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| MM3c Hubert Thornburg served on the destroyer USS Pope during the early months of WW2. He then became a prisoner of war. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70346745/hubert-denzil-thornburg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pope_(DD-225) |
Hubert Denzil Thornburg never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on March 22, 1919 in Greenville, Tennessee. His parents Fred and Mary were also both born in Tennessee. His father worked as a farmer. Hubert had two younger sisters and three younger brothers. By 1940 Hubert had completed eight years of education and was working as a farm laborer while living with his family.
He enlisted in the Navy on July 7, 1940. He became a machinist mate third class and was sent to Manila, Philippines where he was assigned to the destroyer USS Pope. When the war started, Pope was sent to the Dutch East Indies to help defend it from the Japanese. Pope helped check some of the early Japanese advances, but the Allied forces were badly outnumbered. Luck ran out on March 1, 1942. After being bombed by aircraft from the Japanese aircraft carrier Ryujo, the captained order the crew to abandon ship. The remains of Pope were sunk by an enemy cruiser. The crew was sent to prison camps in the Celebes Island.
Home town papers listed him as missing in action by May 15, 1942. MM/3c Thornburg may have been able to contact his family via the International Red Cross to let them know he was still alive. He died in captivity on January 31, 1945.
His grave is at Bethesda Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Greene County, Tennessee.
Last year on this date I profiled Dwight Elder, 7th Infantry Division. You can read about Dwight 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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