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Re: 65th Anniversary sinking of USS Eagle 56 by U-853
Posted by: Paul Lawton ()
Date: June 08, 2011 02:15PM

Hi Alisia,

We were able to get the U.S. Navy to correct the official record regarding the cause of the sinking of the USS Eagle PE-56 from accidental boiler explosion, to "enemy action" (torpedo attack) by the German U-boat-U-853. The record was corrected back in 2001 and in 2002 the Navy awarded Purple Heart Medals to the crewmen killed (49 posthunously) and to two of the original 13 survivors who were injured in the attack. We were only able to locate families of approximately thirty of the 49 men killed to get them their Purple Heart medals. Steven Puleo's great book entitled "Due to Enemy Action" tells the story about the sinking and the 55 year quest to change the official record on behalf of the men of both the PE-56 as well as the U-853. I have the entire research file as well as copies of the History Channel documentary entitled "USS Eagle 56: Accident or Target?" If you contact me with your address I will forward you a copy as well as any documents I have regarding your great uncle. If you can also track his closest surviving relative (eg. brother, sister, neice, nephew), I can also contact the Navy in order to get the process moving to get his Purple Heart Medal to your family on his behalf. My e-mail address is paulmlawton@yahoo.com.

Regards,

Paul M. Lawton, Esquire
Naval Historian
Massachusetts, USA

Options: Reply•Quote


Subject Written By Posted
65th Anniversary sinking of USS Eagle 56 by U-853 Paul Lawton 04/23/2010 02:03PM
Re: 65th Anniversary sinking of USS Eagle 56 by U-853 Alisia Gonzalez 06/07/2011 11:31PM
Re: 65th Anniversary sinking of USS Eagle 56 by U-853 vito 06/08/2011 09:10AM
Re: 65th Anniversary sinking of USS Eagle 56 by U-853 Paul Lawton 06/08/2011 02:15PM
Re: 65th Anniversary sinking of USS Eagle 56 by U-853 michael tomlinson 11/26/2013 08:00PM
Re: 65th Anniversary sinking of USS Eagle 56 by U-853 paul m lawton 11/30/2013 10:43PM
Re: 65th Anniversary sinking of USS Eagle 56 by U-853 Keith Taylor 09/23/2019 08:03PM
Re: 70th Anniversary sinking of USS Eagle 56 by U-853 Paul Lawton 04/23/2015 09:51PM


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