Madeleine Truel: The Peruvian Heroine of World War Two

Madeleine seated front, 3rd from right 

Madeleine Truel was a Peruvian woman of French parentage who fought in the French Resistance as a document forger.

She was captured in 1944 and was tortured to extract information without success, following which she was sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin 1945. She died in Stolpe, Germany on 3 May 1945, after being made to walk on a "death march" just a few hours before the Russian troops arrived.

Alexandre Léon Truel and Marguerite Larrabure, were French immigrants who had arrived in Peru in the second half of the 19th century. They had eight children of which Madeleine was the youngest daughter, born on 28 August 1904. Madeleine grew up in the family home located on the old 54 Arequipa street in Lima. Her father managed a hardware store located at 150 Jirón de la Unión. She came from an observant Catholic family and studied at the school San José de Cluny, located on the corner of the Boliva Street and Jiron Washington in downtown Lima. French was spoken in her home and this allowed her to perfect her command of French along with Spanish.

Both of Madeleine Truel's parents died before she was 20 years old. Her mother was the first to pass away from ill health. Then her father died on 6 May 1918, in the clinic Maison de Santé in Lima, due to an infected leg wound which he acquired whilst he was working for the fire brigade putting out a fire at the "El Pergamino" shop. Alexandre Truel was recognized as a hero of Fire Brigade Nº3 and was decorated with a gold medal.

The orphaned Truel children decided to return to France at the request of some family members in Paris in 1924. Madeleine decided to study philosophy at the Sorbonne University. She later found work as an administrative assistant in the first branch of the Spanish Bilbao bank, located on the Rue de Richelieu. She told her workmates anecdotes of her life in Peru, and explained the traditions as well as the current affairs. She also liked to cook traditional Peruvian dishes for her french friends.

In January 1942, Madeleine was knocked over by a Nazi army truck. She was diagnosed with multiple fractures to the cranium and legs and spent about a year in hospital recovering from her terrible injuries. Due to this accident she had a limp that stayed with her for the rest of her days.

The Book Madeleine Wrote

In 1943, she co-wrote the book L'Enfant du Metro  (The Boy of the Subway) along with her sister Lucha. The book narrates a story of a boy who travels through the stations of the Paris subway. The book was dedicated to Pascal, the son of a family of Jewish-Romanian origins who were friends of hers. Her sister Lucha drew the illustrations for the book and Madeleine wrote the text. The publishers were Editions du Chêne. The seemingly innocent story book was Madeleine's covert literary protest at the German occupation of Paris and the persecution of the Jews.

In June 1940 when the German forces had invaded Paris, a married couple - Pierre and Annie Hervé - who were friends of Madeleine introduced her to some members of The French Resistance and very soon she began working in order to help them. Madeleine´s job was to forge documents, especially passports, and travel papers which were delivered to many Jewish fugitives and allied soldiers that had parachuted over the French capital. She used the pseudonym "Marie" when carrying out her resistance work. All the papers, passports and travel documents were forged by hand and she was so good at it, her work was rarely spotted as fake by German soldiers, and subsequently she saved many hundreds of people's lives in this way. 

Documentary on Madeleine

On 19 June 1944, Truel was captured by three German agents when she was picking up ink in one of the resistance's hide-away houses. Days before, a resistance comrade called Annie had been captured and with the information they had gathered from her, the agents set a trap which led directly to Madeleine's capture.

After being arrested she was driven to the SS offices located on the Foch Avenue and then she was temporary transferred to the Fresnes prison.

She was tortured by force for many days by the SS in order  they could uncover more details about the plans and the people of the resistance she was working with - but she refused to co-operate and didn't give away any details. She kept telling them that she assumed all the responsibility for her acts. Her family visited her and the only thing they could leave her was a Bible.

She was transferred to Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1945. In the concentration camp she lived in a very heroic and charitable manner. She re-distributed the small amount of food that she received, in order to help those who needed it most. 

Gates at Sachsenhausen

She maintained good spirits in spite of all the terrible hardships she suffered at Sachsenhausen  and liked to entertain her fellow prisoners with stories that she remembered about Peru. For this reason she received the affectionate name "Bird of the Isles" from her cell-mates.

As the end of the war drew near, the Soviet army was approaching from the east and the U.S. military from the west. German troops began to become very disorganized and started to flee.

Survivors of the concentration camps were moved in what was to become known as the "Death Marches" in late 1944 and early 1945.

Prisoners at Sachsenhausen

The Death March of prisoners from Sachsenhausen concentration camp to Lübeck, located just over 100 miles away, began on 22 April.

Many prisoners were exhausted by severe malnutrition and the bad living conditions and weather they had been forced to endure - most were not physically fit to march and many were dying along the way.

The purpose of these marches was to hide some of the evidence of the evil brutality suffered in the concentration camps. A German soldier who became impatient with the slowness of the marching prisoners began to beat some of them furiously with a steel rod. One of these victims was Madeleine.

A few hours later the Germans abandoned the marching prisoners and stripped off their uniforms in order to hide from the Russian troops that were now pursuing them. Madeleine lost consciousness and was carried on a stretcher by her fellow prisoners. In spite of her small stature it took six people to do the task because they were all so weak and malnourished themselves. Eventually the group of survivors arrived in a small German town called Stolpe. When she became consciousness again Madeleine complained of suffered a strong headache and a high fever, and then shortly afterwards, she died.

Women Prisoners at Sachsenhausen

The friends who accompanied her to her grave, dressed her in a red dress and sought a Catholic priest to pronounce the funeral prayers, in the confidence that Madeleine would have appreciated that gesture. Before being buried, one of the companions knotted her bracelet with the Star of David on Madeleine’s arm, so that she could later be identified as a victim of the Nazi concentration camp. Another, placed on her chest red and white geraniums in homage to her Peruvian flag and nationality and as a sign of gratitude for how much she had taught them about her country of birth.

In front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, there is a memorial of homage to all the people who were deported from France during World War II, the great majority of names on it are Jewish - but in that long list also appears the name of Madeleine Blanche Pauline Truel Larrabure - one of the few Peruvian heroines of World War Two.

At the end of 1946, a survivor from the concentration camp of who knew Madeleine well, wrote a testimonial article in Le Figaro Newspaper . It is from this article that the story of Madeleine Truel's life and death was uncovered. Over the last 70 years Madeleine's name has almost been forgotten - even by her fellow Peruvians who have never honoured her in any way. 

In Peru, journalist Hugo Coya published the book “Final Station” in 2010, where he tells the story of the Peruvians who died in the Nazi concentration camps. The chapter on Madeleine is the first Peruvian text that claims the merits of this authentic heroine of the twentieth century. It shows us how it is possible to transcend adversity, overcome courageously, find fortitude in misfortune, and fully assume the defense of universal values ​​through solidarity and a faithful respect for human rights.

There has also been a short  Peruvian documentary film made about Madeliene. You can watch both a short English Language clip and a 30 minute documentary on her life below - the second one is narrated in Spanish but you can click on the YouTube subtitles on bottom right of the video player to get English subtitles.

 SHORT CLIP ABOUT MADELEINE

 30 MINUTE PERUVIAN DOCUMENTARY ON MADELEINE

Women on Titanic: The Stories from Steerage

On Titanic in 1st class over a third of the men, almost all of the women and all but one of the children survived. In second it was less than 10 per cent of the men, 84 per cent of the women and all the children. But in 3^rd Class or Steerage only 12 per cent of the men, 55 per cent of the women and less than one in three of the children survived. Interrogating the figures shows that - despite the strict "women and children first" policy - a greater proportion of first class men survived, than of third class women and children.

From the reading detailed eyewitness accounts from Steerage passengers, it appears that they were  “locked away” down on the lower decks and had far less chance to get to the lifeboats in time than the 2^nd and 1^st class passengers did. 

A steerage passenger called Mr Buckley, argued against this, saying that: 

 "The passengers in third class had as much chance as the first and second class passengers. More of the first class passengers survived because their cabins were closer to the lifeboats and many of the emigrants in third class died because their poor English meant they did not understand what was happening."

Other evidence states that there were many physical barriers between steerage and the rest of the ship, and that most of them stayed locked up for quite sometime after the iceberg had been hit. There were no lifts - only stairs in 3rd class, In addition some third-class passengers were denied initial access to the life boats by sailors who forbade them to enter the first-class area. These included three Irish girls, and - curiously - Mr Buckley himself.

Third class passengers were primarily immigrants moving to the United States and Canada for a better life.

Third class consisted of diverse groups of nationalities and ethnic groups, although the largest number of passengers were British, Irish, European or Scandinavian. Other countries represented included Finland, Sweden, Bulgaria, Croatia, Russia, Lebanon, Japan, Syria and Hong Kong.

There were around 120 Irish passengers on the Titanic. Most of them did not make it. However, Anna Kelly who had gone up on deck to investigate what had happened, survived in lifeboat 16. She later became a nun.

3rd Class Bunk

There were 63 Finnish passengers on the Titanic of whom only 20 survived. Mathilda Backstr was travelling to New York with her husband and brothers. She survived in one of the last lifeboats to leave – collapsible D. Her husband and brothers all died.

There were about 26 Swedish passengers on board the Titanic of whom most were traveling third class. Many did not reach their destination. Mrs Hjalmar Sandstr, (Agnes Charlotta Bengtsson ) was travelling with her two daughters. They all survived the disaster in lifeboat 13.

Passengers ranged from large family groups, those traveling alone, and single mothers traveling with their children - most of whom were going to join their husbands who were already settled in their new homeland.



A third class ticket ranged from seven to forty pounds, and children’s tickets were three pounds.. Depending on their port of departure, some tickets also included the price for rail travel.

Third class also had automatic flushing toilets, while first class did not. The reason being most “third class passengers were unfamiliar with indoor plumbing and may not remember {or understand} the need to flush the toilets themselves”.

3rd class ticket holders on Steerage Deck

Third class life was a lot simpler than what the first and second class passengers were enjoying. Third class passengers had a simple berth which was shared with other passengers, along with a smoking room and general room.
Third class passengers had to make their own fun. Children would have played on deck and  it is very possible that impromptu dances took place in the evenings.

3rd Class Breakfast Menu

Meals on the Titanic were very simple for the Third Class passengers, but were good compared to what these passengers might be familiar with elsewhere on land.

Third class had breakfast, and a 2 course meal that was served at Lunchtime. The menu found for the night of the sinking consisted of soup, roasted pork, two or three vegetables, pudding and biscuits.  Looking at the menu it seems this is the midday meal - compared to the large meals being served in the evening for the First Class and Second Class. Third class would enjoy tea and  biscuits mid afternoon. Later in the evening coffee was served with a soup and some biscuits.

3rd Class Health Inspections before boarding Titanic

Before boarding the vessel Third Class Passengers were given a health inspection to check for disease, lice and other infections.

Third class was the group hardest hit by the disaster and experiencing the greatest loss of life.

Sadly there were some families that were completely wiped out in the sinking.

Here are the more detailed stories of some of the 3rd class women and their families

Elin Hakkarainen & Hekla Hirvonen

ELIN (FAR LEFT)

Jane Nummi, says her mother-in-law Elin Hakkarainen Nummi, a Titanic survivor, talked to her only once about the sinking of the ship. When Elin finished, Nummi recalled, "She  folded her hands on her lap and said, 'that’s all I'll tell you and never again.' "

Elin and Pekka Hakkarainen were newlyweds from Finland who were emigrating to America when they boarded the Titanic. They had each previously lived in the United States but had gone back to Finland and met there.

Their return to America would be their honeymoon after they had married in January. They originally planned to sail on the Mauretania, but changed their passage to the Titanic, and boarded in Southampton, as third-class passengers.

We could hardly believe that in two more days we would be landing in America. Originally, my husband and I planned on making the trip on board the Mauretania, but we decided to wait a few months so we could make the crossing aboard the luxury liner Titanic. 

ELIN & PEKKO

Married just a few months, Pekko and I decided to leave Finland and start a new life in America. Although we were booked as third class, we still enjoyed many “extras” on board and had quite a time in our little group. After a couple of days at sea we settled into a routine: attending church services after breakfast, strolling the decks, and during the evening playing games in the third-class general room.

We would leave the game room very late in the evening, and the night of April 14th was no exception.

 Just after we returned to our cabin and settled in, Pekko reached to turn out the light when we heard a scraping sound and felt the ship shudder. A few moments later the throb of the engines stopped. Pekko jumped out of bed, slipped into his clothes, and said, “I’m going to see what has happened.” Not thinking too much of all this, I dozed off. But after an hour or so, the murmuring of other passengers in the hall awakened me. I noticed Pekko was still gone, and when I tried to step out of the bed, the cabin was tilted at an angle.

Soon there was a hard and very fast knock at the door, and one of my friends from Finland dashed in to say the ship had struck something and was sinking. “Where is Pekko?” she asked. “He went to see why the ship had stopped. I don’t know where he is now.” “How did he get out of the passageway?” she continued. “All the doors are locked!” I was confused; I didn’t know what to do next. After a few moments I grabbed my purse and life jacket and ran out to the passageway. The door was locked! All of the doors were locked.

Elin wanted the purse, because it contained her wedding photograph. She had left her room wearing only a nightgown.

Finally a ship’s steward came and gathered a small group of us together and guided us, “Come, there is another way to get to the upper deck.” On the upper deck, it was rather quiet — almost eerie. The deck on the ship’s bow was already under water, and the loud sound of the steam escaping from the funnels had settled down. The lifeboats were guarded by the ship’s officers standing in semicircles around each one. Soon I was motioned towards a lifeboat, but I still was scanning the listing deck looking for my husband. I do not know if there was much panic on board before I got on deck, she although I remember much confusion when I was put into the lifeboat and almost lost my balance and fell out.

The Titanic was painted plain white and was easily seen from my lifeboat, as it rose by the stern and slipped with a roar into the sea a little more than an half hour after colliding with the iceberg. There was a sailor in our boat --- clad only in a T-shirt and shorts --- saying he couldn't stand the cold much longer and a mother who had left her seven children asleep in their cabin.

I could see those still on board lined up against the ship's rails on the decks.  There was no panic at that time, and it is true, they were all singing, 'Nearer My God to Thee' as they stood there watching the lifeboats move away from the doomed ship and waited for death to overtake them. I can never forget those screams as the ship started to go under.

ELIN

We rowed away quickly, watching our ship slide beneath the surface of the water. The cries of those in the water were horrible — I remember calling over and over, “Pekko, Pekko, I am here; come this way.” It was cold on the lifeboat, and I wasn’t wearing warm clothes. I didn’t know if I was falling asleep or freezing to death, but I drifted into unconsciousness. "

Later, we thought we could see another ship lights in the distance and we cried for help but it passed by us and we turned our boat around and tried to follow it."

Soon after, it was daylight, and we could see another ship in the distance — we would be rescued…and made warm. Once aboard the Carpathia, the passengers and crew did their best to console us. We were given clothes, food, and hot coffee. But with all we were given, I was still lacking. I slowly realized the last words I might ever hear from my husband were, “I’m going to see what has happened.” I remember standing at the railing for hours, looking out to the open sea and hoping upon hope that I would discover just one more lifeboat. He was the best man that ever was, and I knew I would never find another like him."

Mrs. Hakkarainen’s monetary compensation for the loss of her luggage, belongings, and her beloved husband was $125. Her only keepsakes were the small wedding picture from her purse and a blanket from the Carpathia.

Helka Hirvonen & Family

Helka Hirvonen, a well-educated Finnish woman who was the last woman to be placed in the last life boat to leave the side of the big vessel, related her story to a newspaper man at her home at Monessen, USA, and mentioned Ellin Hakkarainen, who had lost all and was now thrown destitute upon the mercy of friends. Mrs.Hirvonen was taking care of her temporarily.

Mrs. Hirvonen said 3rd Class lives were lost because of the women's inability to comprehend orders shouted by officers to the third cabin passengers. In her own words, Mrs. Hirvonen said:

Most of the third cabin passengers were awakened I guess about Mid-night on that last Sunday. Grabbing whatever clothing they could they rushed forth. They were met by officers of the ship who said: 'Get back to you places; there's nothing wrong,' All went back. 

However the was considerable excitement. Sometime later - I don't know just how long - it seemed that the big steamer was tilting. Then there was another rush for the promenade deck. The officers couldn't drive us back after that.

After some time there came a shouted order for the women to come up on another deck. Some of us understood and started.

MR AND MRS PANULA

There was great confusion and a babble of tongues. Many of the third cabin passengers could not understand English and didn't know what was being shouted to them. 

The rest of us were too badly frightened and excited I suppose to help them much, and as a result half of the women and children and a majority of the men did not get away from the steerage at all. 

One of the last persons I saw before leaving was Mrs. John Panula, I knew her well. She was so much confused that, poor woman, she hardly knew which way to turn. She was one of the last to come on deck. I presume she was trying to collect her family. None of them escaped. 

All this time it seemed to me I could hear a piano playing up on another deck. Finally when I got to the deck I could see people being put in life boats. 

Two or three men when they found out they couldn't get off the doomed steamer until after the women, subsequently  robed themselves in women's clothing. I saw a man disappear from my side. A few seconds later he reappeared with a boy whom he had dressed in girl's clothing. The boy was saved. 

I was the last woman to be given a place in the last life boat. I was very carefully picked up because I had my baby with me. 

Mrs Elin. Hakkarainen was seized by the neck and foot, I believe, and tossed in a life boat. She fainted. Her husband bade her fond goodbye. He intended to get into a lifeboat but heroically gave way to others.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

I suppose we had been away from the Titanic 20 minutes when it went down. I saw it plainly. When it took its final dive, people were leaping from all sides into the water. Some of them were saved. 

When our life boat left the Titanic's side it was only about half filled. It wasn't long however, until we had picked up enough to completely fill it. My brother was found on a raft after we had been six and a half hours at sea.

I saw those millionaires on the deck, but I could not distinguish any of them, because they had simply been pointed out to me before and  was not familiar with their figures. 

They were helping place women in lifeboats. I was in the boat with the managing director of the steamship company, J. Bruce Ismay, although at the time I didn't know it. 

The iceberg looked to me to be sort of triangular shaped. It seemed the Titanic was in about the middle of it."

Mrs. Hirvonen and party were met in New York City by Peter Hirvonen, her husband, who was a prosperous tin mill worker. Mrs Panula whom Mrs Hirvonen mentioned as being confused and frightened, was one of the many 3rd class female passengers who died on Titanic.

Anna Turja

Anna Sophia Turja

Finnish Survivor Anna Sophia Turja was one of 21 children in her large extended family. Her half-sister, Maria, was married and living in Ohio, USA. After a visit to Finland, Maria and her husband, John Lundi, enticed Anna to come to America.

John invited her to come work for him at his shop in Ashtabula, and he purchased a $58 third-class ticket for her passage on the Titanic.

Anna was 18 years old and alone when she boarded the Titanic in Southampton, England. To her the ship was a beautiful ship — a floating city — “just like a town, lacking nothing.” There were swimming pools, concert halls and libraries. With all its shops and attractions, the main deck was indeed bigger than the main street in her home town.

Anna Turja

The third class accommodations were beautiful to Anna. The atmosphere was quite lively with a lot of talking, singing, and fellowship. It has been said that third class on the Titanic was as good as first class on many other ships of the day.

There were two double bunk beds in her room, one on either side of the room. She had two roommates on board who were also Finnish women, one of whom took the young Anna Turja under her wing. She was traveling with her brother, but in steerage class in those days the men’s cabins were in the front part of the ship, the women’s in the rear. The other woman also had a young baby.

Late Sunday night, April 14, as Anna was settling down for the night, she felt a shudder and a shake. Shortly afterwards, her roommate’s brother knocked on the door and told them that “something was wrong,” that they should wear warm clothing and put on their life jackets “or you’ll find yourselves at the bottom of the ocean.”

Their little group dressed and headed for the upper decks. At one point, a crew member tried to keep them down — ordered them back — but they refused to obey, and he didn’t argue with them. She clearly remembers, however, that the doors were closed and chained shut behind them to prevent others from coming up.

Her group continued up to the top deck “where it will be safer,” they said. She found it too cold up there, however, so she went back down to what turned out to be the boat deck. She was intrigued by all of the activity there and by the music being played by the band, though she didn’t know the names of the tunes. She remembers the band coming out of a room they had been playing in and the doors being locked after everyone had gotten out.

It was on deck that she met the Panula family, also from Finland. Mrs. Panula was traveling with her five children to meet Mr. Panula who was waiting for them in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Panula had recently lost a teen-aged child by drowning back in Finland. On the deck of the Titanic that night Anna remembered her lamenting, “Must we all die by water?”

Anna also remembered seeing the lights of another ship from the deck. According to most historians, this ship would most likely have been the SS Californian, which tragically had shut down its wireless for the night, and so did not respond to the Titanic’s plight.

Anna believed the claim of the ship being unsinkable, and she and many other immigrants on board didn’t fully understand what was going on around her because she did not know the language. She had been so enjoying the “concert,” as the band’s music seemed to her, that she says she “would have gone to the bottom of the ocean listening to that music if a sailor hadn’t picked me up and put me into a lifeboat.”

She believed her lifeboat to be the “next to the last lifeboat.” one of two of the four collapsible boats that the Titanic carried–Collapsibles C and D being the only ones to have launched successfully. The Red Cross report and Encyclopedia Titanica state that she was in lifeboat #15.

The lifeboat was fully loaded when it was launched; so full, in fact, that as she rested her hand on the edge, her “fingers got wet up to the knuckles.” They immediately rowed away from the ship, fearing that they would get sucked down with it when it went under. She was very impressed with the sailors’ training. She was sure that the boat would have capsized had it not been for their expertise. As the lights went out and the ship finally went under, she heard loud explosions.

Her most haunting memory was that of the screams and cries of dying people in the icy water. 1500 people died on the Titanic, and their cries continued for what seemed like hours. Every time she got to this part of the story she would start crying. “They were in the water, and we couldn’t help them,” she would say sadly.

They were in the lifeboats for what she figured to be eight hours. Though the night was a “brilliant, bright night,” they had to burn any scraps that they could find — hats, coats, paper, money, or anything else that wouldn’t cause a flash fire — so that the boats could see each other and stay together in the darkness.

On board the rescue ship, the Carpathia, “the people were wonderful. They gave up their blankets and coats, anything that could help.” She kept looking for her roommates, but she never saw either of them again. The entire Panula family was also later confirmed lost.

On their arrival in New York, the survivors did not have to go through Ellis Island, as all other immigrants did in those days. Instead, they were taken straight to New York Hospital, and then sent on their way. 

Because of the language problem, she was literally tagged in New York and put on a train to Ashtabula, Ohio. She was greeted by crowds at many of the train stops, including in Ashtabula, as she was somewhat of a celebrity by this time.

Somehow, her name turned up on a “lost passengers” list, and her family in Finland didn’t know that she was alive until they received a letter from her 5 or 6 weeks later.

Soon after she got to Ashtabula, she met Emil Lundi, John’s brother. They fell in love and got married. They were together until 1952, raising seven children.

In May of 1953, Anna was a special guest when the movie “Titanic” starring Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb opened at the new theater in Ashtabula. It was the first movie she had ever seen–her first introduction to the magic of Hollywood. After the film was over, reporters asked her if she thought the film was realistic. With tears in her eyes she replied “If they were close enough to take those pictures, why didn’t anyone help us?” Family members tried to explain to her that it was a Hollywood re-creation. She just kept saying, “No, no…”

Over the years she was interviewed regularly by local newspapers on the April anniversary of the sinking, but she turned down appearances on TV Shows partly because of her age, her physical condition, and the language problem. She also refused to join in any lawsuits over the loss. She felt that she didn’t need to go after money: she had her life, and that was compensation enough.

Every year on the anniversary she would sit her seven children down to tell them the story again. The phrase she would always close with, and repeated throughout her life was,

“I can never understand why God would have spared a poor Finnish girl when all those rich people drowned.”

Anna Sophia Turja Lundi died in Long Beach, California, in 1982 at the age of 89.

EMILY & FRANK GOLDSMITH

Emily Goldsmith & her Family

Emily Goldsmith’s son, Frank John William Goldsmith, Jr. was a young third-class passenger of the RMS Titanic and a survivor of the sinking in 1912. He later wrote a book about his experiences titled Echoes In the Night: Memories of a Titanic Survivor (1991) which featured in the documentary, Titanic: The Legend Lives On (1994). Frank Goldsmith Jr. was born in Strood, Kent and he was the eldest child Emily and her husband Frank.

Emily and her family boarded the RMS Titanic in Southampton as third-class passengers, en route to Detroit, Michigan. Her husband, a tool maker, was bringing his bag of tools with him; these were stored in the ship's hold.

Accompanying them were Thomas Theobald, Frank Sr.'s friend, and Alfred Rush, the son of a family friend.

Alf Rush commemorated his 16th birthday on 14 April on board the ship, celebrating his transformation from a boy to a man as he no longer had to wear shorts, but was now to wear long pants.

The young Frank Goldsmith spent his time on board the ship playing with a group of English-speaking third-class boys who were about his age: Willie Coutts, Harold Goodwin, William Johnston, Albert and George Rice, and James and Walter van Billiard. They climbed the baggage cranes and wandered down to the boiler rooms to watch the stokers and firemen at work. Of these boys, only Frank Goldsmith and Coutts would survive the sinking.

FRANK'S PASSPORT PHOTO

When the ship struck the iceberg late in the evening of 14 April 1912, Frank Sr. woke Emily and his son and together with Tom Theobold and Alfred Rush, they made their way to the forward end of the boat deck, where Collapsible C was being loaded. There was a ring of crewmen standing around it, letting only women and children pass through. Franks Goldsmith wrote of the experience: 

"My Mother & I then were permitted through the gateway, The crewman in charge reached out to grasp the arm of Alfred Rush to pull him through because he must have felt that the lad was not much older than me. He was not very tall for his age. He jerked his arm out of the sailor's hand and with his head held high, said,  'No! I'm staying here with the men.' At age 16, he died a hero."

EMILY'S PASSPORT PHOTO

Tom Theobold gave Emily Goldsmith his wedding ring, asking if she would give it to his wife if he did not survive.

Franks Goldsmith later recalled: "My dad reached down and patted me on the shoulder and said, 'So long, Frankie, I’ll see you later.' He didn’t and he may have known he wouldn’t."

Mr Goldsmith. TomTheobold, and Alf Rush all died in the sinking. Of the three, only Theobold's body was recovered.

Emily and Frank Junior were rescued by the RMS Carpathia in Collapsible C.

As the Carpathia headed to New York City, in order to get Frank's mind off the sinking, Emily Goldsmith entrusted him into the care of a surviving Titanic fireman, Samuel Collins. While Emily Goldsmith was busy sewing clothes from blankets for women and children who had left the ship in only nightclothes, Frank accompanied Collins down to visit Carpathia's stokers. They offered to make him an honorary seaman by having him drink a mixture of water, vinegar, and a whole raw egg. He proudly swallowed it in one go, and from then on, considered himself as a member of the ship's crew. Goldsmith remembered fireman Collins telling him,  

"Don’t cry, Frankie, your dad will probably be in New York before you are."

FRANK AND EMILY GOLDSMITH

After arriving in New York, Emily and her son were housed by the Salvation Army, which provided train fare to reach their relatives in Detroit. They moved to a home near the newly opened Navin Field, home of the Detroit Tigers. Every time the crowd cheered during a home run, the sound reminded young Frank of the screams of the dying passengers and crew in the water just after the ship sank; as a result, he never took his  own children to baseball games.

Frank Goldsmith still held on to the hope of his father's survival. It took him months to understand that his father was really dead, and for years afterward, he used to tell himself,  

"I think another ship must have picked him up and one day he will come walking right through that door and say, 'Hello, Frankie.'"

Frank Goldsmith married Victoria Agnes Lawrence and they had three sons. During World War II, Goldsmith served as a civilian photographer for the U.S. Army Air Corps. After the war, he brought his family to Ashland, Ohio and later opened a photography supply store in nearby Mansfield.

Goldsmith's autobiography entitled Echoes in the Night: Memories of a Titanic Survivor, published by the Titanic Historical Society is one of the few books about the sinking written by a third-class passenger.

The Goodwin Family

 Frederick and Augusta Goodwin had six children -  Lillian, Charles, William, Jessie, Harold and .Sidney who was born on 9 September 1910 in Melksham, Wiltshire, England. 

GOODWIN FAMILY  (MINUS SIDNEY)

Frederick's brother, Thomas, had already left England and was living in Niagara Falls, New York. Thomas wrote to Frederick, telling him about the opening of a power station there. It has been speculated that the famed Schoellkopf Hydroelectric Power Station (Station A), due to open in 1912, would have been his employer had he lived.

Frederick, a compositor, packed up his wife and six children to prepare for the move. They booked third-class passage on the S.S. New York out of Southampton, but due to a coal strike that year the vessel's passage was delayed, and they were transferred to the RMS Titanic. They boarded the Titanic in Southampton as third-class passengers.

SIDNEY GOODWIN - THE LOST CHILD

Not much is known about the Goodwins' activities during the voyage, except that they may have been separated by sex in opposite ends of the ship, Frederick and his older sons in the bow, and Augusta with Sidney and the girls in the stern. Harold Goodwin also met up with and spent some time with Frank Goldsmith, who survived.

By the time the Goodwins received a warning about the collision with the iceberg, all the lifeboats had been launched. The entire family perished in the sinking.

In his book, The Night Lives On, historian Walter Lord devoted a chapter "What Happened to the Goodwins?" to the family, using the fact that they were English to challenge the White Star Line's implication that such high numbers of third-class passengers perished because they could not understand the English language.


The body of a fair-haired toddler was the fourth pulled from the ocean by the recovery ship CS Mackay-Bennett, on 17 April 1912. The description read:

NO. 4 - MALE - ESTIMATED AGE, 2 - HAIR, FAIR.

CLOTHING - Grey coat with fur on collar and cuffs; brown serge frock; petticoat; flannel garment; pink woolen singlet; brown shoes and stockings.

No marks whatever.

PROBABLY THIRD CLASS

MEMORIAL TO UNKNOWN CHILD

The sailors aboard the Mackay-Bennett, who were very shocked by the discovery of the unknown boy's body, paid for a monument, and he was buried on 4 May 1912 with a copper pendant placed in his coffin by recovery sailors that read "Our Babe". Before 2002 (when he was first, though mistakenly, identified through DNA testing), he was known simply as "The Unknown Child". His body, identified as that of a child around two years old, was initially believed to be that of either a two-year-old Swedish boy, Gösta Pålsson; or a two-year-old Irish boy, Eugene Rice, two other fair-haired toddlers who perished in the sinking.

The American PBS television series Secrets of the Dead initially identified the body as Eino Viljami Panula, a 13-month-old Finnish baby, based on DNA testing of three teeth and a small, weathered bone. However, with improved DNA testing available in 2007, Canadian researchers at Lakehead
University in Thunder Bay tested the child's HVS1, a type of mitochondrial DNA molecule, and it did not match the Panula family. DNA extracted from the exhumed remains and DNA provided by a surviving maternal relative helped positively match the remains to Sidney Goodwin, and the re-identification was announced on 30 July 2007.

SIDNEY GOODWIN'S GRAVE

Although the bodies of two other children, both older boys, were recovered, it was Sidney who came to be a symbol of all the children lost in the sinking.

He is buried in Fairview Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a marker was recently added to the memorial with his name and dates of birth and death. A pair of his shoes were donated to Halifax's Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in 2002 by the descendants of a Halifax police officer who guarded the bodies and clothing of Titanic victims.


Sidney Goodwin is the only member of his family whose body has been recovered and subsequently identified.

Annie Sage & her Family 

Annie Elizabeth Cazaly married John George Sage on 2nd November 1890.  The Cazaly family were originally Huguenot refugees, and had been settled in the London area for many years.

Annie and John's first child, Stella Anne, was born in 1891, followed by George John in 1892, Douglas Bullen in 1894, Frederick 1895, Dorothy Florence on 13th October 1897, Anthony William in1899 and Elizabeth Ada on 9th November 1901.By September 1904 the family had settled in Freebridge where another daughter, Constance Gladys, was born.The family was rounded off in early 1907 by the birth of a further son, Thomas Henry.

GLADSTONE STREET PETERBOROUGH

For nine years John had been landlord of the ''New Inn'', North Wotton, near King's Lynn in Norfolk, where he was a popular and jovial host. Leaving there in October 1908 he occupied the ''Bentinck Arms'' in West Lynn for a further nine months before moving to Peterborough with his wife and their children, Upon their arrival in Peterborough, the family ran a bakers shop and off licence at 237 Gladstone Street. The family remained at the shop for eleven months before selling to a new owner and moving a few doors away to a private residence, number 246 Gladstone Street.

During the summer months of 1911 John Sage and his eldest son, George, left Peterborough and set sail for Canada, where they obtained positions as cooks and later inspectors for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Whilst in the employment of the CPR they visited Florida where John was so impressed by both the countryside and climate, that he decided to uproot his family and bring them to America.

A plot of land was purchased in Jacksonville, Florida, for use as a fruit cultivation farm, and the thousand pound ''nest egg'' which Annie Sage had managed to save from the results of their various ventures, went towards engaging a local builder to erect a farmhouse for the family's occupation.

During the latter part of 1911 John Sage returned to England. His cabin on board ship was shared by another Peterborough man, Mr. Topley, who was later to say what a good sailor John had been during an Atlantic storm and that he was in all ways a ''Thoroughly fine fellow''. George Sage remained in Florida to ensure that all was going according to plan with the building project, and followed his father home a couple of months later.

The Sage boys and younger daughters were eagerly looking forward to a change of lifestyle in the New World, and the adventures of a sea crossing. But the Sage's eldest daughter, Stella, was loathe to leave her many friends behind, and only agreed to accompany the rest of the family provided that her father promised to pay her return fare to England in the event that she did not like the new country.

Annie Sage didn't welcome the move either; after years of moving around she finally felt settled in Peterborough. She told many friends and neighbours that she was apprehensive about the voyage and was sure that something was going to happen. Preying on her mind was an incident that had happened a couple of years previously when her daughter, Dolly, had fallen into the well in the backyard of their home in Gladstone Street. Fortunately, her hair was so long and thick that next door neighbour, Tom Gibbs, was able to seize her tresses and pull her out. According to East Coast folklore a person who had once been rescued from drowning would eventually meet their fate in the same manner.

Friends tried to persuade her that it was just superstition and she eventually relented.

During the days before the voyage Annie Sage busied herself with the packing. The family piano and several chairs of sentimental value had already been dispatched by cargo ship, as the nucleus of the new home which, as fate would determine, was never to be. The three iron sheep which had graced Annie's hearth were divided between neighbours, Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs., Jordan, whilst family photographs and souvenirs were tearfully given to other friends and neighbours.

It was originally intended that the family would travel on the SS Philadelphia on the day after Good Friday, but the sailing was cancelled owing to the coal strike and they thought themselves lucky to be able to secure passage on the new White Star liner Titanic.

Finally the day of departure arrived and the Sage family gathered on the platform of Peterborough station. John Sage joked with friends who had come to see the family off, that he would send them a sample of the Pecan nuts which he intended growing on his farm. The train which was due to leave Peterborough at 3.52 pm did not arrive from the North until almost 5.00 pm which enabled their friends to take a longer farewell.

Amongst these friends were neighbours, Tom Gibbs and Mr. Cracknell, Mr. and Mrs. Todd of 188 Walpole Street and a number of youths from the ''Great Northern Hotel'' where George Sage and his brothers Douglas and Frederick had at one time been employed. As the train bound for Southampton pulled away from the station there was much cheering and waving of handkerchiefs from those both on board and on the platform.

TITANIC LEAVES SOUTHAMPTON APRIL 1912

The rest, of course, is history. Exactly what became of the family there is no-one left to tell, what is known is that the family did at least reach the boat deck, as Stella got into a lifeboat only to jump out again when she discovered that the rest of the family could not go with her.

On April 22nd young William Sage's body was recovered from the Atlantic by the cable steamer SS Mackay Bennett, his was the 67th body to be found by the vessel and was listed thus: Number 67. Male, Estimated age 14. Hair medium. Clothing: grey suit (knickers), striped shirt, black boots and stockings. No marks on body or clothing. Third Class Ticket, Will Sage on Ticket List No. 20 berth 126. William's remains were committed to the sea again on the same day.

As news of the disaster reached Peterborough it was thought that one of the survivors may have been three-year-old Thomas and a collection was instigated to enable a relative to go to New York and retrieve the little boy. The child, however, turned out to be the son of a tailor from Nice and so hope of any of the Sage's being amongst the rescued was dashed. Stella Sage's close friend, Mrs. Todd of Peterborough, received a postcard with a Queenstown postmark which read:- '

'Dear Mrs. Todd, just a postcard of the boat. I am not seasick yet and hope I shall not be. Will write a long letter while on the boat. Cheer up, I'm coming back soon. With love Stella. 

A strange coincidence happened on Sunday, 14 April: Mr. Todd who was a member of St Barnabus' Church, where the Sage family worshiped, requested that the hymn 'Eternal Father Strong to Save' might be sung during the evening service, his request was granted and was rendered within an hour or so of the Titanic striking the iceberg.

John Sage's estate was settled in Peterborough, administration was granted on 25 May 1912 to Mary Ann Perrin, one of his sisters . His effects in England amounted to £347.9.0d

The well-put together 13 min video below tells the story of Titanic and one female 3rd class survivor from the Lebanon - Shawneene George.

 

In the short video below, Author John Welshman tells the story of Hanna another 3rd class female passenger from the Middle East:

 " 3rd Class 1912" a poem about a third class passenger's struggle onboard Titanic the night of the sinking.