WW2 Fallen - Clarence Beintema, USS Ingraham

Seaman First Class Clarence Beintema served on the destroyer USS Ingraham in the North Atlantic.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/66992198/clarence-edward-beintema
https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-53000/NH-53237.html

Seaman 1st Class Clarence Edward Beintema never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WWII fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better.  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org. This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War II fallen in one free-to-access central database. We are going to need a lot of volunteers. Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

Clarence, known to his friends as Toby, was born August 21, 1920 in Sayville, New York to Sikka John Beintema and Nellie Joanna Broere. Toby was a  graduate of Sayville High school and had been employed by the Oystermen's National Bank of Sayville. He enlisted in the Navy in 1941. Besides his parents, he had two brothers, George Beintema and Charles Beintema.

Seaman Beintema was assigned to serve on the destroyer USS Ingraham. With the outbreak of World War II, it commenced escort duty for convoys sailing from New York and Halifax to the British Isles. On the night of 22 August 1942, as she was investigating a collision between the destroyer Buck and a merchant’s vessel, Ingraham collided with the oil tanker Chemung in heavy fog off the coast of Nova Scotia and Ingraham sank almost immediately. Depth charges on her stern exploded. Only 11 men survived the collision. Seaman Beintema was not one of them. Ingraham was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 11 September 1942.

Toby’s parents had held on to hope that their son would be found since he was reported missing in August of 1942 and, would return to them. Approximately one year later they were notified by the Navy Department that they had abandoned all hope of Toby's survival. The ship and crew were lost on August 22, 1942, and declared officially killed in action on August 23, 1943.

Toby received the American Campaign Medal and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal post humorously.

Toby’s cenotaph headstone is located in Union Cemetary in Sayville, New York.

Visit the virtual cemetery of the lost crew of the USS Ingraham here https://www.findagrave.com/virtual-cemetery/430589.

Thank you for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Seaman First Class Toby Beintema.

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This profile was written and summarized by Brianne Ellison. I am a business owner and stay at home mom of 4 children in Utah. I have been an independent family history researcher for over 12 years. I have also had a passion for U.S. war history since I was a child. WWII is my most passionate research project aside from family history. I am so grateful to be able to contribute to a memorial of such a courageous soldier that never gave up. It is because of men like Beitema, that we have our freedom today. “Land of the Free because of the Brave.” Thank you, Seaman First Class Toby Beitema. You will NEVER be forgotten. 

This is one of the final 50 stories (13) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.

Last year on this date I profiled B-29 bombardier Ben Bloom. You can read about Ben 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.

 

Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100

Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100

 

WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation

“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org

1. REFERENCES

   (Wikipedia, USS Ingraham (DD-444); The Patchogue advance., August 27, 1942, Page 3; The Suffolk County news., October 01, 1943, Page 6; U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963 for Clarence Edward Beintema, 1960-1961, Barrett, Glenn David - Beveridge, James G)