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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Jim Kershner’s This Day in History

From our archives, 100 years ago

Another posthumous letter from sailor Edward Veddor, of Spokane, arrived at the home of his father, Henry J. Veddor.

At least, it was presumed to be posthumous, since the young Veddor had been serving in the German navy aboard the cruiser Gneisenau, which had been sunk by the British in December with most hands lost.

In this letter, the Spokane man, 27, explained how he ended up serving in the German navy. He had left home years before to become a sailor on merchant ships. He was working on a ship of the China Navigation Co., which was German-owned, when the war broke out. His ship was stuck in China because it couldn’t venture out for fear of capture. 

The sailors were informed they could, instead, enlist in the German navy, which to Veddor apparently seemed like his best alternative.

“At first the officer did not want to take me, saying that he could not see why a young American wanted to join the German navy, but they finally accepted my enlistment,” Veddor wrote. “I want to say right here that they have certainly treated me fine.”

The ship, he wrote, had not seen much action.

We should note that in 1915, the U.S. had not entered World War I. There was evidently no reason an American could not fight for one of the combatants.

The letter was dated October 1914, two months before the Gneisenau was sunk. His father had little reason to hope that Veddor had survived. All of the survivors had been taken to England, and his father had received no word that Veddor was among them.