TheSorge t1_j73gnbn wrote on February 3, 2023 at 8:14 PM

Reply to comment by variablefighter_vf-1 in TIL American writer Jack Kerouac served on SS Dorchester which was torpedoed by a German U-boat on 3 February 1943. Kerouac would have also been on the ship during the attack, but for a telegram he received from coach Lou Little, asking him to return to Columbia University to play football. by History-Guy111111

Dorchester was not a warship, she was originally a civilian ship requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration for use as a troop ship; and Kerouac was a Merchant Mariner, which is a civilian position.