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| Seaman 2nd Class Melvin Meyer was a cook on the tugboat Sonoma. The bottom right picture shows the unsuccessful attempt to put out the fires that sank the ship. https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=123540229&ref=acom http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/64/64012.htm https://www.facebook.com/pages/USS-Sonoma-AT-12/140588372633534 |
Melvin F. Meyer never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on September 13, 1917 in Michigan. His parents Herman and Elsa were also both born in Michigan. His father worked as a farmer. and later as a milk station car washer. Still later he was a construction labor operator. Melvin had two younger brothers who both served in the war and a younger sister. On June 18, 1938 Melvin married Beatrice Langlois. They had two sons. He ran Mel's Hamburger Shop.
He enlisted in the Navy on April 21, 1944 and became a seaman second class and cook on the navy tug USS Sonoma. The Sonoma was built in 1912 and saw action in WWI. During WW2 the Sonoma served in the Pacific theater. It had a crew of 61.
By mid-October 1944, the Sonoma was in the Philippine Sea as part of the task force supporting the invasion of Leyte. On the morning of October 24 the task force came under attack from Japanese planes. A damaged Japanese bomber crashed into the Sonoma midship on the starboard side, causing two explosions that spread into a fire. Nearby ships tried to hose out the fires without success and the Sonoma sank. Seaman Meyer was either killed in the fire or died of his wounds the next day.
His grave is at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Saginaw, Michigan. His widow remarried and died in 2014. I don't know what happened to his sons.
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!
I created this video to share why I have created this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
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