 |
| Sailor White's USS Cythera, two months before it was sunk by a U-Boat. https://laststandonzombieisland.com/tag/uss-cythera-py-26/ |
Rush Truman White could have been 100 years old today.
He was born on March 7, 1917 in West Virginia. His parents were also both born in West Virginia. His father was a farmer who later worked as a carpenter. He died in September 1939. Rush had three older brothers and two older sisters. By 1940 Rush had completed three years of college and was living with his widowed mother.
White's death date is listed as May 3, 1943, but it was actually a year and a day earlier. This later date was assigned when a sailor was missing with the body never found.
On May 1, 1942, Rush was a storekeeper second class on the converted yacht, USS Cythera which embarked from Norfolk, Virginia for a planned trip to Pearl Harbor. The ship had a crew of 71. The next day, off the coast on North Carolina, the Cythera was torpedoed by U-402. The torpedo struck dead center and split the ship in two. As it sank at least two of it's depth charges exploded as they reached their preset depth. There were only two survivors who were picked up by the German submarine and made POWs for the duration of the war.
 |
| Crew of U-402. http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-402A/U-402PhotosMcCarthy.htm |
Seaman White's body was not recovered.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100
Join public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
No comments:
Post a Comment