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| Pvt. Frank Stelmok, 66th Infantry Division, was killed with the SS Leopoldville was sunk by a German submarine. Painting by Richard Rockwell. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/94174440/frank-stelmok http://www.nww2m.com/2014/12/70th-anniversary-of-leopoldville-troopship-disaster/ |
Frank Stelmok never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on August 7, 1918 in Maine. His parents Vincent and Margaret were both born in Lithuania and came to America in 1905. His father worked as a farmer. Frank had an older brother and a younger brother and sister. He completed a grammar school level of education and worked as a laborer.
He was drafted into the army on May 1, 1944. He became a private in Company I, 3rd Battalion, 262nd Infantry Regiment, 66th Infantry Division.
The 66th ID was located in England in December 1944. With the surprised Battle of the Bulge offensive, the 66th ID was ordered to the continent to help repel the Germans. Pvt. Stelmok was among those from his unit sent to the continent on December 24, 1944. Pvt. Stelmok was on the Belgian transport SS Leopoldville. There were insufficient life vests and the crew did not speak English. Early in the evening of Christmas Eve, Leopoldville was struck by two torpedoes fired by a German submarine, five miles from their destination of Cherbourg. The ship did not sink right away and many of the soldiers believed it would be towed to port. Small British destroyers rescued as many men as they could hold. More rescue boats did not come in time due to communication breakdown and the lack of men on duty at Cherbourg due to the holiday. The ship sank three hours after being torpedoed, before belated rescue ships arrived to remove the rest of the men.
Pvt. Stelmok was one of 763 soldiers who died, about one third of those on board. The sinking was classified as secret until 1996 and survivors were threatened with loss of GI benefits if they talked to the press. Only the loss of 1,318 men on HMT Rohna one year earlier when it was hit by a cruise missile, was worse. That sinking was also kept secret. More info about that here.
His grave is at Mount Hope Cemetery in Lewiston, Maine.
Last year on this date I profiled bomber pilot trainer Edward "Cueball" Bailiff. You can read about Edward here.
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 explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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