Name: Joseph Abraham DeYoung Rank: Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Service Number: 202406 Service: United States Coast Guard, USS Menges (DE 320), US Navy Date of Birth: July 2, 1917 Place of Birth: Pomquet, Antigonish County, Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: September 25, 1939 Place of Enlistment: Boston, Massachusetts Age at Enlistment: 22 Address at Enlistment: Everett, Middlesex County, Massachusetts Occupation: Steelworker Marital Status: Married Religion: Roman Catholic Next of Kin: Mrs. Anita E. DeYoung (Wife) Date of Death: May 3, 1944 Age: 26 Cemetery: Sainte Croix Cemetery, Pomquet, Antigonish Co., Nova Scotia Joseph Abraham DeYoung was the son of Joseph A. DeYoung (1880-1918) and Mary Elizabeth (O’Leary) DeYoung (1885-1950), the brother of Mary DeYoung (1906-1908), Victoria DeYoung (1908- 1913), Anne Caroline DeYoung (b. 1916), and William Thomas DeYoung (b. 1919-1996), the husband of Anita Ruth (Earle) DeYoung (1923-2000), and the father of William Joseph DeYoung (1943-2016). Joseph’s father, early in his adult years, emigrated to the United States. On April 30, 1905, he married Mary Elizabeth O’Leary, daughter of Daniel O’Leary, an Englishman, and Victoria Landry, a native of Nova Scotia, at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Joseph’s brother William Thomas “Bill” DeYoung, was raised by relatives in Pomquet and remained in Canada throughout his life. Bill enlisted with the Canadian Army during WWII and operated a machine gun on a Bren gun carrier in France, Belgium, and Germany. Following the cessation of hostilities, his unit was transferred from Wilhelmshaven, Germany, to the Netherlands, where its personnel guarded the Royal Palace of Queen Wilhelmina. Joseph moved to the US in 1930, and on July 6, 1936, he completed a Declaration of Intention to apply for American citizenship in Boston, Massachusetts. At the time, he was a student, residing at 11 Fairlawn St., Everett, Mass. According to the 1938 Everett city directory, Joseph Abraham was living at the same address and was employed as a steelworker. Also in the home were his aunt Victoria (DeYoung) Maddox, her husband James, and their children, and his 88-year-old grandmother, Angelique. Joseph joined the United States Coast Guard in September of 1939. In the aftermath of the Japanese December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, the Coast Guard’s role changed dramatically. The subsequent American declarations of war on Japan and Nazi Germany allowed the Coast Guard to directly support the Allied war effort in several ways. Coast Guard vessels patrolled both coastlines, protecting the US mainland from German attack, invasion, and espionage efforts. Prior to serving on the USS Menges, Joseph served on the USCGC (United States Coast Guard Cutter) Duane. Perhaps the Coast Guard’s most important and perilous role involved providing escorts for the numerous supply convoys crossing the North Atlantic. Its 30 Edsall Class destroyer escorts were well- suited for the task. As Joseph Abraham’s Coast Guard service progressed, he advanced to the rank of Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class and was assigned to duty aboard one of these Edsall Class vessels. The USS Menges (DE 320) was built in Orange, Orange Co., Texas, in the spring of 1943 and launched on June 15th. Named in honour of naval aviator Ensign Herbert Hugo Menges, of Louisville, KY, who was killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, the Menges was officially launched on October 26, 1943, and commenced its sea trials off Bermuda, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Frank McCabe. The Coast Guard-manned Edsall-class destroyer escort USS Menges commenced active duty in Chesapeake Bay in January 1944, making its way to New York later in the month. On May 3, 1944, at 01:18 am, Menges was 15½ miles astern of the convoy chasing down a radar contact when she was hit by a G7es acoustic torpedo from U-371 (which was in turn sunk the next day by USS Joseph E. Campbell, USS Pride, and other warships). The explosion was so violent that the aft third of the ship was destroyed, killing 31 men, and wounding 25. However, Commander McCabe refused to give the order to abandon ship if there was chance of saving her. In addition, several of the crew members heroically jumped astride torpedoes loosened in the blast to disarm them. Menges, thanks to such creditable action, remained afloat. Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Joseph Abraham DeYoung was one of the casualties on May 3rd. The ship was first towed to Bougie, Algeria where the dead and wounded were put ashore, and subsequently towed to Algiers. Joseph A. DeYoung’s remains were initially buried in Algeria in North Africa. Following the end of hostilities, the United States offered to repatriate the remains of military personnel who died overseas, and Joseph’s family chose to do so. Joseph’s body was exhumed and returned to Pomquet, Nova Scotia for burial, where he is interred at the Sainte Croix Cemetery.