William Gibson - Killed Aboard USS Albacore - Sunk by a Mine

William Gibson was born in Ellensburg, Washington on January 28, 1923. According to the 1930 US Census, his father, Henry V Gibson, 47 years old, was born in Canada and was a School Teacher. His mother, Mary E Gibson, at 32, and the family, lived in Sanders, Kittitas County, Washington, at 811 Be Poplar 11th Street. John, 8 at the time of the census, had four sisters.

From a newspaper obituary included with this story, he was married to Lois, who lived in Portland.

William joined the Navy from Zillah, Washington, with a Service Number of 664 21 88. He mustered aboard the USS Albacore on June 30, 1944. He achieved the rate of Ship's Cook, First Class acting as ship’s cook and baker.

From the TOGETHER WE SERVED web site:

Unit Assignments/ Advancement Schools

Submarine Chasers (SC)

USS Fulton (AS-11)

USS Albacore (SS-218)

1942-1943, SC-0000, USS SC-746

1943-1944, SC-0000, USS Fulton (AS-11)

1943-1944, SC-0000, USS Albacore (SS-218)

Combat and Non-Combat Operations

1942-1944 World War II

1944-1944 USS Albacore (SS-218)

Tragically, Gibson died, along with the rest of the crew, November 7, 1944, when the submarine USS Albacore (SS-218) was sunk after striking a mine near Hokkaido, Japan. He was first listed as MIA and then declared ‘Dead while Missing.’ He was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously.

William Henry Gibson is memorialized at Tablets of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial. This is an American Battle Monuments Commission location. In addition, he has a grave stone at Swauk Prairie Cemetery in Cle Elum, Kittitas County, Washington in his memory.

“USS ALBACORE on ETERNAL PATROL” (from website)

The ALBACORE, with LCDR H. R. Rimmer in command, left Pearl Harbor on October 24, 1944, topped off with fuel at Midway on October 28, and departed there for her eleventh patrol the same day, never to be heard from again. Her area was northeast of Honshu and south of Hokkaido, and because of the danger of mineable waters, she was ordered to stay outside of waters less than 100 fathoms deep.

She was to depart her area at sunset on December 5, 1944, and was expected at Midway about 12 December. When she had not been seen, nor heard from by December 21 despite the sharpest of lookouts for her, she was reported as presumed lost.

Enemy information available now indicates that ALBACORE perished by hitting a mine. The explosion occurred on November 7, 1944, at Latitude 41° 49' N, Longitude 141° 11' E, while ALBACORE was submerged, and was witnessed by an enemy patrol craft. The craft reports having seen much heavy oil and bubbles, cork, bedding and various provisions after the explosion.

Albacore won nine battle stars for her service and the Presidential Unit Citation for her second, third, eighth, and ninth patrols during World War II.

Addendum Note: "On Thursday, (February 16, 2023) Naval History and Heritage Command said its Underwater Archaeology Branch used imagery and information from Tamaki Uki, a University of Tokyo specialist in developing autonomous underwater vehicles to confirm the identity of a submarine discovered by the researchers as Albacore."

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

Resources:

https://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-albacore-218.htm

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=6224&h=112247935&tid=&pid=&queryId=34744d5e1aa456673ab6064eff1261fa&usePUB=true&_phsrc=tqd600&_phstart=successSource

https://news.usni.org/2023/02/20/wreck-of-wwii-submarine-uss-albacore-discovered-off-japan

Albacore (SS-218) “On Eternal Patrol” - Compiled by Paul W. Wittmer and Charles R. Hinman, originally from: U.S. Submarine Losses World War II, NAVPERS 15,784, 1949 ISSUE.

Gibson, William Henry, PO1