Contents:
His stepfather, Donald Dupre of Jamestown, served on the U. S Pioneer, a U. Navy minesweeper, which was a ship in the Rohna's convoy. Men on the Pioneer helped to rescue some men from the Rohna blast, Walsh said.
Though Dupre wasn't on the ship on the day of the attack, he had heard about it through word-of-mouth. Walsh attended his first reunion in and has been collecting interviews and conducting research since. He met survivors at the reunions — held at various venues across the country — and filmed interviews with those men; often without special lights and microphones in Walsh's hotel rooms, prior to envisioning a documentary. Some later interviews were conducted with higher-quality equipment.
Ballo serves as the co-producer, director and writer of "Rohna: Classified," while Walsh is the film's co-producer and story consultant. They have a small team assisting them, including researchers who are working to categorize the American men — some 1, of them — on the casualty list by state of residence. Walsh estimated there were six casualties from Rhode Island. Walsh said some survivors of the Rohna attack may still be alive. Many of his documentary subjects have since passed away, though, he said.
To share a story like the Rohna attack is important "to honor these men," Walsh said. The documentary is still in the works, with efforts to secure funding.
To donate to support the project, and to watch a trailer for the film, visit rohnaclassified. Warren Air Force Base , Wyoming, over a loss of confidence in his ability to maintain a healthy work environment. Bush have died by suicide in the last week, the Navy announced today.
BAGHDAD Reuters - Two rockets were fired on Monday at central Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, which houses foreign embassies and government buildings, but there were no casualties or damage caused, security services said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts.
One rocket exploded inside the Green Zone and another landed in the Tigris river, a statement from Iraqi security services said. Just after midnight on Sunday, the off-duty soldier drove his truck straight into the welcome sign of Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Fort Wainwright spokeswoman Eve Baker said in a press release.
How a meat truck driver and prison guard helped solve one of WWII's most enduring naval mysteries. A definitive ranking of the best war movie beards. The future of night vision: eye injections. Find a Job. We must look to the past to understand the present and confront the future. By , Germany had developed and produced the first practical guided missile. Of the estimated 1, dead, some 1, were U. Although it was the worst loss of U. The incident was immediately classified and remained hidden from the public and is still officially unacknowledged. Development of the Henschel Hs guided missile began in Germany in and it was deployed in August of The Hs was a radio-controlled glide bomb attached to a rocket engine.
It was carried by German bombers, like the Heinkel He , to be used against Allied shipping. After it was dropped, the rocket motor started and propelled it forward at speeds of up to mph. Five flares in the tail allowed the operator to keep track of it and guide it via radio signals, with its lb warhead, to the target using a joystick.
HMT Rohna was an 8, ton steamer converted to a troop transport. It was part of a convoy of 24 ships along with ten escort destroyers traveling east in the Mediterranean Sea towards the Suez Canal. On board Rohna were about 2, American troops bound for the Far East and crew. On November 26, , 15 miles off the coast of Algeria, the ship convoy came under attack by about 30 German Heinkel bombers late in the afternoon.
For about an hour, the convoy's destroyers battled the bombers and managed to keep them away from the convoy's ships. Witnesses thought they saw British fighters being shot down, but they were actually witnessing Hs guided missiles dropping and launching downward. None of these found their mark. At about , two Heinkels approached the convoy at 3, feet.
One attacked another ship, without result, but the other came for HMT Rohna and appeared to drop a large bomb. Suddenly, the "bomb" shot forward and down, straight for the ship. Rhona's guns started firing but to no effect. The Hs penetrated into its engine room and exploded, killing hundreds of Americans and crew members.
The ship listed 12 degrees and fires raged from bow to funnel. An hour later, the bulkheads collapsed and Rohna sank stern-first. Also, panic and inexperience played a part. Of the 22 lifeboats on board, eight got away, but all were either swamped by the waves or capsized from overcrowding. When it got dark, Atherstone also picked up survivors, as did the tug Mindful , which had arrived from Bougi, Algeria.
By am the next morning, these ships had found and picked up about a thousand survivors. Some had floated more than 20 miles away. Before the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, , the Allies had perfected radio jammers, which rendered the Henschel Hs guided missiles basically useless. All the survivors and all those on the rescue ships were commanded not to discuss the sinking of HMT Rohna , since the entire incident had been classified secret by the U.
All news of the catastrophe was suppressed.
At the end of the war, the government acknowledged the casualty figures and that HMT Rohna had been sunk by German bombers, but grieving family members were given no details about the fates of their sons, husbands and fathers. It wasn't until , after the Freedom of Information Act was enacted, that more complete details were reluctantly released. The U.
This was a non-binding resolution-- an unofficial acknowledgment-- recognizing the loss of life in the Rohna incident and the part the rescue ships played, especially USS Pioneer which picked up more than survivors. Other than that, the government remains mum to this day, as does the U. Military, on the tragedy that was America's worst at-sea loss of U. This is all the more astonishing when considering that, of the nearly 4,, American soldiers transported overseas during World War Two, about 1, were lost at sea-- 1, of them on HMT Rohna.
The History Channel, an American television series, aired a program on the sinking of the Rohna that was very critical of the captain, crew and safety equipment during and after the attack. This program has been largely repudiated by eyewitness survivors.
On Oct. Weber, who lives in Plymouth Meeting, said her husband and other survivors began speaking out in the early s, after another survivor, John P. I don't think there was a day he didn't think about it. Ballo said, was that the government may have thought that the knowledge of the specifics of the attack would have deflated morale of the Allies. Email Frequency Daily.
Sign in or sign up and post using a HubPages Network account. Comments are not for promoting your articles or other sites.
My Grandfather, Carmelo Tominia, was on this ship and survived. He was floating in the sea for a day before he was rescued. Would love to know more about this ship and if there is an official list of soldiers on board. Diane, thank you for adding such a personal comment. The fact that individuals related to both sides can get together while the government turns its back and hides the truth is a sad commentary on secrecy taken to the extreme.
My dad was on the Rhona when it was attacked, he did not survive. It has been in the past 15 years that I finally found out about what had happened to my dad. Not by the government notifying family but my daughter found it on the internet. Two of my children went to Seattle to meet with a group of Rhona survivors and families who had lost someone. The Grandson of the German pilot was at the reunion. There are very few survivors left.
Carolyn, the secrecy about the Rohna after all these years is baffling and infuriating. I am so glad to shed a little light on that tragedy. My uncle was on this ship. My grandmother died not knowing what happen to her son. My mother did find out what happen to her brother because of my research. He was one of 10 kids and I made a point of showing this to all of them. I also went to there reunion one year and met everyone possible that I could meet and talk too.