LUKOSIUS-ZENON

KNOWN  FOR  HIS  HEROIC  ACTION - NOT  FOR  HIS  NAME

 

World War II veteran Zenon Lukosius is known to millions of people for his valor and heroic actions during the war but few people are familiar with his name.  On June 4, 1944, he was a member of the crew of USS PILLSBURY (DE-133) when the German U-boat U-505 was forced to the surface and for the first time since 1815 the U.S. Navy boarded and captured a foreign man-of-war during battle.  Lukosius, then a MoMM1, was instrumental in keeping the U-boat afloat and for his actions was awarded the Silver Star.

 

The PILLSBURY was an escort to the escort carrier USS GUADALCANAL (CVE-60).  The GUADALCANAL's Commanding Officer, and Commander of Task Group 22.3, had devised an audacious plan and trained his men to force an enemy submarine to the surface, drive its crew overboard and then capture the submarine.  He later exclaimed, The plan worked to perfection!  On the fateful day a sonar contact discovered U-505 submerged about 150 miles off the west coast of Africa.  An initial depth charge attack was unsuccessful but two circling fighter planes from GUADALCANAL spotted the submarine and by firing their guns into the water directly over the U-505, a second depth charge attack was successful in holing the outer hull and jamming the submarine's rudder.  Sensing that it would be futile to evade the attack the U-505 was ordered to the surface and to be scuttled.  Upon surfacing the U-505 found itself surrounded by Task Group 22.3.  As the crew fled the sinking submarine they were met with intense small caliber gunfire meant to drive them overboard without doing material damage to the surfaced submarine.  Although only one man was killed and several were injured, the remaining 58 crew members, all later recovered, went overboard from their abandoned ship which was left sinking and circling at about 6-knots.

 

As preplanned, an order not heard in the U.S. Navy for over a hundred years was given, Away all boarding parties.  Whale boats from the five escort ships were immediately lowered and the boat from PILLSBURY was the first to reach the sinking U-505.  Although the stern was sinking with water up to the base of the conning tower, the eight-man boarding party, including MoMM1 Lukosius, managed to get aboard.  Despite the probability of the U-505 sinking or blowing up at any minute and not knowing what resistance they might meet below, three of the boarding party hurried down the conning tower hatch and found it deserted.  During interviews Lukosius said he was the next down the hatch and felt it could be only seconds before the submarine completely flooded.  He said, The engines were still running.  I went to shut the engine off when I looked around the periscope tower and saw water coming in.  We were warned to be aware of possible booby traps down there. 

 

Lukosius's family said he never embellished the story or his part in the capture and when he told it again it was always the same.  He always insisted he was not a hero, just a sailor who did a job for which he was trained.  But what he did took considerable courage and he has been credited with being largely responsible for keeping the U-505 afloat when he found water gushing from an open sea strainer.  During an interview in 2006 he said, The Germans took the cover off the sea strainer to flood that thing, so naturally I had to stop the water.  But the thing is, we were told about booby traps.  He groped blindly under water around the valve and did not find any wires that might tell him an explosive device was there.  But, he did discover the valve cover on the deck next to the open valve.  He said he commented to his companions, Here goes nothing.  Lifting up the cover he placed it over the valve and stopped most of the incoming stream of water.  He has said he knew they might all be gone if the cover had been booby trapped but that letting the water continue to flood would soon lead to the U-505 sinking, probably within a very few minutes.  His daughter described him as a modest hero who said, I did what I was told - we didn't think about the danger.  For his bravery and actions that day he was awarded the Silver Star.

 

Lukosius was born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 24, 1918, to Lithuanian immigrant parents.  At the age of 14 his father was killed in a streetcar accident and to help support the family he went to work.  He told his children, I made $8 a week, gave $7 to my mother and had a dollar for myself.  His brother joined the Navy in the 1930's to also help support the family.  Lukosius wanted to join the Navy as well but his mother only agreed to let him join once his brother came back home.   My mother couldn't stand the thought of having two of her sons away at the same time.  I did what she wanted and waited, he said.  He enlisted in 1941 after his brother completed his enlistment.  After serving on the GUADALCANAL he became a Chief Motor Machinist and was assigned to the LSM-293 in the Pacific fighting the Japanese.  He was reportedly within eyesight of the aftermath of the devastation of the bombing of Hiroshima and he used only one word to describe what he saw there, Unimaginable.  He was next assigned as an Assistant Port Director and served in the Philippines.

 

Upon discharge from the Navy in 1945 he returned to Chicago where he was an industrial roofer working with hot tar for 40-years.  When it was proposed during the 1950's that the U-505 be brought to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago as a permanent war memorial, Lukosius became a key player in raising the money necessary to do so.  His understanding boss said he frequently had to call Lukosius down from his work as another limousine would come to whisk him away so he could meet with prospective donors.  After the U-505 was brought to Chicago, Lukosius continued his work with the Museum by meeting the public aboard the U-505 to tell them of his part in capturing the U-boat.

 

Lukosius died on August 12, 2006 and has been buried in St. Casimir Cemetery in Chicago.  He continues to be connected to the U-505 as the Silver Star awarded to him has been placed there on display.

 

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