Service Member Profile (force.com)
++ANGER; EARL J++
UNITED STATES ARMY
WORLD WAR II
PA
Individual Type Unaccounted For
Rank 2d Lt
Service Number O-1107548
Location Mediterranean Sea
Date of Loss 11/27/1943
Unit HMT Rohna; 853 ENGINEERS BATTALION (AVIATION)

On November 25, 1943, His Majesty's Transport (HMT) Rohna sailed from Oran, Algeria, along with four other ships. They then joined a convoy of nineteen other ships destined for Port Said, Egypt. Rohna had a crew of 195 British and Indian sailors and was carrying 1,981 American troops and 7 Red Cross personnel. The largest single American unit was the 853rd Engineer Aviation Battalion, which was going to India to build runways. The next day, while off the coast of Bougie, Algeria, the convoy was attacked by about thirty Luftwaffe Heinkel He 177A heavy bombers escorted by Junkers Ju 88 aircraft and between six and nine torpedo bombers. The convoy shot down at least two German aircraft and damaged several others. A German remote-controlled glider bomb was dropped by one of the bombers, hitting the Rohna. The bomb hit fifteen feet above the waterline, opening the engine room to the sea and knocking out the electrical equipment. The bomb also hit a fuel tank, which caught fire. Following the explosion that destroyed the engine room, the ship became engulfed in flames and began to quickly sink. The bomb also destroyed several of Rohna's lifeboats. Many of the lifeboats on the starboard side were lowered but were soon capsized because of the hundreds of troops that were already in the water and trying to climb into them. Survivors were ordered to jump overboard in life jackets. They battled large swells in dark, freezing, oily water. Many men perished while in the water due to cold and exhaustion while darkness and rough seas hampered rescue efforts. The Auk-class minesweeper USS Pioneer (AM 105) located and rescued approximately 600 survivors, and others were rescued by tugboats and freighters in the area. Over 1000 American troops perished in the sinking of the Rhona.

Second Lieutenant Earl J. Anger, who joined the U.S. Army from Pennsylvania, served with the 853rd Engineer Battalion (Aviation). Second Lieutenant Anger's unit was on its way to the China-India-Burma Theater to build B-29 landing strips and hangars in India and was aboard the Rohna when the transport was hit by a German bomb and sank in the Mediterranean Sea. 2LT Anger disappeared in the confusion during the sinking and was not seen again. He remains unaccounted-for. Today, Second Lieutenant Anger is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the North Africa American Cemetery in Tunis, Tunisia.

Earl J Anger