sinking of the Heredia

The Downs family after their rescue. A German U-boat torpedoed the ship they were sailing on in the Gulf of Mexico in 1942.

Survivor of WWII U-boat attack: ‘I went under and didn’t think I was ever going to come up’

Conflict

German submarines sank about 50 ships in the Gulf of Mexico during World War II. Here’s the story of Ray Downs and his family, who survived one of those attacks.

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