HORTON-WILLIAM

KIA - LOST  IN  SINKING  OF  TUG  MENOMINEE

William Lee Horton Jr. was born on November 17, 1924, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.  His father spent many years as a bargeman on the East Coast and was sometimes accompanied during voyages by his young son.  When World War II commenced, William decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and on March 28, 1942, he began employment as an able body seaman as one of the 18 crew members aboard three barges and the tugboat MENOMINEE which left Norfolk, Virginia, bound for Stamford, Connecticut.  MENOMINEE was towing the three barges, two loaded with coal and the third with lumber.

Early in the morning of March 31, 1942, when approximately eight miles off the Virginia coast, near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, German submarine U-754 spotted the unarmed and unescorted tugboat.  Approaching from the port bow, the U-boat fired several rounds from it’s deck gun, one of which entered the MENOMINEE’s cabin through a window and destroyed the radio equipment before passing through the starboard bulkhead without exploding.  A second shell passed through the forecastle, also without exploding.  The barges were immediately cut loose as the tug, at full speed, tried to escape by running parallel to the barges before cutting behind them in an attempt to make a run for the shore.

Unfortunately, U-754 anticipating this maneuver, opened fire when the tug rounded the barges but the tug was not hit.  Although MENOMINEE tried to run from the scene the submarine was much faster and began closing the distance between them.  The captain of MENOMINEE, in anticipation of abandoning ship, shut down the engines and the life rafts were cut loose but no sooner had the second raft been loosened than the submarine fired four more shells.  The tug took two hits but only the last one exploded as it struck MENOMINEE amidships, near the paint locker, nearly blowing the tug out of the water and setting it on fire. 

All survivors jumped overboard but only a few successfully made it to the life rafts.  U-754 then turned its attention on the barges, sinking the two loaded with coal and seriously damaging the remaining barge which stayed afloat because of the load of lumber she was hauling.  Only two of the crew members survived the sinking and unfortunately William Lee Horton Jr., age 17, was one of the fatalities.  Survivors reported that Horton managed to board one of the life rafts but because of injuries and exposure, he later died not long after being lifted onto the deck of a rescuing ship.  He was buried at Highland Park Cemetery in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)