Chief Boatswain’s Mate Francis Richard Bryan

United States Coast Guard

World War Two: Battle of the Atlantic, Philippine Campaign

 

Francis Richard Bryan was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, on September 23, 1909. He attended the Wollaston School through the seventh grade then transferred to the Quincy Industrial School. Bryan worked as a delivery truck driver E.J. Bryan Ice Cream Company before enlisting into the United States Coast Guard on December 16. 1927. He served on various Coast Guard Stations and vessels including the U.S.C.G.C. Tuscarora, U.S.C.G.C. Tampa and U.S.C.G.C. Harriet Lane. While serving aboard the Harriet Lane, Bryan received a letter of commendation from the Headquarters of the United States Coast Guard for his part in the rescue of seven members of the Civilian Conservation Corps on February 24, 1936.  The men were marooned on floating ice in Cape Cod Bay for twenty-two hours after they had been cast adrift when ice broke from the mainland at Brewster, Massachusetts. The boat crew from the Harriet Lane, in a dory, voluntary risked their lives on an ice pack to rescue the Civilian Conservation Corps youths. Bryan received a silver jeweler made VALOR medal from the town of East Brewster, Massachusetts for his heroic action. During the Second World War Bryan served aboard the U.S.C.G.C. George M. Bibb. The ship fought in the Battle of the Atlantic serving as a convoy escort. While she was temporarily attached to a British escort force protecting the eastbound convoy SC-118 in the North Atlantic, 600 nautical miles south-southwest of Iceland, one of the ships in the convoy, the troopship SS Henry R. Mallory with 498 passengers and crew, was torpedoed by the U-402. Of the Mallory's ten lifeboats only three were successfully launched, holding 175 men. The ship’s remaining passengers panicked and leapt overboard into the frigid water where many died from hypothermia. Many of the Bibb's crewmen leapt into the water to assist the nearly frozen survivors. The Bibb's crew pulled 202 survivors from the frigid water. The Bibb also rescued 33 more people from the torpedoed freighter S.S. Kalliopi before returning to the convoy. Bryan received a second letter of commendation from the Headquarters of the United States Coast Guard for his part in the rescue. He then served in aboard the U.S.S. Hutchinson in the South Pacific supporting landing operations at Sansapor, Western Dutch New Guinea, and he participated in the invasion of Morotai, Halmahera Islands, Indonesia. Bryan then participated in the invasion of the Philippines and was under fire in San Pedro Bay and Leyte Gulf. Chief Boatswain’s Mate Francis Richard Bryan was lost at sea during a severe storm from the Cross Rip Light Vessel #96 on station at Cross Rip, Nantucket, Massachusetts, February 13, 1946. His body was never recovered. His name is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at East Coast Memorial, Missing in Action or Buried at Sea, New York City, New York

Great history and an amazing group.

 

 Thank you for all the groups you post.

Here is the statement in his records that says he was lost at sea.

A really great group with an interesting history.  Thank you for sharing his story!

 

Mike