DOB/DOD: December 28, 1923 (West Haven, CT) – January 1, 1943; 19 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: Canterbury
SERVICE NUMBER: Unknown
FAMILY: Born to Denniston (1892-1930) and Louisa M. Wibberly Charlton (1893-1991). One sister, Lois E. Charlton Woodell Lemond Plassman (1920-2000)
CIRCUMSTANCES: Cadet Dennis Charlton, Jr. was a deck cadet at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. He left to go to sea on the SS Arthur Middleton in 1942. The ship was built specifically for wartime efforts in a shipyard near Mobile, AL. The German Submarine, U-73, torpedoed and sank the SS Arthur Middleton on January 1, 1943. The ship was just three miles off the coast of Oran, Algeria. The cargo aboard was ammunition from New York headed to Oran. [from kp142.tripod.com] Only three armed guards survived of the eight officers, 34 men, 27 armed guards, and 12 passengers (one US Army security officer and 11 crewmen from USS LCT-21).
The fate of German submarine U-73
U-73 found the convoy GUS-24 off Oran on December 16, 1943, and torpedoed the 7,200-ton American Liberty ship SS John S. Copley. As the damaged vessel returned to port, the destroyers USS Woolsey, USS Trippe, and USS Edison left Mers-el-Kebir to find the U-boat. She was located by sonar at 18:15. Hull turbulence made the U-boat’s hydrophones ineffective at the speed U-73 was leaving the area, so she was unaware of the destroyers until Woolsey’s pattern of depth charges exploded below the submarine at 18:39. Sea water poured in between the bow torpedo tubes and from a salt water inlet valve for the diesel engine cooling system. All ballast tanks were blown to bring U-73 to the surface as inflowing water exceeded pumping capacity. U-73 surfaced in darkness at 19:27, and men manned the heavy machine guns. The destroyers promptly detected her on radar and illuminated the submarine with searchlights. She sank by the stern following a brief exchange of gunfire. 34 of the crew were rescued by 22:10. [Sanders, Harry (January 1969). “Night Fight Off Oran”. Proceedings. United States Naval Institute.]
From The Bulletin (Norwich, CT) on November 2, 2003
By GREG SMITH | Norwich Bulletin
SEARCH FOR WWII CADET LOST 60 YEARS REACHES CANTERBURY
CANTERBURY — It’s been 60 years since U.S. Merchant Marine Cadet Denniston Charlton Jr. died. But his chapter in history is not yet complete.
A researcher with the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is seeking living relatives in Canterbury, where he hopes to deliver official among 142 cadets who died during World War II.
On January 1, 1943, a German submarine torpedoed and sank the USS Middleton off the northern coast of Africa. Charlton was on board.
“The bottom line is nobody is forgotten,” James Hoffman, a volunteer and former mariner who also served during World War II, said. “The price these young guys paid was so significant.”
Hoffman traced Charlton’s roots to Canterbury, where his mother, Lois Wibberly Charlton, was raised.
“This is an important part of a family history … a way of showing these families that even though 60 years have passed, it’s still a big deal,” Hoffman said.
Like the more than 6,000 other mariners killed during World War II, Charlton gained little notice for his role in the war.
It took 45 years, until 1988, before even a limited veteran status was authorized by the U.S. government for wartime mariners. Many of the mariners by then had passed and families never received any documents or medals, Hoffman said.
The US. Merchant Marine is a fleet of ships that carries cargo during peacetime and becomes a naval auxiliary during wartime.
During World War II, the U.S. government controlled the cargo and the destinations of the ships, contracting with private companies to operate the ships. Ships during the war carried ammunition, troops, and supplies.
In his decade of work, Hoffman said 106 of the 142 remaining families of cadets who never returned from World War II have been located. Contact with Charlton’s family would be the last of about a half a dozen cadets from Connecticut, and would close one chapter in his search.
If found, relatives can expect to receive government-issued certificates, updates on medals earned during service, and pictures. Denniston also is a part of the Mariners Memorial at the Merchant Marine Academy’s Kings Point, New York, campus, which was dedicated in October.
The academy also carries a Battle Standard as part of its color guard to perpetuate the memory of the 142 cadets.
To date, Hoffman has had little luck finding a direct descendant, despite a number of Wibberlys still living in the area.
“It’s difficult, taking bits of information and trying to glue them together,” Hoffman said of the search. “Oftentimes, third parties help me a great deal. And usually when I find the families, it’s so rewarding.”
Canterbury resident Andrea Skurcenski, daughter of Maxwell Wibberly, who was a nephew of Lois Wibberly, said Hoffman’s task might prove to be a tough one.
“I think it’s great they’re putting the time into it. It’s just a shame there really is no direct family,” she said.
She doesn’t believe that Denniston Charlton or his sister, Betty, had any children.
Hoffman said the search will continue.
He said he is encouraged by the discover of Charlton’s name being listed as a grandchild of the late Samuel Wibberly of Echoland Farm in Canterbury in a 1939 Norwich Bulletin obituary.
Memorial stone in Plainfield Cemetery, 117 Cemetery Road, Plainfield, Connecticut.
