DOB/DOD: May 28, 1894 (New Haven, CT) – June 5, 1942; 48 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married Rose M. Berggren (1896-1960) on May 2, 1917, in Orange, Connecticut.
CHILDREN: One daughter, Marie F. Lafo Tsolis (1914-2011). One son, Eugene H. (1921-2011).
LOCAL ADDRESS: West Haven
SERVICE NUMBER: Z-142743
FAMILY: Born to John (1861-1914) and Mary C. Foley Lafo (1864-1943). Mary was born in Sweden. Five sisters, Mary J. (1881-), Catherine (1884-), Nellie (1886-1981), Jennie (1896-1910), Madeline (1899-1904), and Madaline G. Lafo MacDowall (1905-1983). Four brothers, John R. (1890-1935), Francis E. (1900-1950), George M. (1908-), and Arthur (?-).
CIRCUMSTANCES: Two ships sailed out of Aruba’s San Nicolas harbor just after sunrise on June 4, 1942. One, the Panamanian tanker C. O. Stillman, carrying 125,812 barrels of fuel oil, was bound for New York. The other, the American tanker L.J. Drake, was headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico, with a consignment of 72,961 barrels of gasoline. In compliance with orders from the British Naval Routing Officer at Aruba, the two ships were traveling together at that point. However, the L.J. Drake’s speed of 9 knots, as opposed to the Stillman’s of 9 1/2, caused it to lag behind, and by nightfall, it was barely visible to the Stillman.
Although the tanker was sailing alone the next morning, it was armed with one 4in, one 3in, two .50cal and two .30cal guns, and the complement of 40 included a six-man Navy Armed Guard crew. By then, coded messages were being received, warning of enemy submarine activity in the area.
Late in the evening of the 5th, L.J. Drake was hit with three torpedoes, fired by German submarine U-68, causing the tanker to explode in flames, leaving only bits and pieces of wreckage.
There were 35 Merchant Mariners and 6 Naval Armed Guards on board; none survived.
NOTE: Three months earlier, on March 18th, Chief Engineer Lafo was on the E.M. Clark when that ship was torpedoed and sunk. He was assigned to the L.J. Drake on May 20th. (from Auke Visser’s International Esso Tankers site.
The fate of U-68
Sunk on April 10, 1944, in the North Atlantic north-west of Madeira, Portugal, in position 33.24N, 18.59W, by depth charges and rockets from two Avenger and a Wildcat aircraft (VC-58 USN/T-22, T-24 & F-4) of the US escort carrier USS Guadalcanal. 56 dead and 1 survivor.