DOB/DOD: September 11, 1923 (Lawrence, MA) – April 5, 1943; 19 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Unmarried
LOCAL ADDRESS: New Haven
SERVICE NUMBER: Z-358164
FAMILY: Born to Joseph E. (1901-1980) and Delima Lebel Dubois [born in Canada] (1897-1980). One brother, Joseph A. [Air Force veteran] (1926-2002). Two sisters, Marie Jeannette Yvonne Dubois Sicard (1928-2007) and Marie Therese Dubois (1936-).
CIRCUMSTANCES: Aboard the American motor tanker MS Sunoil as it sailed out of New York with a 62-ship convoy, HX-321. Her cargo of 102,000 barrels of fuel oil was bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Scotland.
Sometime before April 5th, having left Halifax, the tanker developed engine problems and was forced to fall back (straggle) from the convoy. On the 5th, German submarine U-563 spotted the zigzagging Sunoil and fired three torpedoes, one of which hit. The Armed Guards on board forced the U-boat to submerge, and a distress signal was heard by the British ship HMS Vidette, which came forward and averted another attack. Later that day, U-530 spied the tanker again and fired a spread of three torpedoes. One hit and the ship stopped. After being hit by two more torpedoes, the ship sank quickly. A destroyer in the vicinity searched for any sign of the ship without success before returning to the convoy.
There were 43 Merchant Mariners and 26 US Navy Armed Guards on board; none survived.
From The Delaware County Daily Times on February 20, 2022
By Pete Bannan
…
At 11:45 hours on April 5, 1943, U-563 fired three torpedoes at the zigzagging which was straggling from a convoy due to engine troubles. One torpedo hit, but the armed guards forced the U-boat to submerge, and her distress signal brought the British destroyer HMS Vidette to the scene.
Hours later, U-530 spotted a tanker and fired three torpedoes at the Sunoil, which was hit by one torpedo and stopped. The tanker sank quickly after being hit by the second and third torpedoes. All ten officers, 33 crewmen, and 26 armed guards were lost.
On January 2, 1945, the ninth Sun ship saw tragedy in the war off of Sandy Hook, N.J., when it exploded for reasons unknown 10. Ten men lost their lives. The ship sank but was later salvaged by the Sun Marine Department.
To remember the sailors, the Sun Seamen’s Memorial is at the entrance to the Marcus Hook refinery. It was paid for by donations from employees and from Sun Oil.
On October 9, 1949, Helen Calvarese covered the two-hour monument dedication for the Chester Times. She wrote that 3,000 people were in attendance, including U.S. Sen. Edward Martin, Congressman Benjamin F. James, and J.N. Pew Jr., chairman of the board of directors of the Sun Oil Co., who presided over the memorial services. They were broadcast over radio stations WCAU, WPWA, and a television network.
Pew listed some of the achievements of Sun tankers and the tankermen being honored and added, “Sun seamen sailed to all theatres of the war-to Greenland, Iceland, and Scotland in the treacherous North Atlantic, to the Mediterranean, Russia, and the Persian Gulf, Australia, and many Pacific islands.”
Altogether, he recalled, Sun tankers traveled more than 2,000,000 miles and carried 41 million barrels of aviation gasoline and other petroleum products.
During the services, a white Coast Guard cutter remained anchored in mid-river, and five Sun Oil tankers, the Mercury Sun, MS Sun, Southern Sun, American Sun, and Louisiana Sun, were docked at the Sun pier. The ships carried their flags at half-mast.
Colonel Joseph K. Carson Jr. of the U.S. Maritime Commission said the monument was only one of its kind dedicated to the memory of merchant seamen of World War II.
“We of the commission,” he said, “know full well that had it not been for the fortitude, bravery, and patriotism of those living and dead who manned the tanker vessels, World War II probably would have been lost and civilization plunged into an era of darkness and despair.”
The climax of the services came at the unveiling of the imposing 9-foot bronzed statue of a merchant seaman standing with his duffle bag over his shoulder and his eyes turned towards the sea, Calvarese wrote. As the blue bunting was pulled from the bronze figure by Mrs. Joseph Pew Jr. (Alberta), muffled sobs were heard from the crowd.
Memorial wreaths were placed at the base of the new statue by four survivors of torpedoed ships — Robert Kelly, Orla Bowhall, Fred Godin, all from Marcus Hook, and Charles Felnman of Brooklyn.
Others placing wreaths were William R. Strafford of the Atlantic Sun: Mrs. J. Howard Pew, representing Sun Oil Co., and Mrs. Anna Stitcheson of Philadelphia,
The program had not called for the wreath-placing by Mrs. Stitcheson, but when she arrived at the last moment, she brought her own wreath in memory of her son, Andrew Stitcheson, who was lost with the J.N. Pew. She was permitted to walk up to the newly unveiled statue before any of the others, Calaverse reported.
The fate of U-boat U-530
Surrendered on 10 July 1945 at Mar del Plata, Argentina. Transferred to the United States and used for tests. Scuttled during tests on November 28, 1947, northeast of Cape Cod, by a torpedo.