Chief Machinist’s Mate Harold G. Sjostrom, KIA 11 September 1943, USS Rowan (DD-405) sunk by German “E”-boat. 1927 Good Conduct medal.

[aerialbridge]

.

[aerialbridge]

Contemporary newspaper account of the sinking of USS Rowan (DD-405). (Note the misprint on the crew complement which was 272, not 172.)

[ScottG]

I received a grouping from the Rowan today. It is from one of the survivors and includes photos, his ribbons, dog tag, documents and other small items. Ironically, he was a torpedoman... It is shared on the allied militaria forum if you want to see it. Your grouping and research is excellent, thanks for sharing! Scott

[aerialbridge]

Scott, I looked on that site but wasn't able to find your Rowan group. Definitely would like to see it. Best regards, AB.

[ScottG]

Here is a link, I would post it here but its too tedious doing all of the re-sizing.... Scott

 

http://**********************.com/index.php?topic=4895.0

[ktopor]

Hello! I was wondering if you may be able to help aerialbridge, or anyone else. We have been trying to link my Great Grandfather to this ship, we believe he was one of the survivors but cannot find his name on any documentation. What we do know is from a local newspaper article and stories. We know he was a machinist and we believe he was in the boiler room during the attack. We know that he was burned so badly that our family wasn't notified he was actually alive for quite some time (months later) once he could speak and identify himself. His name was Joseph John Topor. Hoping someone may have the remainder of that roster list above or some more pictures. Any help from anyone or a point in the right direction is greatly appreciated! 

[Dave]

1 hour ago, ktopor said:

Hello! I was wondering if you may be able to help aerialbridge, or anyone else. We have been trying to link my Great Grandfather to this ship, we believe he was one of the survivors but cannot find his name on any documentation. What we do know is from a local newspaper article and stories. We know he was a machinist and we believe he was in the boiler room during the attack. We know that he was burned so badly that our family wasn't notified he was actually alive for quite some time (months later) once he could speak and identify himself. His name was Joseph John Topor. Hoping someone may have the remainder of that roster list above or some more pictures. Any help from anyone or a point in the right direction is greatly appreciated! 

I'm not seeing him on the Rowan's muster reports. The last time he shows up on a muster report prior to the Rowan sinking (that I can find; my bandwidth is extremely limited for doing searches) is on the USS Albermarle, from where he transferred as a Chief Machinist Mate (Permanent Appointment) to the diesel engine school on June 19, 1942. After that, he doesn't appear again in muster reports. The Rowan's reports are online up till their sinking, but he doesn't show up on them. However, my hypothesis is this: he went to diesel engine school, ended up in North Africa conducting diesel engine repair, and then got underway on the Rowan during their fateful voyage to work on one of their diesel engines...temporarily attached, and not as a permanent part of the crew (they had several of those, and several were killed). 

In order to find out for sure, you'd have to order his service record from the National Archives at St Louis. I recommend Geoff Gentilini (www.goldenarrowresearch.com) who can do that for you when the Archives open again after COVID. It will cost you around $70, but it's worth it if you are curious about what actually happened as it should all be in there. 

Dave

 

[ktopor]

Thank you SO much for the information! Requesting his record was the next step!

[aerialbridge]

ktopor,    from what I can tell the photos I had posted to this thread, including a September 1941 crew photo on the ship at Norfolk did not make it through a recent upgrade of this site (or they are temporarily not visible as part of that process at this time).  If your ancestor was on Rowan at that time and you want to send me a photo scan of him, I can see if he's in that photo.  

[Dave]

2 hours ago, aerialbridge said:

ktopor,    from what I can tell the photos I had posted to this thread, including a September 1941 crew photo on the ship at Norfolk did not make it through a recent upgrade of this site (or they are temporarily not visible as part of that process at this time).  If your ancestor was on Rowan at that time and you want to send me a photo scan of him, I can see if he's in that photo.  

 

I wouldn't sweat lining up photos too much...Topor was on the USS Albermarle until June 1942, so he would not have been on the Rowan in September 1941. 

 

 

[US82Bravo]

The USS Bristol (DD-453) picked up survivors from the Rowan.  The ship's war diary lists the crew members rescued.  Your great grandfather is not listed.
Search operations were completed by 0806  11 September 1943 according to the diary.
70 members survived.  1 crew member  ( BURKE, James Fox II) died either shortly before or shortly after being picked up and was buried at sea. (See second page notation)

 

 

*documents from fold3

Larry

[US82Bravo]

The circled handwritten notation contains the information regarding BURKE, James Fox II.  It is clearer on the original document than the resized attachment.

 

*document from fold3

 

[ktopor]

Thank you all for the information. We'll be requesting his records as soon as we can!

[Navymm98]

Beautiful presentation. Fair winds and following seas from one machinist mate to another

[aerialbridge]

3 hours ago, Navymm98 said:

Beautiful presentation. Fair winds and following seas from one machinist mate to another

 

Thanks, I appreciate that, as I'm sure Swede would.   After I acquired this medal several years ago, I was able to track down a surviving Rowan crewman and meet him at his house and take him out to dinner, and soak in the living history.  He was able to remember names of a number of the sailors on the ship's photo he had that he allowed me to scan, including Harold "Swede" Sjostrom.   I believe he's since passed away, but he had sent me copies of the ship's newsletter from USS Witchita, one of two US cruisers and four destroyers, including Rowan, that provided escort, along with a greater number of British war-ships, for the ill-fated PQ-17 Arctic convoy in late June/early July 1942 (80 years ago) from Iceland to Archangel USSR, along with a lengthy handwritten letter from the sailor recounting his experience.   As for getting off a burning and sinking destroyer that went down in a ring of burning oil fire in the black of night in less than 60 seconds, that was no big thing for this man, who only mentioned the oil he ingested in his lungs bothered him for a long time, along with the busted arm and shoulder that healed sooner.   Imagine treading water in a burning ocean with a broken arm?  I can't.  The sailor was most proud of his PQ-17 service because the cruiser and destroyer crews were steeled to defend the convoy to their last man.  It was no fault of theirs that only 11 of 35 convoy merchantmen survived the German aerial and U boat attacks due to an extreme mistake by the British admiralty in ordering the merchantmen to scatter and the covering forces to withdraw, because of failed intelligence that the battleship Tirpitz was going to intercept them.   In fact, no German surface ships set out to intercept the hapless convoy.  Churchill called the debacle "one of the most melancholy naval episodes in the whole of the war."  But as generally happens, no golden, scrambled egg heads rolled for the failure that cost 153 merchant mariners their lives and their 24 ships.  When I next come across those papers,  I'll scan them and start a new post. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoy_PQ_17