CAMDEN SEAFARER REFUSED TO QUIT
Crewman Aboard Anderson Scorned Idea,
Saying 'Must Have Oil''
Despite
the forebodings and warnings of his friends, Neil Jensen, 54, of Camden,
one of the missing crew members of the torpedoed tanker W.D.
Anderson,
refused to quit his perilous occupation as a seaman.
"The oil must be shipped for
defense work and the tankers are shorthanded enough without me
quitting," he said.
Jensen's words were recalled
yesterday by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Manfredini, of 306 Federal Street, with
whom Jensen has made his home for the past 20 years. They received a
postal card from Texas on February 19, in which Jensen stated he was on
his way home.
The seafarer would only laugh when
people warned him that the fact that he couldn't swim was an added danger
in these times. His answer was to point to his record of service with the
U.S. Navy during the first World War, and the 10 years he worked on the
Curtis yacht prior to his employment by the Atlantic Refining Company for
tanker duty.
So Jensen bid goodbye to his friends
on Feb. 8, and boarded the W.D. Anderson, which was then bound for Texas.
After all, he was a veteran of the Spanish War and World War I, and he was
going to do his part to help his country win World War II.
Another South Jersey resident, Robert
Aquinaldo, of Wildwood, also is among the missing crew members.
