ever delivered. It's all denied now and replaced by new books and a new bunch of JW's who have no problem with not looking at the past . . . . . . or the present . . . . .

happy man

E-.man

The world is smal.my fadher was abord on this ship , never forget when i meet him when he came home. from that tripp, so perhaps you meet each other then who nows.

widh love from HM

mustang

I was @ NY in 1958, too. For about a decade, whatever DC was @ NY was a bad habit for our family.

Mustang

Undecided

I was there with my former wife. I always enjoyed the conventions, it was sort of an adventure. We usually stayed in private homes in Brooklyn and road the subway to Yankee stadium. If I remember correctly the attendance Sunday was 123,707. I was 22 years old. I had met my wife there in 1953, she was from Roswell, NM. I never did ask her about the UFO incident. I think I didn't volunteer at this assembly, I usually worked at most assemblies. I collected trash at one of the NY conventions, no fun at all.

I was looking at some pictures a few weeks ago (slides) and there was one taken at that assembly of us standing in front of the stadium. I was truly happy at the time. Life sure can take some unforseen directions.(Not that I'm not happy now).

Ken P.

JW's Companions In Arms?

Share this