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| Motor Machinist Mate 2nd Class Fred Coburn served on the submarine USS Grayback. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56117999/fred-martin-coburn http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-grayback-208.htm |
Fred Martin Coburn never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on October 19, 1919 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. His parents Ernest and Myrtle were also both born in Alabama. His father worked as a farmer and later as a road commissioner. Fred had one older sister, four younger brothers and two younger sisters. By 1940 Fred had completed four years of high school and was still living at home.
He enlisted in the navy and by January 1943 he was on the muster rolls of the submarine USS Grayback, where he served as a motor machinist mate, second class. Grayback went on its sixth patrol one month later with no results. However, the seventh patrol had better results with multiple sinkings.
While on leave back home in Alabama, he married Doris Lucille Cantrell in July 1943. MM Coburn return to Grayback and served on three more missions.
Grayback's final patrol was in the East China Sea where it sank or damaged six ships. It was caught on the surface on February 27, 1944 and sunk by an arial attack by carrier based planes south of Okinawa. Eighty men were lost, including MM Coburn.
He is memorialized at the Courts of the Missing of the Honolulu Memorial. I don't know what happened to his widow.
Football star Eso Naranche, 34th Infantry Division was born exactly one year before Fred Coburn. You can read about Eso 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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