Page 11 - Alumni Horae: Vol. 93, No. 2 Winter 2013

9
manding officer LCDR J.F. Foley greeted
Lt. Koitschka. Salutes, a handshake, and
a few words in German and English com-
pleted the formality of surrender. I was
directed to escort Lt. Koitschka to our
captain’s ‘in port’ cabin and indicate to
him the use of the shower and the bunk
and whatever else he needed. The captain’s
steward was told to see to his needs, and
the armed guard was posted….The galley
and the laundry were immediately in
action to feed the prisoners and to wash
and dry their clothing. . . . Captain Foley
punctiliously observed the rules set
forth by the Geneva Convention, the
humane treatment of survivors of a
disaster at sea, and the dictates of human
decency. This posture communicated
itself to the whole crew, members of
which acted nobly despite the extra work
and inconvenience involved.”
Forty-two years later, in 1986, the
American and German veterans of
Operation Monstrous made contact and
commenced joint annual reunions, alter-
nating locations in the U.S. and Germany.
The spirit of friendship and gratitude
from the Germans for having their lives
saved and returned to postwar Germany
was inspiring, to understate the tone of
a reunion my wife Patsy and I attended
in 1999.
Joachim Jaworski was an officer in train-
ing aboard U-616. He and Captain Koits-
chka and their wives attended many reun-
ions. Koitschka died in 2002, but Jaworski,
remaining hale and hearty, has been a
great help to me in preparing this article.
He has this to say about the surrender:
“Siegfried Koitschka, Karl Friedrich
Nieka (engineering officer) and I stood
on the deck of your ship (with 20
other survivors; soaking wet, filthy,
exhausted) and [Capt. Foley] asked:
‘Are there officers among the surviv-
ors?’ We put up our hands, and he said:
‘It is a great honor for me to take you
aboard.’ I was very impressed by those
words, and I thought of a sentence by
Lord Nelson: ‘Recollect that you must
be a good seaman to be a good officer
and also that you cannot be a good
officer without being a gentleman.’
I owe the Rodman not only my life,
I owe her also the experience of
outstanding gallantry, which was
unknown to me at that time and
which I will never forget as long
as I live.”
If only all violent conflicts produced
such generosity and respect for life as
did the defeat of U-616 on May 17, 1944.