GERMANY. SSP Group has agreed to acquire part of the Stockheim Group a travel concessions business based in Germany Stockheim operates 25 food & beverage outlets in airports and railway stations It recorded sales of approximately €30 million in 2016 SSP said the entities it was acquiring were Stockheim (Hbf.-Köln) GmbH and Stockheim Systemgastronomie GmbH & Co The deal is subject to clearance by German anti-trust authorities SSP said the acquisition would strengthen its presence in travel locations across Germany It expects the transaction to be completed in early 2018 Financial details of the deal were not disclosed “We are delighted to have acquired Stockheim,” said SSP Germany “The business has some great brands operating in some key locations across Germany.” NOTE: The Moodie Davitt Report also publishes The Foodie Report the world’s only media focused on airport (and other travel-related) food & beverage The Foodie Report e-Newsletter is published every two weeks and The Foodie Report e-Zine every month Please send all news of food & beverage outlet openings, together with images, menus, video etc to Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com to ensure unrivalled global exposure The company also organises the annual Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Conference & Awards. Next year’s FAB will be held in Helsinki on 20-22 June. Click here for details Subscribe to our newsletter for critical marketing information delivered to your inbox HMSHost will debut six new restaurants spanning over 725sq m Hudson separately captured a seven-year contract to launch a Manhattan-inspired retail store and Terminal 5’s first immersive video gaming lounge The Australian Airports Association Retail & Commercial Forum will include a blockbuster programme of seven extra-curricular activities Today’s images come courtesy of Düsseldorf Airport which is currently sporting an orange theme and playful signage renaming it ‘Luchthaven Düsseldorf’ Copyright © The Moodie Davitt Report | Website by Yellowball We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website Please click on one of the buttons below to accept We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below The cookies that are categorized as 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analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns ' + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.webview_notification_text + ' " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_title + " " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_text + " Toy’ Stevanne Auerbach and Her Commitment to Play The late Stevanne Auerbach was best known as "Dr.Toy." consultant and author died earlier this month at age 84 Pioneering mass media toy reviewer and early childhood studies author, Stevanne Auerbach at age 84 from complications from a stroke consumers would know that they were purchasing a quality toy that would enrich their children’s lives Stevanne was born to Jeane Sydney Rosen Stockheim and Nathan Carl Stockheim on Sept. 22, 1938, in She was a competitive swimmer in her youth and graduated from Queens College with a bachelor’s degree in education in 1960 she taught elementary school for the New York Public School District Stevanne married designer Arthur Auerbach and they moved to Maryland One of Stevanne’s earliest career accomplishments took place during this period: she approved the first grant for the Children’s Television Workshop show “Sesame Street.” She also produced the first report on the necessity of physical education for the developmentally disabled for the Joseph P research which contributed later to the development of the Special Olympics Stevanne also gave birth to her only child and dealt with the dissolution of her first marriage to Arthur in 1968 Armed with a master’s degree in special education from George Washington University Stevanne and Amy Beth moved to San Francisco where Stevanne completed her doctorate in child development in 1973 she founded and served as director of the San Francisco International Toy Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf financial difficulties exacerbated by the Loma Prieta earthquake forced it to shut its doors Stevanne would try to reopen the toy museum in later years as the International Toy Museum of Oakland In the late 1980s, Stevanne began writing the toy advice columns and reviews that would make her famous as “Dr Toy,” which were featured in parenting magazines newspapers and as a weekly syndicated column Toy’s Guide” became one of the earliest toy review websites online Fledgling toymakers expressed gratitude to her over the years for the many occasions when she had shown a spotlight on their creations One of her favorite honors received during her career was when she received the 2007 Women in Toys entrepreneur Wonder Woman Award a forensic analyst for the San Francisco Police Department and she also became grandmother to Amy Beth’s son She often brought Whitten along on toy-related conferences and work trips as her droll “photographer.” though bedridden due to paralysis from the neck down texts and new ideas with her phone’s voice-to-text function she was comforted by the constant support and companionship of her husband To have known Stevanne was to experience her enthusiasm for the value of play in everyone’s lives as well as her generosity in helping people at every stage of their lives Fulmer also worked directly with Stevanne to help sort archive and find new homes for “Dr.Toy’s” many written works and collections Signup for your daily digest of industry news and trends Some of the forms and images on this page may not work correctly with this enabled Please disable your ad blocker for this page Find the ad blocker icon installed on your browser This icon is usually located on the upper right side of your screen You may have more than one ad blocker installed Click the icon and disable the ad blocker for this website either by following prompts or clicking your browser’s “refresh” or “reload” button Gifts & Decorative Accessories delivers the latest gift and toy industry news Sign up to get exclusive industry information delivered to your inbox SearchBefore Pastor Andrew Stoecklein’s suicide, widow reveals he was haunted by dark presenceLog InSubscribeThe Christian Post To enjoy our website, you'll need to enable JavaScript in your web browser. Please click here to learn how You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience revealed to his congregation that he was battling anxiety and depression and had taken time off work to get better After staring down the terror of mental illness that had only months earlier sent him to the emergency room with a panic attack that had spiraled out of control Andrew Stoecklein made a defiantly optimistic return to the pulpit he took over after his father’s death from cancer in 2015 It was a fragile triumph that Kayla Stoecklein seemed reserved about even as she publicly supported her husband “We still have a long way to go to work through it but we are all in,” she told the congregation in their recorded address on Aug “We’re going to keep fighting to choose to believe that God has great plans and great plans for our pastor right here.” Before celebrating his 30th birthday that May, Andrew Stoecklein was forced by elders of his nondenominational megachurch to take what he called a summer sabbatical after he suffered a mental breakdown in April 2018 While still processing the loss of his father Andrew Stoecklein and his family were forced to move due to threats from stalkers and he had developed health complications that required surgery Kayla recalled how her husband had become not a “very fun person to live with." She publicly worried that his work as a pastor while dealing with multiple stressors in his personal life could “cost him his life.” he loves this place so much he didn’t want to stop He would have kept on going and going and it probably would have cost him his life,” she said as her raspy voice cracked slightly 'Are you sure?' You don't have to be a pastor You could go be whatever you want to be,” she recalled “[We] could go live wherever we want to live We could go to Texas and buy a big house." But Andrew Stoecklein insisted that he was doing what he was called to do and then 29-year-old Kayla Stoecklein caved The church was growing rapidly and they were having their best season financially since his father Andrew Stoecklein was “crumbling” under the weight of a struggle that was not just physical or mental Courtesy of Katie Bell CommunicationsIn her first book published two years after her husband’s death during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in September 2020 Kayla Stoecklein revealed that years before her husband’s mental health began a swift unrelenting decline and culminated with suicide in 2018 she discovered he was being haunted by a dark presence he called “creature.” The initial discovery she revealed in Fear Gone Wild: A Story of Mental Illness, Suicide, and Hope Through Loss came in 2011 as they celebrated their first anniversary with a one-night stay at the Langham hotel in downtown Pasadena Their anniversary celebration was also around the same time that Andrew Stoecklein’s father was diagnosed with aggressive acute lymphoblastic leukemia They were young and “giddy “and “full of anticipation for a special night together” Kayla recalled Kayla was passing time watching TV when she heard a noise coming from the bathroom that she soon realized was Andrew crying “When he finally calmed down enough to talk he described in detail an encounter he’d had with a dark presence he called a ‘creature.’” | Courtesy of Katie Bell Communications“I stopped rubbing his back I didn’t see any ‘creature.’ ‘What do you mean a ‘creature’ You were the only one in here; I don’t understand,’” she wrote So I did the only thing I knew to do—I prayed but I pray your presence would overwhelm this room right now I pray in the name of Jesus for it to leave; it has no power here and slowly helped Andrew stand to his feet I carefully wrapped the towel around him and held his body close to mine as we walked toward the bed What can I do for you?’ He pulled the covers up over his body Thank you for praying for me—that really helped.’ What was supposed to be a night to remember had quickly turned into a night I hoped I would forget.” Kayla Stoecklein revealed that the darkness haunted Andrew throughout their marriage relentlessly “I wish I could say he never had another encounter with darkness Andrew continued to be taunted relentlessly Maybe he didn’t want to acknowledge it was real either,” she wrote “He was burdened by a darkness difficult to fully understand Every day there is an invisible war raging all around us As different people with different upbringings we may have different understandings of darkness and demons but I think most people agree there is evil in this world as Andrew Stoecklein’s battle with depression and anxiety worsened Kayla Stoecklein revealed his encounters with the darkness grew more frequent “The darkness continued to pursue Andrew relentlessly He would often experience encounters with the darkness in his dreams and this became magnified during his battle with depression and anxiety Throughout our last summer together Andrew would often recount the terrifying dreams in detail to me,” she wrote and as he spoke I could sense the fear in his voice and his eyes It was a deadly combination of mental illness and spiritual warfare Despite Andrew Stoecklein’s ongoing battle with demons Kayla Stoecklein explained in the book that doctors and the church’s board of directors gave him the greenlight to return to work as lead pastor of the church on Aug And even after another harrowing encounter between her late husband and five “creatures” from the darkness while he was wide awake in their home shortly before he resumed his duties at the church “I was sitting on our front porch watching the boys play in our long driveway when my phone buzzed ‘Five creatures surrounding me right now in my room But I am scared in this moment,’” Kayla Stoecklein recalled of her dead husband’s plea “I dropped my phone on the porch and ran through the house “I looked around the room and didn’t see any dark creatures; in my spirit I didn’t feel any evil presence Is he experiencing some sort of hallucination but I knew I could do what I had always done since that very first encounter: pray I was in over my head in so many way,” she said Kayla Stoecklein said she called in friends and members of the church’s staff to pray for her husband the late pastor of Inland Hills Church in Chino is blessed by his father Dave Stoecklein (wheelchair) and other members of his church and immediate family in May 2015 as he becomes lead pastor His father who was suffering from leukemia at the time | (Photo: Instagram)“If this was spiritual warfare and the Enemy wasn’t going to back down The staff members arrived with anointing oil and together we stopped and prayed over every room in our home and each prayed for freedom and healing in his life,” she explained “I wish I could say we saw miracles that day and Andrew was healed on the spot just like the prayers I had been praying all summer In my heart I cried out to God in desperation I begged for breakthrough and healing in our home.” Shortly after he returned to work as lead pastor of Inland Hills Church Kayla Stoecklein said her husband expressed to her for the first time that he thought about suicide She said her husband asked her one night how she was doing while they were at home and she told him quite frankly how she was feeling I feel like I’m doing everything on my own The boys run around yelling and fighting all day I feel so alone,’” she recalled telling her husband He was tracing his fingers on the brown speckled granite ‘I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you like you need me to be trying to come up with a new organization chart for the church and feeling really overwhelmed and confused Kayla Stoecklein wasn’t prepared for her husband’s confession He was looking for compassion and connection I had told him I was tired and overwhelmed and now he was telling me that he was just going to leave me you know that is the most selfish thing you could ever do and my mind wasn’t in a healthy enough place to handle it,” she said And her late husband told her that her response wasn’t helpful that’s not what you say to someone who is talking about suicide You need to do some research and come up with something better to say And then I put my papers away and went back to bed,’” she recalled her husband saying “I didn’t believe he would actually kill himself; I was so deeply convinced of this truth That night at the kitchen counter was the one and only time Andrew ever mentioned suicide This is a regret I will live with for the rest of my life.” Contributed.Now four years removed from her husband’s suicide, Kayla Stoecklein has evolved into an outspoken mental health advocate. She is also promoting her second book, Rebuilding Beautiful in which she shares how she survived loss and learned how to rebuild a beautiful life without her husband “I am still learning how to shake off the shame I am still learning how to admit that I’m a single mom without giving into the urge to defend myself To embrace this sharp edge of my story will mean letting go of the strong sense of failure that says I’m a bad person or I did something wrong,” she wrote In two extended interviews with The Christian Post she also revisited the events that led up to her husband’s suicide and candidly shared deeper insights into the experience that she hopes will serve as a cautionary tale for churches and their leaders She explained that even though she doesn’t think she’ll understand everything her husband went through with spiritual warfare she believes it was important to share that part of his struggle “He wasn't able to be free from the spiritual warfare that was happening within him But I felt like it was really important for me to include that in the book because it was such a real part of our experience,” she said Kayla Stoecklein recounted how just before her husband was supposed to deliver the Easter message in 2018 a security guard found him at the church suffering from a panic attack where he “was hyperventilating so badly that he was starting to lose sensation in his hands and feet.” Once it subsided he was still allowed to go onstage and preach When asked why the church allowed this to happen “I think we're so wrapped up in it and so close to it and [it was] put the church first for so long But I'm standing in the green room bawling my eyes out he was just in his office shaking and crying and like totally in a full-on panic attack And somehow he's on stage and he's speaking and this doesn't feel right “I had been saying that we need to get you home it was just a few weeks after that that [the] sabbatical started.” She said she tried to support her husband as much as she could during his struggle but at the time “there wasn't a lot of space for my opinions.” And there just wasn't a lot of space for anybody else and I thought purpose and meaning and being his support system and doing things that I could do to support him like bringing him lunch in between services and having dinner ready for him after service and being there on the front row at his first service and taking care of the kids and doing the things that I could do,” she said also gave the young lead pastor a lot of power which she doesn’t think her husband was fully prepared to manage after the death of his father “It was a nondenominational church and so he's in control but the lead pastor is in charge of the board So they still have the final say,” she said A lot of the decision on stepping back from ministry as he struggled with his mental health “I think it had to be up to Andrew to take that sabbatical [with] this major panic attack that led him there I think he finally realized that I think you guys are right stop and try to figure this out,” she noted Kayla Stoecklein said she believes the elder board of Inland Hills Church really tried to help her husband but “I think it was just hard.” partly due to her late husband’s youth and being thrust into leading a 4,000-member church with a staff of nearly 40 and hundreds of volunteers without enough experience in leadership “When you're young and you have a lot to prove and you have a huge ego a lot of people that are young in any profession are trying to prove themselves and they're working out of their own ego,” she said that no one's going to get in my way and I'm going to do what I feel like is right “I hope and I think if he was still [alive today] I'd say that those are some of the things that he would have been able to grow out of or move past and truly work on,” she said He would listen to his mom and really went to her for a lot of things Looking back at her experience in church leadership Kayla Stoecklein firmly supports the development of governance structures that ensure grounded and healthy leadership “You can get so wrapped up in it (ministry leadership) so having people that can help you stand out and see the bigger picture and see the things that are important [is a healthy approach],” she told CP “I think oftentimes people that are in ministry put the church before everything else and that was our story.” She said her husband didn’t take a lot of time off from work after his father passed away in 2015 and she believes he modeled that work ethic after his parents he only took two weeks off and then he went back and he preached a series on Heaven He probably shouldn't have become the lead pastor at such a young age they should have hired somebody,” she said “And they could have helped raise him up into that position in a healthier way “It's hard to learn when you're at the top of an organization I feel like there's a huge learning curve and there's a lot to catch up on when you just get thrust into a position overnight You can only work out of your gifting … until you get exhausted,” she added Kayla Stoecklein believes that churches would likely be healthier if they are led by a team and not a lead pastor who functions like a CEO with a high concentration of power and responsibilities “I feel like there needs to be a shift in the way that lead pastors … [are allowed to] become the most important person And it's shifting to more of a team atmosphere an atmosphere that we're all in this together And we're all here to serve one another,” she said And a pastor is just a small part of the whole body.” Senior associate leader of Bethel Church and co-founder of Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry in Redding “personally battled with suicidal thoughts.” He said that examining suicide from a spiritual angle is a legitimate approach to healing “The truth is that there are two sides to suicide. In some cases, suicide is rooted in the soul. In others, it begins as a spiritual attack,” he wrote in a post on his website “Suicidal temptations that begin in the soul are, in many cases, the result of unprocessed pain. When you experience trauma or situations in life that make you feel like your heart could quite literally break under the weight of your depression taking your life and going to Heaven can be a tempting escape.” He also explained that people experiencing suicidal thoughts stemming from spiritual attacks are not uncommon and can be overcome with the power of God I want to encourage you to remind yourself of who God says you are I know what it feels like when all seems lost and to feel like nobody in the world can sympathize with your struggle," he said God is holding you this very moment and He will not leave you or abandon you He can identify with your struggle because He He can empathize with your profound pain because He experienced it all on the cross.” Help keep The Christian Post free for everyone By making a recurring donation or a one-time donation of any amount you're helping to keep CP's articles free and accessible for everyone Hope you’ll give us another try and check out some other articles. Return to homepage. Print The preacher wore black skinny jeans and a wireless microphone clipped to his ear gesticulating with his hands as he stood next to a large projector Pastor Andrew Stoecklein recounted the Old Testament story of the prophet Elijah Stoecklein told the large congregation at Inland Hills Church in Chino “You see mental illness on display,” Stoecklein said “Now that is something that we don’t like to talk about much A sinewy 30-year-old with a surfer dude accent and tattoos covering his right arm Stoecklein had just returned to the pulpit from a four-month leave of absence in which he battled panic attacks and severe depression This was the first in a series of sermons about mental illness he titled “Hot Mess.” He clicked through suicide statistics on the screen He implored his congregation to know that if they were fighting mental illness and there is help available,” the pastor said One of the top 10 causes of death in the United States, suicide saw its rate rise in 49 states from 1999 to 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention But the topic often is avoided in the church, said Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College in Illinois People often see anxiety and depression as problems fixable with prayer alone “We put mental illness in the category of spiritual struggles,” Stetzer said “We wouldn’t have shame toward someone who broke their leg or had asthma or leukemia.” co-chair of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention’s Faith Communities Task Force said there is a misconception that pastors are closer to God and don’t struggle with depression or suicidal thoughts They “are expected to be everything to everyone at all times,” she said “but there was virtually no one in my church who wanted to talk to me about it,” she said When Stoecklein first met Kayla Saylors at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa he was an outgoing surfer living in a beach house with his buddies Their first date was at Alta Coffee in Newport Beach the night Barack Obama was elected president Then came three sons whose names Andrew chose: Smith Kayla Stoecklein with her three sons Brave (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Andrew was a perfectionist who poured hours of research into each sermon He spoke on Sundays with no notes as Kayla and his mother “Andrew was very particular,” said his friend Alex Wright “He’d even cut the pockets out of his skinny jeans so you wouldn’t see the outlines Andrew would notice when people ducked out of a sermon early and would ask Alex about it posting often to social media about their personal lives an issue he’d dealt with in high school with similar symptoms Just before Andrew led several Easter services this spring a friend found him on the bathroom floor of the church Few knew he was having panic attacks several times a week the family members moved to a gated property in Corona They planned to build a cottage in the back for Carol Andrew said he felt the presence of God,” Carol said “This was where we were going to make our family memories He felt very hopeful and excited for the future.” Someone called and said the flooring for their new house would be delayed Then a doctor called and said his bloodwork came back paranoid someone from Inland Hills would see him The doctor who saw him happened to go to their church His test results came back frustratingly normal The church elders decided that night to let Andrew go on leave When a psychiatrist diagnosed him with depression confided to a friend this summer that her house felt like a “hostile environment.” They were still unpacking he’d get up and work out and try hard and end up in the bedroom crying and listening to worship music,” Kayla said “The kids loved him and followed him around and I wanted to protect them from that because it was happening too often.” Andrew spent the summer talking to a psychiatrist He set August as a deadline to get back to the pulpit The church was packed as he spoke about his depression She took him to a hotel room for some quiet and the couple’s two youngest sons sat on a playground on the church campus Forty minutes went by but they didn’t hear from him to take him to heaven if his mind wasn’t coming back Kayla declined to say how Andrew killed himself hoping to spare her sons from that knowledge as long as she can Kayla had been a widow for three days when she wrote a public letter to Andrew She wished she could hold his hand one more time Andrew planned to be open about his depression. Kayla became open about his suicide. Since his death Aug. 24, she has written in real-time about her grief, posting to Instagram and a blog Andrew started as his father was dying called “God’s Got This.” “Although there are moments where I feel angry at him I can’t allow myself to stay there,” Kayla wrote “The man that I loved and built a family with the man that I looked up to in countless ways the leader of our church and our family: he was an honorable man In one post about “myths of suicide,” she wrote about the fear that a person who dies by suicide is condemned to hell she tearfully asked Carol if he would go to heaven Kayla Stoecklein at the grave of her husband I can’t allow myself to stay there,” Kayla wrote in her blog (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) “She quickly reassured me as I am confident now: whether you are accepted into heaven or not has nothing to do with how you die,” Kayla wrote “The only way we are accepted into heaven is through a personal relationship with Jesus.” “Your public grief has saved my life,” one person wrote “I was contemplating suicide as I’ve battled a silent battle with anxiety and depression...and then I stumbled across the first blog post you wrote.” She couldn’t mince words because they needed to know their father wasn’t coming back “Daddy’s brain was really sick,” she told them and Daddy did something that caused him to die.” Two-year-old Brave didn’t understand and went outside to play Four-year-old Jethro listened a little longer “Are you and daddy still married?” he asked Kayla and Carol stood on the same stage where Andrew preached they delivered his final planned “Hot Mess” sermon about loving people through their struggles Carol said a friend recently overheard people talking about Andrew’s suicide saying he should have known better because he was a pastor People have questioned if they got Andrew help and said this wouldn’t have happened if they had just prayed more People often have no idea what’s going on in someone’s life before they criticize Kayla said she plans to keep writing with honesty “There’s a big question mark on my future,” she said I felt so much purpose in being his wife … So as far as big future plans hailey.branson@latimes.com Twitter: @haileybranson Hailey Branson-Potts is a Metro reporter who joined the Los Angeles Times in 2011. She reports on a wide range of issues and people, with a special focus on communities along the coast. She grew up in the small town of Perry, Okla., and graduated from the University of Oklahoma. High School Sports California Sports Business Subscribe for unlimited accessSite Map CAPE SAN BLAS — It was just after midnight on Monday 1942 and a beautiful summer night in the Gulf of Mexico as the British oil tanker Empire Mica sailed east for Key West and the Florida Straits East Coast to New York and join a convoy headed for the British Isles turned the placid Gulf waters ahead of the ship into a brilliant silver sheen A gentle breeze washed over Empire Mica’s navigation bridge as the tanker made 11½ knots a distant flash of white every 20 seconds marked where the Cape San Blas Lighthouse lurked just below the horizon 17 miles away with a cargo of 12,000 tons of highly flammable vaporizing oil Empire Mica was a relatively new addition to the British Merchant Fleet but already a seasoned veteran of the maritime struggle between the Allies and Nazi Germany Built in 1941 the tanker had already made eleven trans-Atlantic crossings including five laden with petroleum supplies meant for the British Isles Master Hugh Gordon Bradford Bentley led a crew of 40 merchant seamen and seven British naval gunners who manned a 4-inch naval cannon and eight machine guns Three officers and six crewmen were on watch as the ship’s clock struck midnight Central War Time (CWT) a permanent imposition of daylight savings time ordered by the federal government four months earlier The ship was in a darkened state and steaming under radio silence Despite a strict system of censorship suppressing details of shipping losses in American waters Bentley and his men were well aware that U-boat attacks in the Gulf With a significant number of sinkings taking place along the direct southeast route from Texas and the mouth of the Mississippi to the Florida Straits Bentley chose what he thought was a safer route He opted not to steer Empire Mica on the 710-nautical-mile straight-line course but instead steamed along the 100-fathom-curve hugging the Louisiana Bentley and his lookouts would have been gazing to the east-southeast for subsequent lighthouses marking where the coastline turned south at Florida’s Big Bend busily scanning the Gulf with their powerful Zeiss binoculars sighted what they first called out as two small vessels approaching fast about forty degrees off the U-boat’s starboard bow Bounding up the ladder from the U-boat’s control room to the cramped bridge above the conning tower Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant Commander) Günther Müller-Stöckheim quickly realized that the shadow was actually a large oil tanker on a converging course Both the commander and his crew were hardened veterans of the war at sea U-67 had sunk four Allied merchantmen totaling 24,833 gross registered tons (GRT) and on this the boat had sunk two more ships and damaged a third for an overall total just short of 39,000 GRT U-67 shadowed the British tanker as it continued toward the waters south of Apalachicola “It is very bright,” Müller-Stöckheim later wrote in his daily war diary “but I hope he does not recognize (the presence of a U-boat) very much.” At 00:50 hours with the Empire Mica just three-fourths of a nautical mile away he called out “Los!” (Release!) and two steam-driven G7a torpedoes raced out from two of the boat’s four torpedo tubes sheer luck was often the deciding factor in a ship’s survival or destruction the encounter between U-67 and the British tanker was actually the result of two things: prudent reckoning by Master Bentley that was canceled out by the shrewd calculation of Müller-Stöckheim Since leaving the French port of Lorient on May 20 U-67 followed the general course track used by other boats deploying to southern waters Müller-Stöckheim directed his U-boat to hug the shoreline of neutral Spain then struck a general course to the southwest then proceeding to the east of Bermuda and — on the 25th day of its four-week transit to the Gulf — entering the Bahamas Channel separating the British colony from the north coast of Cuba He held the U-boat to a fuel-economy speed of less than 10 knots This leisurely pace gave the crew plenty of time to vigorously drill in crash-dives When U-67 came upon the 2,220-ton Nicaraguan freighter Managua in the Florida Straits on June 15 A single G7e electric torpedo broke the back of the coastal steamer After briefly pausing by a lifeboat to question the master about the ship Müller-Stöckheim knew where the hunting would be best: at the mouth of the Mississippi River some 500 nautical miles to the northwest U-67 torpedoed but only damaged the 8,221-ton Norwegian tanker Nortind which was able to escape up the Mississippi to New Orleans Müller-Stöckheim and his men had better luck with the 3,664-ton American tanker Rawleigh Warner which sank in just 10 minutes after being struck by a pair of torpedoes U-67’s lookouts peered at an empty horizon where there should have been a plethora of targets U-67’s commander decided to look elsewhere Intention: operate on traffic from and to Pensacola and Mobile … after dodging several patrol planes but still seeing no ships “Since nothing was met during the advance to the east it is logical to assume that if traffic is in fact evading to the east it moves to the north just offshore … Probably Cape San Blas will be the focal point.” That logic would yield U-67 one of its richest targets thus far the midnight-to 0400 watch was quietly conning the ship two other officers and three crewmen manned the tanker’s bridge while three other crewmen were serving as lookouts on its raised after deck two of the stern lookouts simultaneously saw U-67’s conning tower and the incoming torpedo wakes the first torpedo struck slightly abaft of amidships port side followed by a second torpedo a few seconds later which struck on port side slightly forward of the after deck.” The twin blasts ripped open Empire Mica’s hull and ignited the 12,000 tons of vaporizing oil A colossal fireball engulfed the tanker and rose into the sky where it was seen by civilians on shore from Cape San Blas to Apalachicola 33 of Bentley’s people on board (27 crewmen and six of the seven gunners) perished in the flames including the occupants of two lifeboats that were caught by the flaming oil on the surface of the water Bentley and 13 survivors managed to escape the inferno They were rescued by a Coast Guard auxiliary vessel after four hours and landed at Apalachicola Bentley and six of the Empire Mica survivors were taken by boat to Panama City where they were treated for burns and injuries burned-out hulk of the Empire Mica drifted for nine hours before finally sinking upright in 120 feet of water U-67 reversed course and was returning to the Mississippi River mouth to resume the hunt there Müller-Stöckheim and his men sank another three ships totaling 16,099 GRT before heading for the Florida Straits and their month-long journey back to France who has written two books on German U-boat operations in World War II (Turning the Tide Navy archives and World War II German naval records to tell the all-but-forgotten tale of war in the Gulf more than three-quarters of a century ago CAPE SAN BLAS —It was just after midnight on Monday A gentle breeze washed over Empire Mica’s navigation bridge as the tanker made 11 ½ knots a distant flash of white every 20 seconds marked where the Cape San Blas Lighthouse lurked just below the horizon seventeen miles away Master Hugh Gordon Bradford Bentley led a crew of forty merchant seamen and seven British naval gunners who manned a 4-inch naval cannon and eight machine guns “It is very bright,” Müller-Stöckheim later wrote in his Daily War Diary then proceeding to the east of Bermuda and – on the 25th day of its four-week transit to the Gulf – entering the Bahamas Channel separating the British colony from the north coast of Cuba After briefly pausing by a life boat to question the master about the ship Müller-Stöckheim and his men had better luck with the 3.664-ton American tanker Rawleigh Warner which sank in just ten minutes after being struck by a pair of torpedoes Müller-Stöckheim wrote in his Daily War Diary including the occupants of two life boats that were caught by the flaming oil on the surface of the water burned-out hulk of the Empire Mica drifted for nine hours before finally sinking upright in 120ft of water Martin Beisheim was a rarity in the German U-boat Force during World War II Serving aboard two U-boats from January 1940 until Germany’s surrender in May 1945 the young radioman accomplished something that the great majority of his comrades failed to achieve Of 39,000 U-boat crewmen who went on patrol during the war And of the 11,500 lucky ones who evaded death 5,000 – nearly one-half – survived only because the Allies rescued them after their U-boats were sunk Born in 1921 to middle-class parents during the post-World War I chaos that scourged Germany Beisheim grew up as the country turned to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party for an economic rebirth In a 2009 interview for this reporter’s 2011 book he described how as a youth and then teenager he was molded and shaped for war Joining the Hitler Youth (membership was mandatory for everyone reaching the age of 13) he was encouraged to study radio technology and communications he was “already almost a complete radio operator.” After basic training and formal naval radio school in December 1940 Beisheim received orders to the Type IXC U-67 He was a member of the crew when it was formally commissioned on January 22 after which U-boat and crew spent seven months in the Baltic undergoing intense combat training The boat finally left on its first war patrol on September 14 of that year Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant Commander) Günther Müller-Stöckheim Beisheim recalled the high morale aboard despite the harsh living conditions and spartan accommodations for himself and his 50 comrades U-boat crewmen left port with a single working uniform to wear; after four weeks at sea the air went foul with the inevitable combination of diesel fumes All of the fresh food aboard quickly wore a coating of white mold Since at least two crewmen shared each bunk it did not take long for the sheets and pillowcases to darken with sweat Each crewman received one cup of fresh water per day for brushing his teeth “The hygiene in a sub is a catastrophe,” Beisheim later recalled with a shudder “A 100-percent trust between all hands onboard was essential,” Beisheim said Beisheim stood watch with another operator for ten hours each day in the cramped compartment that housed the U-boat’s high-frequency radio transmitter Enigma encryption machine and passive sonar receiver decrypt and type up each incoming message from U-boat Force headquarters and prepare and transmit outgoing messages from Müller-Stöckheim back to U-boat Force commander-in-chief Admiral Karl Dönitz He and his watch mate would also scan the radio waves for messages by other U-boats reporting contact with enemy merchant ships or attacks by Allied naval units When U-67 was submerged at battle stations they would take turns listening with the passive acoustic gear for sounds of incoming warships so as to give the commander a timely evasion order If U-67 went after a target vessel with its 105-mm Beisheim was one of a half-dozen crewmen assigned to haul the 88-pound shells out of their storage canister and hand them to the gun crew for loading and firing Beishem said he had many other tasks that kept him busy particularly inspecting 50 tauchretter escape breathing devices that provided oxygen into a waterproof mask enabling the crew to escape from a U-boat sunk in water up to 150 feet deep Beisheim said there were no fervent Nazis aboard the U-boats “We were doing the same jobs [that our predecessors did] under the Kaiser,” he noted We tried to stop enemy ships from delivering more weapons and bombs against Germany.” After two patrols where for the first time crumpling sound of an Allied merchant ship breaking up as it fell below the surface Beisheim left U-67 in January 1942 to attend advanced radio school Afterwards he reported aboard the Type VIIC U-758 and took part in the fierce convoy battle of March 1943 where two German wolf packs sank 22 Allied ships That transfer was a major reason for his survival the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) together with the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) and other research institutions invites the interested public to an Open Day the Science Campus Braunschweig-Süd in the Stöckheim district will be offering a varied programme with special activities for children visitors can take a look behind the scenes of modern research facilities and visit laboratories where scientists are otherwise researching the mechanisms of infectious diseases There will also be numerous hands-on activities The “Meet the Scientist” format offers visitors the opportunity to talk directly to researchers from the HZI Another highlight is the research workshop organised by the team from the well-known TV science programme ‘Die Physikanten’ various other institutions will also be represented at the open day on campus: it is recommended that you use public transport to get to the event More information Source: Event announcement of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research I agree that my name and my e-mail-address may be processed to send the newsletter. 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