The Sinking of the S.S. Leopoldville
I was down at the FDR bookstore this Saturday chatting with my favorite bookseller Linda Brown (not a relative) when Lenore Angelo walked in and stopped us in our tracks with a tale of a ship gone down and families not notified of how their relatives passed away for fifty years. The S.S. Leopoldville was a a cruise ship fitted out for carrying troops and had made 23 safe crossings of the Channel delivering troops to the European front. With 2300 plus soldiers on board, she was hit by a torpedo and sank in a about two hours. The soldiers on board were headed for the “Battle of the Bulge” and between 700 and 800 men died in the cold waters of the English channel on December 24, 1944. The story as told by J.K. Dixon who was serving aboard the escort destroyer HMS Brilliantis am amazing tale of courage, bravery and chaos.
Survivors of the sinking–veterans of the 66th infantry division–will be visiting the WWII Memorial this year and I am looking forward to meeting and photographing them. Lenore’s father, Frank Bertino, is the head of the survivors group. The sinking of the Leopoldville has been the subject of documentaries by the History Channel and also by the National Geographic Channel. The latest airing was February of this year. There are now 500 members of the Panther Group represented by almost every state and three other countries, England, France and Israel.
Jewel of the Mall: World War II Memorial book is a 120 page full color book on the WWII Memorial.