| USS EAGLE 56 (April 23, 1945)
About noon on April 23 the American submarine chaser Eagle 56, built by the Ford Motor Company and launched in August 1919, sank after a violent explosion when off Portland on the coast of Maine. Classified by the US Navy as sunk due to a boiler explosion, it was not until 2001 that the true story of this long forgotten sinking came to light. When the few surviving members of the crew were interviewed they all mentioned seeing the dark outline of a submarines conning tower a short distance away. German records revealed that the U-853, part of 'Group Seewolf', was operating in the area of the sinking at the time. The US Navy then re-classified the sinking as a combat loss and in June, 2001, posthumously awarded the Purple Heart to the 49 men lost and to the 12 survivors (or their next of kin) who were rescued by the destroyer USS Selfridge. The U-853, commanded by 24 year old Oberleutnant Helmut Frömsdorf, was sunk on May 6, 1945, by the destroyers USS Artherton and USS Moberly. There were no survivors.
__________________
On weald of Kent I watched once more
Again I heard that grumbling roar
Of fighter planes; yet none were near
And all around the sky was clear
Borne on the wind a whisper came
'Though men grow old, they stay the same'
And then I knew, unseen to eye
The ageless Few were sweeping by
|