Greaves, Walter 'Heavy'

Birth Name Greaves, Walter 'Heavy' [1a]
Call Name 'Heavy'
Gender male

Events

Event Date Place Description Notes Sources
Birth      

 
Military Service   United States Merchant Marines USMM  

Event Note

Walter 'Heavy' Greaves, a beefy, tattooed professional sailor, survived three torpedo attacks during World War II.

 
Boat December 27, 1946 בן הכט SS Abril INS Maoz (K-24) Argosy USS Cytherea Citra SS Ben Hecht SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט sailed from Brooklyn to Port-de-Bouc, via Ponta Delgada

Place Note

On December 27, 1946, after refitting in Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal, USS Cythera (PK-31), renamed SS Abril, sailed from New York City for Southern France and Port-de-Bouc., with a 21-man crew, mostly American volunteers, seven of whom were from Brooklyn.
On the eve of the departure from New York, FBI agents raided SS Abril, expecting to find arms bound for Palestine. but, instead, they found hundreds of lifebelts.
Jeno Berkovitz cites SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט sailed for France on December 26, 1947.
She sailed under Honduran flag, operated by the American Sea and Air Volunteers for Hebrew Repatriation, an offshoot of the American League for Free Palestine and the Hebrew Committee for National Liberation.

Event Note

Jeno Berkovitz served as Messman aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
Jeno Berkovitz cites: “'We had a crew member who was Irish Catholic and hated the British. We had a Jewish crewman who was religious and put on tefillin every day, and there were others, like me, who weren't so religious but just wanted to help the Jewish cause."
They interviewed me in their office in Manhattan and soon afterwards called to tell me I was accepted to join the crew. Officially I was listed as a Messman, someone who serves food, but in practice almost everyone in the crew had to do all kinds of things.”

Event Note

Louis Binder served as a Seaman aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
David Kaplan cites: "The trip across the Atlantic was a stormy one, experienced hands had bouts of seasickness as Abril heeled past safety levels. Louis Binder, our 16 year old whocame aboard with false papers, had to be lashed to the wheel with a bucket alongside, to stand his watch."

Event Note

Louis Brettschneider, age 24 years, served as 3rd Engineer aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Event Note

Walter Cushenberry, age 33 years, served as Steward aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
Captain H. Robert Levitan cited: Walter Cushenberry was "one of the gentlest men you could ever meet, and he just liked helping out the underdog."
David Kaplan cites: "Our cook, Walter Cushenberry, a black man who did miracles with salami, managed to feed us under severe conditions."

Event Note

Walter 'Heavy' Greaves served as Bosun aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
When Robert 'Bob' Levitan assumed the post of Captain aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט, Walter 'Heavy' Greaves became 3rd Mate.
Having visited to a DP camp in Germany while on shore leave at the end of the war, he was inspired when, having returned to New York, he "read in the papers that the Jews wanted a state of their own."

Event Note

Gershom Hakim, a young ITzL activist, served as captain aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
He was blamed for misjudgments that brought SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט into rough seas which delayed arrival in France by nearly a week.

Event Note

James Heggie, age 33 years, served as Bosun A.B. aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
When Robert 'Bob' Levitan assumed the post of Captain aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט, James Heggie became Bosun.

Event Note

Harry Herschkowitz, age 30 years, served as a Seaman aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Event Note

Albert Hirschkoff, a member of the Press, sailed aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Event Note

Hyman Robert 'Bob' Levitan, age 27 years, served as 2nd Mate aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
Bob replaced Gershom Hakim, as Captain aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט. after they reached France.

Event Note

Haakom Lilliby and Erling Sorensen, two young Norwegians, served aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
Haakom Lilliby served as Chief Engineer.
Erling Sorensen served as 1st Engineer.
Jeno Berkovitz cites: “They didn’t speak much English and nobody knew quite why they were there, but when the engines broke down, they worked 24 hours straight to get us going again.”

Event Note

Wallace Litwin, age 32 years, served as Photographer Wiper aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Event Note

Norman Edward Luce, age 44 years, served as a Cook aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Event Note

Louis Markowitz, age 52, years, served as 2nd Mate aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.
When Robert 'Bob' Levitan assumed the post of Captain aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט, Louis Markowitz became 2nd Mate.

Event Note

Shepard Rifkin, age 28 years, served as AB aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Event Note

Elliott Roosevelt, an experienced yachtsman, initially offered to captain aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט., but withdrew after objections from his mother, former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.

Event Note

Harry Nathan Schatz, age 48, years, served as Oiler aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Event Note

Edward R. Styrak, age 23 years, served as Crew, Sparks 2, aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Event Note

Jack Winkler, age 20 years, served as Seaman aboard SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט.

Place Note

SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט stopped at Ponta Delgada on her way to Port-de-Bouc.
David Kaplan cites Captain Levitan brought the Abril into Ponta Delgada in the Azores by dead reckoning.'

Place Note

On January 10, 1947, SS Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט arrived at Port-de-Bouc, where she was refitted to accommodate her passengers.

[1]
Camp March, 1947 כלא עכו Akko Prison, עכו, הצפון, ישראל The crew of Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט were arrested by the British, and interned

Event Note

The British took the American crew members of Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט to the Akko Prison כלא עכו fortress, and announced they would deport them to the United States.
In response, the United States Attorney General announced he would not bring criminal charges against them.

Event Note

Walter Cushenberry was interned by the British in the Akko Prison fortress, alongside members of ITzL.

Event Note

Robert 'Bob' Levitan was interned by the British in the Akko Prison fortress, alongside members of ITzL.

Event Note

ITzl planned a breakout from Akko Prison, but one obstacle remained: how to photograph the would-be escapees to make false identity cards to get past British roadblocks.
'Bob' Levitan, Captain of Abril Ben Hecht בן הכט, solved that problem, having smuggled a small camera into prison.
On May 4, 1947, ITzL blew open the Akko Prison’s southern wall, in what was described as the most spectacular prison break of modern times,and immortalized in the film “Exodus.”

Place Note

On Sunday, May 4, 1947, ITzL forces broke into Akko Prison כלא עכו, and released 28 incarcerated ITzL and Lehi members.
At 14:00PM, a military engineering unit of ITzL leb by Dov Salomon and Yehuda Apiryon, made its way to the nearby Turkish bath, disguised as telephone technicians and carrying ladders, TNT, ropes and other necessary incursion equipment.
Other ITzL strike and escape teams spread around the prison, disguised as British military convoys.
34 ITzL fighters attacked Akko Prison כלא עכו.
Dov Cohen and two other fighters were killed during the retreat.

Event Note

Walter 'Heavy' Greaves was interned by the British in the Akko Prison fortress, alongside members of ITzL.
Walter 'Heavy' Greaves cites: he "was amazed to find his cellmates defying the pressures of prison life by organizing entire schools, where they studied "languages, mathematics, and how to handle explosives."

 
Boat August 4, 1947 גאולה SS Paducah Geula SS Paducah Geulah גאולה sailed from Bayonne to Varna Варна

Event Note

Benny Kubersh served as Gidoni גדעוני, wireless radio operator. aboard SS Paducah Geulah גאולה.

Event Note

Syd Abrams served as Seaman and Purser aboard SS Paducah Geulah גאולה.

Event Note

Walter 'Heavy' Greaves served as Seaman aboard SS Paducah Geulah גאולה.
He was released from Akko Prison, and went back to New York, looking for another refugee ship to join.
He met members of a Haganah cell at a synagogue in the Bronx, preparing a boat called the SS Paducah.
Walter 'Heavy' Greaves cites: "the Geula organizers at first hesitated to accept him because of his ties to the Irgun-affiliated S.S. Ben Hecht", but he was able to win them over.

Event Note

Moshe Kallner served as Messman aboard SS Paducah Geulah גאולה.

[2]
Camp   Καράολος Gazimagusa Karakol Karaolos Internment Camps 55-62, Mağusa bölgesi, Κύπρος Kıbrıs The crew of SS Paducah Geulah גאולה were interned on Cyprus

Event Note

Elihu Bergman was interned in the British detention camp on Cyprus for 2 months, before he was released to rejoin the Haganah.

Event Note

Walter 'Heavy' Greaves was interned in the British detention camp on Cyprus, until a strip-search revealed the large American flag tattooed across his chest.
After his release, he made his way to France, where he spent the next year refurbishing other refugee ships, smuggling guns to Palestine,

 
Military Service   צה"ל צבא הגנה לישראל TzaHaL IDF Israel Defense Forces Walter 'Heavy' Greaves enlisted

Event Note

After the 1948 War of Independence, Walter 'Heavy' Greaves remained in Israel, training sailors.

 

Source References

  1. The Jews' Secret Fleet: The Untold Story of North American Volunteers Who Smashed the British Blockade
    1. Page: 176
  2. Running the Palestine Blockade: The Last Voyage of the Paducah

Pedigree

    1. Greaves, Walter 'Heavy'