THE SINKING OF SS ONEIDA

THE SINKING OF SS ONEIDA

By Andy Weddington

Wednesday, 10 July 2024

The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead. - Joseph Smith, Jr. 

Come Saturday at 1803, 82 years ago, marks the anniversary of the SS Oneida settling on the ocean floor.  

Mid-June, 1942 - World War II - the SS Oneida, unarmed transport, took on a load of rice in Louisiana and sailed east off-loading in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

The trip, though dangerous for U-Boat operations, uneventful. 

Empty she, part of a convoy, set sail west for Punta Gorda, Cuba. 

For reasons unclear, she dropped from formation and became a straggler. 

A couple of miles north of Cape Maysi SS Oneida's captain saw the wake of a torpedo but too late to take evasive action. 

She was hit starboard at the waterline and just aft of the engine room.

A mere three minutes later disappeared from the surface - another kill for U-166 skipper Hans Gunther Kuhlmann.  

There was not time to launch life boats.

Two life rafts saved 23 of the 29 crew - Merchant Marines - 2 officers and 21 enlisted; rescued same day. 

Six, two officers and four enlisted (three on duty below decks) went down with the ship.

Until three days ago I was not aware of the SS Oneida.

I have read a good bit about the German U-Boats terrorizing the Atlantic. And scanned lists of their prey. But specific names not stored in memory. 

As I youth, back in the 60s, our family camped on Topsail Island, NC - then a desolate sportsman paradise especially for surf fishing. 

Along the island, every half mile or so as I recall, was a three-story white-washed cinder block tower; we played in and around them. 

Defenders manned them looking for U-Boats during the early years of the war.  

During one of our camping trips I remember we met a man who lived on Topsail during the war - he remembered when the towers were manned, and at night sitting on the dunes seeing U. S. ships afire on the horizon. 

Topsail has changed dramatically these past 60 years. Development, south to north, has destroyed the paradise I knew. But, I did see at least one tower preserved on a visit a couple years ago. 

And I have read about life on a U-Boat and saw the action thriller 'Das Boot' when first released; an intense, powerful film. 

I cannot imagine what it must have been like being at sea knowing the enemy was hunting. Nor being crammed into the shell of the stalker. 

Sunday past my wife and I visited an old small town cemetery looking for family headstones.

We found who we were looking for.

And stumbled upon others. 

One of those the grave of Francis Bost Weddington, Sr.

His name did not ring a bell. 

So, to the Internet. 

Francis, we discovered, was a brother to my great grandfather, Edward (whose middle name, Franklin, I carry). 

I remember my great grandparents; vividly. 

Edward served in the Army during World War I.

After the war he worked in the textiles mills. 

A widower, he died the day after my 10th birthday.

So Francis was a great uncle - an uncle I not only never met but never heard his name mentioned during family conversation.

Francis and his wife, Bessie Louella Weddington, had a son - Francis Bost Weddington, Jr. 

Francis Jr. was a young U. S. Marine Corps Private First Class during World War II.

He survived the war.

Junior's father did not survive the war. 

Francis Sr. died 13 July 1942 - he, one of six, went down with the SS Oneida. 

His marker is engraved with that fact. 

Family history, chilling, never mentioned during my youth nor as adult. 

You'd think such sacrifice would be a guarantee for ever-lasting life generations thereafter. 

It is now. 

And just this morning learned of more family - Marines and Air Force - who served during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. 

One cemetery visit. Now many a thread to pursue; I seek after our dead. 

Alas, I suppose service was in the blood; fate, I guess - a brother is, too, a Marine, and Sailor, and a brother Coast Guard. 

With any luck, though not heroes, we'll be remembered. 

Note: U-166 was sunk by U. S. Coast Guard aircraft on 01 August 1942 off the coast of New Orleans. All hands perished.