Published In:
Ann Arbor News, February 22, 1943
Caption:
EXCHANGE NOTES ON RAFT EXPERIENCES: Petty Officer Charles Albert Virant (left) and Sgt. John F. Bartek (right) got together for a few minutes in the Allenel hotel to exchange notes on their experiences adrift in the ocean on rafts. Virant, a U. S. Navy gunner on a merchant ship, spent 17 days on a raft in the South Atlantic after his ship was torpedoed. Bartek, who was with Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, lived 22 days on a raft in the Pacific. They will tell of their trips by raft, during the Army's program in Hill auditorium tonight.