Thomas Kessler <kesslertg@gmail.com>
Mon, Jul 27, 2015 at 5:06 PM
To: Austin Coulbourn <acoulbourn@cablespeed.com>, Brian Lewandowski <lewandowski96@icloud.com>, Bud and Betty Meyer <meyer9595@gmail.com>, Carolyn Harriger <carolyn_harriger@wycliffeassociates.org>, Diane LEWANDOWSKI <dalewandowski@comcast.net>, Karel Bernady <Bernadk@verizon.net>, Lee Marsh <mdllamco@aol.com>, Lollie Dachille <lolliedachille@verizon.net>, Nettie Bernady <nbernady@frontier.com>, Tish <pattycsm@aol.com>, Tom Kessler  <kesslertg@gmail.com>, Tony and Barb Waskiewicz <BarbandTony@aol.com>
Cc: Fred Meyer <FredMeyer56@verizon.net>, Maureen Meyer <mmeyer@umd.edu>, “Dr. Charles W. Ehart” <cehart@verizon.net>, Dave Kessler <davekessler79@hotmail.com>, Alex Marsh <cafeaulait519@gmail.com>

Hello everyone. We are working on the next chapter of the family history and should be ready to post it to the family blog in August, complete with dozens of great photos.

For this chapter, I have completed the main narrative about Julianna and Antoni and was writing a small section on each of the children. As I get to each I spend considerable time on Ancestry.com researching as many facts as I can find such as where they lived, when the left home, etc. I have completed the brief narratives for Sophie and Teenie, so Melvin was next. I did not expect to find  much about Melvin.

However, I was very surprised at what I did find. Tish suggested that I share this with you, so here goes.
Melvin served in the Navy from 1937 through 1956. Part of that time was reserve duty but he definitely was on active duty during WW II, serving as a machinists mate.

The Navy periodically posted something called “muster rolls” to show who was serving at what duty station at various points in time. Starting in 1940, Melvin was assigned to a patrol boat named USS Eagle 56 (PE56). As I kept reviewing “muster rolls” year after year they showed that he continued to serve on the USS Eagle for much of WW II.

Out of curiosity I decided to “Google” the USS Eagle 56 and discovered that it was sunk by a German submarine on 23 April, 1945 off the coast of Maine. There were only 13 survivors from the crew of 67. My immediate question was … was Melvin still on the USS Eagle 56 that day? I located the “muster roll” for that exact date and sure enough, Uncle Melvin was one of those 13 survivors. I am attaching a JPEG image of the page from the “muster roll” that shows him listed as a survivor, but also showing the names and status of his shipmates who were killed that day.

I wonder if Melvin, posthumously, deserves a medal or other award for serving on a ship sunk by a German u Boat? Since it was considered a boiler accident until 2001 and then reclassified as a uboat attack I would guess that he does.

Anyway, here is the history of what happened to  Melvin’s ship. Enjoy. We should all be proud of he and his shipmates for their sacrifices.

Tom 9415751161