George Washington Paden Jr. was one of 819 soldiers and crew members lost in the sinking of the SS Leopoldville off the coast of France on Dec. 25, 1944. The troopship was torpedoed and sunk by the German U-Boat 486.

George was born on Jan. 15, 1907, in Stilwell, Adair County, Oklahoma, to George Washington Paden Sr. and Bertha Roxie Smith Paden. His father was a farmer and his mother was a homemaker to the couple’s 10 children: Charles, Jack, Mayme, Ina, George, John, Lee, Lew, Juanita, and Thomas. Lee died in infancy in 1912.

George graduated from Stilwell High School and married Miss Sadie Welch on Dec. 24, 1936. They raised two sons, George and Lee. George the father was working for Sinclair Refining Co. when he was inducted into the army on April 8, 1944, at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was a 5-foot-8, 168-pound private with the 3rd Battalion, 262nd Infantry Regiment, 66th Infantry Division. His service number was 38694916.

The 66th Infantry Division was activated on April 15, 1943, at Camp Blanding, Florida, and later transferred to Camp Robinson, Arkansas. The division was sent to Camp Rucker, Alabama, for transport to the European Theatre of Operations.

The men arrived in England on Dec. 12, 1944, and trained until Dec. 24, 1944, when they were ordered to the front as replacements. They boarded two Belgian steamships, the SS Chesire and the SS Leopoldville. Prior to the conflict, the SS Leopoldville was a Compagnie Belge Maritime du Congo passenger liner.

The loading of the 2,223 reinforcements from the 262nd and 264th Regiments was chaotic. The troopships were not loaded by regiment and many of the officers were not present. The instructions for abandoning ship, use of life savers, and supervised lifeboat drills were minimal at best. The abandon ship order, when it came, was given in Flemish instead of English.

The ships sailed from Southampton, England, to Cherbourg, France, as part of the WEP-3 convoy. Pvt. Paden was aboard the Leopoldville when it was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1944, by the German submarine U-486. Some 763 soldiers and 56 of the Leopoldville’s crew died.

The original explosion in Cargo Hold 4 flooded E-4, F-4, and G-4 compartments. An estimated 300 men were killed by the blast and flooded holds. The English Channel was experiencing swells of 8 feet to 12 feet in height, hampering UMS Brilliant’s attempts to rescue soldiers on ship and in the water. Some 493 of the 763 casualties were never recovered from the 48-degree waters.

As Pvt. Paden prepared to leave the ship, he noticed a terrified young soldier and gave him his life jacket. The soldier in turn gave Pvt. Paden a St. Christopher’s Medal. Pvt. Paden, an active member of the Baptist Church, was last seen quietly reading his New Testament as the ship was sinking. His body was later recovered. When his personal effects were returned to his family, the St. Christopher’s Medal was among them.

Pvt. Paden was buried in Plot C, Row 14, Grave 24 at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. He was 37 years old. His widow Sadie remarried in 1959 and died in 1995 at the age of 83.

Commendations:

Purple Heart

Stories Behind the Stars:

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 smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen’s name and read his/her story.

If you noticed anything missing in this profile, you can contact

the author, jrutherford5810@gmail.com.

Resources:

Photos of Victims U-Z - Leopoldville Troopship Disaster

SS Léopoldville (1928) - Wikipedia

SS Leopoldville - Picture - Image - Photo (shipwreckworld.com)

Memorials in Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial - Find a Grave

Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial – Wikipedia

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56648482/george-washington-paden

George W. Paden