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USAAF Survivors from Sinking of Italian Submarine Narvalo - 14 Jan. 1943
I came across this interesting passage after randomly opening volume 3 of Christopher Shores et al A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940-1945 (Grub Street 2016) - pages 252-253
Thursday, 14 January 1943 The Italian submarine Narvalo was sailing on the surface south-east of Malta when it was attacked at 1345 by three Beauforts on anti-submarine patrol. . . . carrying six Italian officers being repatriated and 11 Allied POWs plus their escorts. . . . The commander T.V. Ludovico decided to scuttle the vessel, but in the meantime two destroyers (HMS Pakenham and Hursely) arrived at full speed and opened fire, using machine guns to strafe the men leaving the vessel. Thirty-seven were killed including a captured British Squadron leader and seven US pilots from the group of prisoners. . . . " I expected that U.S. newspapers would reveal a lot more information about the survivors but precious little about those who died. This is what I found. Four U.S. Survivors - misspelled names in brackets[] 2nd Lt. Earle Spencer Millichamp [Millechamp] - Lake Wales, Florida (B-17 navigator) 2nd Lt. J.C. "Harrison" Lentz - Paris, Texas (P-38 pilot - 94th Fighter Sq, 1st FG) 2nd Lt. Rodman Dexter "Deck" Burley - Port Huron, Michigan (B-17 bombardier) 2nd Lt. Donald MacLeod "Red" Bryan [Bryant] - Kalispell, Montana (B-17 co-pilot) One British Survivor Major J.W. Street Three U.S. pilots lost source: ABMC 1st Lt. Phillip Wagner Bailey (O-661692) - Letts, Iowa (B-26 pilot - 432nd Bomber Squadron, 17th BG) B-26B shot down by Bf 109 12 miles W of Gabes on 31 December 1942. POW https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...-wagner-bailey 2nd Lt. Richard J. Carroll (O-724703) - Chicago, Illinois (P-38 pilot - 48th Fighter Squadron, 14th FG) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...joseph-carroll 1st Lt. Bedford E. Russell (O-403814) - Abilene, Texas (B-17 pilot - no unit listed) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...ford-e-russell _________________________ "Locked in Italian Sub, Captives Survive Sinking" British to the Rescue by Weston Hayes - Associated Press Correspondent Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan) January 19, 1943 - pages 1 &10 Valletta, Malta, Jan. 18 (AP) -- The harrowing confinement of four American and three British prisoners of war in the torpedo room of an Italian submarine and their dramatic rescue when the U-boat was blasted by a British plane in the Mediterranean was disclosed Monday -- one of the oddest incidents of the war to date. The seven allied prisoners had a close call, because when the submarine was bombed the Italians gave way to panic and scrambled for the conning tower and air in an every-man-for-himself dash. The four Americans were Second Lieutenant E.S. Millechamp, 24, of Lake Wales, Fla., Second Lieutenant J.C. Lentz, Paris, Texas, Lieutenant R.D. Burley, Port Huron, Mich., and Second Lieutenant Don Bryant of Montana. They told their story upon their arrival here along with Flying Officer J.N. Cartwright; pilot of a British bomber which sighted and bombed their prison submarine. All the Americans and Britons are recovering rapidly from their experience. Burley and Bryant received treatment for exposure and glass cuts. The Americans were airmen who had been forced down in axis-held territory and were being taken to Italy. "We were aboard the submarine at Tripoli January 13," said Lieutenant Millechamp. "Without life preservers they put us in the forward torpedo compartment with a loaf of bread. We had two Italian soldiers as guards, but they never had been to sea before and got seasick. We had to take care of them. SUB'S INTERIOR WRECKED "At 1:35 p. m. the following day there was a terrific bang, which wrecked the inside of the submarine and blew out the lights. The Italians were panicked. They screamed and bumped into one another in a mad dash for the conning tower, which was protruding above water though the deck was awash." Lentz took up the story: "All but three Italians got out on deck, then shut the hatch, locking the remaining three and ourselves in the sub. We stumbled in the dark to the officers' mess, which had begun to fill with chlorine gas. There was a leak and the submarine began to sink. So the Italians on deck opened the hatch again to send down mechanics to stop the leak. We charged through that hatch in such a fury that the mechanics never got down." One of the Britons, a major, had a pair of binoculars and saw a destroyer which he identified as British. He saw a flash, which he first thought was a heliograph signal, but as the shell whizzed overhead he and the others quickly realized they were now an artillery target (!). FLAG TAKEN DOWN The Italians next hoisted a flag to the conning tower, but the Americans and British, taking over from the excited crewmen, made them take it down. They also had the two deck cannon dismantled and thrown overboard as a further sign of surrender. JUMPED INTO THE SEA But the shells kept coming, and then the Italians jumped into the sea. The submarine was sinking slowly and the Americans had to leave the deck also. Millechamp, clinging to the conning tower, was the last to jump into the water. The Americans and Britons were in the water nearly two hours without life jackets. The Italians, who had life preservers, still were yelling and screaming and alternately praying, the Americans related. SAVED BY DESTROYER But the British destroyer finally hove to and rescued all the men struggling in the water. Lentz was so exhausted he had to be pulled aboard. NARROWEST ESCAPE But Burley had the narrowest escape. British seamen gave him artificial respiration for an hour and 30 minutes before they restored him to consciousness. All the men were given hot baths, wrapped in blankets, and placed in bunks aboard the pitching destroyer. The roll was so severe that two British sailors sat on Lentz to keep him in his bunk. After a time, hot tea, soup, bread and marmalade. An hour later they were served a chicken dinner. "It was the best food we ever had," said Millechamp. At Port Huron, Mrs. Wilbur West, reporter and Sunday society editor for the Port Huron Times-Herald, was overjoyed to learn of the escape of her brother, Lieut. R. D. Burley, from the Italian submarine. Mrs. West said that a cablegram from her brother informed their parents, Dr. and Mrs. J. H. Burley, of his safety at American headquarters in Malta "after various adventures," but gave no further details. Lieut. Burley's wife Frances, whom he wed last June, just a week before he received his bombardier's commission at Abuquerque, N.M. also lives in Port Huron. Burley attended the University of Michigan for a year. _____________________ "Italians Think Deck Burley is Still Their Prisoner" The Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan) 18 February 1943, Thursday - pages 1& 5 There was a kid wearing British battle dress at our table. He was Rodney D. Burley, of Port Huron, Mich., one of five flyers saved when British destroyers sank an Italian submarine carrying them to a prison camp a few weeks ago. Burley's most vivid memory of his trip is waking up aboard the British destroyer, groping blindly for a mug of tea, saying, 'What's this stuff?' and hearing a voice say: 'Well, I'm damned. He's American, not Italian.' "When he talks of the hour that he spent in the submarine while it was being depth-bombed, he is very casual, as they always are when something has hit them hard. He remembers how cold the air felt when they got on deck and the scared faces of the Italians watching the destroyers bear down on them." ___________________ "Army Confirms Death of Lt. Bedford Russell" Abilene Reporter-News (Abilene, Texas) 22 November 1944, Wednesday - pages 1 & 11 . . . The plane piloted by Lieutenant Russell, he said, was returning to a North African base when it was shot down in a bitter fight with Messerchmitts. The B-17 was shot to pieces but Russell "by skillful maneuvering, managed to crash land on the desert without hurting anyone," he said. The Italians later captured the men and after about 10 days put them on the submarine. . . . The other prisoners and I were in the water for nearly two hours," Lieutenant Millechamp said. "The shelling went on. A lot of Italians and four of the prisoners were killed. The British, of course, had no way of knowing we were there." Lieutenant Russell, he said, was one of the prisoners who died. . . . ________________________ "Millichamp, a former life-guard, is credited with saving the life of a British officer [Major J.W. Street] by keeping him afloat when the submarine was sunk." [Millichamp was later awarded the OBE] ____________________ "Flyer Missing After Italian Sub is Bombed" Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois) Sunday, May 7, 1944 "Lt. Richard J. Carroll flew a P-38 to England in July, 1942, and was one of the first Americans to put a Lightning into action in Algiers, landing there Nov. 8, 1942, according to his mother, Mrs. William P. Carroll . . . After 20 successful missions over enemy territory, Lt. Carroll was shot down over Gabes, Africa, in December 1942, and was captured by the Italians. No word reached Mrs. Carroll from the war department. Recently she spoke to one of her son's buddies who was rescued: "The last I saw of him was when we were all in the water," was all he could answer to her plea for information." "It's more than a year since the submarine was sunk and we haven't received any more information than that," Mrs. Carroll said. "If only we had some definite word." ___________________ A full account of this would make a great story. Edward Last edited by Edward; 21st November 2021 at 08:12. |
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