WalterBergman

DD ~ 616

Walter Bergman feels genuine pride over his role in the North Atlantic capture of a German submarine during World War II.
Yet, it's his brother's service - becoming one of the first U.S. officers captured by the Germans - that still draws him to tears more than 60 years later.
"It's hard," Walter said, pausing as he collected himself. His brother Fred, who died about eight years ago, never told him what he saw.
It must have been bad.
"He never recovered from the sights," Walter said. Part of his brother never came home from the war.
That sacrifice is why Walter cherished the flag that was draped over his brother's coffin. He hopes the flag will continue to be cherished by the town's newly reorganized American Legion post.
The flag will become the official colors of Post 111, which plans to hold its second meeting tonight.
"We don't even have a pole to put it on," said Chaplain Paul Bernard, who ironed the flag and carefully folded it in anticipation of the meeting.
Of the 37 veterans who have signed up, Walter, 84, is the oldest.
He was a young man of 20 when he joined the Navy in 1942, enlisting on Oct. 27th, Navy Day.
"My brothers (Fred and August) had joined the Army and told me their stories," Walter said. "So, I joined the Navy."
He became a sonar operator with the rank of petty officer 2nd class aboard the U.S.S. Neilds, a Benson-class destroyer.
He figures he must have made 20 Atlantic crossings. The highlight came in mid-May 1944, only three weeks before the Normandy invasion.
The Neilds, also known as DD-616, was part of a group of destroyers searching the Mediterranean for submarines when they made contact with a German U-boat.
As his ship closed in, Walter was below decks, listening to the radar in one ear and the sonar in the other as he plotted the submarine's course.
Another destroyer fired depth charges and the submarine - sporting the designation "U-616" - surfaced.
Its similarity to the Neilds' designation made the capture a one-of-a-kind event.
The submarine surrendered and 51 Germans were taken prisoner.
Those Germans never saw the horrors that Fred witnessed, Walter said.
"When the war was over, they just went home," he said. They didn't leave anything behind, as Fred did.
Walter's post-war experience was less scarred. In the years after the war, he attended college and married. He joined a legion post in Braintree, Mass., his hometown, but he left a few years later, when he moved to Cape Cod to become a fisherman.
He retired to Turner, where he lives near the town office.
Town Manager James Catlin led Bernard, the Post 111 chaplain, to call on Walter. He wasn't surprised by Bernard's visit and he signed up with little fuss.
Walter said he felt he could give up Fred's flag since he has another. He also has the flag from his brother August's funeral.
This one is precious though, he said, finding it tough to describe in words what the donation meant.
Bernard vowed to come up with a flagpole for it.
Every veteran will cherish the flag, he said.

Ships Log: Assigned to coastal escort and patrol duties on her arrival at Oran, 2 May, Nields was soon drawn into a submarine chase lasting four days. On 14 May, U-616 was detected in the southwestern Mediterranean by British observation aircraft. Nields, temporarily with DesDiv 21, was one of the ships to answer the call. Soon afterward Ellyson (DD-454) dropped the first depth charge pattern. On the morning of the 15th, oil slicks were spotted, but sound contact was lost. Another search plane sighted the submarine, now surfaced, ten miles away and running north toward southern France. The destroyers followed. At 1900 on the 16th, Nields, in a scouting line with Gleaves (DD-423) and Macomb (DD-458), left the formation to investigate a sound contact; negative. At 2157, all three destroyers made contact. Macomb illuminated the elusive quarry and opened fire. U-616 returned the fire and started diving. At 2214, and again at 2231, Macomb attacked with depth charges. At 2335 and at 2342 sound contacts were regained, but lost at 800 yards. U-616 was 600' deep and maneuvering radically. At 2346, Nields set off an 11 charge pattern; and at 2350 began "creeping attacks". At 0043, 17 May, Gleaves, which had returned to the Mediterranean from North Africa, port of Oran with 600' depth charges with Nields directing, fired an 18 charge pattern, with deep settings, which surrounded the U-boat. Contact was lost at 0044. Soon after 0100, the three destroyers, having been joined by Hambleton (DD-455), Ellyson, Rodman (DD-456) and Emmons (DD-457), commenced a box patrol, with Nields taking position third from the right end of the scouting line. At 0449, Hambleton reported a sound contact, and, at 0515 commenced firing depth charges. At 0525, she made a second attack. Finally, at 0608, U-616 surfaced and was taken under fire by the surrounding destroyers. Nields, unable to fire without endangering others in the destroyer group, watched the hunted U-boat sink at 0612 and then screened the vessels detailed to pick up survivors (51).