Who was the first Ridgefield casualty of World War II?
The first Ridgefielder to die in combat was Capt. Meinhard Scherf of Barry Avenue, a member of the Merchant Marine, commanding a Liberty ship torpedoed by the Germans in 1943.
Captain Scherf’s life and death were full of ironies. He was killed by his native country serving his adopted land and doing what he loved best: sailing the seas he was literally born on.
The son of a German merchant marine captain, Scherf was born aboard a ship while his parents were on a trip to the Canary Islands. At 13, he ran away from home in Germany to become a cabin boy aboard a freighter. Just before World War I, his ship docked in Portland, Ore., and he went ashore to visit a friend. When he returned, the ship was gone.
Stuck in America, the young man decided to become an American. He gained citizenship and soon joined the Merchant Marine.
In all, Capt. Scherf had spent 37 years at sea when he took command of the William P. Frye, a Liberty ship on its maiden voyage in March 1943. “The Merchant Marine brings weapons of war to those who fight that democracy may live,” Scherf said in a speech at the ship’s launching. “It brings food to those who fight for us and to the innocent sufferers in a world at war.”
The Frye was loaded with wheat, 750 tons of explosives, and, on deck, five landing craft, being shipped from Nova Scotia to England. It had 40 crew and 24 Navy guards.
Built in just three months in Portland, Maine, the Frye had been launched Feb. 11, 1943. Many quickly built Liberty Ships had problems. So did this one. A mechanical failure during a hurricane-force gale caused the Frye to stop her engines March 28. As engineers worked on repairs, the ship was a sitting duck for U-boats in the area. Seven hours after the Frye stopped, two torpedoes fired from a U-boat in a wolf pack just missed the ship in the heavy seas.
Capt. Scherf quickly restarted the engines and zigzaged the Frye to avoid being hit while trying to rejoin his convoy. Unfortunately, the ship sailed within view of U-610, sitting on the surface in the darkness. The sub fired two torpedoes, both hitting the Frye, which quickly sank on March 29. Captain Scherf and most of the crew were lost. He left a wife and two daughters.
Two officers, three crewmen, and two Navy guards survived by climbing into one of the landing craft that had broken free. They spent five days and six nights with only seven carrots for food and no fresh water before being picked up by a British destroyer.
Seven months later, U-610 was bombed and sunk in the North Atlantic; all aboard died.
In another bit of irony, the William P. Frye was named for the first American vessel sunk by the Germans in World War I.—J.S.
The post Captain was first appeared first on The Ridgefield Press.