John Thomas - Melbourne, FL
N 28° 05.213 W 080° 36.577
17R E 538352 N 3106888
The grave of John Thomas is located in the Melbourne Cemetery in Melbourne, Florida, USA. He lost his life in action at sea.
Waymark Code: WMNTYV
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 05/03/2015
Views: 9
Close-up of headstone inscription:
According to a U.S. Merchant Marines website, John Thomas was a Wiper in the Merchant Marines. He served aboard the James Oglethorpe, an American Steam merchant ship, and was lost at sea in 1943 following a torpedo hit to the ship.
The following information about the fate of the ship on which John Thomas lost his life is from the uboat.net website:
"Between 00.23 and 00.25 hours on [16] March 1943, U-758 fired two FAT and two G7e torpedoes at the convoy HX-229 and reported three ships sunk and another damaged. In fact, the Zaanland and James Oglethorpe were sunk and the Dutch motor tanker Magdala (8248 tons) missed.
The James Oglethorpe (Master Albert W. Long) on her maiden voyage in station #93 was struck by one torpedo on the starboard side at the forward section of the #2 hold. The ship began settling by the head with her rudder stuck and a starboard list. A fire in the #1 hold was extinguished within 15 minutes by the crew. 43 men of the eight officers, 36 crewmen, 26 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 3in and eight 20mm guns) and four passengers (US Navy personnel) abandoned ship without orders in two lifeboats, while the vessel made large circles to port at 8 knots. The fall of one boat was cut prematurely and threw its occupants into the sea, drowning 13 men. Another man died when he fell into the water while trying to get into the second boat. The three officers, 10 crewmen, two passengers and 15 armed guards in the second boat were picked up by the HMS Pennywort (K 111) and landed at Londonderry on 22 March.
The James Oglethorpe tried to reach St. Johns, but was never seen again. The master and 29 men who remained on board were lost. The ship probably foundered en route by the damage received by the torpedo hit or she was sunk in the morning by a coup de grâce from U-91 (Walkerling), but this U-boat is credited with sinking the stragglers Irénée Du Pont and Nariva."
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