Previously, in “War Sailor” episode 1, we saw how Alfred Garnes and his comrade Sigbjorn were driven to board Norwegian merchant ships in order to aid the British allies. It was difficult for Alfred to leave his family in Bergen, but he promised to return safely. However, several years passed, and he was unable to return home. Cecilia kept taking care of her kids while hoping for his return. As several of the Norwegian ships had been torpedoed by the Germans, Alfred and Sigbjorn witnessed numerous deaths take place right in front of their eyes. Alfred and his crew had moved ships many times over the years, but when in New York, his two crewmates, one a 16-year-old child and the other a lady, were ordered to pack their belongings and return home. In the interim, the Brits began bombing a number of locations in Norway, which made Alfred wonder if he would have anything left to return to.
History is introduced in Episode 2 with some rarely known facts. What these sailors went through during this war is beyond your worst nightmares. People stuck at sea, far from family and their loved ones who wait in vain for them to return home—these are some of the facts eloquently shown in “War Sailor,” which delivers a strong emotional lift.
Spoilers Ahead
How Did Aksel Die?
After the ship they were on was torpedoed in 1942, the sailor crews boarded another ship, the Falkanger, where Hanna and Aksel were told to return home, but “War Sailor” episode 2 shows that both of them opt to stay. Hanna returned, bringing Aksel with her, and joined the rest of the staff in the kitchen. As we can see, Kjell was getting ready to leave the ship. He wanted everyone, including Alfred, to accompany him, but Alfred, Sigbjorn, and others chose to stay. Kjell was forced to abandon the ship alone, leaving the entire crew behind. The fact that Alfred couldn’t just ignore his obligations to his family caused him to stay on the ship. He hoped to get a sizable payment that would be enough to feed his family.
A few years passed, and the ship was heading north in 1944. A new sailor who might have had some sort of prior connection with Hanna joined the crew. In the meantime, a torpedo attack wrecked the ship, killing Hanna and several crew members. Alfred, Sigbjorn, and the new sailor survived the onslaught and discovered Aksel sinking in the water but alive. Alfred and the others hoisted Aksel onto a floating board, only to discover that his leg had been severed. Meanwhile, a ship went by, and when the captain saw the survivors, he provided them with morphine but refused to take them on board. Aksel was being injected with morphine, but he still couldn’t stand the pain.
Alfred and Sigbjorn recognized that, without intervention, they would eventually lose Aksel. So, it seemed preferable to relieve him of his suffering. Sigbjorn insisted on Alfred injecting all of the morphine into Aksel, which Alfred did, and Aksel died in a short amount of time of an overdose. The new sailor started to refer to Alfred and Sigbjorn as devils since he couldn’t accept the fact that they’d just killed Aksel. He got up to start to attack them out of wrath and shock, but Alfred choked him to death to protect Sigbjorn and himself. They drowned both Aksel and the new sailor’s dead body in the water. The tremendous internal injuries that Sigbjorn also sustained caused him to lose consciousness progressively, but Alfred did everything in his power to keep him alive.
Are Cecilia And Her Children Alive?
Meanwhile, in 1944, near the coast of Bergen, the British began to drop bombs to destroy all the German submarines; however, the nearby schools were destroyed as a result of the explosion. When Cecelia heard about the explosion, she hurried to the school to look for her kids. Her children, Maggie and William, were fortunate to have survived the initial strike. Her landlord received a message from the dean of Bergen informing Cecilia that the ship which her husband Alfred was onboard had been sunk by torpedoes, and there were no survivors, meaning that Alfred and Sigbjorn had perished.
Cecelia, who was well aware that she would one day receive the news, sobbed for her loss, but it was far worse for her to inform her children. She informed Maggie of her father’s death, which severely disrupted her peace of mind. Alfred’s bereaved family was just attempting to cope with their loss when, within a few days, an explosion in Bergen wreaked havoc on their neighborhood, destroying their house as well. Yet, as Cecilia and the kids aren’t shown to have died, there’s a chance they escaped the attack. Cecilia also learned that their lives could be in danger at any time in Bergen; thus, they might have relocated.
How Did Alfred And Sigbjorn Get Ashore?
Another year went by during this catastrophe as Alfred and Sigbjorn tried to sail across the ocean. A ship eventually arrived in 1945 to rescue the survivors. They transported Alfred and Sigbjorn to a hospital in Canada where they were admitted. Both Alfred and Sigbjorn recovered after receiving thorough care, but Alfred struggled to maintain his composure because of the enormity of his loss. He never wanted to kill Aksel but rather saw him as his own son; therefore, his death felt like a personal loss to him. Alfred went insane after seeing a patient in the canteen who was wheelchair-bound and missing one of his legs. Perhaps the man reminded him of Aksel, who might still have been alive but whose life wouldn’t have been worth living. Nonetheless, he could have had the option to start over, which Alfred and Sigbjorn ripped away from him. Alfred grew outraged and began to beat the man, but when the hospital workers held him, he realized his mistake.
A few days later, a hospital doctor called Alfred and gave him a telegram containing the devastating news of their family’s demise. Alfred experienced yet another shock from this and wasn’t sure how to respond at the time. He kept quiet for a time and then entered a bathroom, where he sobbed his heart out. In all those years, he had seen a lot of people die right in front of his eyes, yet nothing had ever broken him. He persisted in traveling in the hope of one day returning to his family, but now he had nobody of his own except for Sigbjorn. However, he didn’t want to damage his life anymore but rather wanted Sigbjorn to start afresh in his life. Therefore, the following morning, he penned a message to Sigbjorn on the back of the telegraph and escaped the hospital at dawn. He didn’t tell him where he was going since he didn’t want his friend to accompany him any longer.
As “War Sailor” Episode 2 ended, Alfred disappeared into the morning mist. His destiny is nothing but a haze, which he has been unable to dispel in order to return to his safe haven. He didn’t want to impede Sigbjorn’s future, so he left for a faraway land. Let’s find out where Alfred headed in the third and final episode of “War Sailor.”
