Born: June 13, 1919 Coxwain, United States Naval Reserve Service# 6601125
U.S. NAVY ARMED GUARD MERCHANT SHIP – SS THEODORE DWIGHT WELD
Home or Place of Enlistment: Cambridge, Idaho Killed in Action: September 20, 1943
The SS Theodore Dwight Weld was traveling in convoy ON-202 when she was hit on the port side by a torpedo fired by U-238, in the settling tanks opposite the #3 hold. Only a few seconds later the boilers blew up and broke the ship in two just forward of the bridge. The stern sank almost immediately so that the master, seven officers, 34 crewmen and 28 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 3-in and nine 20mm guns) on board had no time to launch any lifeboats or rafts.
The U.S. Navy Armed Guard was a service branch of the United States Navy that was responsible for defending U.S. and Allied merchant ships from attack by enemy aircraft, submarines and surface ships during World War II. The men of the Armed Guard served primarily as gunners, signal men and radio operators on cargo ships, tankers, troop ships and other merchant vessels. Disbanded following the end of the war, the Armed Guard is today little known or remembered by the general public, or even within the Navy. But without the courage and sacrifice of the men of the Armed Guard, victory in World War II would have been much more difficult and taken much longer.